Doctor Don

Doctor Don Weekday mornings 7-10am on WDGY
Stream us: wdgyradio.com or WDGY App
FM 92.1, FM 103.7
FM 107.1 HD2
Playing the Hits of the 60s, 70s & 80s

19/08/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1972

1 ALONE AGAIN (Naturally) –•– Gilbert O’Sullivan
2 BRANDY (You’re a Fine Girl) –•– Looking Glass
3 LONG COOL WOMAN (In a Black Dress) –•– The Hollies
4 (If Loving You Is Wrong) I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT –•– Luther Ingram
5 I’M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU –•– Al Green

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT #87 — JACKIE WILSON SAID (I’m In Heaven When You Smile) –•– Van Morrison

IT WOULD PEAK AT #61

19/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 19:

Happy birthday Billy J. Kramer. He and his band The Dakotas were a minor part of the British Invasion. They had a couple of hits, “Bad to Me” (written by Paul McCartney) and “Little Children”.

The late Johnny Nash born this date. At age 18 in 1968 he scored a top 5 hit with “Hold Me Tight”. In the 70’s “I Can See Clearly Now” and “Stir it Up“ were both Top 10 hits.

The late Ginger Baker, drummer for Cream, born this date.

1972 - The Midnight Special debuts on NBC. At first just a one-off special presentation hosted by John Denver, the next year it is launched as a regular show, with Wolfman Jack serving as announcer. And Helen Reddy as host. The first performance is "Slippin' Into Darkness" by War. All the acts performed live. Lip-sync-ing was not allowed. The show lasted until 1981.

1969 - Crosby, Stills and Nash appear on the Dick Cavett Show, giving a first-hand account of the Woodstock festival that took place over the weekend. Joni Mitchell, who skipped the festival to make sure she could keep her appearance on the show, performs the song she wrote about the event, “Woodstock”.

1967 - The Beatles scored their 14th No.1 single with 'All You Need Is Love'. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Marianne Faithfull and Walker Brother Gary Leeds all sang backing vocals on the track.

1964 - The Beatles kicked off a North American tour at the Cow Palace in San Francisco to a crowd of 17,130. Playing 12 songs which made up their repertoire for the entire tour: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘You Can't Do That’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘Boys’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’. Among the Supporting acts were The Righteous Brothers and Jackie DeShannon.

18/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 18:

The late singer, actor and dancer Patrick Swayze, star of “Dirty Dancing” and other movies born this date. He co-wrote the song “She’s Like the Wind” from the soundtrack. It climbed to #3 on the Billboard singles chart.

2012 - singer and songwriter Scott McKenzie died. He was best known for his 1967 hit single and generational anthem, 'San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)' Which was written by John Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas.

1986 - Bon Jovi released their third studio album, Slippery When Wet, which peaked at No.1 on the charts, going on to sell over 28 million copies worldwide. The set featured two US chart toppers, 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and 'Livin’ On A Prayer'.

1982 - The City of Liverpool named four Streets after the fab four: John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close and Ringo Starr Drive.

1973 - Diana Ross scored her second No.1 single with 'Touch Me In The Morning'. The song marked a turning point in her career, coming immediately after her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in her acting debut, Lady Sings the Blues.

1969 - Jimi Hendrix closes out Woodstock with an early morning performance of "Hey Joe." The festival headliner, he was supposed to play the previous night, but when it ran long, he ended up taking the stage on a Monday morning. His set includes a scorching rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."

1962 - Ringo Starr made his debut with The Beatles at the horticultural society Dance, Birkenhead, England, having had a two-hour rehearsal in preparation. This was the first appearance of The Beatles as the world would come to know them: John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

17/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 17:

Happy birthday Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go‘s. Their 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat, is considered one of the "cornerstone albums of new wave music.

2004 - The "Like A Rock" ad campaign comes to an end, as Chevy stops using the song and ends their association with Bon Seger. The 1986 song wasn't written for Chevy, but was used in the ads since 1989

1974 - Eric Clapton started a four-week run at No.1 on the album chart with 461 Ocean Boulevard, which featured the hit “I Shot the Sheriff”. The house featured on the album cover is 461 Ocean Boulevard in the town of Golden Beach, Florida (near Miami) where Clapton lived while making the album.

1969 - The final day of the 3 day Woodstock Festival took place at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. Acts who appeared included Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Sha Na Na, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, The Band, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter and Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Over 186,000 tickets had been sold but on the first day, the flimsy fences and ticket barriers had come down. Organizers announced the concert would be a free event, prompting thousands more to head for the concert. The final performer was Jimi Hendrix.

1968 - The Rascals started a five week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'People Got To Be Free'. The group had thirteen top 40 hits.

1968 - The Doors started a four-week run at No.1 on the album chart with Waiting For The Sun. The group's third album spawned their second No.1 single, 'Hello, I Love You’.

16/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 16:

The King, Elvis, died at age 42 of heart failure at his home in Memphis. His first record for RCA, 'Heartbreak Hotel' was also his first US No.1. He starred in 31 films. Elvis holds the record for the most entries on the US Hot 100 chart with 154. Elvis became the first rock 'n' roll artist to be honoured by the US Postal Service with a stamp.

Happy birthday Madonna. With sales of over 300 million records worldwide, Madonna is certified as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records. She is the most successful solo artist in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, passed away. She is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. During her career she scored over 15 Top 40 hits and won 18 Grammy Awards. In 2010 Rolling Stone magazine ranked her number one on their list of the ‘100 Greatest Singers of All Time’. Franklin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, making her the first woman to receive that honor.

1983 - After dating for six years, Paul Simon married actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the first Star Wars trilogy. The marriage would last less than two years, but the two continued to date off and on after they split.

1979 - The biggest single of the summer , The Knack's 'My Sharona' was awarded a Gold record for selling one million copies. The Knack's Doug Fieger wrote the song for his girlfriend, Sharona Alperin, whose picture appeared on the single's cover.

1969 - It’s Day 2 of Woodstock, featuring performances by the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Santana. One memorable moment comes during The Who's set, when the activist Abbie Hoffman interrupts their set and grabs the microphone. After saying a few words about fellow activist John Sinclair, Pete Townshend hits him with his guitar.

1969- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young perform together for the first time, playing two shows at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Their next gig comes two days later when they take the stage at Woodstock.

1966 - The Monkees release their first single, "Last Train To Clarksville." It's a lighthearted-sounding song with a somber subtext: The lyric is about a guy who gets drafted into the Vietnam War and wonders if he's ever coming home

15/08/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1964:

1 EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY –•– Dean Martin
2 WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO –•– The Supremes
3 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT –•– The Beatles
4 RAG DOLL –•– The Four Seasons
5 UNDER THE BOARDWALK –•– The Drifters

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT #56 — BREAD AND BUTTER –•– The Newbeats

IT WOULD PEAK AT #2!

15/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 15:

Happy birthday Tom Johnston, co-founder and original lead singer for The Doobie Brothers.

1991 - Paul Simon played a free concert in New York's Central Park before an audience of three quarters of a million people.

1981 - Diana Ross and Lionel Richie started a nine week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Endless Love'. The song was the title from a film starring Brooke Shields.

1976 - ABBA released 'Dancing Queen' as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Arrival. Dancing Queen' (which had the working title of 'Boogaloo') went on to top the charts in more than a dozen countries including the United States where it became ABBA's only No.1.

1969 - Woodstock Festival was held on Max Yasgur's 600 acre farm in Bethel outside New York. Attended by over 400,000 people, the event featured, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Santana, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, Melanie, Ten Years After, Sly and the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shanker, Country Joe and the Fish, Blood Sweat and Tears, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Cocker. During the three days there were three deaths, two births and four miscarriages.

1964 - The Beatles set a new world record for the largest attendance at a pop concert when they played in front of 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, the first rock concert to be held in a stadium. The Beatles were paid $160,000 (that $5.2 million today) for the show, the set list included: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She's a Woman’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby's In Black’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Help!’, and ‘I'm Down’. Two of the Rolling Stones were among the audience, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and later that evening; Bob Dylan visited The Beatles at their hotel.

14/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 14:

The late David Crosby born this date. He co-founded The Byrds in 1964 and of course went on to be part of Crosby, Still & Nash. He is a two-time inductee in the Rock Hall of Fame.

1985 - Three years after their duet "The Girl Is Mine," Paul McCartney advises Michael Jackson to invest in publishing. Jackson makes a winning bid of $47.5 million ($141 million today) for the rights to over 250 Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs owned by ATV publishing, which turns out to be a great investment, but kills their friendship.

1971 - The Who released their fifth studio album, Who’s Next, considered by many critics to be their best record and one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Featuring songs that were initially intended for Lifehouse, an unreleased rock opera and follow-up to the band’s 1969 album, Tommy, the LP included such hits as “Behind Blue Eyes,” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again’.

1965 - Sonny & Cher started a three-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'I Got You Babe'. Sonny Bono is said to have been inspired to write the song to capitalise on the popularity of the term "babe," as heard in Bob Dylan's 'It Ain't Me Babe'.

1962 - Unhappy with drummer Pete Best's role in The Beatles Brian Epstein and the other three members decided to sack him. Best played his last gig the following night at The Cavern, Liverpool. Ringo Starr who was nearing the end of a three-month engagement with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes at a Butlin's holiday camp received a telephone call from John Lennon, asking him to join The Beatles. Ringo gave Rory Storm three days notice and on August 18, appeared as a member of The Beatles for the first time.

13/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 13:

The late Dan Fogelberg born this date. Among his many hits are “Longer”, “Run for the Roses”, Same Auld Lang Syne” and “Leader of the Band”.

1993 - Steely Dan, who broke up in 1981, re-form and begin a US tour at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Walter Becker explains: "We spent all the money from the last tour. We made $800 each and it's all gone now."

1992 - Neil Diamond played the first of six sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York. Diamond would bring in over $40 million from touring this year, the second highest in the music industry. That’s $330 million today.

1973 - Lynyrd Skynyrd released their debut album. Several of the album's tracks remain among the band's most well-known: 'Gimme Three Steps', 'Simple Man', 'Tuesday's Gone', and 'Free Bird', the last of which launched the band to national stardom.

1966 - Lovin Spoonful started a three week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Summer In The song features a series of car horns starting with a Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ends up with a jackhammer sound, in order to give the impression of the sounds of the summer in the city.

1965 - The Beatles arrived at Kennedy International Airport for a second tour of North America. The set list for the tour was ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She's a Woman’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby's in Black’, ‘Act Naturally’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Help!’, ‘I'm Down’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Man.’

1965 - Jefferson Airplane made their live debut at San Francisco's Matrix Club. The photograph of the members of Jefferson Airplane that was featured on the front cover of their best-known album, Surrealistic Pillow (1967), was taken inside the Matrix. The group gets a record deal after receiving a positive review in the San Francisco Chronicle.

12/08/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1985

1 SHOUT –•– Tears For Fears
2 EVERYTIME YOU GO AWAY –•– Paul Young
3 IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY SET THEM FREE –•– Sting
4 NEVER SURRENDER –•– Corey Hart
5 POWER OF LOVE –•– Huey Lewis & The News

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT #62 — EVERY STEP OF THE WAY –•– John Waite

IT WOULD PEAK AT #25

12/08/2025

Music notes for Aug. 12:

Happy birthday Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits who had the 1985 No.1 single 'Money For Nothing', No.2 single 'Walk Of Life', and the 1985 world-wide No.1 album Brothers In Arms.

1984 - As The Olympic Games came to a close, Lionel Richie performed, 'All Night Long' live from Los Angeles to an estimated television audience of 2.6 billion people around the world.

1978 - The Commodores started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Three Times A Lady'. Lionel Richie wrote the song about his love for his wife, mother and grandmother hence 'Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady.'

1968 - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together for the first time when they rehearsed at a studio in Gerrard Street in London's West End. The first song they played was a version of 'The Train Kept A-Rollin‘. The first live dates they played were as The Yardbirds, and it was not until the following month when they started to use the name Led Zeppelin.

1967 - Fleetwood Mac make their stage debut at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, England, alongside such acts as Donovan, Cream, The Small Faces, and Chicken Shack, featuring a young Christine Perfect (later known as Christine McVie).

1960 - Pete Best auditioned to become The Silver Beatles' drummer and was asked to travel to Hamburg in Germany for the bands next set of dates. Before leaving for Hamburg, The Silver Beatles changed their name to simply, "The Beatles".

12/08/2025

Here is the Rickenbacker presentation to George Harrison at The Beatles WDGY Press Conference. Randy Resnick and Ron Butwin of B-Sharp Music present the guitar to George Harrison. August 21, 1965 at Met Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. (1:15)

Address

MN

Telephone

+16515649349

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Doctor Don posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Doctor Don:

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Telephone
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share