October 29 Radio History

➦In 1930...the radio deejay who would become the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson)with the smash hit Chantilly Lace, was born in Sabine Pass, Texas. He died in the same 1959 plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.

➦In 1983...The Hot 100..Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton scored a #1 song together with "Islands In The Stream".  Bonnie Tyler finally took a back seat with "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" after four weeks.  Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" was #3 followed by the timeless "True" from Spandau Ballet.

The rest of a solid Top 10:  The Fixx with "One Thing Leads To Another", Air Supply's "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All", the Police remained at #7 with "King Of Pain", Prince and "Delirious", Sheena Easton was at #9 with "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" and Billy Joel registered his sixth Top 10 with "Uptown Girl".

➦In 1983...The Album Chart..Synchronicity by the Police continued to hold off Michael Jackson's attempt to return to #1 on the Album chart with Thriller.  Metal Health by Quiet Riot was a very distant third with An Innocent Man from Billy Joel #4.

The rest of the Top 10:  Faster Than the Speed of Night by Bonnie Tyler, Pyromania by Def Leppard, the Soundtrack to "Flashdance" at #7, Air Supply with their Greatest Hits album, Kenny Rogers with a new entry--Eyes That See in the Dark and, although she had changed musical direction, it didn't affect her success as Linda Ronstadt reached the Top 10 yet again with What's New.

➦In 1995...in book stores..Howard Stern’s “Miss America.” Lawyers for the actual Miss America pageant believed the title infringed on their good name.

➦In 2003…According to the results of a study by the Neilsen ratings company, a third of the sales of "Beatles 1" were to fans aged 19 to 24, skewing the band's fan base even younger than it had been previously.

➦In 2005...Julian Breen, former Assistant PD at WABC NYC and PD at KFRC San Francisco, died.

Following success at WABC New York and KYA San Francisco, Julian was largely responsible for developing two radio formats.

First, “Back Seat Music,” established at WPEN in 1975.  It was Julian's belief that people cherished most the music that was popular at the time that they lost their virginity.  He could never quite back it up with research, but didn’t let that stop him.

He also developed the Magic format that was launched at WMGK and cloned nationally.  “It was beautiful music for people who didn’t feel old,” Julian said.