On September 8-10, 1965 the Daily Variety newspaper and the Hollywood Reporter ran an ad in the paper to look for a cast of members for an up coming TV series.
It read, Madness!! Auditions. Folk and Roll musicians- singers or acting roles in TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys, ages 17-21. Have courage to work. Must come down to interview.
Out of 437 applicants, three were chosen for the cast, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Mickey Dolenz. Michael Nesmith was the only one who saw the ad in the paper. Peter Tork was the last one to be chosen. Davy Jones was already signed to a long term contract to appear in TV and films with Screen-Gems and Columbia  pictures which would be their record label in September of 1964. Stories have always been told that the Monkees never played their own instruments, but actually they did but their producers didn’t let them. Mike Nesmith was a skilled guitarist and bassist and Peter Tork played several stringed instruments and keyboards and also Mickey knew how to play the guitar and Davy Jones could play the drums. This is the band that was created and we know them as “The Monkees”.
Davy Jones was picked as the lead vocalist which the other three didn’t like, but Nesmith said that it was Mickey Dolenz voice that was distinctive in the band. And yet after so many rumors, the Monkees did play their own instruments. But remember they were hired as actors not musicians, that’s why the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame will not induct them in the Hall of Fame.
Another great rumor is that Charles Manson had also auditioned for an acting role but that is not true, Charlie was serving a federal prison sentence at the time in 1965. Find out more on the “Monkees” as we feature them as artist of the month, on the Little Red Rooster Show and KWMC’s Classic Hit Station 1490 AM.
And as always all information and known facts are by Wendy Johnson and all Artist of the Month shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

Nov. 1968 George Harrison becomes the first Beatle to issue material independently of the group with the album soundtrack for the film “Wonderwall”. 
On March 12, 1969 he and his wife Patti are arrested and charged with possession of 120 joints of Marijuana. By December of 1970 after releasing the album “All things must pass” he is the first to secure a charting top album and sells 3 million copies worldwide. The album is co-produced by Phil Spector and Harrison is backed by such musicians as Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker, Billy Preston, Badfinger, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. By Dec. 26, 1970 “My sweet lord” hits #1 giving Harrison a second accolade as the first ex- Beatle to have a chart topping single. The song was originally given to Billy Preston and the song sells for over 5 million copies worldwide. 
On March of 1971, Bright Tunes who owns the copyrights to the song “He’s so Fine” by the Chiffons makes a claim that “My sweet lord” plagiarizes the song “He’s so fine”. Harrison claims that the song is inspired by the Edwin Hawkin Singers song of “Oh Happy Day”, which makes more sense. But on Sept. 7,1976 district judge Richard Owens orders Harrison to pay $587,000.00 dollars. Although not too many people knew about Harrison’s talents, it is interesting to know that he played several instruments, no fewer than 26. Such instruments included the Sitar, guitar of course, four string guitar, bass guitar, arp bass, violin, piano, auto harp, Moog synthesizer, harmonica, tamboura, marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, now that’s a lot of instruments. Now Harrison known as the quiet ex- Beatle, should be known as the unfaithful ex-Beatle. As troubles brewed with the Beatles in the latter years, Harrison was so upset with the band but kept all feelings inside of him. Buy that time he had an affair with Ringo’s ex- wife. Gorge Harrison actually had hundreds of affairs, just too many to talk about. 
Find out more on George Harrison as we feature him as Artist of the month on KWMC”S 1490 AM classic hits station and the “Little Red Rooster Show”. And as always and still , all known facts and stories are by Wendy Johnson and still all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

