From the Desk of CLASSICKONG 🦍🎙️
Good Sunday morning from all of us at WTSG-DB, where the music never stops and the memories are always welcome.
As we looked through the history of August 16, something began connecting many of today’s stories.
Brotherhood.
Sometimes we’re born into it.
Sometimes we serve beside it.
Sometimes four musicians take the same last name and create their own version of it.
Sometimes three brothers discover that when their voices come together, they create a sound unlike anyone else on Earth.
And sometimes friendship unexpectedly turns into brotherhood somewhere along the road.
So today we’ll celebrate the music, remember some extraordinary people, share a treasured family memory—and think a little about the people who walk through this life beside us.
Brothers by blood. Brothers in arms. Brothers by choice.
And all of us brought together by one more thing:
The love of music.
We Salute Those Who Serve — National Airborne Day 🇺🇸🪂
Before the music, we begin with gratitude.
August 16 is National Airborne Day, commemorating the first official U.S. Army parachute jump and honoring America’s airborne forces.
To the men and women serving in America’s Armed Forces today, to our veterans, and to those who made the ultimate sacrifice:
Thank you.
There may be no stronger example of brotherhood than the bond between those who serve.
They train together.
They sacrifice together.
They depend upon one another.
And sometimes they place their very lives into the hands of the person standing beside them.
Today we offer a special salute to America’s paratroopers—past and present—who have been willing to step through the door of an aircraft into open sky because duty called.
Airborne! All the Way!
And to everyone who has worn the uniform of the United States of America, WTSG-DB proudly salutes you. 🇺🇸
August 16, 1977 — The World Loses Elvis Presley 👑
Elvis Aaron Presley
January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977
There are certain dates in music history when people remember exactly where they were when they heard the news.
August 16, 1977, is one of them.
On this day 49 years ago, Elvis Presley died at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.
He was only 42 years old.
Elvis had unknowingly performed his final concert less than two months earlier, on June 26, 1977, at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He wasn’t planning to retire.
In fact, another tour was about to begin. Elvis was scheduled to leave Memphis on August 16 and perform in Portland, Maine, the following evening.
But that concert would never happen.
Shortly after midnight, Elvis returned to Graceland following a late-night dental appointment. Through the early morning hours he attended to tour details and spent time with family and members of his entourage before retiring to his upstairs suite.
By late morning, Elvis Presley was gone.
The news traveled around the world.
The King was dead.
From Tupelo to the World
What Elvis helped unleash after recording “That’s All Right” at Sun Studio in 1954 changed American popular culture forever.
Country.
Blues.
Rhythm and blues.
Gospel.
Elvis absorbed all of it and somehow made the combination his own.
Then came the records.
“Heartbreak Hotel.”
“Don’t Be Cruel.”
“Hound Dog.”
“All Shook Up.”
“Jailhouse Rock.”
“Love Me Tender.”
“Are You Lonesome Tonight?”
“Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
“Suspicious Minds.”
“Burning Love.”
There were the movies.
There was his service in the United States Army.
There was the extraordinary 1968 Comeback Special.
There were Las Vegas and the famous jumpsuits.
There were screaming crowds unlike anything popular music had experienced before.
But underneath the phenomenon was a young man whose earliest musical foundations included something especially important to him:
Gospel music.
And that’s where this story becomes personal.
My Grandmother, Elvis and a Quiet Roberts Stadium ❤️
My grandmother had the opportunity to see Elvis Presley perform live right here in Evansville, Indiana, sometime during the 1970s.
I don’t know with certainty which performance she attended.
But I know what she remembered.
Of everything she could have told me about seeing Elvis—the excitement, the screaming fans, the charisma, the spectacle—one particular moment stayed with her.
Elvis sang “How Great Thou Art.”
And my grandmother told me that when he sang it, Roberts Stadium became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
I’ve never forgotten her telling me that.
