WJMK Memories

For a while, WJMK in Chicago was an oldies station, playing music from the 1950's and 1960's. The following occurred (roughly) between 1979 and 1991.

• A father called in asking the DJ to play Tony Joe White's Polk Salad Annie because his children would not believe that a song included the lines
  
  Polk Salad Annie,
  'Gators got your granny.
  Chomp, chomp chomp.
  
  And no, it's not Poke Salad Annie, it's Polk Salad Annie.


• Another dad called in asking for a particular version of Land of 1000 Dances, and for the artists to be credited aloud because *his* children declined to believe that any recording group had been named "Cannibal and the Headhunters."


• The very first time I heard Amy Scott's voice she had just joined WJMK as a disc jockey. Marcie Blane's I Want to Be Bobby's Girl finished playing and Amy said, "Ah, yes, feed the starving children in Ethiopia and let me be Bobby's girl."


• Singer Shirley Ellis had only three top 40 hits, The Nitty Gritty, The Name Game, and The Clapping Song (Clap Pat Clap Slap). Once after Amy played The Name Game, she announced "That was the easily entertained Shirley Ellis."

It doesn't take much to amuse me.