Radio Disney

 

On August 13th, Disney announced it would be ending it's Radio Disney network on nearly all of it's mostly AM radio stations and selling the stations to concentrate on the network's digital platforms, such as online and satellite.

The stations affected are:

98.3 WRDZ-FM Plainfield/Indianapolis (their only FM station.)

590 WDWD Atlanta 

620 KMKI Plano/Dallas 

640 WWJZ Mount Holly NJ/Philadelphia 

910 WFDF Farmington Hills/Detroit 

990 WMYM Miami 

990 WDYZ Orlando 

1250 KKDZ Seattle (See below for more info on KKDZ)

1250 WDDZ Pittsburgh 

1260 WWMK Cleveland 

1260 WSDZ Belleville IL/St. Louis 

1260 WMKI Boston 

1300 WRDZ La Grange/Chicago 

1310 KMKY San Francisco 

1380 WWMI St. Petersburg 

1440 KDIZ Golden Valley/Minneapolis 

1470 KIID Sacramento 

1480 WGFY Charlotte 

1560 WQEW New York 

1580 KMIK Tempe/Phoenix 

1590 KMIC Houston 

1640 KDZR Lake Oswego/Portland 

1690 KDDZ Arvada/Denver

The stations will leave the air until they are sold. It's currently unknown if there will be a single buyer of all or if stations will be sold one by one. But one thing is guaranteed; the formats will change.

Radio Disney however is keeping it's flagship station, 1110 KDIS Los Angeles, but the rest are to be sold.

This brings to an end to the longest running AM children's radio network chain. Radio Disney was one of many networks started in the 1980s, '90s and 2000s to rescue failing 2nd tier, mostly AM radio stations with unique programming unavailable on most FM radio stations (such as hard rock, LGBT programming, personal motivation, progressive talk, business talk and others.) In Disney's case, programming for pre-teens.

However, they weren't the first network to cater to children. There were earlier networks, such as Radio AAHS (pronounced "Radio Oz", founded in 1990 and based at 1280 WWTC Minneapolis - now a conservative talk station.) Radio AAHS also offered a monthly magazine with a CD or cassette tape.

Radio AAHS entered into a early deal with Disney which quickly turned sour, as Disney was quietly preparing it's own radio network (unbeknownst to Radio AAHS.) It's been said the only reason Disney entered into the deal was to learn all they could about Radio AAHS's successful children's radio programming model. And then use it to their advantage and shutting out it's benefactor.

Seattle based KidStar was an aspiring competitor to Radio AAHS. Founded in 1993 and based at 1250 KKDZ Seattle, KidStar offered similar programming to Radio AAHS, but KidStar was a bit edgier, offering more rock based music selections than the mostly kiddie-tune Radio AAHS. There were plans to expand into a full network, like Radio AAHS, but they were quickly dashed as Disney began flexing it's muscles with Radio AAHS. 

Both the Radio AAHS network and KidStar relied on advertising from giants of kid marketing, such as Disney, Warner Bros., Mattel and General Mills. However as Disney became more powerful in the children's radio format at an alarming rate, these accounts quickly dried up by the time Radio Disney was launched in 1996 and there was no way tiny KidStar could compete with the Disney empire. KidStar had no other option than to sell it's one and only station, KKDZ Seattle to Radio Disney in 1997.

Radio Disney is scheduled to end programming on their affiliate stations around September 26th.

(UPDATE: Radio Disney will continue to operate on all it's current stations until each are sold. - L.W.) 

98.3 WRDZ-FM Plainfield/Indianapolis 590 WDWD Atlanta 620 KMKI Plano/Dallas 640 WWJZ Mount Holly NJ/Philadelphia 910 WFDF Farmington Hills/Detroit 990 WMYM Miami 990 WDYZ Orlando 1250 KKDZ Seattle 1250 WDDZ Pittsburgh 1260 WWMK Cleveland 1260 WSDZ Belleville IL/St. Louis 1260 WMKI Boston 1300 WRDZ La Grange/Chicago 1310 KMKY San Francisco 1380 WWMI St. Petersburg 1440 KDIZ Golden Valley/Minneapolis 1470 KIID Sacramento 1480 WGFY Charlotte 1560 WQEW New York 1580 KMIK Tempe/Phoenix 1590 KMIC Houston 1640 KDZR Lake Oswego/Portland 1690 KDDZ Arvada/Denver

