Sounds great even today! I was privileged to see this man work. A million things going on at once. Never been anyone like him on the air before or since. Just the greatest ever! He is SO missed!
Really? Rush Limbaugh, Howard stern, art bell, opie and Anthony, bob and Tom. No one better in radio ever??? Care the rethink that now that your ecstasy pills have worn off
And to think that all those commercials were on ETs (electrical transcriptions). You can tell how old a radio studio is by how many turntables it had. A lot of the old ones had three instead of only two to accommodate all the music and commercials that were both on records. And yes, Bob Crane was amazingly hip for 1957, but not only for the time, but also for a network-owned station in a major market.
This is one of the best airchecks we have in our collection! "Crane approaches something close to genius in integrating his commercials with show-stuff. While he sometimes fractures a sponsor's message, he reassembles the pieces and augments and embellishes said message in such a manner as to increase the plug's effectiveness." -Liner Notes, "Laffter, Sweet and Profane" (KNX-CBS Radio Promotional Album circa 1962)
@@fazbell It truly is fantastic. I have many more that I plan on posting over on our RUclips channel as well. Bob was a brilliant radio personality. I am always on the hunt for lost Bob Crane airchecks. They are out there; I just have to find them! :)
Bob Crane was an accomplished drummer. At 2:46, along w/the instrumental tune he plays drums using the brushes. When Hogan's Heros later premiered on TV, that's him playing the drums on the show's opening theme!
The sound quality is amazing. Remove the commercials and news and it really does sound contemporary. So many radio airchecks from the 50s/60s and into the 70's were of DJs talking fast and putting on that phony radio voice where every word is over enunciated. Bob seemed to be ahead of his time here.
I like Bob's pace and timing...a bit of smart-alec (but no meanness at all), witty, topical and with those great commercial spots! As big as he was in SoCal on radio (my uncle was stationed at Vandenburg and Edwards AFBs and listened to him every morning in this time period), why in heck is there a question about him being in the Radio HOF when there are several lesser lights already in? To heck about any personal rumours...the proof is on the tape.
My parents always listened to the local radio morning show. I laugh when I remember the day they figured out the music was on records not played live. lol
An hour well spent, I've been a Bob Crane fan forever but this is the first time I've heard him on the air, smooth and likeable I can see now why his stint at KNX was so memerable.
With the drop-ins & lines inserted into the spots, I wonder how accurately he logged them, time-wise. Growing up in DC in the 60s, there was a very popular morning team who made extraneous, though humorous, comments during the live spots. This often caused a 60-second commercial to actually be more like 90 seconds or more, but they logged it as a :60.. The FCC took a dim view of the practice & I think the station actually got fined. On another aircheck of his the introduction of it mentioned that advertisers paid a premium to place ads on Crane's show & they were required to also buy slots during other dayparts, if they wanted their ad on his popular morning show. Bob Crane was an amazing radio talent, that's for sure!
I had heard that the engineers at KNX built a special control board for Bob Crane. Sounds phoney, but as I listen to this aircheck I can believe that he might have been that popular.
Bob built much of it himself. He had a foot pedal that he used to control several of the turntables. At one point, he had six turntables, which he referred to as "the horseshoe."
interesting that he never mentioned the 1070 dial position and we didnt hear the CBS hourly news. this was probably 10 years before all the CBS AM stations were switched to an all-news or news-talk format.
The quality of the sound is excellent. My goodness, is this bad radio or what. It was disjointed, AOR All Over The Road. But, it demonstrated what radio was like back in the day.
What you call "bad radio" was called "normal" in those days. Guys like Drake, Bennett, Rook, Sklar, Holman, et. al., either were too young to be in radio, or weren't yet in positions to influence the way radio was programmed en masse. Gordon McLendon and Chuck Blore WERE in radio, but McLendon was in Dallas at KLIF, and Chuck was up on Hollywood Blvd. at KFWB, no doubt getting IT ready for the switch to Top 40 the coming January.
