My mentor, Jim Gill, would play NYC radio station WRFM - home of "American Popular Standards" - all the time in the office at Journal Square. I learned the art of tax preparation listening to radio personalities Jim Branch and Jim Alewood (sp?), the music of Andy Williams, Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Mantovani, Henry Mancini, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Nat King Cole and Frank, Dean and Sammy, and learning "Things No One Ever Told You".
The music was relaxing and helped us cope with the stress and frustration of the tax season. To this day I must have music on when I am working - I cannot work in silence.
When WRFM changed to WNSR and soft rock in 1986, after we had moved from Journal Square to Newark Avenue, we switched to WNEW-AM. When WNEW-AM was replaced by Bloomberg we switched to WQEW-AM until Disney took over in 1998. I then tuned in to WMTR-AM from Morristown, whose signal was not always strong enough to get in Jersey City. But that station changed its format to oldies. "American Popular Standards" had disappeared from my radio!
Nowadays with streaming radio playing on the internet one is not limited to the stations that can be picked up on the office radio. In my wanderings on the web I came across Radio Locator, the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the internet. This site has links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world. You enter a “format” (i.e. adult contemporary, country, hip hop, jazz, oldies, rock, top-40, and so on) and get a listing of radio stations from across the USA that feature that format.
This is how I eventually found AM 880 KIXI radio from Seattle Washington, which is a member of the “Music of Your Life” syndicated radio network, where “disc jockeys” Peter Marshall of “Hollywood Squares”, legendary singer Pat Boone, Gary Owens of “Laugh-In”, and Dean Martin’s daughter Deana and her husband play the “music of your life” and reminisce.
The music was relaxing and helped us cope with the stress and frustration of the tax season. To this day I must have music on when I am working - I cannot work in silence.
When WRFM changed to WNSR and soft rock in 1986, after we had moved from Journal Square to Newark Avenue, we switched to WNEW-AM. When WNEW-AM was replaced by Bloomberg we switched to WQEW-AM until Disney took over in 1998. I then tuned in to WMTR-AM from Morristown, whose signal was not always strong enough to get in Jersey City. But that station changed its format to oldies. "American Popular Standards" had disappeared from my radio!
Nowadays with streaming radio playing on the internet one is not limited to the stations that can be picked up on the office radio. In my wanderings on the web I came across Radio Locator, the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the internet. This site has links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world. You enter a “format” (i.e. adult contemporary, country, hip hop, jazz, oldies, rock, top-40, and so on) and get a listing of radio stations from across the USA that feature that format.
This is how I eventually found AM 880 KIXI radio from Seattle Washington, which is a member of the “Music of Your Life” syndicated radio network, where “disc jockeys” Peter Marshall of “Hollywood Squares”, legendary singer Pat Boone, Gary Owens of “Laugh-In”, and Dean Martin’s daughter Deana and her husband play the “music of your life” and reminisce.
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I had seen Peter Marshall, Julie Harris and Charles Nelson Reilly in the Broadway musical “Skyscraper” (music and lyrics by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn and book by Peter Stone) over 40 years ago. On the anniversary of its opening in 1965 Peter Marshall played several of the songs from the musical and talked about his memories of the show.
I also discovered WJAS 1320 AM, an oldies station from Pittsburg PA that every Saturday morning at 9:00 am plays an original cast album on THE BEST OF BROADWAY. This show features Broadway musicals from the 50’s through today. This past Saturday was WICKED. Previous Saturdays have included CALL ME MADAM, THE KING AND I, CAN CAN, GODSPELL, ME AND MY GIRL, THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG, MISS SAIGON, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and HAIRSPRAY.
And of course on Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 4:00 PM it is Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC 109.3 FM.
I can now play American Popular Standards and listen to Jack, Steve, Henry, Barbra, Perry, Nat, Frank, Dean and Sammy while I work once again!
As I am writing this post I am listening to Jack Jones singing “Lollipops and Roses”.
TTYL
I also discovered WJAS 1320 AM, an oldies station from Pittsburg PA that every Saturday morning at 9:00 am plays an original cast album on THE BEST OF BROADWAY. This show features Broadway musicals from the 50’s through today. This past Saturday was WICKED. Previous Saturdays have included CALL ME MADAM, THE KING AND I, CAN CAN, GODSPELL, ME AND MY GIRL, THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG, MISS SAIGON, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and HAIRSPRAY.
And of course on Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 4:00 PM it is Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC 109.3 FM.
I can now play American Popular Standards and listen to Jack, Steve, Henry, Barbra, Perry, Nat, Frank, Dean and Sammy while I work once again!
As I am writing this post I am listening to Jack Jones singing “Lollipops and Roses”.
TTYL
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