WRCO Blog

Saturday night on WRCOs' Those Were The Days we will be serving up some treats.  The best of the fifties through the eighties will take flight, and we will stop and go parking in 1975.  That was a great Summer for songs.  In between unloading hay bales, I would have my Panasonic radio blasting Top Forty songs.  In between loads of hay, there was nothing better than sitting in the shade and eating a black cherry popsicle (with 2 sticks in each treat).  You could break them in half and share them, but who would want to do that?  When the hay was made for the day, we would take a dive in Willow creek.  The water was so cold after a 90 degree day in the barn.  My trusty Panasonic rado was on the creek bank.  Some of my fave '75 radio tunes included:  Magic-Pilot,  Hey You-Bachman Turner Overdrive,  Sister Golden Hair-America,  Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)-Doobie Brothers,  I'm On Fire-Dwight Twilly Band,  and I'm Not In Love-10 cc.  July was the month in which the combines would be pulled from the sheds for harvesting oats.  I have vivid memories of sitting on the tractor that was hooked to a gravity box and waiting for the combine to unload.  As I waited WLS was announcing its number one song that week,  Listen To What The Man Said by Paul McCartney and Wings.  

I hope that you will be able to join for all or some of the six hour salute to rock and roll on WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night.  The request line will be wide open and there will be plenty of trivia.  Escape to the land of great memories during Those Were The Days Saturday night between six and midnight.

Phil 

This Saturday night on Those Were The Days we will be touring this great land through music.  I will be back to the studio and will be ready to take your requests and quiz you with trivia questions.  Celebrate the fourth of July with us!   We may take the Last Train To Clarksville.  On the way we may say hello to Kentucky Woman or stop by Bowling Green.  Some of our favorite towns named in rock and roll songs include:  Kansas City,  Detroit Rock City,  La Grange,  Galveston,  Memphis,  and San Francisco.  Those Were The Days will taking you all over America on the night of the fourth.  I hope you will join me for the best pop music from the fifties through the eighties between six and Midnight Saturday night.

I hope you enjoyed our Summer songs countdown last Saturday night.  It was a blast to put that together.  There were a lot of Beach Boys harmonies and songs that you could practically feel the sun shine from. The number one song was Summer In The City by the Lovin Spoonful.   If you would like to see the complete list of the songs that were counted down, you can go to forgottenhits.com.  Kent Kotal is assembling a brand new list which will be released later this Summer.  If you would like to vote on your fave Summer songs, you can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  Kent will be taking your votes through Saturday (the 4th).

Have a safe and healthy holiday weekend.  If you get the chance, join me for Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

It was the Summer of 1986 when I received a phone call from Ron Fruit at WRCO.  He was letting me know that they could use some night time help at the station.  This worked out well for me because I was still helping out on the farm and could spin Top 40 records at night!  We were still mostly playing 45 RPM records at WRCO in 1986.  Some of the top songs this week in 1986 included:  No One Is To Blame-Howard Jones,  Tuff Enuff-Fabulous Thunderbirds,  All I Need Is A Miracle-Mike and the Mechanics,  Like A Rock-Bob Seger,  Your Wildest Dreams-Moody Blues,  Dreams-Van Halen,  and Be Good To Yourself-Journey.  It was a great time to be in radio because new technology was coming in, however, I got the chance to play vinyl records,  cart machine tape commercials, and reel to reel tape shows.  Those formats were starting to become 'old school' at that time.  I am so greatful that I got that call in 1986!  The radio ride has been a great blessing to me.  This Saturday night during our Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9, I will spin a few of those songs that I first played on the air.  We will be taking your rock and roll requests and will be spinning tunes from the fifties through the eighties between six and midnight Saturday night.

Phil

Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, you will get some songs that are right on the money.  I will be spinning the best of the fifties through the eighties and the theme of the night will be songs about money.  The number one thing songwriters write tunes about is love and relationships.  I am not sure where money related tunes show up on the list, however, there are many songs about the subject.  We could fill most of the six hour radio show with songs about the almighty dollar.  Some faves include:  For The Love Of Money-O' Jays,  Rich Girl-Hall & Oates,  Take The Money and Run-Steve Miller Band,  Money (That's What I Want)-Barrett Strong,  Can't Buy Me Love-Beatles,  and Money For Nothing-Dire Straits.  Join the old rock and roll party on Saturday evening between six and midnight.  Perhaps you will be the winner during our hourly trivia challenges!  As I often say,  It is rewarding to hear from so many listeners that are just discovering what we do on WRCO Saturday nights.  There are also those that have been with us since the opening night of the show in October of 1986 (Marilyn,  Rick,  Mary,  Mystery Man,  Gayle,  Julie,  Darrell,  Bonnie, Bruce,  and Gary).  I will be here Saturday night and I hope you will as well.

