This month on AiV: K-Tel's "Star Power" from '78

This month on Adventures in Vinyl we are taking a trip back to early 1978 for K-Tel's Star Power.

This is a good one. And it's mostly because the "Theme from Star Wars" by Meco starts off the album.  I was turning 10 in 1978 when this album came out and Star Wars was my life.  Of course, I had all of the figures, bought trading cards on a weekly basis, wrote George Lucas telling him I'd work for free in his next movie.  That didn't happen.

Meco was actually Domenico Monardo, a record producer and musician. Star Wars made him big, at least for a while, in the late 70s.  He put together a band and they played in disco clubs across the country. He recorded several albums, mostly of movie themes. Star Wars figured prominently in his repertoire.  He even produced a Star Wars-themed Christmas album in 1980.  I have never heard this album, but it features a song entitled, "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)"

And here's the really weird thing.  That Christmas album features the first ever song recorded by Jon Bon Jovi, who went by his given name John Bongiovi on the album.  The song he sings is entitled, "R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

Anyway, the "Theme from Star Wars" is the first song on this K-Tel album, featured this month on Adventures in Vinyl.  In addition to Meco, the album has hits by Foreigner, Kiss, the Little River Band, the Sylvers....and many, many more!


Catch Adventures in Vinyl at the following times (all times Central)

Tuesday:  1 pm
Wednesday: 2 am
Thursday: 10 am
Saturday: 12:30 pm
Sunday: 4 pm

AiV this Month: K-Tel's "After Hours" from 1982

On this month's edition of Adventures in Vinyl, we are taking a time trip back to 1982 for K-Tel's .  This album featured Rick Springfield, Lindsey Buckingham, ABBA, George Benson, Air Supply...and many, many more.

Perhaps not one of K-Tel's best, After Hours still has plenty going for it.  Over half of the songs appeared on the Billboard Year End Chart for 1982.  And, like all their albums in the 1980s, K-Tel went with quality over quantity.  This album has only 15 songs and very little editing.  These are mostly full versions, unlike those found on their compilations in the 70s when they tried to fit as many songs as possible on an LP.




Adventures in Vinyl can be heard at the following times (central)

Saturday, 12 pm
Sunday, 4 pm
Tuesday, 1 pm
Wednesday, 2 am
Thursday, 10 am

Remember Nite-Owl on WFLD-TV Chicago?

Today, as I was playing some songs on the radio, I came across the Little River Band's 1981 hit, "Night Owls."  The video for this song was a common sight on late night video programs and in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV.  But I was reminded of something else:

Nite-Owl on Channel 32 in Chicago.

Does anyone else remember this?  Nite-Owl was a program that dominated the early hours on WFLD-TV in Chicago and consisted of news, weather and sports all provided by funky computerized block graphics played with a soft-rock soundtrack of popular hits and muzak from the time.  I was in junior high  and found myself staying up late, mesmerized by the high-tech (for the time) computer graphics.  One night in 1981, I was at my friend's house across the street and we turned on Nite-Owl after Saturday Night Live and fell asleep to the blue glow and soft music emanating from the tv.

I distinctly remember hearing that Little River Band song and thought it would make a good theme to the program.

Nite-Owl premiered in September of 1981 and was attracting some 75,000 viewers a night within a year.  The company then expanded and started charging a fee, but it soon died out by 1984.

Here's a promo for the premiere of Nite-Owl from 1981:


And here's a 10 minute segment from August 25, 1982, featuring "Love is in the Air" by John Paul Young, "Who Am I?" by Petula Clark and "Biggest Part of Me" by Ambrosia.


The service was provided via teletex, which was hooked up into the computers at the Chicago Sun-Times.  The editorial office for Keyfax was located in Elk Grove Village where editors typed up the copy and sent it back to WFLD in Chicago over a telephone line.  The service was paid for through advertising placed between the 100 or so pages that scrolled throughout the night.

Nite-Owl, although archaic by today's standards, was really ahead of its time.  It foreshadowed 24 hour news channels and internet RSS feeds.  It looked much like the on-line bulletin boards and dial-up services of the early and mid-1990s.  Remember Prodigy and Compuserve?  Nite-Owl looked just like those 1990 internet gateways.

But with  soft-rock soundtrack.