The New Mr. Pop Culture.Com – More than this week in pop culture history…

From Kris J – What’s the largest Christian-based movie of all time? Any others??

Mr. Pop History – “The Passion of the Christ” did about $400 million in business. That was back in 2004. Others – “The Chronicles of Narnia” from 2005; “Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie” from 2002 and “The Omega Code” from 1999. One more you ask? How about “End of the Spear” from the year 2006! Hope that helps.

The New MrPopCulture.Com Is Here. The World’s Most Comprehensive News, Pop and Trends Week-By-Week Destination. Pop Culture History At Its Best!

From Troy C: The first FM rock station – was it New York or San Francisco?

Mr. Pop History – It was New York. On July 30, 1966, WOR-FM at 98.7 debuted. The FCC decreed that by January 1, 1967, FM stations in major markets must have separate programming; that is, those co-owned with AM stations. Before this, most FM stations were similcasting, to a large extent, their AM stations; AM was where the audience was. The FCC thought this was a waist of spectrum.

WOR-FM got a jump-start and decided rock would be their direction. There was one problem. AFTRA prevented the hired DJ’s from working at WOR-FM until a scale for FM DJ’s could be worked out! So for a few months, what a listener heard was incredible. No DJ’s. Just music, jingles and commercials (as few as there were). Then on October 8, 1966 – The WOR–FM DJ lineup debuted and it changed radio forever.

WOR-FM was very different. First – it was FM, which had a total different feel then AM. The music sounded clearer and some of the rock music on WOR-FM was actually in stereo. The music didn’t seem as loud or “pumped.” The DJ’s were low-keyed, unlike New York competitors WMCA and WABC. The presentation was loose. The DJ’s didn’t have to talk-up a vocal, or begin talking just after a song ended. Also, it was strange hearing a jingle singing “98.7.” Radio listeners were always use to AM dial positions like “57,” “77,” “93,” “98,” “1510′ etc.

WOR-FM took a progressive approach to top-40. Several of its DJ’s: Murray the K and Scott Muni, worked at major New York AM top-40 stations and hearing their new low-key presentations on WOR-FM was different. WOR-FM soon caught-on with the college crowd. If you were cool, you listened to 98.7. It wasn’t long until WOR-FM began showing in the ratings regularly – another FM
first.

Soon, stations in Boston and San Franciso debuted with a WOR-FM-type format. By 1968, FM rock stations were everywhere. Some played top-40, but others like KMPX in San Francisco played rock album cuts.

The New Mr. Pop Culture Is Finally Here…

This Week In History Was Never Better… Mr. Pop Culture.com has become the Internet’s first and foremost week-by-week news, pop culture and trends destination. You can now access about 3,000 weeks – all hand edited with every subject selected manually. You’ll find this site to be truly original and one-of-a-kind – and a place you’ll want to come back to daily.

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Mr. Pop Culture gives you the best/greatest weekly wrap-ups – more than any other source. Whether its 1955, 1977, 1988, 1999, 2000 or last week – depend on Mr. Pop Culture forthwith – as your week-by-week destination. This is a service for you. From here on – make www.mrpopculture.com part of what you want from the Internet.
And, become part of pop culture history – our weeks – are your weeks.

From Glen G – How Long Did It Take Monkees To Play Their Own Instruments?

Mr. Pop History – Even though “The Monkees” was a show about a rock band, pop history tells us that David Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork stood on their own early on. “The Monkees” TV show debuted in September of 1966, but just a few short months later, the boys were performing in Hawaii. So, they could play. OK – Mickey had to learn the drums in a short time, but the other three had terrific music credentials and didn’t have to act like they were playing and signing. Actually, Mickey was a great pop singer in his own rite.

They came to New York and Forest Hills during the summer of 1967 (a great concert summer for the Monkees BTW). The WMCA Goodguys and Dick Clark presented them – and I was told they were great!

From Darian O – Biggest-selling comedy album of all time was…?

Mr. Pop History – With over 4 million in sales, the winner is Vaughn Meader’s “The First Family” album. People couldn’t get enough of John F. Kennedy, his family and staff. First played over station 1010WINS in November of 1962 (thanks www.mrpopculture.com).

Here’s something from my December 15, 1962 week:

Records – seems like “The First Family” by Vaughn Meader is one of the hottest records albums ever. People are lining up at record stores to purchase the album. Also, Allan Sherman’s “My Son, The Folk Singer” is getting lots of attention. Both Sherman and Meader are new to records. It’s reported that Sherman is receiving 60 cents for every album sold, Meader – 50 cents. “The First Family” is a parody of the Kennedy White House, with Meader doing a great imitation of JFK. Sales of the album have surpassed 3 million.

From Paige J – Mr. Pop – What musical act was the first-ever to release a song for downloading?

Mr. Pop History – This is easy. It was Aerosmith’s “Head First” back in 1994.

From John P – Mr. Pop – Where have you been?? I heard yet another discussion of why AM radio is behind the times. Do you think it should stay around?

Mr Pop History – Yes, getting ready for the finished Mr. Pop site. Lot’s of work – but – all the weeks will finally be in place. And much more.

AM radio – Thought it should have gone away 15 years ago. It’s so noisy and antiquated. It had its place, but stations should have moved to another FM band – or at least, the industry should have had a plan. With its big towers and (mostly) directional signals – it just seems to me that its plan smarter to move everything to the higher frequencies – where most can compete with equal power. It was fun in the old days with distant signals and such. But today – it just doesn’t make sense it is not compatible with the digital/high tech world.

From Mike C – George Martin produced every Beatle album but one. Which one?

Mr. Pop History – “Let It Be” was produced by Phil Spector. Martin did all the others. Most of the tracks for “Let It Be” were made much earlier – even before their previous album – “Abbey Road.” Let it be

From David L – Mr. Pop – What Do You Think, Or Do You Think Howard Stern Will Show-Up On “American Idol?”

Mr. Pop History – It would be a great move for Howard. He’d be the perfect replacement for Simon Cowell and I know the producers want to do it, and so does Howard Stern.

Now, it’s all about money – but producers have an edge in that – Howard not only wants this – he needs this.

I think it will happen. But, let’s see. Thanks www.mrpopculture.com Stern

From Bill K – Mr. Pop – On the old Andy Griffith Show, Sheriff Taylor only allowed Barney Fife … what with his gun?

Mr. Pop History – He allowed his deputy to have just one bullet – which he kept in his shirt pocket. BarneyF