KFWB – B. Mitchel Reed – May 27, 1958 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
There you are – last few weeks of Elementary School before Summer Vacation and your new adventure in the world of Junior High in September. You’re changing – you can feel it in your bloodstream. You have made a discovery that will change your life forever. But there’s a catch. The catch is; you have to wait. You don’t know for how long – in your world it’s an eternity. But you’re trapped and its awkward and your voice is changing and you don’t feel like a little kid anymore – you’re twelve and you’re almost old enough to drive. In your mind, anyway.
You have discovered Women. You are fascinated – it’s a whole new world and you aren’t quite sure what to do about it. Your friends talk about dates and making out and bases – you’ve become interested in body parts and seeing certain body parts make you tingle. One of your friends has a supply of Playboy Magazines and you spend afternoons after school, crammed in a garage with your buddies, looking drop-jawed at Miss April. You’re confused. You try to get close to the girls in your class – but they aren’t interested. Not in you anyway. The girls you want to get close to are way out of your league – they won’t give you the right time of day. They are starting to wear makeup and bras and scream when someone says Elvis. The girls who do give you the right time of day call you “sweet” and “just like a little brother” – and you don’t know which is worse; feeling like you’re atomic waste or feeling like a stuffed animal.
Definitely in an awkward place and you don’t know when it’s going to end. Maybe Summer – maybe at the Beach. Maybe Junior High.
Maybe when your voice stops cracking.
At least there’s Radio. And in 1958 it was the start of Top-40 and “Full Color Radio” at KFWB and B. Mitchel Reed – and The Coasters are speaking your language.
Here’s a little under an hour of BMR and KFWB from May 27, 1958.
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