Monday, September 15, 2008

Murray the K, the anti-chart guy

I think it is safe to say the Murray the K was controversial.  As my other entries on radio personalities, this is not be be an encylopedic biography.  You can see his Wikipedia entry for more information.  I listened to Murray when he appeared on WINS, WMCA and WOR-FM. He appeared on other radio stations in NY and other markets.  He really imposed his musical tastes on his audience which was really unfair especialy whe he appeared on the free form WOR-FM which was discussed in a recent journal entry of mine.  He was famous for running concerts at the Brooklyn Fox Theater.

I really think he had a lot of nerve to call himself the 5th Beatle.  WINS wasn't that influential in popular music duing the British invasion of 1964.  Bruce Morrow should have been the DJ with that moniker.  In any event I think that Billy Preston who played with the Fab Four in 1969 or so should be called the Fifth Beatle.

One thing that Murray said on the air that he said that if you enjoyed a record, you should not care of what number it is.  I must agree completely.  Many of my favorite songs never charted.  There are "chart guys" on various music message boards.  If they enjoy that, more power to them.

Murray was last on the New York airwaves in the early 1980s when he hosted a syndicated show called Soundtrack of the Sixties which was heard in NYC on WCBS-FM on Sunday mornings.  Murray became ill and Gary Owens became the New host as it moved to WYNY.

Let me clear up a little confusion about Breakfast with the Beatles that I usually hear on Monday nights.  It seems that nobody has a copyright on that name.  There is a version heard on Q104.3 in New York on Sunday at 8 AM.  The version that I am hearing now may be heard on http://www.bwtb.net .

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Bruce, stopping by via AOL journals!

I've always heard that Billy Preston was the "fifth Beatle." I never heard that claim about Murray the K--was he the one floating the idea? Hmm, seems a little bogus.

While I'm more into later music, I still have a great fondness for all eras, including the 60's. One of my personal favorites has always been the Kinks. A HUGE influence on music, but so many people know little to nothing about them!

All my best,
Beth

Anonymous said...

Murray The K was not the 1st DJ to play The Beatles on NY Radio. However, he was the 1st person to promote the group. Murray was very good in promoting the music he played as well as himself. Murray was working at the time for WINS which was losing the ratings battle to WABC and WMCA for the most Top 40 listeners. I assume he did what he did to increase the stations and his ratings as well. I was a big fan of Murray The K and I really miss him.-snofan1

 
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