I may not be able to post anything for a week or so. I’ll be attending the All Access Worldwide Radio Summit in Los Angeles this weekend, then flying to Singapore. Of course, I’ll try to find some more records in both places!

While thinking about spending some time in the air, this great R&B song came to mind. This is the product of excellent studio musicians, Bobby Swayne and Raymond Appleberry, who met during a recording session in Los Angeles. They took the song to Fred Smith, who wrote and produced songs by The Olympics along with Cliff Goldsmith, and he helped them get it published on the local Ledo label. They made a television appearance in Boston where the song got a lot of airplay and climbed to #11 on WHIL-AM 1430’s Record Survey in May 1962. This prompted airplay in nearby Hartford and Springfield. It also did pretty well in Birmingham, where it hit #15 on the WYDE-AM 850 Top 50 in July. It also got several spins in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Seattle, where it was showcased as a Break Out record on KOL-AM 1300’s Century 21 Survey of Hits. It really needed to be picked up by a major label for national distribution. If that had happened, it could have been a big hit. All the regional play helped it squeak into the Billboard Hot 100 at #99 on 23 June 1962.

Here’s Air Travel by Ray And Bob on Ledo 1150/1151 from 1962:

I’ll try to check in from Singapore, especially if I find some rare 1960’s Chinese garage rock music to add to the International music mix on MusicMaster Oldies!