Read more at: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/89717/radio-disney-to-sell-all-but-one-station/

98.3 WRDZ-FM Plainfield/Indianapolis 590 WDWD Atlanta 620 KMKI Plano/Dallas 640 WWJZ Mount Holly NJ/Philadelphia 910 WFDF Farmington Hills/Detroit 990 WMYM Miami 990 WDYZ Orlando 1250 KKDZ Seattle 1250 WDDZ Pittsburgh 1260 WWMK Cleveland 1260 WSDZ Belleville IL/St. Louis 1260 WMKI Boston 1300 WRDZ La Grange/Chicago 1310 KMKY San Francisco 1380 WWMI St. Petersburg 1440 KDIZ Golden Valley/Minneapolis 1470 KIID Sacramento 1480 WGFY Charlotte 1560 WQEW New York 1580 KMIK Tempe/Phoenix 1590 KMIC Houston 1640 KDZR Lake Oswego/Portland 1690 KDDZ Arvada/Denver

Read more at: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/89717/radio-disney-to-sell-all-but-one-sta

Barnaby Becomes the Easter Bunny (Hallmark, 1974)

Side 1

Side 2

Happy Easter!

Digger The Dog

I will never forget the reactions of other (real) dogs when they saw some kid playing with this (ranging from snarling to outright bewilderment....)

Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971 TV Special)

"Seymour S. Sassafrass, an eccentric, yet friendly peddler, and inventor, tells the tale of Peter Cottontail, a young Easter Bunny who lives in April Valley, where the Chief Easter Bunny supervises such Easter items as colored eggs and chocolate candy.

Colonel Wellington B. Bunny, the retiring Chief Easter Bunny, names young Peter his successor despite Peter's propensity for boasting and telling fibs, which is exemplified when his left ear droops. Peter, who has dreamed of being the Chief Easter Bunny almost his entire life, gladly accepts. But not everyone in April Valley is happy with the Colonel's decision. January Q. Irontail, an evil, reclusive rabbit villain who lives in a craggy old tree, alone except for his assistant, a bat named Montresor, wants to be the Chief Easter Bunny..." - YouTube description by BearclawsVillage. 

Voiced by:
 
Danny Kaye
Casey Kasem
Vincent Price
Joan Gardner
Paul Frees

Chick Chick Easter Egg Colouring Kit From 1910

1953 Mattel Tin Musical Wind-Up Easter Egg

Dudley's Easter Egg Colouring Kits

Remember Dudley the Easter....whatever it was....?

In the 1970s, you pretty much had two choices for Easter egg colouring kits. The cheap and traditional, but lame Paas kits (or the similar Chick Chick kits.)

 Or the more expensive and more interesting Dudley kits.



Dudley kits had more artistic variety, such as swirls and glitter.

But Dudley always resembled some 40something bachelor guy sitting next to you in a sports bar that you probably talked to after a few strong drinks. Not so much a cute fluffy bunny rabbit we associate with Easter.

Perhaps noticing this, the makers of Dudley gave him a makeover, Now he doesn't look like a fat cross-eyed buffoon.

 
But really, the "new" Dudley is.....Well....A little too cutesy?

More McDonalds Memories

Thanks to Lee Willoughby...

Red Raven Magic Mirror Records

The Red Raven Magic Mirror Records were a children's toy of the 1950s. They used a series of specially made vinyl 78 RPM records with a very large label which reflected off an angled spinning mirror which resembled a carousel which was placed over the spindle of the player, giving the illusion of motion.

 

 

 There were only around 20 known titles to the "movie record" series.

The Star Wars Question & Answer Book About Computers (1983)

1950s Hi-Fi Junior

"The Chipmunk Song" The Chipmunks w/ Canned Heat (1968)

Aluminum Christmas Trees

Aluminum Christmas trees were a fad that lasted from 1955 to 1965. First appearing in department store windows, they quickly became a "must have" item for suburban housewives.

You couldn't use ordinary string lights with these trees. The sides of the "needles" of these trees were often like razor blades and could cut into the wire insulation, causing a dangerous electrical short. And since string lights come in green or white wires, it would be the equivalent of wearing a strapless gown with a bra that isn't.

You used a colour wheel, a spinning light was used which shined light in red, green, blue and gold onto the reflective tree. They only looked good in a very low light area.