Elvis performed at Roberts Stadium more than once during the 1970s. His June 13, 1972 Evansville performance is documented as including “How Great Thou Art.”
Was that the night my grandmother attended?
I can’t say for certain.
And I don’t need to.
Because I know what she remembered.
When Elvis sang that hymn, the building listened.
The Gospel Heart of Elvis Presley
Gospel wasn’t a novelty or side project for Elvis.
It was part of him.
And there’s an extraordinary fact hidden beneath all those rock-and-roll gold records:
All three competitive GRAMMY Awards Elvis Presley won during his lifetime were for gospel or inspirational performances.
His album How Great Thou Art earned his first GRAMMY, and years later a live performance of the title song brought him another.
That makes my grandmother’s memory even more meaningful.
Perhaps for those few minutes inside Roberts Stadium, the superstar disappeared.
No King of Rock and Roll.
No movies.
No screaming.
Just Elvis Presley singing music he loved.
And thousands of people listening.
Essential Elvis Presley Albums
- Elvis Presley — 1956
- Elvis — 1956
- Elvis’ Christmas Album — 1957
- Elvis Is Back! — 1960
- His Hand in Mine — 1960
- Blue Hawaii — 1961
- How Great Thou Art — 1967
- From Elvis in Memphis — 1969
- From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis — 1969
- That’s the Way It Is — 1970
- Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old) — 1971
- He Touched Me — 1972
- Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite — 1973
- Moody Blue — 1977
Today, Roberts Stadium is gone.
My grandmother is gone.
And, as the famous announcement used to say, Elvis has left the building.
But put one of those recordings on…
…and suddenly that voice fills the room again.
The recordings live on.
And so do the memories.
Rest in peace, Elvis.
August 16, 1938 — Robert Johnson and the Mystery of the Blues 🎸
Robert Leroy Johnson
May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938
Long before rock and roll had a name, Robert Johnson was helping create some of its musical vocabulary.
Johnson died on this date in 1938 near Greenwood, Mississippi.
He was only 27 years old.
His recorded legacy was astonishingly small—only 29 distinct songs recorded during sessions in 1936 and 1937.
Yet consider some of them:
“Cross Road Blues.”
“Sweet Home Chicago.”
“Love in Vain.”
“Hellhound on My Trail.”
“Me and the Devil Blues.”
Those recordings would influence generations of blues and rock musicians.
Then there’s the legend.
One of music’s most enduring pieces of folklore claims Johnson met the Devil at a Mississippi crossroads and exchanged his soul for extraordinary ability on the guitar.
It’s one heck of a blues story.
But legend isn’t history, and there’s no evidence such an event actually occurred.
Robert Johnson doesn’t need the mythology anyway.
Twenty-nine songs were enough to make him immortal.
August 16, 1969 — Saturday at Woodstock ☮️🎸
On Saturday, August 16, 1969, a dairy farm near Bethel, New York, had somehow become the center of the musical universe.
It was Day Two of Woodstock.
And what a day it became.
Among the performers were:
Quill
Country Joe McDonald
Santana
John Sebastian
Keef Hartley Band
The Incredible String Band
Canned Heat
Mountain
Grateful Dead
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Janis Joplin
Sly & The Family Stone
The Who
Jefferson Airplane
Santana delivered the kind of performance that could transform a relatively unknown band into something much bigger almost overnight.
Mountain took the Woodstock stage remarkably early in its existence as a live band.
CCR played.
The Grateful Dead played.
Janis played.
Sly and the Family Stone played.
And eventually Woodstock time stopped resembling ordinary time altogether.
The Who were scheduled for Saturday night but didn’t actually begin until around 5 a.m. Sunday morning.
They tore through much of Tommy, and as their performance approached its conclusion, the sun began rising over Woodstock.
Imagine it.
You’ve been awake all night.
You’re standing among a seemingly endless sea of people.
And daylight begins appearing while The Who is playing.
