Pat St. John’s last show on WKNR Detroit

Here’s something that Matt at Big Apple Airchecks sent in. Apparently directly from Pat St. John himself, this is a ‘reconstructed’, mostly scoped aircheck of Pat’s last show on Keener 13 before he moved on to then AOR 95.5 WPLJ New York.

WKNR Detroit






9 Comments

  1. I got this aircheck in a trade with a collector from Detroit, Frank Hartge. It did not come from Pat St. John.

  2. Pat didn’t move on to WPLJ from Keener. He went to the ABC O&O in Detroit, Rock ‘n’ Stereo – WRIF, just like his brother Michael Stevens did. PLJ followed that for Pat.

    Keener had sunk into oblivion at the end. Pat was auditioning at WXON-TV62 for a music show called “C#” as WKNR was plummeting in its final days. The ABC O&O’s had just stepped out of the “undergroud” era with heavily fomatted music and minimal talk as St. John came on board.

  3. PAT ST. JOHN IS ONE OF THE BEST TALENTS OF ALL TIME IN MY OPINION.SOUNDS LIKE THIS WKNR RELIC WAS FROM 1971 JUDGING BY THE MUSIC…EVEN THEN PAT WAS TIGHT AS HELL AND TOTALLY PEOFESSIONAL.I WORKED WITH PAT AT PLJ IN THE MID-80s AND I AM PROUD TO CALL HIM A GREAT FRIEND.CURRENTLY HE DOES MORNINGS ON SIRIUS/XM FIFTIES ON FIVE.NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN PAT.I LISTEN EVERY MORNING AND ENJOY HIS MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE MOST CREATIVE BREAKS IN THE BUSINESS.YOU CAN ALSO CATCH HIM ON DEEP TRACKS,BLUESVILLE AND CBS FM….HIS RESUME SPEAKS FOR ITSELF….KEEP ROCKIN PAT,AND THANKS TO MATT AND STEVE FOR KEEPING THE MEMORIES ALIVE…..GNARLY/SMOKIN….

    • Frank Hartge

      I think I recorded it around January or February 1972. I have not been able to pin a definitive date on it. But WKNR left the air April 25, 1972, and I know he departed at least a couple of months before the end.

  4. Chuck Bennett

    I’m not sure where some people got the idea that Pat went to RIF after Keener. I’ve heard that statement a lot.

    I’d like to set the story straight, because I worked with Pat at Keener at the time he left for PLJ.

    I still remember standing in the main studio as he was telling me about the offer. He told me he negotiated with PLJ to get a new car as part of the package.

    This was all near the end of Keener. After Pat left his afternoon drive shift, the powers that be didn’t want to hire anyone to take over for him, so they lengthened everybody’s shift. I had been doing mornings from 6-10AM, but because of his departure my shift became 6AM-noon.

    I left Keener a few weeks later.

    Chuck Bennett (Bill Blizard)

    • Frank Hartge

      Chuck, I imagine one cause of the confusion was that Pat’s btother, Michael Stevens, DID go to WRIF after he left WKNR – just a few weeks after Pat left.

  5. Panama Jack

    Is this the same Pat St. John who currently does middays on Sirius/XM 60’s on 6? He’s damn good!

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