Out of Galveston Texas, but raised since infancy in East Los Angeles California Barry White sang in church choir and learned to play a variety of musical instruments in hid early teens. In 1960 he joined an R&b quintet, the Upfronts, nothing came out of that venture.
By 1964 Barry arranges Bob and Earl’s song of the “the Harlum Shuffle”. In 1968 Barry while working for the Mustang label discovers the female vocal trio “Love Unlimited” and becomes their manager and producer. By 1972 having signed “Love Unlimited” to Uni Records, he produces “Walkin in the rain with the one I love”, which # 14 in both the U.S. and the U.K. charts and sells over a million copies. By 1973 Barry starts recording as a solo artist.
His song “I’m gonna love you just a little more” hits U.S. #3 and becomes a million seller and earns a gold disc. By 1974 the song “Never gonna give you up” gets to #7 and earns another gold disc. By September of 1974 “Can’t get enough of your love baby” hits #1 and is his third million seller. By 1975 “You’re the first, the last, my everything” is Barry’s 4th gold record. And then here comes the rumors, Barry has often been credited with playing piano at age 11, on Jesse Belvins 1956 hit single “Goodnight My Love”. However in an interview in 1995, Barry denied writing or arranging the song. He believes the story was an exaggeration by journalists. While Barry and Jesse Belvin did live in the same neighborhood, Belvin was 12 years older than Barry. And now the other side of Barry White, songwriter, recording engineer, piano and keyboard player Bass player, singer and thief. Barry’s brother was murdered in a clash with a rival gang in 1983, and White himself was jailed for 4 months at the age of 16 for stealing $ 30,000.00 worth of Cadillac tires.
Find out more on Barry White as we continue with more artist of the month shows on KWMC 1490 AM and the “Little Red Rooster Show”. Still all information and known facts are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

It’s that time of the year once again, at least for 2020, it is Christmas time. It’s  the time for being with family and friends and also remembering our loved ones that are no longer with us, but still in spirit. It’s a time for cooking up traditional foods and traditional snacks.
Every country celebrates a little bit different. how did everything get started here in the U. S. ?. Christmas was declared a federal holiday here in 1870. But it was being celebrated in the U. S. in the mid 17th century by Puritans in northern U. S. ,like New England and Pennsylvania who celebrated the birth of Christ. Although Jesus is the reason for the season, society has lost that connection. Year after year we pay more attention to our personal gains than to understand the meaning of Christmas. Almost every business in the world is trying to sell you anything for just pure profit and they use a little fat man dressed in red to lure you into their place of business.
They put these ideas in your head that you need to buy something because that’s what it’s all about. Do we even dare talk about the musical part of this holiday, yes it’s the same old songs every year because radio now makes you think that what they play, is all there is. Even the major Radio Stations complain about their own musical formats, but still they don’t change. Do you really think that there were only 200 Christmas songs recorded, let’s say between 1955 to now. And it doesn’t make any difference until what year even after 2020, all newer artists in any kind of music format , are still just re-recording the same songs from the baby-boomer generation. That’s why at KWMC 1490 i don’t follow that format. There are so many good Christmas songs out there that you have never heard before.
And whether they are sad songs, funny songs, upbeat songs, soft ballad songs, adult songs and even children’s songs ,they  are out there. Why listen to the same ones over and over. It would be like celebrating your birthday everyday. Gets boring, but if you listen to the little red rooster show on KWMC 1490 AM, you won’t get that. And another reminder, remember that this year things are gonna be a bit different, so celebrate cautiously and please stay safe. And while you’re celebrating, remember the cause of it all. It’s CHRIST- mas.
All our artist of the month and special presentation shows as well as all known facts and stories are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr. Have a very joyous holiday, from all of us at KWMC 1490 AM radio ,the “Classic Hits Station”.

He is the only three time inductee to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. Once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. Eric Clapton grew up believing that his grandmother and her second husband were his parents, and that his mother was actually his older sister.
By 1967, fans of the emerging blues- rock sound in the U.K. had begun to portray Clapton as Britains top guitarist, however he found himself rivaled by the emergence of an acid rock infused guitarist who used wailing feedback and effects petals to create a new sound for his instrument. Claptons jealousy was so great that one night while playing a gig he got lost for a while, band members finally found him outside sitting smoking a cigarette and complaining to his band mates as to why nobody had told him that the guitar player on stage at the time was that good. The new kid playing guitar before Clapton was Jimi Hendrix.
So many stories about certain artist who have been around for a while and you never get to hear all of them. Everyone knows that Clapton played guitar on the Beatles “While my guitar gently weeps”, that is true , but he also played on other song on the Beatles “White Album”. More interesting is when John Lennon considered asking Clapton to join the Beatles, but that never happened because of McCartney’s jealousy. this of course was at the time when George Harrison had quit the Beatles for a short time.
Still in other ventures along with his friend George, Clapton helped  out on many of Harrison’s solo albums, Clapton went on largely uncredited for his contributions due to contractual restrains. And there’s always those little unknown facts that never get told about some artists, like for example, did you you know that Eric studied stained glass design or that it was his grandparents that gave him his first guitar. And finally like with so many artists, groups, bands or solo artists, it comes to a point when you have made your mark and things come to an end, and then you’re just in the way.
Find out more on Eric Clapton as our next Artist Of The Month on KWMC 1490 AM and the LITTLE RED ROOSTER SHOW. All stories and known facts are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

