CKLW - Detroit's Worst Top 40 Station

[cARLOS Blake]

Bland?   Are we delusional ,Truth? It couldn't have been any more lively if they threw a 3 ring circus on the air. I used 2 have 2 SuperMax black & white Detroit license plates with Kinkle's head on them. Wish I still had 'em.

[lugnuts6]

THE BIG 8 was special on both sides of the border, as were the voices behind the mics!
but the most unique had to be CKLW 20/20 NEWS


the memories live on ...



And Now..............

[cARLOS Blake]

...and "Farmer Jack Savings Time"...

[Wthom100]

Bring back the Big 8 CKLW with 20-20 news!! I want more references of some "lead to the head" and "another floater found in the Detroit River". This was so much better than WJR today - at least it was exciting.  Bring back Keener 13 while your at it.  Alas - we can't turn back time - darn!!

[kasperson]

CKLW was a powerhouse and should be recognized for that.  Who ever heard of a top 40 radio station with a news staff as large as CK.  Not even WABC in NY had a news operation that large. CKLW on air personalities were highly identifiable, but the music was the message. What ruined radio as you called it is untalented on-air people that cannot be given much leeway.  Listen to WOMC for what top 40 radio is today.

[cklw800]

kasperson, WThom100, cARLOS, lugnuts6...I couldn't agree with you more.  CKLW was the BOMB!  20/20 News, the air staff, the music.  It all fit like a glove.  Even the tight rotation was cool because they played many interesting songs I heard nowhere else, but it was right on the money for CKLW.  There were many great stations like WABC, WLS, WCFL, WKNR---all great, but I don't think I know of any other station with so many good components that flowed like CKLW.  If there was one thing you didn't like, such as a song, there were ten things you liked about the station right around the corner.  They were irresistible.  I'm so glad to be old enough to have remembered great radio like that.  I'm so thankful that I and others have those memories.  I'm very, VERY glad that people saved their airchecks, and that there were radio and TV specials about the station revealing so much I didn't know about how the magic was done. 

CKLW - Detroit's BEST Top 40 Station.  The originator of the title of this thread as it reads now should be hit up side the head with a ten-day-old biscuit.

[OldSchoolWoman]

I grew up in Pittsburgh that had only one real top 40 station all through the Sixties-----KQV. I used to listen to CKLW a lot . Sometimes I could get WXYZ on a good night. I never heard WKNR, but they have loads of tribute stuff. The big mystery is WJBK. What were they like? Who were their jocks? Were they competitive ? Is there a tribute site? Four full time Top 40's was highly unusual in the Sixties. You never hear "THE Legendary WJBK!"