There are concerts.
There are festivals.
And then there was Woodstock.
For a few days, hundreds of thousands of strangers became one enormous musical family.
August 16, 1969 — Four Voices Become CSNY 🎶
While hundreds of thousands gathered at Woodstock, another piece of rock history was unfolding in Chicago.
On this date, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young performed publicly together for the first time as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre.
Their opening performance of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” received a standing ovation.
Only days later, they would appear at Woodstock for one of their earliest performances together.
Four enormously talented musicians.
Four enormous personalities.
And, as history would prove, sometimes a rather complicated musical brotherhood. 😂
But when those voices came together…
Wow.
August 16, 1974 — Four “Brothers” Walk Into CBGB 🤘
They weren’t actually brothers.
But you’d never know it from the names.
Joey Ramone
May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001
Johnny Ramone
October 8, 1948 – September 15, 2004
Dee Dee Ramone
September 18, 1951 – June 5, 2002
Tommy Ramone
January 29, 1949 – July 11, 2014
On August 16, 1974, the Ramones made their debut at CBGB in New York City, opening for Angel and the Snake—an early incarnation of the group that would eventually become Blondie.
Four guys.
Four leather jackets.
Four adopted Ramone surnames.
Short songs.
Loud guitars.
Relentless rhythm.
Very little wasted time.
And eventually…
“1-2-3-4!”
The relationships between the members weren’t always easy. In fact, sometimes they were anything but.
But together they created an identity.
Together they created a sound.
And together they helped establish the blueprint for American punk rock.
Essential Ramones
- Ramones — 1976
- Leave Home — 1977
- Rocket to Russia — 1977
- Road to Ruin — 1978
Sadly, all four original Ramones are now gone.
Joey.
Dee Dee.
Johnny.
Tommy.
But put on that first album and count it off…
“1-2-3-4!”
And the brothers are back together again.
Hey! Ho! Let’s go!
August 16, 1980 — Olivia Newton-John Works Her “Magic” ❤️
Olivia Newton-John
September 26, 1948 – August 8, 2022
On this weekend in 1980, Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic”, from Xanadu, was sitting atop the American singles chart.
And there was something appropriate about that title.
Because there really was something magical about that voice.
Olivia Newton-John possessed one of the clearest and most beautiful voices in popular music.
There was warmth in it.
There was tenderness.
There was remarkable control.
She could sound delicate without ever sounding fragile, and she never needed to overpower a song to command your attention.
Sometimes the quieter she became, the harder you listened.
And then there was “I Honestly Love You.”
Put that record on in the right moment and Olivia could leave you in tears.
No vocal acrobatics were necessary.
She simply sang the song.
And somehow you believed every word.
For me, Olivia belongs in that rare company with voices such as Karen Carpenter, Morgana King and Barbra Streisand.
You know them almost immediately.
Sometimes before the first line is even finished.
Their voices are like fingerprints.
One of a kind.
Olivia could sing country-pop with effortless warmth, become Sandy in Grease, move into the dreamy world of Xanadu, reinvent herself with Physical and still remain unmistakably Olivia.
But awards, hit records and movies only tell part of her story.
People also remember the kindness.
The warmth.
The smile.
The grace.
A superstar with a magnificent voice—and seemingly a beautiful heart to match.
Olivia Newton-John Studio Discography
- If Not for You — 1971
- Olivia — 1972
- Let Me Be There — 1973
- Long Live Love — 1974
- If You Love Me, Let Me Know — 1974
- Have You Never Been Mellow — 1975
- Clearly Love — 1975
- Come On Over — 1976
- Don’t Stop Believin’ — 1976
- Making a Good Thing Better — 1977
- Totally Hot — 1978
- Physical — 1981
- Soul Kiss — 1985
- The Rumour — 1988
- Warm and Tender — 1989
- Gaia: One Woman’s Journey — 1994
- Back with a Heart — 1998
- ‘Tis the Season — 2000, with Vince Gill
- Indigo: Women of Song — 2004
- Stronger Than Before — 2005
- Grace and Gratitude — 2006
- Christmas Wish — 2007
- A Celebration in Song — 2008
- This Christmas — 2012, with John Travolta
- Liv On — 2016, with Amy Sky and Beth Nielsen Chapman
- Friends for Christmas — 2016, with John Farnham
And no Olivia collection is complete without the landmark soundtracks Grease (1978), Xanadu (1980) and Two of a Kind (1983).