William Martin Joel. nicknamed the Piano Man after his first major hit an signature song of the same name, has led a successful music career since the 1970’s. 
Here we go again. Wikipedia says that Joel took part in two - short lived bands. the one time group called the Hassles and the other group known as Atilla, but he also played with another group called the Echoes,who later became the Emeralds and the Lost Souls. Joel also played in sessions for tv Ads, including Chubby Checker and for Bachman Pretzels. He attended Hicksville High School until 1967,but he did not graduate with his class, he had missed a crucial English exam after playing a late night gig at a piano bar the evening before. Not having enough credits to graduate he decided to go into his musical career,still in 1992 he submitted essays to the school board in lieu of missed exams, they were excepted and he was awarded his high school diploma 25 years later. 
In his teens he played on a demo version of “Leader of the Pack”, which became a major hit for the group “The Shangri-las. One thing of interest, while he is known as the piano man, the song “A Matter of Trust”, is the only song where Joel plays guitar while in concert. Another interesting fact about Joel is that after being bullied by some mean kids he decide to take up boxing lessons and went on to win some Golden Gloves amateur fights. He gave up the sport after a broken nose. Though he wasn’t a performer yet, he wanted to be in the crowd for the Jimi Hendrix performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, but he decided to leave after a day and a half because of the lack of bathrooms got too much for him to stand.
Find out more about Billy Joel on KWMC’S 1490 AM Classic hit station. And as usual all known facts and stories of interest are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

​Her debut performance came one Sunday when she was 10 years old, when a singer scheduled to perform at her church did not show up.
The Priest,who knew from her parents her fondness for singing,invited her to perform instead- expecting,at least an amusing spectacle .But to everyones surprise,the voice that bellowed out of her tiny body that Sunday morning was overwhelmingly powerful and beautiful. At least that’s one story.
Later people would find out that her voice actually had to be amplified in the recording studio and really wasn’t all that powerful. Our featured artist this month is non other than the queen of disco,” Donna Summer”.she was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach #1 one the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Wikipedia! oh boy here we go again, will they ever learn.
They say that when Donna took a demo tape to Groovy Record Label that they made a mistake on the label and instead of printing Donna Sommer, they printed her name as Donna Summer and the name stuck. But actually it was during a show introduction on stage that the MC forgot her last name and remembered that it was season name and said ,ladies and gentlemen , Donna Summer,maybe after that the studio might have made the same mistake. Donna Summer, actually Donna Sommer through marriage,her real last name is Gaines. When Casablanca Blanca released Donnas greatest hits volume 1 and 2 in 1979,it was said that the album was mixed different,each song ran into the next one,no silence in between ,and that it was the first time that such an album would be made. That is also not true, if you remember the cheap record label of K-Tel Records,they were already releasing records with the song over lapping into each other, and that was before Donna Summer. Then again i guess people at Wikipedia never heard the Beatles Abbey Road album, that also over lapped into the next song.
Find out more about Donna Summer on our next artist of the month on the all new Classic Hits Station KWMC 1490 AM. And as usual all stories and known facts of artist of the month are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