JUDGING a 1957 radio show by 2019 mentality is illogical. for that time period and era, KNX was considered of good taste and widely popular for the local listening audience. for those RUclips users who were alive then and can direct your conscious memory back to A.D. 1957, you may find that this recorded aircheck fits right in quite nicely. FYI, the format, years before the term "Middle-of-the Road" was commonly used, KNX Radio was simply known by the monikers "Popular Music Station" and "Your Good Music Station" -- both of which were non-Rock 'n' Roll identifiers.
As a Hogan's Heroes fan from way back, I am enjoying surfing around watching bits of recordings and things that Bob Crane did but all of it is playing in the backdrop of sadness for the tragedy that befell this talented man's life. As a drummer myself, I've always been fascinated by Bob Crane. I watched the movie "Auto Focus" the other day (I tried to, anyway - much of it was too vile for my liking; being a born again Christian, I muted and hid much of this movie from my eyes with my remote) and I managed to get a picture of the life of the man called Hogan, mostly of his demise and the events leading up to his tragic murder. Some people are overcome by drugs, others by alcohol, some by both and many by a third vice - SEX. Crane was, as far as the movie states, given over to a life of lust and sex and according to those close to him, he didn't try to hide it. It wrecked his career and personal life. His choice of close friends played a big part in his untimely death. If you're a Bob Crane fan and haven't seen the movie, go watch it but keep your hand on the mute button and the fast forward and pause because if you're like me, you won't want to see certain segments of this one.
@@maxpayne2574 Correct. Director Paul Schrader even went on record to say it was a distortion. He said to the NY Times: "Carpenter was not as important in Crane's life as he is in the film. It is a distortion. ... My intent with Auto Focus is not to be true or definitive. People's actual lives are not really that interesting."
Dear MyMrPopCulture, why dont you re up the wmca gary stevens 1968 pop culture, 1965 and 1964 on dailymotion or another similar youtube service?, isee many people re up their blocked videos on that sites without any problem....or can you share them via mega or another service?. i used to have them and enjoy them, but my HD died and i want them again. Hope u can help me. Greetings: :)
KNX was never in the rock-and-roll game at all, to my knowledge. It was always an adult station, when they played music. I assume their schedule was fairly loaded-up with network stuff. But in the days before radio "formats" really existed, nearly all stations had "block programming" which would change from one show/program to the next. It may even be possible that KNX had a rock and roll show or two, perhaps a total of three hours a week or something. I know that WBBM Chicago (another one owned by CBS) was airing SOME sort of rock and roll show, of unknown duration, in 1956. They were NEVER known as a rock and roll station, but at that time they were reporting a rock and roll Top Ten to the Chicago Tribune ("Hound Dog" and stuff like that). Interesting to listen to an aircheck of a station playing adult music, and not hearing them play anything from the 1940s and early 1950s that were originally hit songs. I would have expected to hear some of that. Their music may sound corny to some, but it was still serving its purpose. They were programming for adults, rather than teenagers and very young adults.
Sounds great even today! I was privileged to see this man work. A million things going on at once. Never been anyone like him on the air before or since. Just the greatest ever! He is SO missed!
Really? Rush Limbaugh, Howard stern, art bell, opie and Anthony, bob and Tom. No one better in radio ever??? Care the rethink that now that your ecstasy pills have worn off
And to think that all those commercials were on ETs (electrical transcriptions). You can tell how old a radio studio is by how many turntables it had. A lot of the old ones had three instead of only two to accommodate all the music and commercials that were both on records. And yes, Bob Crane was amazingly hip for 1957, but not only for the time, but also for a network-owned station in a major market.
More of this please
This is one of the best airchecks we have in our collection! "Crane approaches something close to genius in integrating his commercials with show-stuff. While he sometimes fractures a sponsor's message, he reassembles the pieces and augments and embellishes said message in such a manner as to increase the plug's effectiveness." -Liner Notes, "Laffter, Sweet and Profane" (KNX-CBS Radio Promotional Album circa 1962)
great stuff Carol.
One of the best L. A. airchecks I have heard.