There was only one Olivia Newton-John.
Beautiful lady. Magnificent voice. Beautiful legacy. ❤️
August 16, 1975 — Three Brothers Are “Jive Talkin’” 🐝
Barry Gibb
Born September 1, 1946
Robin Gibb
December 22, 1949 – May 20, 2012
Maurice Gibb
December 22, 1949 – January 12, 2003
Robin and Maurice were twins.
Barry was their older brother.
Together they were the Bee Gees.
On this weekend in 1975, “Jive Talkin’” was ruling the American singles chart.
And it represented a major turning point.
While recording Main Course in Miami, the rhythmic sound the brothers heard while driving across Miami’s 163rd Street Causeway helped inspire the groove that became “Jive Talkin’.” The song initially carried the working title “Drive Talking.”
That rhythm helped open the door to another extraordinary chapter in the brothers’ career.
But here’s something worth remembering:
The Bee Gees were never simply “a disco group.”
Long before Saturday Night Fever, the brothers were writing beautiful songs.
“Massachusetts.”
“To Love Somebody.”
“I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You.”
“Words.”
“How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”
Then came Main Course and a new sound.
“Jive Talkin’.”
“Nights on Broadway.”
“Fanny (Be Tender with My Love).”
Soon the world would hear “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Night Fever” and so many more.
And then consider the extraordinary songs the Gibbs wrote for other artists.
That’s another story all by itself.
These men were songwriters.
Musicians.
Singers.
And above everything else…
brothers.
They had disagreements.
They separated.
Life pulled them in different directions.
But somehow the music kept bringing Barry, Robin and Maurice back together.
Bee Gees Studio Discography
- Spicks and Specks — 1966
- Bee Gees’ 1st — 1967
- Horizontal — 1968
- Idea — 1968
- Odessa — 1969
- Cucumber Castle — 1970
- 2 Years On — 1970
- Trafalgar — 1971
- To Whom It May Concern — 1972
- Life in a Tin Can — 1973
- Mr. Natural — 1974
- Main Course — 1975
- Children of the World — 1976
- Spirits Having Flown — 1979
- Living Eyes — 1981
- E.S.P. — 1987
- One — 1989
- High Civilization — 1991
- Size Isn’t Everything — 1993
- Still Waters — 1997
- This Is Where I Came In — 2001
Today, Barry is the only surviving member of that classic three-brother lineup.
Maurice is gone.
Robin is gone.
But listen to one of those records and something wonderful happens.
That unmistakable blend appears again.
Barry. Robin. Maurice.
Three brothers.
Together again for the length of a song.
Happy 68th Birthday, Madonna 🎤🎬
Madonna Louise Ciccone was born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan.
Today she turns 68.
You don’t have to own every Madonna album to acknowledge what happened during the 1980s.
She was everywhere.
“Holiday.”
“Borderline.”
“Like a Virgin.”
“Material Girl.”
“Crazy for You.”
“Into the Groove.”
“Papa Don’t Preach.”
“Open Your Heart.”
“Like a Prayer.”
But Madonna wasn’t confined to the radio.
MTV was becoming a cultural force, and Madonna understood the visual possibilities of the music-video era as well as almost anyone.
The fashion.
The videos.
The performances.
The controversy.
And then there were the movies.