Phil 

I am very much like Uncle Rico in the movie Napoleon Dynamite.  Both of us wish we could go back to 1982 and help our teams win state.  That is the year that I graduated from high school and prepared for life as a disc jockey.  Uncle Rico, it appears, bought a van to live in.  We both were able to live the American dream.  The time travel machine that Uncle Rico bought on line does not work.  It appears the only way we can go back to that year is in our minds as we listen to popular tunes of that year.  This week on WRCO FM 100.9, we will be featuring a few tracks from the Summer of '82.  I am postive that this statement is biased, however, 1982 was the best year of the decade for music.  As I was preparing that Summer to leave the farm for the first time and go off to broadcast school,  some of the songs my girl friend and me were listening to included:  Heat Of The Moment-Asia,  Crimson and Clover-Joan Jett,  Did It In a Minute-Hall & Oates,  Fantasy-Aldo Nova,  Caught Up In You-.38 Special,  My Girl-Donnie Iris,  Play The Game Tonight-Kansas,  Only The Lonely-The Motels,  Dancing In The Street-Van Halen,  I Found Somebody-Glenn Frey,  and Still They Ride-Journey.  That is a playlist that can help me in my case for '82 being the best year for '80's music.   Saturday night during WRCO's Those Were The Days radio show, you can go back with us to the fifties through the eighties between six and midnight.  The trivia games will highlight our six hour tribute to the best music every pressed on vinyl.  I hope you can join the party on FM 100.9 this weekend.

Phil

In the Summer of 1973 I was employed unloading hay for 25 cents a load.  If we had a good day,  I could afford to blow it all on two 45 records!  There were so many great songs to waste your haying money on during that Summer.  I was still making mix tapes on a reel to reel tape machine.  My cassette recorder was still a year away.  Some of my faves on the radio included:  Little Willy-Sweet,  Stuck In The Middle With You-Stealers Wheel,  The Cisco Kid-War,  No More Mr. Nice Guy-Alice Cooper,  One Of A Kind (Love Affair)-Spinners,  Long Train Running-Doobie Brothers,  Shambala-Three Dog Night,  Kodachrome-Paul Simon,  and Back When My Hair Was Short-Gunhill Road.  What a great time for Top Forty radio!  It was fun to stay up late.  That is when WLS radio out of Chicago came in the best. You could hear them play the most requested songs of the day. They opened the playlist up a little more at night. Although Chicago seemed a million miles a way to a kid in Southwest Wisconsin, it made me feel like I was little cooler because I Iistened.    This week during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, I will spin a few of those fantastic 45's that I bought in the Summer of '73.  I will be in the studio to play all of your requests from the fifities through the eighties.  We are lining up some classic trivia questions, so get ready!  

Phil

Saturday night during Those Were The Days, I will be paying tribute to some of the great rock and roll duos.  We could play six hours of songs recorded by a pair of artists through the years.  Hall and Oates have been the most successful during the rock and roll era.  The Everly Brothers were the pioneers of dual harmony with their sibling voices which blended so well.  Other favorite Those Were The Days dous include:  Sam and Dave,  Righteous Brothers,  Carpenters,  Chad and Jeremy,  Peter and Gordon,  Simon and Garfunkel, Sonny and Cher, and Ike and Tina.  During WRCOs'  Those Were The Days we will play all of your favorite requests from the fifties through the eighties.  Ring us up and ask for a dedication.  You can impress your out of town friends when you request a song for them or win a trivia contest.  Keep your social distance and have a great holiday weekend with WRCO FM 100.9.   Thanks for all of the fun last Saturday night.