@@fazbell It truly is fantastic. I have many more that I plan on posting over on our RUclips channel as well. Bob was a brilliant radio personality. I am always on the hunt for lost Bob Crane airchecks. They are out there; I just have to find them! :)
Bob Crane was an accomplished drummer. At 2:46, along w/the instrumental tune he plays drums using the brushes. When Hogan's Heros later premiered on TV, that's him playing the drums on the show's opening theme!
The sound quality is amazing. Remove the commercials and news and it really does sound contemporary. So many radio airchecks from the 50s/60s and into the 70's were of DJs talking fast and putting on that phony radio voice where every word is over enunciated. Bob seemed to be ahead of his time here.
March 27,1957 sixty years ago and almost a few hours ago!
I like Bob's pace and timing...a bit of smart-alec (but no meanness at all), witty, topical and with those great commercial spots! As big as he was in SoCal on radio (my uncle was stationed at Vandenburg and Edwards AFBs and listened to him every morning in this time period), why in heck is there a question about him being in the Radio HOF when there are several lesser lights already in? To heck about any personal rumours...the proof is on the tape.
The constant time checks are crazy, but common to radio in that era.
Just FYI - This aircheck is from March 27, 1957.
This sounds like it was recorded off of KNX-FM. The high fidelity and the multipathing tell me it came from the FM simulcast of KNX 1070.
My parents always listened to the local radio morning show. I laugh when I remember the day they figured out the music was on records not played live. lol
An hour well spent,
I've been a Bob Crane fan forever but this is the first time I've heard him on the air, smooth and likeable I can see now why his stint at KNX was so memerable.
With the drop-ins & lines inserted into the spots, I wonder how accurately he logged them, time-wise. Growing up in DC in the 60s, there was a very popular morning team who made extraneous, though humorous, comments during the live spots. This often caused a 60-second commercial to actually be more like 90 seconds or more, but they logged it as a :60.. The FCC took a dim view of the practice & I think the station actually got fined. On another aircheck of his the introduction of it mentioned that advertisers paid a premium to place ads on Crane's show & they were required to also buy slots during other dayparts, if they wanted their ad on his popular morning show. Bob Crane was an amazing radio talent, that's for sure!
I had heard that the engineers at KNX built a special control board for Bob Crane. Sounds phoney, but as I listen to this aircheck I can believe that he might have been that popular.
Bob built much of it himself. He had a foot pedal that he used to control several of the turntables. At one point, he had six turntables, which he referred to as "the horseshoe."
Its so sad what happened to Bob crane I like him but not hogans heroes . I really like him as a DJ.
33:59 The voice of the late Ed Gardner (Archie of OTR's "Duffy's Tavern") doing a car commercial.
This is great! Are there any other extended Bob Crane airchecks?
Yes! Check out our channel. I will be posting others, too. :)
interesting that he never mentioned the 1070 dial position and we didnt hear the CBS hourly news. this was probably 10 years before all the CBS AM stations were switched to an all-news or news-talk format.
+Ross Ewage Right...KNX was playing the CBS Radio Pacific/Mountain morning feed as late as 1964. I think WCBS was the first to go all-news in 1967.
The Dodgers were still in Brooklyn.
Anyone know the instrumental he plays around the 3 or 4 minute mark? It sounds like an old song called 'If You Can't Get FIve Take Two'
The quality of the sound is excellent. My goodness, is this bad radio or what. It was disjointed, AOR All Over The Road. But, it demonstrated what radio was like back in the day.
What you call "bad radio" was called "normal" in those days. Guys like Drake, Bennett, Rook, Sklar, Holman, et. al., either were too young to be in radio, or weren't yet in positions to influence the way radio was programmed en masse. Gordon McLendon and Chuck Blore WERE in radio, but McLendon was in Dallas at KLIF, and Chuck was up on Hollywood Blvd. at KFWB, no doubt getting IT ready for the switch to Top 40 the coming January.
JUDGING a 1957 radio show by 2019 mentality is illogical. for that time period and era, KNX was considered of good taste and widely popular for the local listening audience.
for those RUclips users who were alive then and can direct your conscious memory back to A.D. 1957, you may find that this recorded aircheck fits right in quite nicely.
