Issue #361 - From a KHJ standpoint, Jimmy Rabbitt is best known for his short tenure - three days. Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned...
Jimmy Rabbitt worked at a number of Los Angeles radio stations both before and after KHJ. He passed away over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2020 at age 79.
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12 comments:
Oh, man, Jimmy rabbitt ("Small r, double t") was God's answer to Los Angeles but it wasn't meant to be on KHJ. He did however go on to reign Supreme over the basin on FM. He is making a very historical comeback SOON to Southern California Radio at KOCI/(LP)FM in Newport Beach, stay tuned! Love live El Conejo!!!
Wasn't KHJ playing "The Candy Man" yet? On the WABC survey with the same date it was #1 (in only 3 weeks).
I love what Ted Atkins did as PD at KHJ. And having spoken with him once, I like the man. But letting Rabbitt go was a mistake. He alone could have kept a lot of L.A. teenagers and young adults from making the move fulltime to FM.
Paul: KHJ only played "The Candy Man" for three weeks...it was gone by the time of this survey. Ray has put together a list of all the songs KHJ played, their debut date and peak position. Look for the link on the front page of this blog.
"The Candy Man" has the distinction of being the title with the lowest peak on KHJ that hit No. 1 on Billboard. While they played it for a few weeks as Michael stated, it only made the survey for one week at No. 29. The low peak record had previously been held by "Over and Over" by the DC5 at No. 16.
I personally believe that L.A. got it right with the Sammy Davis tune but totally missed the boat with Dave Clark. :)
But I've always wondered WHY "The Candy Man" flopped so much on KHJ. With "Lola," which was gone after one week on the Boss 30, we assume it was because management woke up to what the song was really about. But "The Candy Man"? And given that it was such a big national hit?
As to other songs on this survey, "Taxi" was one that always surprised me that KHJ would play. So long, and a story song to boot. But it did turn me on to Harry Chapin.
"I Saw the Light" is another great Todd Rundgren single.
"Someday Never Comes" is rarely remembered in CCR lore, but it was a noble end to their chart run. It's SUCH a sad song, too, but it sounds great.
I always thought it odd that "Day By Day" was listed by "Godspell," as if that was a group name.
Another one from 1972 that was a big hit that never made the 30 was Gallery's Nice To Be With You.
I think it was a hitbound for one week.
Never knew why that song wasn't bigger at KHJ.
As far as I can tell, these are the songs that were Top 5 on Billboard that didn't make the KHJ survey between 1965 and 1979. Thanks to "The Candy Man" squeezing in for one week, all Billboard No. 1's charted on KHJ.
Billboard No. 2
Barbara Ann - Beach Boys (1966)
Billboard No. 3
Valleri - The Monkees (1968)
Take a Chance on Me - ABBA (1978)
In The Navy - Village People (1979)
Billboard No. 4
The Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters (1966)
Yummy Yummy Yummy - Ohio Express (1968)
Nice To Be With You - Gallery (1972)
The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead (1974)
Fight The Power - Isley Brothers (1975)
Mr. Jaws - Dickie Goodman (1975)
Billboard No. 5
1, 2, 3, Red Light - 1910 Fruitgum Co. (1968)
Please Come to Boston - Dave Loggins (1974)
Back Home Again - John Denver (1974)
Steve:
I think both "The Candy Man" and "Nice To Be With You" were victims of KHJ's desire to be hip, not of rejection by listeners and record buyers.
It was the early stages of what became common in Top 40 through the 70s...stations rejecting huge hit records because they didn't fit the station's "sound".
With KHJ trying to stem the flow of teenagers like myself, you and Ray to KLOS and KMET, "The Candy Man" would have been like screaming "Go away!" at us every two and a half hours for 14 weeks.
One of the lessons I learned from the first PD I worked for, Guy Paul at KSLY, San Luis Obispo: "What you don't play can't hurt you." That oversimplifies it, and there are some records you're crazy not to play, but more often, you'll get negatives from what you do play.
As for the stuff that was Top 5 in Billboard, but didn't air on KHJ, "Barbara Ann" makes no sense...they should have played it.
