In the fall of 1984, I was picking and spinning. Picking corn and playing the hot records at local dances. Farm hand by day and then the phone would ring requesting music for a shindig. I would than slap on some brut aftershave to cover the cow manure, load up the trailer behind my parents Impala, and head off to the party. It was a great time, and I only had a couple of close calls in which I was told to go back to Ithaca because I would not play one more song after bar time. When I was playing at the Riverdale gym late that year, I Wanna Rock by Twisted Sister was the hottest hit and by popular demand it was played three times. In the local bars you could get away with nearly every song on Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA album. Prince was also a favorite with folks singing along to his current Top 10 hit Purple Rain. Many young women were fans of a new artist named Madonna, and her song Lucky Star was near the top of the charts. What a great time to go to the Eskin Theater in Richland Center and see a movie with my arm around my girlfriend and a box of Dots, Sno Caps, or Sugar Babies in the hand of my other arm. According to the U.S. box office records, the year’s highest-grossing films of 1984 were........
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Ghostbusters
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Gremlins
- The Karate Kid
We would watch films at the indoor theater and in the summer, we took a trip to the Starlite 14 drive in to watch them again. By that time, we could also go to the local video store and rent the VHS tape. I had not yet purchased a VCR so with thirty dollars down, a rental player was secured so that I could enjoy home video for the first time. It was a goal to 'be kind and rewind'.
This week on Those Were the Days from WRCO, I will remember the fall of 1984, and I will be playing trivia and taking request calls and texts. Most likely I will be calling a WIAA volleyball match for the first hour or so, however, I will be back to the studio later to finish the night strong with fun radio. Kudos to those that checked in last week including a listener from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina that schooled me on a popular beach (shaggin) song by the Tymes called Ms. Grace. That is one cool seventies soul song that I had not heard before. Since I have been studying this music since the early 1970's, I know most every song. The Tymes record only reached number 95 in 1974, but I still am surprised that I heard it for the first time last weekend. That is the great thing about the show. We can all get together and share about classic grooves. Enjoy this beautiful weather and stay tuned for some fun tunes Saturday night between six and midnight on WRCO, WRCO.com, or through the free Civic Media app.
Phil
Adam Hess has been involved in radio broadcasting since 1990, with many of those years spent on the air at WRCO FM in Richland Center. Currently, Adam hosts the Weekend Wake-up and Prime Mover Saturdays on WRCO FM, jumps in and helps out with news duties, handles Social Media duties for WRCO and WRCE, and is the Director of Technology at a Southwest Wisconsin School District. Reach him at adam.hess@civicmedia.us.