Phil

This Saturday night on WRCOs'  Those Were The Days, we will fly back to the year of 1960.  Many songs were on the charts that we still play on the radio after all of these years.  Top songs included:  Stuck On You-Elvis,  Cathy's Clown-Everly Brothers,  Lonely Weekends-Charlie Rich,  Wild One-Bobby Rydell,  Finger Poppin' Time-Hank Ballard, and Cherry Pie-Skip and Flip. It will be fun to travel back to a more innocent time.   I will look forward to being back for a live show Saturday night.  We have received good feedback for the show that was on Memorex last weekend.  It was indeed an amazing countdown of essential classic rock songs and there was not a bad one in the bunch.  It was a great family night for me and we even had the radio on for some jams as we social distanced at home.  I was tired and ready for bed by 9:30!  This Saturday I will get my nap and drink a couple of Ski soda pops.  That will keep the rock and roll party going until Midnight.  Perhaps you will win one of the trivia challenges.  Those Were The Days will be heard between six and Midnight this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

This week on WRCO FM 100.9, I will have the pleasure of counting down the best Classic Rock songs of all time.  I have thousands to back up the 'best' label.  Courtesy of ForgottenHits.com this list was compiled last year.  Here is some of the background from Kent Kotal of F.H.  

as voted on by Classic Rock Fans from all over the country.

When I think of Top Forty music from the early 1970's,  it takes me back to K-tel records. These were greatest hits albums very much like the more recent  Now That's What I Call Music series of current hits collections. K-tel records were advertised an incredible amount on t.v. and available at a few participating stores.  There was no chance for a boy with a rural Richland Center address to get one of those albums.  Almost all the retail places were in the Madison, Wisconisn area such as;  Rennebohm and Rexall Drug Stores, Robert Hall, Wolff- Kubley,  Galaxy Of Sound, and Copps Department Stores.  Fortunately I had first cousins that lived in Madison about two blocks from a Copps store.   It was the greatest day of my life (up to that point) when I got to visit the city of Madison and have a fifteen cent McDonalds cheeseburger, visit the cousins, and buy my first K-tel record album!  It was called Believe In Music and it contained 22 original hits and original stars.  It included the title of the album which was recorded by the group Gallery. Most of the songs were short edits so that they could get that many songs on one album.    If I want to go to my happy place,  I can still put this record on and instantly I am back in the Spring and Summer of 1972. A few years ago,  I made my own copy for a burned cd and used the full length versions of the songs.   This week on my radio show (Those Were The Days),  I will be taking a trip to the Spring of 1972. Our featured group will be Gallery (one of the most played groups of 1972).   WRCO FM 100.9 will be the spot for more music medicine from the fifties through the 1980s.  You can contribute a request and you are wecome to be a part of the trivia contests.  This will be our first show in the month of May and the forecast is favorable for a night to sit under the stars and listen to WRCO FM 100.9 between six and Midnight for Those Were The Days.

Phil-'Connoisseur Of K-tel'

I was able to get my drivers license in early 1980.  Later that year I somehow convinced this young lady to attend prom with me.  My buddy Marty also was able to secure a date. We double dated and as I remember we had a nice night.  Today these two women have gone on to amazing careers and great lives despite bad choices in high school!  Transportation to the big dance was courtesy of mom and dads'  1979 Chevy Impala.  That car had a a great radio (only AM of course).  I remember hearing songs that night such as; Call Me-Blondie,  Ride Like The Wind-Christopher Cross,  Another Brick In the Wall-Pink Floyd,  Fire Lake-Bob Seger, Cars-Gary Numan,  Any Way You Want It-Journey,  Funkytown-Lipps Inc.,  You May Be Right-Billy Joel,  and Train In Vain-The Clash.  All of those are songs that have aged well after forty years!  We will bring back some of those hits this week on Those Were The Days when we flash back to the Spring of 1980. I will not be wearing a tux, however,  I will be in the studio to take your requests and to weave them all together.  Perhaps you will be one of the winners of our trivia games!  Tune in for the great vinyl records of the fifties through the eighties this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.    