In 1985, Madonna appeared as the wonderfully free-spirited Susan in Desperately Seeking Susan alongside Rosanna Arquette.
The movie became an unmistakable snapshot of mid-’80s New York style and culture, while Madonna’s “Into the Groove” became inseparable from the film. Footage from Desperately Seeking Susan was used for the song’s heavily played video.
For those of us who lived through the ’80s, Madonna wasn’t merely another artist whose songs came over the radio.
She was part of the decade’s landscape.
Happy 68th birthday, Madonna.
National Tell A Joke Day 😂
Okay.
We’ve been serious long enough.
August 16 is also National Tell A Joke Day.
Management has therefore reluctantly authorized CLASSICKONG to tell one joke.
Why did the musician get kicked out of the library?
Because he kept checking out the bass section.
🥁
Thank you.
CLASSICKONG will be here all week.
Management apologizes.
Today’s Music Trivia ❓
Question: Elvis Presley became one of the biggest rock-and-roll stars in history, but in what musical category did he win all three of his competitive GRAMMY Awards?
A. Rock and Roll
B. Country
C. Gospel/Inspirational
D. Rhythm and Blues
Think you’ve got it?
Keep scrolling.
Brotherhood — The Love of Music ❤️
Maybe that’s what today’s stories have really been about.
Brotherhood.
Sometimes we’re born into it.
Barry, Robin and Maurice were brothers by blood.
Sometimes we create it.
Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy weren’t related, but four musicians took the same last name and became the Ramones.
Sometimes we serve beside it.
America’s military men and women understand a kind of brotherhood that most of us will thankfully never be required to test.
Sometimes musicians walk onto a stage as individuals and discover that together they can create something none of them could make alone.
And sometimes…
You find your brothers in the most unexpected places.
CLASSICKONG’s Fortnite Brothers 🎮❤️
CLASSICKONG even found a few of his brothers on a Fortnite battlefield.
We came for the game.
But somewhere among the victories, defeats, ridiculous mistakes, impossible shots and nights when we laughed until our sides hurt, something else happened.
Friendships became something deeper.
The game brought us together.
The laughs made the memories.
The love made us brothers.
And isn’t that really what so much of life comes down to?
The people who shared the ride.
The people who were there.
The people whose voices you recognize immediately.
The people who can make you laugh just by showing up.
Brothers in arms.
Brothers by blood.
Brothers by choice.
Brothers and sisters brought together by music.
And then there are the people who gave us the memories in the first place.
My grandmother once sat inside Roberts Stadium and listened to Elvis Presley sing “How Great Thou Art.”
Today, Roberts Stadium is gone.
My grandmother is gone.
Elvis has left the building.
The four original Ramones are gone.
Robin and Maurice Gibb are gone.
Olivia Newton-John is gone.
Robert Johnson has been gone for nearly nine decades.
But then somebody drops a needle onto a record.
A voice comes through the speakers.
And suddenly…
there they are.
Because buildings disappear.
Years pass.
And eventually, people we love leave us.
But somehow music has this remarkable ability to hold onto a little piece of them.
The voices remain.
The laughter remains.
The stories remain.
The love remains.
And as long as somebody keeps playing the records…
the music lives on.
From all of us at WTSG-DB, thank you for sharing this Sunday and these memories with us.
If you haven’t already, we’d love for you to head over to wtsg.net and sign our Guestbook. It’s brand new, and we’d love to know where you’re listening from.
Until next time, take care of one another.
Call an old friend.
Tell your brother you love him.
Turn up a favorite record.
And never underestimate the memories being made while the music is playing.
Great Music. Great Radio. Great Community.
Trivia Answer
C. Gospel/Inspirational.
All three competitive GRAMMY Awards Elvis Presley received during his lifetime came for gospel or inspirational recordings, including honors connected to “How Great Thou Art.”
Listen to Today’s Broadcast
Sit back, relax, and enjoy today’s story in audio form with CLASSICKONG.