"Valleri" had aired a year earlier (a version recorded from the TV show). Quite a few stations that played it in '67 didn't go for the '68 version.
Abba and The Village People would have been during John Sebastian's near-AOR format and wouldn't have fit.
If I recall correctly, KHJ played a different artist's version of "Pied Piper".
Ron Jacobs probably HATED "Yummy Yummy Yummy" and "1-2-3 Red Light"...remember, around this time, he was playing Dylan LP cuts.
KFRC played Sister Janet Mead...I'm surprised to learn KHJ didn't.
"Fight The Power" was rejected wholesale on the West Coast, even though there was an edit available. I don't remember any L.A., San Diego or San Francisco Top 40 playing it.
Dickie Goodman records rarely made it on RKO stations (Superfly meets Shaft being the exception).
"Back Home Again" might have been too country for then-PD Gerry Petersen's taste...but I'm mystified by the decision not to play "Please Come To Boston".
Here's some other top 10 records that didn't make the KHJ 30:
1967
Funky Broadway--Wilson Pickett
Nashville Cats--Lovin' Spoonful
1968
I Got The Feelin' and Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud--James Brown
You Keep Me Hangin On--Vanilla Fudge
I Say A Little Prayer--Aretha Franklin
1969
Atlantis--Donovan
Ballad of John & Yoko--Beatles
Rock Me--Steppenwolf
1970
Gimme Dat Ding--Pipkins
1971
Cherish--David Cassidy
What The World Needs Now/Abraham, Martin & John--Tom Clay
1972
Jungle Fever--Chakakas
Hey Girl--Donny Osmond
Sugar Daddy--Jackson 5
1974
Call On Me--Chicago
Steppin' Out--Dawn
You & Me Against The World--Helen Reddy
Put Your Hands Together--O'Jays
1975
I Don't Like To Sleep Alone--Paul Anka
Cut The Cake--A.W.B.
Can't Get It Out Of My Head--ELO
I have ideas on a few of the records Brian cites that didn't chart on KHJ.
KHJ played and charted the flip of "Nashville Cats" instead, "Full Measure." This is similar to the station charting "God Only Knows" instead of "Wouldn't It Be Nice."
I'm sure the James Brown record was too "black" for its tastes.
I'm SURE I heard Vanilla Fudge's cover on KHJ, so I'm surprised it didn't chart.
I KNOW KHJ played Franklin's cover of "I Say a Little Prayer." True, the flip, "The House That Jack Built," made the Boss 30, but we have proof that the flip was played, too: Check out one of those 1968 Real Don Steele airchecks Ray posted. You can hear the outro of the record at one point, with Steele giving its title.
Likewise, KHJ charted the flip of "Atlantis," "To Susan on the West Coast Waiting," a few months earlier.
I think we all know that there was no way the station would play "The Ballad of John & Yoko," given the use of "Christ" in every chorus.
I remember the Tom Clay medley getting airplay, but maybe it wasn't on KHJ. I bought the single at that time, so I know I heard it somewhere. Maybe it was from hearing it on Casey Kasem's "American Top 40."
The Chicago and Helen Reddy singles baffle me, since KHJ charted most of their other singles in these years.
The earlier version of "The Pied Piper" that KHJ played was by the Changin' Times.
Steve:
KRLA played the Tom Clay record.
Neither KHJ nor KFRC played "Call On Me", making me wonder if RKO turned its back on the record. Same could be for Helen Reddy, as well...I don't remember hearing that on KFRC, either.
That summer, RKO National PD Paul Drew issued an edict that made the front page of Radio & Records...saying that RKO would simply refuse to play any record longer than 3:30. That held for about six weeks...until MCA gave RKO the exclusive on Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" (which I believe ran 5-something).
But during that time there were little skirmishes between the labels and RKO...Chicago and Helen Reddy could have been caught in that.
Remember, too, that RKO passed on Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run" in '75. If they'd played it, I'm certain it would have been Top 10 nationally.
I had heard back then that the term "Candy Man" was slang for a Drug Dealer. But that couldn't be why KHJ stopped playing it?...Could it?
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