In addition to hosting my own weekend shows on WEW in the Summer of '96, I also filled in for Maria, the program director, a number of times. Here were the songs I chose to play from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday, August 12, 1996:
1. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most-Ellis Marsalis
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2. I Remember You-Mary Cleere Haran
3. Unforgettable-Nat King Cole
4. As Time Goes By-Natalie Cole
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5. I'll Remember April-Chet Baker
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6. Cherry-Harry James and his orchestra
7. Swingin' Down The Lane-Les Baxter
8. Chattanooga Choo-Choo-Glenn Miller
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9. I Thought About You-Tony Bennett
10. Blue Skies-Bing Crosby
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11. I Get A Kick Out Of You-Dionne Warwick
12. Mississippi-Kay Starr
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13. Deep Purple-Nino Tempo & April Stevens
(Looking back, I wish I'd played this song more often; it's lyrically solid, sung well, and has a memorable melody. It's easy to hear why it topped the charts in 1963.)
14. Strike Up The Band-Rosemary Clooney
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15. How Little We Know-Joey DeFrancesco
(Instrumentally and vocally, DeFrancesco is adept at conjuring up bygone eras.)
16. All Or Nothing At All-Frank Sinatra
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17. Every Day I Have The Blues-Count Basie
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18. Come Rain Or Come Shine-Michele Shaheen
19. It Might As Well Be Spring-John Pizzarelli
(I brought in Pizzarelli's "After Hours" CD frequently; every song fit WEW's format then.)
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20. Lo Joe-James Williams
21. Skyliner-Doc Severinsen & The Tonight Show Band
(A natural big band segue...)
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22. Moonlight In Vermont-Tony Bennett (*)
23. Bye Bye Blackbird-Johnny Mathis
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24. Love Song-Ramsey Lewis
(If you like the feel of Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme," you might like this track, as well. It's one of the highlights, along with the title track, from the "Sun Goddess" album that KNJZ used to play.)
25. Fly Me To The Moon-Bossa Nova-Joe Harnell and his orchestra
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26. Up On The Roof-The Drifters
27. Mairzy Doats-The Merry Macs (*)
(If you worked at a nostalgic radio station, and a listener requested "Mairzy Doats," what would you use as a segue?)
28. Linda-Ray Noble and his orchestra
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29. Cow Cow Boogie-Freddie Slack and his orchestra featuring Ella Mae Morse
(As I
mentioned in a previous post, programming the music for a radio
station's audience means thinking like a program director and
remembering that you don't have to love every song you play.)
30. Nice Work If You Can Get It-The Andrews Sisters
31. Hello Dolly-Louis Armstrong and The All-Stars
(If it had been any version other than Armstrong's, I don't think I would have considered playing it. Armstrong pulls this off without sounding too precious.)
32. Devil's Island-Wayne Shorter
(Good to have some traditional jazz in the mix...)
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33. St. Louis Blues-Tex Beneke
34. Fortune In Dreams-Pat Longo with Frank Sinatra, Jr.
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35. Off The Top-Jimmy Smith
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36. Brazil-Bo Thorpe and his orchestra
37. In The Bag-Lionel Hampton
38. Special Delivery Stomp-Artie Shaw
39. Mambo Riff-Lester Lanin
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40. Kansas City-Wilbert Harrison
41. Cab Driver-The Mills Brothers
42. Take The A Train-Dexter Gordon
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43. Broken-Hearted Melody-Sarah Vaughan
44. Chain Gang-Sam Cooke
45. Lover Come Back To Me-Ella Fitzgerald
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46. Blue Tango-Leroy Anderson
(A tune fit for dancing with abandon...)
47. Cast Your Fate To The Wind-Vince Guaraldi Trio
(...before coming back down to Earth and appreciating a great instrumental with a more existential outlook.)
48. Stranger On The Shore-Richard Clayderman
49. I'll Never Smile Again-Ray Anthony
50. What's New-Linda Ronstadt
51. Star Eyes-Kitty Kallen
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52. Apple Honey-Woody Herman
53. Geronimo-Les Elgart
54. Hallelujah-Tommy Dorsey
55. Four Of A Kind-Stan Kenton
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56. The Swingin' Shepherd Blues-Moe Kauffman Quartette
57. Canadian Sunset-Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra
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58. Theme From "A Summer Place"-Percy Faith and his orchestra
59. Soft Summer Breeze-Eddie Heywood
60. Tumblin' Tumbleweed-Billy Vaughn
61. Easy Like-Billy Taylor
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62. Chances Are-Johnny Mathis
63. (CLOSING THEME) Closing Time-Tom Waits
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(*) indicates a listener's request.
--- indicates a short break for a slogan and time check or a longer break for back announcing the music.
