Jan & Dean (W or K how do they know?)

We'll be back with todays trip into the world of musical trivia right after station identification. Did you ever wonder how radio stations got their call letters? To be sure the F.C.C. is the final word on issuing call letters, based on a very old policy. It was only in late January of 1923 that the Mississippi River, the current standard, was adopted as the dividing line. This meant new call signs west of the Mighty Mo were K's rather than W's. However, existing stations west of the Mississippi were permitted to keep their now non-standard W calls. Thus, pioneer broadcasters in the west were permitted to keep their “W” calls, as were old time stations like KDKA Pittsburgh, and KYW Philadelphia in the east. Some stations call letter, reflect the town they are in like one I worked for in Pa. WMPT was the abbreviation for Williamsport. Others reflect the founders name like WRAK stood for Rudolph A. King. Locally KMOG gets its moniker from the Mogollon Rim. One station that I was involved in had the call letters WKAD and those stood for the three founders Kelly, Alan, and Dave. I think sometimes the people who made up call letters looked for the most difficult ones possible, I worked at including WBPZ and WLYC. (Oh because the stations simulcasted on AM and FM the legal station I.D. Made you say the call letters twice, once alone, for the AM station and once adding the FM.

Let's go surfin'! When you think of the era of surfer music, several names come to mind. Probably most prominently the Beach Boys,and Jan and Dean. Jan Berry and Dean Torrence had a string of hits in the 60's. I talked with Dean Torrence back in November of 2006. Since the death of his long time partner Jan Berry, who was injured in a traffic accident Dean has spent a lot of his time as he describes it as a “Bus Driver” running his kids and their friend to and from soccer games. I asked him if he still surfs as much as Dave Somerville (The Diamonds) says. Dean said, “no,it is not like when I was younger and the waves were easier to take and the water was not so cold.”

“Baby Talk” was the first song released by Jan and Dean in 1959. Dean had recorded a top 10 song called Jennie Lee with Arnie Ginsburg. Arnie, along with Jan & Dean was one of the 10 to 12 guys who hung out together and wrote songs. Dean said, “It was the first song that actually went from beginning to end,” so Jan and Arnie recorded it. Arnie Ginsberg , according to Dean really didn't have much of an interest in music after high hchool and he and Dean Studied Architectural Design in College. “Arnie wanted to be a designer, and I was there because my parents wanted me to get a real education, because this rock and roll crud won't last forever.”

Back to Baby Talk; that song like so many of that era were recorded in facilities that by todays standards would be considered “low tech.” The echo chamber actually was a big tiled room located somewhere under the studio. It had a speaker at one end and a mic at the other and captured the “natural echo.”

The next hit for Jan and Dean was Heart and Soul in 1961. They got the song from Beach Boy Brian Wilson. Dean told me that “Brian had written about ½ the lyrics and chorus, and lost interest in it.” “Even half finished it was still better than 99% of the songs other writers were doing,” he said.

Did you know that Dean sang the lead on the Beach Boys remake of The Regents 1961 song Barbara Ann? If you remember the song, the end of it sounds as if they forgot the lyrics, when I asked Dean about that, his answer was, “I wasn't sure it had lyrics.”

Jan and Dean's string of hits included, “Heart and Soul”, “Linda”, and “Surf City,” “Honolulu Lu Lu,” “Cartune (sic) Classics” “Drag City” and “Dead Man's Curve”. A slight change of pace followed in 1964 with “New Girl In School.” The next Jan and Dean song I consider a classic. “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena.” was inspired by the obnoxious car salesman character played by the late Frank Nelson on the Jack Benny TV Show. Jack was looking to trade in his Maxwell automobile, and Nelson's character told Jack, “this car had only been driven to church on Sunday's by a little old lady from Pasadena.” Dean says, “this is still the most requested Jan & Dean song.” By the way, Dean's favorite song is “Dead Man's Curve,.” partly because of all the special effects using limited recording capabilities.

These days he still teams up with Al Jardine, David Marks, David Logeman and others in a group called Surf City All Stars. They play the music of both Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys.

Trivia: What do B.J. Thomas, Duane Eddy, and Dave Somerville have in common? The answer is one of my favorite records called “Rock and Roll Lullaby. Dave is singing back-up, Duane is on Lead Guitar, and of Course B.J. is singing lead