Phil

Saturday night during Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9, we will fly back fifty years to April of 1970.  The Beatles announced that they were breaking up,  Apollo 13 was flying on fumes back to Earth, and a group originally from Indiana, the Jackson Five, were taking the music world by storm.  The songs emerging from the static on my AM radio included:  Come And Get It-Badfinger,  Spirit In The Sky-Norman Greenbaum,  Vehicle-Ides Of March,  Little Green Bag-George Baker Selection,  and Get Ready-Rare Earth.  It was a great time for Top Forty radio and for the young farm boy to lip sync all the hits to the cows. In the old barn, there was a door in front of the stanshions.  I would pretend that was my stage and the bovines were my audience.  I am sure my dad's milk production went down the mornings and nights that the Phil Nee show was being put on.  I hope you will join our Those Were The Days family this Saturday night between six and midnight.  Music is a great cure for all of the fear and boredom that we are going through.  Take it from me,  Dr. Phil, and we will give you a dose of rock and roll on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

Saturday night on FM 100.9,  Those Were The Days will feature a few songs to go along with an Easter theme.  We will feature tunes with ties to candy, eggs,  rabbits, and religion.   We will have another celebration of living which will feature the greatest songs of the fifties through the eighties.  The longer this pandemic goes on, the more we need music and humor.   I will be in the studio Saturday night and we will keep an eye open for the Easter bunny!   Easter weekends back when I was a wee-Nee would bring the family all together at the old farm house.  My aunt and uncle knew that I loved music.  They would always bring me a record as an Easter present.   One year it was Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, another it was the Partridge Family album Up To Date.  Those are great memories.  I have thousands of records, but I remember those two.  I hope to hear from you Saturday night between six and midnight during this weekends Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9.  Stay well!

Phil 

In my sports career I was an all star on the B squad.  In those days the 'A' team was the Varsity,  the 'B' team was the Junior Varsity.  The B team would go in during the last minutes of the game when the A team was getting blown out or was winning (for us that was rare).  The underclassmen would play the early game (a warm up for the main event).    I was also a fan of 45 r.p.m. records.  When I shelled out .78 cents for a popular song,  I wanted the most for my chore money.  If I flipped the record from the popular side to the lesser known hit, I wanted to hear something catchy. My Panasonic stereo had the 45 adaptor that you could put on the spindle.  Up to five 45s could drop down and play one by one.  It was fun to play the 5 A sides and than turn them all over and play all 5 B sides.   Some were better than others.  During this weeks Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9,  I plan to play the B squad!  You will hear a few favorite gems. Some  of my favorites include:  I See The Light-The Music Explosion (B side of Little Bit O' Soul) ,  Summer Wine-Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood (B side of Sugartown),  We Will Rock You-Queen (B side of We Are The Champions),  and Living Loving Maid-Led Zeppelin (B side of Whole Lotta Love).  I will be in the studio to take your requests from the fifties through the eighties this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9.  Perhaps you can play along with our trivia challenges.  I have found that music is the best medicine during these trying times.  You can escape this 2020 nightmare during Those Were The Days.

Phil

I remember Spring of 1976 very well.  New life was coming to the farm in the Willow Valley.   Favorite hobbies included: riding my three speed down the bumpy gravel road,  listening to my scratchy AM radio late at night under the blankets,  and practicing my favorite sport, ping pong.   Spring hits were blooming on the radio including:  Let Your Love Flow-Bellamy Brothers,  Show Me The Way-Peter Frampton,  Action-The Sweet,  Slow Ride-Foghat,  Right Back Where We Started From-Maxine Nightingale,  and December 1963 (Oh What A Night)-Four Seasons.  When I hear some of these hit songs now,  I am right back there listening for dad to start the tractors in preperation for field work.  Music provided a great escape and during these current times,  I am listening to more that ever.   We had amazing response last Saturday night to our show.  That was the largest amount of requests in a long time.   The good side of this pandemic is the fact that more people are playing cards,  putting together puzzles, reading books, and doing things with family.  I hope everyone stays well and it would be wonderful to talk with you Saturday night during Those Were the Days between six and midnight on WRCO FM 100.9.

Phil

Journey has been one of our most requested groups through the years.  On FM 100.9 Saturday night, I will play a few choice Journey cuts.  We will get some inside info about the groups biggest hits from group member Jonathan Cain.   I will be in the studio to take your fifties through the eighties requests and you could be the winner of a trivia contest!  It is old school radio and I am proud of that!  Our schedule has changed.  The original plan for Saturday night was to feature the Forgotten Hits Essential Classic Rock Top Fifty.  That show will air in the future.  Our families travel plans for the weekend had to change because of the Covid-19 virus.  I will be at the studio and will look forward to talking with you on Saturday night.  That classic rock countdown is going to be awesome and I can't wait for you to hear it.   I will let you know when that will air (most likely whenever the baptism of my new granddaughter can be scheduled again).   Music is a great escape.  That is why I am really looking forward to Saturday nights' Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9 Saturday night.

