The AM Forum

This brings me back to  the mid 70's when I was living in the Boston area.  I was almost convinced that AM on ham radio was dead, and I had all but lost interest.  Then I picked up a mid 1930's HRO receiver for $50 at a non-radio fleamarket to use to listen to the shortwave broadcast stations.  Tuned across 75 and lo, and behold, I heard AM.  And most of the AM'ers weren't old buzzards.  The majority were in their late teens and early 20's!  Then I went to a ham radio auction one Sunday afternoon in Sharon, MA.  There I met Chuck, WA1EKV, Scott WA1MNQ, Rich K1ETP, WA1NXO, and several other members of the original AM "Mob."  A few weeks later I took a trip to Dayton and found a Ranger for $55, and got it on the air in an apartment near Harvard Square.  I was rockin' and rollin' on AM again!

You have to understand how bland and boring most TV was back then.  A bleak wasteland of dumb sitcoms, assembly-line cop shows and cheesy variety shows.  "NBC's Saturday Night" (as it was called in its first season) hit like a nuclear explosion when it debuted on Oct. 11, 1975.  It was TV for people who didn't like TV.  The people on "SNL" were recognizable human beings. They weren't ugly. They just looked like real people you might pass on the street.

You would hear drug jokes that are no longer allowed on TV. The racial humor would probably not pass muster, either.  Nor would you hear a call for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, even in jest. The children must be protected, y'know.

Both the left and the right have their own brands of political correctness, and they're equally damaging to the spirit of satire.  "SNL" even parodied political correctness before the term was invented.  It was really the last gasp of the "counterculture."

a time capsule of the mid-'70s (http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061217/COLUMNISTS02/612170320/1065/COLUMNISTS)

    I think we are closer to 1984 than 1975.

If you offend nobody -- then you offend everybody.
By avoiding confrontation with reality and truth you deny both

thanks for your reminiscence

Skip

I hear you, Don...

Back in those early days of SNL, I was in my early teens in Baltimore, just starting to discover radio.  If something was going to keep win my attention over those hilarious and smart folks fading in on 75 or 160, it had to be good stuff.  Every week I eagerly awaited the next set of skits - they seeemed to come from way out there somewhere that other performers hadn't gone.

Samurai Delicatessen: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75jsamurai.phtml  (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75jsamurai.phtml)

Have you seen the "best of..." discs that are out now?  I'm amazed at some of the stuff they did, and how the skits still make valid points.  <grin>The shooting of Buckwheat is such a classic...and today the press still replays events untill the viewers are fatigued to limits. 

Buckwheat Shot: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/82/82pstutts.phtml

United 175 comes to mind as a more recent example.

And the language!  They got away with a ton of inuendo - remember Christopher Walken's "Colonel Angus" skit?  Ha! The ladies just love colonel angus...but he's messy and rubs them the wrong way sometimes...

In freedom, there must be a measure of political incorrectness, otherwise we become the next Taliban. 

http://thetravisty.com/Saturday_Night_Live/wmv/Blue_Oyster_Cult_(More_Cowbell).htm


..

My favorite has to be Dan Ackroyd saying, "... Jane, you ignorant slut!!!!!"

There were so many, many skits they did then that I've never seen again...the box set is a must buy!

One I remember specificaly...

Jane Curtain is speaking...

First she talks about being "super-woman"  I raise kids.  I have a high-power carrer.  I do lots of volunteer work.

Then...

"How do I do this?  The answer's easy.  I take speed!  You can too..just ask you're doctor for a prescription.  And you friend's doctor....etc.

I gotta see that again.

Re:  some of the replies...non-PC opinions are not appreciated here.   ;D :P

I really liked the one with the doberman laying around, one woman telling the other that her dog lacks energy and isn't as playful as he used to be? Her reply?

You need puppy-uppers!

Then an explanation of why they were so good and how zippy they would make your dog. Next scene features a miniature doberman jumping up and down rapidly, the same woman but this time saying "gee, I wanted him to be more active but this is too much"

Too active? You need doggy-downers!

Then they showed a dog going from standing to sleeping, in fast motion. Like *thud*.

Just imagine making light of 'uppers' and 'downers' in today's world. In theory at least, 50% of the people got the p-c society they wanted over the last 20 years or so.  ::)

I loved SNL!
Akroyd, Belushi, Murray, Curtain, Chase, Radner, can't rememver the black dudes name. One of my favorite charactors was Father Guido Sarduche.

The show hit the toilet after they lost Belushi tho, unfortunatly. Akroyd is still a wonderful writer but he really lost his touch after Jim. They all did.

I loved Akroyd in the  movie 'Dragnet' he did an outstanding job at re-enacting the role.. Jack Webb was one of my favorites on the OTR Radio shows, Akroyd was outstanding at living the role of Sgt. Joe Friday.

Garrett Morris    -      in the Fop/rakes episode   - "kiss a blackmoor upon the lips"   

 klc