 
The downfall of the aluminum Christmas tree came after A Charlie Brown Christmas Special, where Lucy tells Charlie Brown to buy an aluminum Christmas tree ("Maybe painted pink!") It became a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas and fell out of favour with the public.

However, they've been making a nostalgic comeback in recent years....

Drug Store Christmas Records For Kids

Never heard of The Caroleers? You're not alone. Their name isn't even mentioned on some of their own records! 

But if you were a kid of the '50s to '70s, you may have had a few of their records.

And they may have sold as many Christmas records between 1950-1975 as Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Burl Ives. 

Admittedly, there are no actual sales numbers of these records because the only places you could find them were in racks at drug stores or supermarkets. And the RIAA never calculated music sales outside mainstream retail record stores in those days. But from the sheer numbers of these records I encounter in thrift stores and on eBay, it was likely a few million. 

The Caroleers recorded childrens records for Peter Pan Records in the early '50s as The Peter Pan Caroleers. Peter Pan Records was a division of Synthetic Plastics Corporation (SPC). SPC was based in Newark, NJ and started out in the late '20s making other plastic products (buttons, board game and toy pieces, hair combs and whatever other minute miscellanea you could make out of PVC.)

SPC started Peter Pan Records in 1949. They initially made plastic 78 RPM records for children. They knew as the 33 1/3 RPM long playing and 45 RPM record was taking the nation by storm, there would be BIG business in children's records due to the sudden rise in hand-me-down 78 RPM phonographs from their parents who quickly adopted the slower speeds and multiple speed functions of the automatic record changers that were coming into vogue.

By the late '50s, they were making the then standard 45s. You may better remember the Peter Pan childrens 45s from your '60s/'70s childhood. They were the second biggest (behind Disney) producer of children's records in America.

 

Playhour Records (late '60s): Contrary to popular collector belief, it wasn't SPC, but Pickwick that made Playhour Records, following the SPC/Peter Pan formula perfectly. Playhour records were packaged in tote pack sets of 12 45s and sold for $3.  

SPC expanded in the adult market with their budget record labels. They often mixed in their Caroleers recordings for Peter Pan on their Christmas albums marketed for adults. (Under the Yuletide, Spin-O-Rama, Diplomat and Tinkerbell labels.) These albums are regular thrift store/eBay finds.

Where we have this nearly flawless Perry Como impersonator.....

 

...or this Tom T. Hall imitator....

At least, "The Caroleers" was their pseudonym. No one truly knows who they were, where they came from. Who was their leader, etc. Nothing. Session information and artistic liner notes do not exist. As with everything SPC ever produced..

The cold hard truth is "The Caroleers" were just a blanket name for a group of unknown session singers and musicians at SPC who were paid a flat fee for their services and recieved no royalties from their recordings. And this was perhaps the best selling group on a budget label ever.

And guess how much songwriters Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson got in royalties from The Caroleers' recording of their "Frosty The Snowman"? Just guess.....

In an apparent Gene Autry knockoff.....

Most of The Caroleers recordings were made in the 1950s and '60s at a time when music publishing was fraught with copyright loopholes galore, allowing for dozens of knockoff and "tribute" records (much like we see today.) SPC and other budget record labels got away with this by claiming their music was intended for children and thus for play inside homes, not over the radio or publicly. SPC did not service radio stations and most radio stations did not play their product. (Most.) So they actually claimed that they didn't have to owe songwriters royalties in spite of making millions in profit from their songs.

Today, the artists and songwriters are usually in on it too, as these knockoffs are actually a revenue stream, no matter how disingenuous.

     

However in the early '70s, songwriters were sick of all these cheap record labels whoring their music and collectively put an end to this racket and most budget labels ceased operation or went into other lines.

About this time however, SPC stopped pressing the old Caroleers records and hacked up something even more nefarious for Christmas in the '70s.

"The Peppermint Kandy Kids" anyone?....This record was narrated with Peter Fernandez doing utterly the very worst Jackie Vernon impersonation you will ever hear.

However even in the disco era, old habits died hard with SPC (by then known as Peter Pan Industries.) They even cashed in on the Disco Duck craze with "Irwin The Disco Duck"   

SPC went back to exclusively childrens records as Peter Pan and later, Power Records which incorporated an action comic book style format targeted to boys.