Phil

The year of 1968 was an interesting year muscially.  The AM Top Forty and the more underground sound of FM radio were melding together.  Heavier stuff from the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Cream were played back to back with Glen Campbell and the Association.   That is what I loved about music radio back in the day on FM 100.9.  You were introduced to all kinds of music.  On Saturday nights' Those Were The Days radio show,  I will take a look at the 1968 survey from mid March.  Saturday March 14th is Pi day (3/14).  We will have to find a few songs with pie in the title...(Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie?).   We also will remember Clark Weber, one of the members of the WLS radio alumi.  Clark passed away last weekend.  He was an amazing talent and was our guest by phone twice on Those Were The Days in the past.  I will be in the studio Saturday night to take your requests and play trivia.  We all need a little escape from the heavy headlines in the news.  Saturday night we will let the music take us a way, Those Were The Days.

Phil

On WRCO FM 100.9 this Saturday night we will take those old records off the shelf again.  We will stop and park during the night in 1975.  That slice of Top 40 hits is an eclectic mix of 70's pop music gems.  Hard rock, soft rock, country, comedy, and r & b, all were blended together.  It was similar to using Roncos' Whip-O-Matic mixing everything up.  We will have to use the Ronco Record Vac and Record Selector so those hits from '75 will be ready to play.  Many of my favorite hits from this weekend in 1975 I heard playing over the bus speakers.  Bus 7 (the 2nd Sextonville route) had the coolest bus in the Ithaca fleet.  Mr. Wanless had an 8-track player/FM stereo installed with two speakers mounted on the front near the roof and 2 more in the back.  He would make mix tapes and we could tune in some cool stations as well.  Some bus favorites this week in 1975 included: Black Water-Doobie Brothers,  Lady Marmalade-LaBelle,  Don't Call Us, We'll Call You-Sugarloaf,  Roll On Down The Highway-B.T.O., Have You Never Been Mellow?-Olivia Newton-John, Best Of My Love-Eagles,  and No No Song-Ringo Starr.  We wont just stay parked in 1975 on FM 100.9 this Saturday night.  You can request anything from the fifties through the eighties during Those Were The Days.  Get ready for trivia and the chance to amaze your friends when you win!  All the cool kids will be listening to WRCO Saturday night.

Phil

Saturday February 29th will be a rare night on Those Were The Days.  Our show has been on WRCO FM 100.9 since 1986.  This will be the second time that we will have an old rock and roll Saturday night party on February 29th.  The first time was 1992.  During this weeks celebration of an extra calender day, we will play for you number one songs from February 29th during the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties.  We will also play a few songs with leaping, jumping, and hopping themes.  I hope you will join the fun when we play trivia and spin the best requests for Southwest Wisconsin.  It will be a night of music memories and surprises!  See if you can stump the d.j.!  Don't jump in front of the radio.  My record might skip! 

Phil

In early 1985 I was trying to pay some bills by spinning records at various establishments and schools.  Unlike my Those Were The Days radio show, the life of a mobile d.j. revolves around beats per minute.  There were many dance classics on the radio in early 1985.  Dance floor faves included:  Neutron Dance-Pointer Sisters,  Easy Lover-Phillip Bailey/Phil Collins, and a slow dance jam I Can't Fight This Feeling-REO Speedwagon.  There was always one fellow that would bug the d.j. until a medium tempo head banger song was played that would clear the dance floor.  'Hey, why are you playing this?" would be the cry. "Play something we can dance to", would be the next line.  The life of a mobile dj is a bit easier these days because equipment is lighter.  They do not have to carry heavy cases of record albums (unless they want to).  They can look up songs on their phones and play them almost instantly.  I was happy to retire to the WRCO studios in 1986 because I did not have to worry about whether the song was danceable.  We still try to keep the beat a bit more up tempo on WRCOs' Those Were The Days.  When several slow songs are requested,  I try to spread them out.  We don't want our audience to fall asleep before midnight.  This Saturday night you will be able to hear some of the biggest 45's of early 1985 and your rock and roll requests from the fifites through the eighties.  You can take our trivia challenges.  I will be flying back from Westby and the WIAA Sectional Saturday evening just in time to play the hits.  Make sure to request something fast that you can dance to which will also keep me awake after a busy day!

Phil