Lee Alan on the horn and AM radio history.

[w1guh]

I hope at least one person recognized the name Lee Alan.....

He was a DJ on Detroit Radio in the 60's, and had, IMHO, the absolute best show on that air at that time.  He was a lot more that a guy who played records, told you the time  and played commercials and jingles; his show was a cohesive whole from his opening theme to the closing theme.  He also ran a very long running series of great concerts at the Walled Lake Casino.

But none of that means a whole lot to most of you...you never heard of him and never heard him.  So why am I posting this?


He's published his autobiography.  I'm about a quarter of the way into it and it's far more than just his personal story, it's also a fascinating look into radio in the 60's....where DJ's came from, how they got their jobs, what payola was all about, the great move by the FCC to force stations to actually do something with their FM transmitters, and on and on.

Heres a link to find out about it...



http://www.detroitradiolegends.com/pages/4/index.htm


It's fascinating reading.

Of course, since he was such a big part of my life from '61 to about '64, I had to get a couple of the CD's.  It's a pity that whoever produced and manufactured them didn't have real good quality control.  Sigh.  But at least Lee's voice and personality are there and could shine through even a slop-bucket signal!

[w1guh]

Wow...

This is surprising and fascinating...

That I still haven't heard from anyone who ever heard of Mr. Alan.  Guess that's what happens when a person dripping with great talent who could have had it all makes some bad choices.  (His words).

Oh, well, time to shut up about this except to say I'm now about 75% or more through his book and the detail about AM stations in early sixties, Detroit radio in particular, and the early days of Motown records is phenomenal, I can't put the book down.  One tidbit is that he describes in detail how Stevie Wonder was discovered and introduced (he should know, he's the man that first put him live on stage before he'd even made a record.)  And an absolutely great anecdote about meeting Frank Sinatra for the first time. And the story of his exclusive interview with the Beatles in Miami Beach in Feb., 1964.

But...for some reason I guess there's only a handful of us outside SE Mich. that have any idea who or what a Lee Alan is.  Bummer. 

He can be heard today, though.  I understand he's on web radio from WPON..

http://www.wpon.com/

Those call letters are ironic in their way.  When Lee was big on WXYZ (ABC), WPON out of Pontiac was pretty much an irrelevant small station (1000 watts day, 500 night, directional) in Pontiac.  They had a couple of good guys in the night time slot, but I never woulda believed that they'd someday have Lee Alan.  But that's the station I hung out at in 63-64 with a friend who worked there.

Sure wish there were some here from that place and time to re-live those wonderful days.

73,

Paul

Paul