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

11/01/2025

Music notes for Nov. 1 -

The late musician, singer, and songwriter Dan Peek from the band America born this date. Formed in London in 1970, the group gave us the hits “Horse with No Name”, “Ventura Highway”, “Tin Man” and “Sister Golden Hair”. America won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Group at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards in 1973.

1980 - Bruce Springsteen scored his first No.1 album with 'The River', featuring the single 'Hungry Heart’.

1979 - Bob Dylan debuts the songs from his new album, Slow Train Coming, on the first night of his new tour in San Francisco, California. A shocked audience boos the new material throughout the set.

1975 - Elton John's “Island Girl” becomes his 5th #1 , knocking off a song Elton sang backup on and released on his Rocket label: "Bad Blood" by Neil Sedaka. The song was from Elton’s album “Caribou”.

1969 - The Beatles scored their 13th No.1 album with Abbey Road. The final studio recordings from the group featured two Harrison songs; 'Something' & 'Here Comes The Sun'.

1969 - Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the singles chart with 'Suspicious Minds', his 18th and final No.1 single.

10/31/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1975:

1 ISLAND GIRL –•– Elton John
2 CALYPSO / I’M SORRY –•– John Denver
3 MIRACLES –•– Jefferson Starship
4 LYIN’ EYES –•– Eagles
5 THEY JUST CAN’T STOP IT THE (Games People Play) –•– The Spinners

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT #70 - I LOVE MUSIC - The O’Jays

IT WOULD PEAK AT #5

10/31/2025

Music notes for Oct. 31:

2005 - The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album sold for $196,0000 at an auction in Las Vegas. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the items went to Amnesty International.

1976 - Elvis makes his last recording, singing Jim Reeves' "He'll Have To Go" over a pre-recorded backing track in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home.

1970 - Led Zeppelin started a four week run at No.1 on the album chart with Led Zeppelin III the bands second chart topper.

1964 - The Supremes started a four week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Baby Love', the group's second of five consecutive No. 1's.

1964 - Unseating The Beatles' 14-week run at the top of the albums chart with A Hard Day's Night, Barbra Streisand hits #1 with People, which stays at the top for five weeks.

1963 - The Beatles returned to London from Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans and a mob of photographers and journalists. TV. host Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow as The Beatles arrived, and was struck by the sight of Beatlemania in full swing; he decided to look into getting this group to appear on his show.

1962 - The "Monster Mash" rules the airwaves, becoming the most popular Halloween song of all time.

10/30/2025

Music notes for Oct. 30:

Happy birthday musician, singer, and songwriter Timothy B Schmit. He was a member of Poco, joining in 1969. They are considered one of the founders of the Southern California country rock sound. He joined the Eagles, in 1977 and on their sixth studio album, The Long Run (1979), Schmit co-wrote and sang lead vocals on the song 'I Can't Tell You Why'. He replaced Randy Meisner on bass.

Happy birthday Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, with Slick providing vocals on several iconic songs, including 'Somebody to Love', 'White Rabbit', 'We Built This City' and 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now'. Between 1985 and 1999, Slick was the oldest female vocalist on a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single. 'We Built This City' reached No.1 on November 16, 1985, shortly after her 46th birthday.

2021 - Carole King, Tina Turner, Todd Rundgren, and the Go-Go's are among those inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1984 - Less than two years after its release, the RIAA certifies Michael Jackson's Thriller album with sales of 20 million copies in America, introducing a new designation, "Double Diamond." The stratospheric sales of Thriller are unprecedented, and keep climbing to well over 30 million. It isn't until 1994 when another album gets the Double Diamond designation, and that's a greatest hits package: Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971 - 1975.

1970 - Elton John released his third studio album Tumbleweed Connection. The cover photo for the album was taken at a railway station, 30 miles south of London. Despite no singles being released, the album made it to #2. Also of note, it features the only song from an Elton John to contain a song he didn’t write, the beautiful ballad “Love Song” which was written by Lesley Duncan.

1968 - Marvin Gaye released 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' which became his first No.1 single. The song was originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles in 1966, but Motown head Berry Gordy said no to releasing it.

10/29/2025

Music notes for Oct. 29:

2016 - Bob Dylan said he accepted his Nobel Prize in literature, ending a silence since being awarded the prize earlier this month. He said the honour had left him "speechless". The foundation said it had not yet been decided if the singer would attend the awards ceremony in December.…he doesn’t.

2014 - Phil Collins handed over his large collection of Alamo memorabilia to a Texas museum, calling the donation the end of a six-decade "journey". "I'm 64," he said of his fascination with the 1836 battle. "When I was five or six years old, this thing began." Collins' collection included a fringed leather pouch used by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie's legendary knife.