FYI, the format, years before the term "Middle-of-the Road" was commonly used,
KNX Radio was simply known by the monikers "Popular Music Station" and "Your Good Music Station" -- both of which were non-Rock 'n' Roll identifiers.
Holy crap the amount of commercials!
YASSIR, THE SPOT COUNT PER HOUR was high, spot rates and billings were very high -- and so were the air staff salaries.
As a Hogan's Heroes fan from way back, I am enjoying surfing around watching bits of recordings and things that Bob Crane did but all of it is playing in the backdrop of sadness for the tragedy that befell this talented man's life. As a drummer myself, I've always been fascinated by Bob Crane. I watched the movie "Auto Focus" the other day (I tried to, anyway - much of it was too vile for my liking; being a born again Christian, I muted and hid much of this movie from my eyes with my remote) and I managed to get a picture of the life of the man called Hogan, mostly of his demise and the events leading up to his tragic murder. Some people are overcome by drugs, others by alcohol, some by both and many by a third vice - SEX. Crane was, as far as the movie states, given over to a life of lust and sex and according to those close to him, he didn't try to hide it. It wrecked his career and personal life. His choice of close friends played a big part in his untimely death. If you're a Bob Crane fan and haven't seen the movie, go watch it but keep your hand on the mute button and the fast forward and pause because if you're like me, you won't want to see certain segments of this one.
Auto-focus is not an accurate movie the family and friends of Bob have said it was wildly exaggerated
@@maxpayne2574 Is anything in this age truly accurate? Let's just say that it contained a lot of truth about the man and his problems.
@@maxpayne2574 Correct. Director Paul Schrader even went on record to say it was a distortion. He said to the NY Times: "Carpenter was not as important in Crane's life as he is in the film. It is a distortion. ... My intent with Auto Focus is not to be true or definitive. People's actual lives are not really that interesting."
Anyone catch the name of the song around the 44 minute mark?
47:40 Bob goofing around with a Vitalis spot. 😂
Who's the singer in the Barbasol commercial at 5:05-Cliiffie Stone or Thurl Ravenscroft? Great ad-libs by Crane on this spot.
Sounds like Thurl to me.
Dear MyMrPopCulture, why dont you re up the wmca gary stevens 1968 pop culture, 1965 and 1964 on dailymotion or another similar youtube service?, isee many people re up their blocked videos on that sites without any problem....or can you share them via mega or another service?. i used to have them and enjoy them, but my HD died and i want them again. Hope u can help me. Greetings: :)
I put up Gary Stevens from 1967. Search it!
The Russians had yet to launch Sputnik.
way before he was colonal hogan
07:02 You can use Ben-Gay on your HEAD?
Sounds like a real bad idea
If you're a guy, WHICH head? I can think of a very lewd response, but I don't-dare, lol.
there was only one kind of Marlboro cigarettes the red pack
Andrew Fernandez Loved the Marlboro Cigarette Jingle
Box or soft pack yup both regular red
crane goofing around with the news guy
singing over records
stuff you werent supposed to do
true pioneer
I love Bob, but the music leaves LOT to be desired. Golden slippers? Real cornball stuff! lol
KNX was never in the rock-and-roll game at all, to my knowledge. It was always an adult station, when they played music. I assume their schedule was fairly loaded-up with network stuff.
But in the days before radio "formats" really existed, nearly all stations had "block programming" which would change from one show/program to the next. It may even be possible that KNX had a rock and roll show or two, perhaps a total of three hours a week or something. I know that WBBM Chicago (another one owned by CBS) was airing SOME sort of rock and roll show, of unknown duration, in 1956. They were NEVER known as a rock and roll station, but at that time they were reporting a rock and roll Top Ten to the Chicago Tribune ("Hound Dog" and stuff like that).
Interesting to listen to an aircheck of a station playing adult music, and not hearing them play anything from the 1940s and early 1950s that were originally hit songs. I would have expected to hear some of that.
Their music may sound corny to some, but it was still serving its purpose. They were programming for adults, rather than teenagers and very young adults.
Yeah I was really joking around. It is actually kinda relaxing to listen to that kind of music. Some rock and roll was corny too. 😂