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November 21, 2020 6:51 pm  #1


It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

In a recent thread, there was discussion of how some weird alternate versions of hit records wound up on oldies stations, including those that play on the Roger Ashby Oldies Show. But this weekend was a mistake so bizarre, I would love to know how it happened. 

Ashby noted he would be playing songs related to the anniversary of the assassination of JFK. He started with "Abraham, Martin & John" about 10 minutes into the first hour, noting how many different versions of the song existed. But he specifically referred to the Dion disc, which was a huge hit in 1968, and brought the singer back from obscurity.

The song proceeded to play. The only problem: it not only wasn't an alternate version of the Dion hit, it's wasn't even Dion himself. It was definitely a different artist doing their own cover of the tune, a soulful almost R&B-like take I'd never heard before. 

So the question once again surfaces - how did this happen? There are two guesses. One, they listed the track in a digital form, inserted it into the show recording without ever listening to it and then moved on. Or the producer of a younger age found the tune in the library, perhaps had never heard it before and just assumed it was the Dion recording. 

I know they archive these things and play them over the web in an endless loop, so if they care about this, they should probably redub it for posterity before it hits the Internet and the mistake plays over and over and over again. 

It really is a great show, but it suffers a lot when these kinds of obvious errors that any oldies fan would know in a heartbeat surface.   

 

November 21, 2020 7:47 pm  #2


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Sounds like someone might have inserted this version instead. It reached #33 on Billboard and #28 on CHUM, where it charted for a grand total of one week. 

 

November 21, 2020 8:40 pm  #3


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

[size=100]I wonder if Roger Ashby knows about the shortwave pirate WJFK?[/size]


https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/WJFK

 

November 21, 2020 9:40 pm  #4


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Lorne wrote:

Sounds like someone might have inserted this version instead. It reached #33 on Billboard and #28 on CHUM, where it charted for a grand total of one week. 

That's not the version I heard. If anything, the one they played was a little less smooth than that. 

     Thread Starter
 

November 21, 2020 10:27 pm  #5


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Marvin Gaye did a version as did Moms Mabley and Ray Charles:



 

Last edited by Fitz (November 21, 2020 10:27 pm)


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

November 21, 2020 10:42 pm  #6


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Mabley's was the other version that I thought of, since it also charted on CHUM (#20) and Billboard (#35). Here it is in case it's the one.


 

 

November 21, 2020 11:02 pm  #7


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

No, that one I definitely would have remembered! 

     Thread Starter
 

November 21, 2020 11:52 pm  #8


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Lorne was correct, he played  Smokey Robinson and The Miracles version of Abraham, Martin and John.

 

November 22, 2020 1:17 am  #9


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Odd. I didn't thînk it was that one. Either way, why they played the wrong version and no one noticed is strange. I'll try to remember to listen a second time on Sunday and take another crack at it.

     Thread Starter
 

November 22, 2020 10:24 am  #10


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

So, yes, I was wrong - it was the Smokey Robinson version, although he clearly intro'd Dion.

You can hear it here

     Thread Starter
 

November 22, 2020 10:54 am  #11


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

I understand Roger voice tracks the show from home.  Therefore he wouldn’t hear the music at all.  Knowing Rog this stuff happening would really tick him off.

 

November 22, 2020 11:28 am  #12


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

AMFM wrote:

I understand Roger voice tracks the show from home. Therefore he wouldn’t hear the music at all. Knowing Rog this stuff happening would really tick him off.

And that's really the reason I pointed this out. Everybody makes mistakes. God knows I was far from perfect. I still remember producing a weekly news radio show that used to air in Toronto back in the days when everything was on tape. 

It featured a ton of post production and was one of the first ones I ever did. It aired every Sunday morning. Somehow, between Friday night and the air date, I became absolutely convinced that I'd missed an edit in the tape. It bugged me enough that I finally gave up part of my weekend on Saturday afternoon, went all the way downtown to the station, walked into the control room, pulled the tape and listened to the entire hour in my production studio just to be sure. 

Turns out, there was nothing wrong, but I slept a lot more soundly that night!

My point is that this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened on the show and although I don't personally know Roger, I suspect he's something of a perfectionist when it comes to getting it right. So whatever is causing the occasional issue, by posting this, I hope it will get back to the producers and they'll fix it.

     Thread Starter
 

November 22, 2020 12:41 pm  #13


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

What I also find strange about this is that the Miracles version is very obscure and long-forgotten now. I'd understand the situation better if someone who isn't familiar with oldies accidentally inserted a better-known version of an obscure song, but I'm amazed that it's the opposite that's happening here. I also see that the podcast version correctly shows the song played as being the Miracles version, which I would imagine is because of whatever software they're using to look after this. 

 

November 22, 2020 1:33 pm  #14


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

Equally weird is that Ashby's voicetrack is backtimed to hit the opening lyric, which means it had to be heard when it was mixed. I'm wondering if the fact no one spotted this is because they simply weren't familiar with the original. So something labelled in the system as "AM&J" by Dion was simply accepted as being such, even if it was wrongly indicated.  

     Thread Starter
 

November 23, 2020 12:26 am  #15


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

i heard the clip and there was no mistaking "the miracles". in my opinion, the person putting the show together (in this case, i'm guessing, it's not roger) should know the music inside and out... especially if they're using digital music files. these files are often mislabeled (artists... original hit versions... etc.). even music services, such as spotify, occasionally provide inaccurate versions (especially when it comes to re-recorded songs). 

Last edited by the original hank (November 23, 2020 12:27 am)

 

November 23, 2020 1:35 am  #16


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

RadioActive wrote:

AMFM wrote:

I don't personally know Roger, I suspect he's something of a perfectionist when it comes to getting it right.

He is a perfectionist.  If anyone knows Cory Kimm ask him about the time his last song ended at 5:30:30 on a weekday morning when he was doing overnights when he first started at Chum FM.

 

November 23, 2020 3:28 pm  #17


Re: It Happened Again - Another Major Mistake On Ashby's Oldies Show

the original hank wrote:

i heard the clip and there was no mistaking "the miracles". in my opinion, the person putting the show together (in this case, i'm guessing, it's not roger) should know the music inside and out... especially if they're using digital music files. these files are often mislabeled (artists... original hit versions... etc.). even music services, such as spotify, occasionally provide inaccurate versions (especially when it comes to re-recorded songs). 

You make a good point about how files can be mislabeled. Although it certainly shouldn't happen, I can see where the name of an artist who is well-known for a song could get put on a file that actually has a different version of the song. And unfortunately, ever since these mistakes started occurring I've thought that the music is probably being inserted into the show by someone who isn't that familiar with music from the oldies era. My guess (not having ever worked in radio) is that it's a low-level job, and that wouldn't help any either ... I can easily see where the person doing it may be a younger person who wouldn't be that likely to realize that a mistake like this has occurred.