Who woulda thought that in 1973 AM Top 40 would sound this good! Rich Brother Robin could open a university on how to do high-energy radio. Perhaps he should… the former WSRR (now WKIM) Memphis PD and creator of the Classic Hits oldies format sounded awesome in his prime!
Anyway, at just over seven minutes, learn what ‘high-energy’ top 40 really was. KCBQ was known for it’s shotgun approach (to borrow Tom Kelly’s monniker), and here – KCBQ is at the TOP of it’s game!
Remastered on 8/9/11
I’M ONE OF THE LUCKY ONE’S THAT HEARS THE RICH BROTHER EVERY AFTERNOON. I CATCH HIS LAST HOUR WHEN I GET OFF EVERY AFTERNOON, AND FRIENDS THE RICH BROTHER STILL MAKES MY RADIO SMOKE! I’M LUCKY I’M IN MEMPHIS AND YOU’RE NOT. I HATE TO RUB IT IN. IF SIRIUS HAD ANY SENCE THEY’D FIND A SPOT FOR THE RICH BROTHER IN SPACE TO BRING IT TO NORTH AMERICA EVERYDAY!
THE DOCTOR
I’M ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES, I GET TO RICH BROTHER BRING EVERY AFTERNOON. LET ME TELL YA HE DOESN’T MISS A BEAT. I CATCH HIS LAST HOUR, CRANK UP IN THE CAR (IF I CAN’T Q IN MY CAR I CAN CAT). IF SIRIUS HAD A LICK OF SENCE THEY WOULD LET NORTH AMERICA HEAR THE RICH BROTHER DAILY!
THE DOCTOR
I just happened to change stations one day and found out that there had been a programming change. I am very happy to hear the changes. I used to look forward to trips to Little Rock so that I could listen to their rock stations. Thank you to the person that rescued me from the boring radio stations that Memphis has offered for so long.
richy EMAIL me , its minny
I love those High Energy Jocks. Rich was one of the best. That whole KCBQ staff in the early 70’s could smoke the speakers.
Observations…a commercial(s) between just about every song except 4 times in this hour when two songs in a row were played. And did I not hear a weather forecast? Seems strange for a radio show in this era not to include a weather forecast….unless he sped through it so fast I missed it! But of course there were the timechecks. Does any music station today (outside of AM Drive) do that today?
This was after 6pm in San Diego, CA. “Weather” is not a concern:) Timechecks were for the benefit of Arbitron diary-keepers (or a crutch), I presume I notice they always swept 5-minutes into each quarter-hour, unless they were “rubber-clocking”…
KCBQ was the only radio station to listen to in San Diego in the 1970’s. Hot Stuff!!!!
Here is the guy who can stand with Bill Drake, no – he can stand in front of him. Drake made the radio organized. “Rich Brother” made it exciting. GOD ONLY KNOWS how many guys have joined the D J ranks because of hearing the excitement from KCBQ.
Fans of Rich Brother Robin should scour around for the “B-100 FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY” segment
from American Airchexx Magazine from 1976. It’s the most energetic celebration “one hundred hours of no-commercial better boogie on B-100FM”! A lot of San Diego classic personalities came to party
too, including Billy Pearl, Beaver Cleaver, Chuck Browning, and more!
I am one of those guys who got into radio because of the excitement of the Q formant. Dave Conley, Shotgun Tom, and of course Rich Bro. Robbin. Funny how things work out.
Rich is a one-of-a-kind. I had the pleasure of working for and with Rich Bro in the 80s. The guy taught me more than any one ever before and certainly ever since.
It is truly a shame that the man isn’t running a radio group – much less a radio station.
So. Anybody know how to get in touch with Rich Robin now. I was a drake jock and knew him.
The first two breaks talk about a concert in December and free coffee through New Year’s Day…think maybe this isn’t June, 1973?
And, it’s not January, 1973, either…again…concert in December…free coffee through New Year’s Day….match that with the music…
December, 1973.
Wow! What a wonderful person, a great personal influence, and a great boss. Rich gave me my first break in the radio business. I remember one day on the Saturday shift, he put me on the mike while he worked the board. commercial ended and we were going into a set of tunes. Lol… he pointed at me to go and i opened my mouth… Nothing would come out.
He just laughed and told me that it happens to everyone.
Rich, is a defining moment in radio. He possess a dream and vision that was so far ahead of the curve that people would not catch up to the popularity or power of it for a full decade!
Peace “Brother”! Drop me a line some time.
rich back on air in san diego doing afternoons on the walrus great to hear him still got the energy from the old days
The one minute and thirty-six seconds of Rich Brother Robin on KCBQ from the Bootleg Top 40 album from 1971 is perhaps the greatest aircheck of all time; this aircheck needs to be in the radio hall of fame.
As an 18 year old baby DJ fortunate to be working at WNOE in New Orleans at the time, I listened to this aircheck hundreds of times. This one aircheck, and Frank Jolley’s short stint at WNOE in 1968, inspired and influenced my every thought about radio, and being a radio personality, for years.
Only Dr. Grady Brock, another WNOE alumni, and fellow alumnus of KAAY, Little Rock, and the screaming Voice of Labor on WCFL, Chicago, was ever this dynamic on the radio as a high-energy screamer.
So inspired was I by Rich Brother Robin’s aircheck, that at 19, in 1973, I traveled from New Orleans to San Diego just to listen to KCBQ. Unfortunately, the energy represented on Rich Brother Robin’s aircheck was nowhere to be found. What I did find was a very competent Top 40 station, and a few days later, I found much the same very competent sound at KHJ here in Los Angeles.
All though very good, neither legendary station could standup to what was happening at WLS in Chicago at the time; my opinion. What did represent the greatest excitement in Top 40 on the West Coast back then, surprisingly, was happening at KROQ-AM.
Operating out of a small dump of a house in Burbank, and featuring a stellar personality lineup including a young Charlie Tuna doing mornings; KROQ was on fire. But it didn’t last. Unfortunately, in October of 1973, with paychecks bouncing and handicapped by a very poor signal at 1500, the station imploded and went dark.
The fact remains, my trip to the West Coast as a teen might never had happen if not for Rich Brother Robin’s incredible aircheck. A trip that inspired my eventual move to LA in 1996. So, thanks Rich Brother Robin, your aircheck is not only great; it changed my life. LA has been very good to me.
Small correction: In October of 1973, KROQ added an FM (the old KPPC). Tuna left for KKDJ and new PD Shadoe Stevens took the station to a very eclectic album rock.
The implosion and going dark was a year later.
Rich “Brother” Robbin is still making radio at his online oldies station, richbroradio.com. In my opinion, it is one of the very best stations on the Internet, not only in content but also audio quality. It puts most all other Internet stations to shame if you listen to it on high quality speakers or headphones. It’s the gold standard IMHO.
Great! So is my HitOldies.com! station