Growing up, like many people in the Philadelphia area, I listened to a radio personality that dominated his weekend time slot. During the week, he was a mid level manager at radio station WDAS AM and FM named Harvey Levy. On the weekends however, he would be transformed into the legendary DJ Harvey Holiday playing Doo-op, Rock, and Soul oldies from the 50’s through the early ‘70’s.
WDAS was the undisputed leader in ratings for its demographic for a long time. When a competitor came into the market to battle WDAS for control of this audience, Harvey Holiday briefly joined forces with them and went head to head with his old station for Sunday night ratings supremacy. This competition proved to last only a brief stint before Holiday accepted an offer to join a 50,000 watt CBS owned oldies station. There, instead of only appearing on the air on Sunday nights, he would expand his exposure to five days a week. He also broadened his playlist and his audience and enjoyed great success for the rest of his career.
For my money however, he was never any better Than he was at WDAS working in a more intimate setting on Sunday nights. He would answer the phones in the studio himself and I often took advantage of that. His casual irreverence and obvious love for the music and respect for his audience had a huge influence on me. My favorite quote from him in which he said often on the air was “Some people listen to remember, some people listen to forget”.
Harvey Holiday wasn’t the only musical influence in my life. My parents had a record collection that included popular songs of the day that I would randomly pick up and play on our record player that boasted the latest in hi-fidelity stereo quality. Artists like Mongo Santamaria, Ella Fitzgerald, Brook Benton and many more.
The final piece of my musical development came from my elementary school. Both traveling to school and learning from my classmates. On the way to school, many of the bus drivers played AM pop music on their radios. The station of choice was WFIL. It was a classic 60’s pop station complete with high energy DJ’s with larger than life personalities that played non-stop hits in between news,sports, and commercials. WFIL exposed me to music that I wouldn’t hear on WDAS and vice-versa.
This all brings me to today. I can’t listen to the song “Everyday People” or “Dance to the Music” by “Sly and the Family Stone” without thinking in vivid detail about hanging out in my driveway playing with my frisbee or hula hoop or riding my banana seat bike while those songs were simultaneously blaring from someone’s record player or car radio as they drove by. Those songs always bring back vivid memories of my childhood or other similar times in my life.
These songs are the sounds of my life. The soundtrack of my soul. What musical memories do you have that evoke similar feelings? What songs can you remember that you would call the soundtrack of your soul?
