People who know me and others who have read this journal know that I am a big enthusiast of Top 40 radio of the 1950s - 1970s. This style later evolved in oldies radio. Of course I grew up in NYC and was a big fan of WABC, WMCA, and WINS and later listened to WCBS-FM. The dominant feature of these radio was the personalities who promoted the music. I listened to Cousin Brucie, Dan Ingram, Murray the K, B. Mitchell Reed, and Dan Daniel among many others. I was never familiar with what was going on in Philadelphia, a mere 90 miles away.
As we moved into the 1990s I was able to connect with radio enthusiasts all over the country. Then I was able to obtain air checks on tape of classic jocks from heritage radio stations. As the internet matured in the 2000s radio stations of different formats emerged on the web. Until then I was only vaguely familiar with Hy Lit of Philadelphia.
Some years ago Hy and his son Sam developed an internet radio station called Hy Lit radio. After Hy passed away in 2007 Sam continued the station featuring the oldies and radio station IDs from all of the country. I was always amused hearing “Hyski O’Rooney Mcvoutie O’Zoot”.
Sam has just published part one of the Hy Lit story shown above. The book includes:
- Numerous photos of Hy with recording artists
- Photos of Hy behind the microphone
- Reproductions of newspaper articles about Hy
- Weekly Surveys from WIBG popularly called Wibbage
The book comes with a CD which is part I of the Hy Lit Collector Series. It includes many air checks of Hy from WIBG in the 60s and 70s. It features the last show heard on WIBG 990 AM before it was sold and changed formats.
If you don’t know anything about Hy Lit, check out the entry in Wikipedia. But as I tell my students, very often the information there is very cursory. From there check out Hy Lit Radio. By all means purchase the book either at the web site or at Amazon.com. I am already waiting for Part 2 which will cover Hy’s later years in oldies radio..
Thanks Sam for a job well done. Your father is smiling right now.
Hello, do you have the CD offered with this booK? I would like to upload some on my youtube channel. I enjoyed listening to Hy Lit over the years at various stations in the Philly market. He was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI found the book, but the CD wasn't with it. I must have misplaced it. You must be aware that Sam Lit passed away
DeleteHy and Sam are together again......Joe Niagara is probably with them. I have heard through the grapevine that Sam's ad to pre-order the book with the CD was a way for Sam to get financing for the project and there was never a bonus CD. I have never heard that there was a Hy / Beatles interview. I do not see any reference to that on the web. So maybe there never was one.....although Hy Lit did let the Beatles stay over night at his house right before the Philly concert. Then he helped smuggle the Beatles into the Philly concert using a decoy limo.
ReplyDelete