As usual,most good bands of the 70’s would be artists that started out in the 60’s. No different for Daryl Hall and John Oates. 1967 was the first time they would meet, both fleeing in the same freight elevator from a gang fight at a dance in Philadelphia’s Adelphi Ballroom where Hall had been leading his band, the Temptones, and Oates his own band ,the Masters. In 1969 Oates joins the group “Gulliver” and makes a trip to Europe, while Hall finds studio work in Philadelphia singing background vocals for the Stylistics,the Delphonics,the Intruders and others.After the early 70’s and moving on into the year of 1977,the song “Rich Girl”( written about a friend of Sarah Allen’s whose father is a fast food king) is their third single and becomes their first #1 hit. The notorious serial killer David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam” will later claim the song as a motivation for his murders. By 1978 the duo spends much time playing live,including a tour sponsored by “Care-Free” chewing gum, of high schools which have sent in the most gum wrappers. Then in 1981 the song “Kiss on my list”, written by Hall and Sara Allen’s younger sister Janna, tops the U.S. charts for three weeks and is a million seller. January 1982 “I can’t go for that”,their  third million seller in 4 releases, also spends a week at #1 on the U.S. R&B charts(extremely rare for a white act),only the fourth instance since 1965. In addition they are listed under “Black Music” in “World Book Encyclopedia”. In 1984 the Recording Industry Association of America confirms suggestions in Billboard Magazine and Newsweek that Hall and Oates are now the most successful duo in U.S. recording history, amassing a total of 19 U.S. gold and platinum  awards. Find out more stories and interesting facts about Hall and Oates on the Little Red Rooster show on KWMC’S 1490 AM Classic Hits Station. Always remember that all known facts and stories of Artist of the Month are by Wendy Johnson and all Shows are produced By Javier Martinez Sr.

Music in the 1970’s. Which artists and songs define the 1970’s?
Artists such as Eric Clapton, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Barry White, Eagles, Aerosmith, John Lennon and the Rolling Stones are just some of the groups that people will remember. Most of them were left over members of groups from the 60’s and now had groups of their own. Even in the year of 1970 we still had the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Beatles in the Billboard charts.
There were so many good songs in the 1970’s that certain ones stand out more than others. So what are some of the songs that throw you right back into the 1970’s?
Maybe the Guess Who, American Woman or Brownsville Station, Smoking in the boys room, or maybe songs by Three Dog Night. Still in the early 1970’s we Heavy Metal music or Hard Rock gain a cult with such groups as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Then we also had R&B groups like James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Earth Wind and Fire, the Tower of Power, Ohio Players, the Commodores, War and Kool and the Gang. So with all these groups around, what about pop music, some people enjoyed these bands and some didn’t but it wouldn’t be the 70’ with out them. You can’t forget the Carpenters, Jackson Five, Bee Gees, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Chicago. Or what about the ladies like Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Carole King, Donna Summer, these are just some of the ladies that also defined the music of the 1970’s.
This will be part 1 of our various artists of the 1970’s. So listen to the Little Red Rooster Show on the all new classic hit station KWMC 1490AM and find out more on these artists and unheard stories about themselves and their songs that gave us a whole new generation of classic songs in the early 1970’s. And as usual, all information and facts about the artists and songs are by Wendy Johnson and all artist of the month shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr.

If people were to understand more about music of the 1970’s, they would know that it was an era of either some great music and a bunch of one it wonders. The 1980s were full of one hit wonders and a lot of re-makes of music from the 60’s. Although many bands in the 70’s had good music, it was still being made by left over members from other groups of the 1960’s and although several of these bands had many good songs, there just isn’t anything interesting about their career.
Example, Chicago, Elton John, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and any of the Disco groups ect. you would have to go to their beginnings in music and you end up right back into the 1960’s.  Those are the people who gave us some decent music and that was it. In this case another group that fits into that category, the group “America”, thats right, starting out in 1967 in London they were the sons of U.S. Air Force officers stationed in the U.K..
Starting out into the music business with borrowed acoustic guitars and taking their name from the “Americana” jukebox that was in their local mess hall and the name was chosen because they did not want anyone to think that they were a British band trying to sound American. “A horse with no name” was an instant hit in the U. K. in 1972. Their first concert appearance as in an Ontario Collage supporting the Everly Brothers. While this song only made it to #3 in the U.K.,it made it to #1 in the U.S. taking over Neil Young’s song “Heart of Gold” and sadly the rest of their career is the same as a lot of other bands, how many gold records, how many platinum records,and of course as always there’s the “The Greatest Hits” album.
Tune in to the “Little Red Rooster Show” on KWMC’s 1490 AM Classic Hits Station and enjoy the laid back music of “America”. All known facts and stories are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez.