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    Ken’s Blog

    The Blue Mountains Elvis Festival

    The Blue Mountains Elvis Festival Well Elvis lovers… here’s your chance to get your Elvis fill with some of the best Elvis tribute acts Australia has to offer. Elvis is by far and away the most popular individual artist requested on Jukebox Saturday...

    July 3, 2017  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Jukebox Radio – The One That Got Away

    In the upcoming weeks, we have a dedication Jukebox Saturday Night show for Ken Sparkes that we will be running! Hooray... about time... yes we hear you!! We must apologise for the delays, however, losing the leader of our small team has left us a little...

    October 13, 2016  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    The Troggs 50th Anniversary Tour

    THE TROGGS - tour dates and tickets click here Wild Thing 50th Anniversary Australian Tour All their Greatest Hits Live in Concert Wild Thing, With a Girl Like You, I Can’t Control Myself, Love is All Around plus More! "I’ve been to many...

    August 18, 2016  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Frankie Valli and the 4 seasons

    Frankie Valli If you had said many years ago “they will not last” you may have been correct. Frankie Valli and the 4 seasons came at a time when all as they say in baseball “all the bases were loaded.” Everyone with an inkling of talent...

    February 13, 2016  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Dressed for Success In Sydney

    Sydney in the early days of Rock and Roll. Following the American music invasion of Australia, local talent particularly in Sydney and Melbourne did not take much urging to react. Johnny O’Keefe, Col Joye, The Joye Boys, The Delltones, Johnny...

    January 27, 2016  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Billy Thorpe

    In the early sixties I was the new kid on the block hailed as Sydney’s youngest DJ and doing feature radio shows for 2GB Macquarie. The ‘surfin craze’ had exploded worldwide and naturally we were all swept up and riding the waves and hangin 5. Sydney...

    January 27, 2016  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Sat 5th Dec Show JOK – Johnny O’Keefe

    Sat 5th Dec JOK - Johnny O'Keefe Editor and co-producer Justin arrived back from NZ and immediately tackled the task of getting the JOK tribute to air. Remember he has a daily radio job and a family to consider. I will await the audience reaction...

    December 5, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Johnny Devlin

    Johnny Devlin Johnny was one of the three New Zealanders who burst onto the Aussie music scene in the early sixties. He became a regular on Channel 9’s Bandstand hosted by New Zealand born Brian Henderson. In the early part of his career he was portrayed...

    July 11, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Last Drinks Inc. T-Shirts

    We’ve had a heap of requests for new T-shirts, however, until more recently have simply not been able to find a supplier we were happy with. In our dealings with sourcing a supplier we tried overseas to manage costs, however, the sample quality just...

    May 1, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Sunbury 73 Festival

    The Sunbury ’73 the live rock concert was located on a 620 hectare private property outside of Melbourne.  The event was known as, The Sunbury Pop Festival, Sunbury Rock Festival, Australia’s Woodstock and Sunbury’s Woodstock. Woodstock being...

    April 16, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    The Mixtures – The Pushbike Song

    The Mixtures The PushBike Song One of the most successful OZ bands in the sixties was The Mixtures who recorded the stand out hit “The Push Bike Song” The Channel Ten film crew  took to the streets of Melbourne and filmed a clip that today would...

    March 29, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Kommotion

    Kommotion in the 21st Century. I am amazed that there are still so many people who remember this 1960’s TV show in a positive manner, this is highlighted by a photo on EBAY asking for $6K!! (Ebay Link) The budget for new sets each week was only $10,...

    March 28, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    One Hit Wonders

    One Hit wonders This term is a trap as we found our when in 2012 we put to air a One Hit wonder show. Stand back and look out for an avalanche of negatives, literally we had emails, Facebook posts and phone calls all hit us within minutes of the...

    March 28, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Herman’s Hermits

    Many in the entertainment industry would not be aware of my early links with TV week as a journalist and feature writer. Most would recall me as the “voice” of the TV Week Logies for many years on the Nine Network. During my time in Melbourne on 3UZ,...

    March 19, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Joe Cocker

    Few Australian if any know Joe Cocker on a one to one basis as Don Grierson one time Disc Jockey on 2DU Dubbo NSW. Don went to the USA to further his career in Radio, got a job in a record store and ended up one of the most respected executives and A&R...

    March 3, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    The Beatles by Ed Story

    We've recently sorted through over 42,000 requests from our viewers. Behind Elvis, The Beatles were a close second as the most popular artist/band requested. Whilst it would of course be cheating if you added the solo Paul McCartney + Wings and George...

    February 8, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Fable Label Tribute Show – 2015

    To kick off the year we figured we'd celebrate Australia Day with an all Australian music show featuring the story of Fable Label and Bootleg records, as well as a tribute to Ron Tudor who made it all happen. Ron started the labels against all the odds,...

    January 25, 2015  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog  Uncategorized 

    Jack Scott

    Jack Scott a 1960’s DJ favourite When you go back over the charts you will not find too many mentions of Jack Scott on the OZ charts, however, if radio spins counted for something Jack Scott would be in the top 10. The other point is that those early...

    December 12, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Wolfman Jack

    Wolfman Jack inspirational Disc Jockey and businessman I can still him howling out of radio XERB “sockin the soul to yer baby from Tijuana” and doing what so many other DJ’s at the time wanted to do..Cut loose from the binds of tight formatted...

    December 12, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart

    Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart is a real Hollywood success story. Talents arrived from all over the word drawn to what we knew as Tinsel City, Los Angeles California sometimes called the “City of the Angels” and many talents and agents looked for any opportunity...

    November 15, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Fly me to the Moon

    There are moments in our lives when an historic event happens and stops our daily routine. July 20 1969 is a date that lives in my mind to this day, not because it is my birth date (the day not year), I am never big on birthdays, but a day that I still...

    July 19, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    The Bee Gees by Billy Gates

    The Bee Gees Ken Sparkes - DJ Bill Gates (Swingin’ Gates) is one of my most endearing and long time friends of mine, many a time our career paths and motor cycle, race and road cars choices have run in parallels. Bill became a legendary DJ in Brisbane...

    June 30, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Best 60’s live music – Peter McKay

    JBSN  The best live acts of the 1960s – by Peter McKay (Peter McKay is a motoring and motor sports journalist who briefly in the distant past wrote about rock music. Peter is a close friend of Ken Sparkes and has graciously taken some time out to reminisce...

    June 13, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Cinesound News Reel The Beatles

    The arrival of the Beatles in Australia in 1964 was one of the main Newsreel features of the era. Cinesound News Reels produced a 6min 40 second feature entitled "The Mersey Sound at the Stadium" and I was the Commentator. Today it is probably the best...

    May 21, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Macquarie Radio Network 2MG Mudgee

    BUSH RADIO is not a derogatory term it was where would be announcers who showed initial talent were given the chance to do an apprentice and if they were good enough they had the chance to make it in the "Big Smoke." Many who worked for the low wages...

    May 21, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Coca Cola Hi Fi Club

    In the sixties Coca Cola instigated a very ambitious Radio-TV-Event based project "The Hi Fi Club" the term "Hi Fi" was the buzz expression meaning Hi Fidelity. The Club was launched in the USA in 1958 and by 1959 47 States had local clubs with an estimated...

    May 21, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 

    Soundies Featuring Glenn Miller

    Jukebox Saturday Night where did it all start? The first reference got its airing way back in the 1940's when Glenn "In the Mood" Miller recorded the Al Stillman and Paul McGrane song with Nino and the Ebb Tides. However the cinama graphic memory...

    May 21, 2014  By Ken Sparkes   Posted In  Ken's Blog 




    • Around The Web

      • RICS' VINTAGE GUITARS May 19, 2020
      • The Kinks together again for a new AlbumJune 28, 2018
      • Oklahoma - Oh What a Beautiful Morning.June 12, 2018

    • Rock N Roll Heaven

      • Roky Erickson, 13th Floor ElevatorsAugust 9, 2019
      • Aretha Franklin The Queen of Soul - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved YouAugust 18, 2018
      • Kathleen O’Rourke otherwise known as Kathy KirbyJune 5, 2018

    • Ken's Blog

      • The Blue Mountains Elvis FestivalJuly 3, 2017
      • Jukebox Radio - The One That Got AwayOctober 13, 2016
      • The Troggs 50th Anniversary TourAugust 18, 2016


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