2007 - Walk the Line, the film about the life of singer Johnny Cash was voted the greatest music biopic in a poll. The film starred Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as Cash and his wife June Carter as the country stars and won the actress an Oscar in 2006.

2003 - A study by the Nielsen ratings people finds that a full third of the sales of Beatles 1 were to new fans between the ages of 19 and 24, skewing the fan base even younger than it had been previously.

2003 - Research in the found that songs get stuck in our heads because they create a 'brain itch' or “ear worm” that can only be scratched by repeating a tune over and over. Songs such as the Village People's Y.M.C.A and the Baha Men's 'Who Let The Dogs Out' owe their success to their ability to create a 'cognitive itch', according to Professor James Kellaris, of the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration.

1983 - “Islands in the Stream," written by the Bee Gees and intended for Marvin Gaye who turned it down, goes to #1 in the as a duet by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

1966 - ? & the Mysterians went to No.1 on the singles chart with '96 Tears'. Although he closely guarded his true identity at the time, the man known as Question Mark turned out to be Rudy Martinez, from Saginaw Valley, Michigan.

10/28/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1967:

]1 TO SIR WITH LOVE –•– Lulu
2 THE LETTER –•– The Box Tops
3 NEVER MY LOVE –•– The Association
4 HOW CAN I BE SURE –•– The Young Rascals
5 EXPRESSWAY TO YOUR HEART –•– The Soul Survivors

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT # 63 — SHE IS STILL A MYSTERY –•– The Lovin’ Spoonful

IT PEAKED AT #27

10/28/2025

Music notes for Oct. 28:

The late Charlie Daniels born this date. His biggest hits on the Billboard chart were “Uneasy Rider” in 1973 and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” in 1979.

2022 - One of the last survivors of rock 'n' roll's golden age Jerry Lee Lewis died aged 87. Nicknamed "the Killer", he was described as Rock and roll's first great wild man and had worldwide hits with 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Great Balls of Fire'.

2016- Elvis broke the record for the most No.1 albums by a solo artist. The late singer's new album The Wonder Of You beat competition from Lady Gaga and Michael Buble to become his 13th album to top the chart. Before now, Elvis and Madonna were tied record holders with 12 No.1 albums each to their names.

1989 - Janet Jackson started a four week run at No.1 on the album chart with 'Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'. Only one of three albums to produce seven Top-ten singles, (the other two being Thriller by Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA.

1978 - The live-action movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, was shown on NBC-TV. The four rock stars had to deal with a mad scientist who went crazy in an amusement park. All four members of Kiss had just released their individual solo albums.

1972 - Stevie Wonder released his 15th studio album Talking Book. The album's first track, 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life', hit No.1 on the Billboard charts, and earned Wonder his first Grammy Award. The album featured a guest appearance of Jeff Beck on the ’Superstition'.

1967 - 'Diana Ross and The Supremes Greatest Hits' started a five-week run at No.1 on the album chart. Although original member Florence Ballard is pictured on the cover and sings on all the tracks, by the time the LP was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.

10/27/2025

Music notes for Oct. 27:

Happy birthday Simon Le Bon of Duran
Duran. He joins the band in 1980 as a replacement for Stephen Duffy - turning up for his audition in a pair of pink leopard print pants.

2012 - Barbra Streisand's album Release Me hits #7 in the US, making her the first artist to have multiple albums in the Top 10 during every decade from the 1960s to the 2010s (her 2011 album What Matters Most made #4). Streisand is the female artist with the most Top 10 charting albums in history.

1993 - Glenn Frey from The Eagles TV series South of Sunset makes its debut on CBS. Frey plays Cody McMahon, a security chief/bodyguard who starts a detective agency in Hollywood.
The show was heavily promoted during the 1993 World Series by CBS. However, only the pilot of South of Sunset ever aired, and not even to the entire country. The October 27 premiere was pre-empted by several West Coast stations (including KCBS in Los Angeles itself) due to news coverage of wildfires in Malibu.

1973 - Gladys Knight and the Pips started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Midnight Train To Georgia'. It was the group's 18th Top 40 hit and first No.1. The record won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus and has become Knight's signature song.

1964 - 31 year old Salvatore Philip Bono “married“ 18 year old Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere. The ceremony took place in Tijuana, Mexico and was not valid. They weren’t officially married until 1969.

10/26/2025

Music notes for Oct. 26:

2010 - Keith Richards released his autobiography, Life. His drug use is a big topic - here's a quote: "I loved a good high. And if you stay up, you get the songs that everyone else misses because they're asleep."

2007 - 1,730 guitarists played the immortal Bob Dylan classic, 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' in a bid to break a record in North East India. The guitarists hoped their achievement would earn them a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The current Guinness World Record was held by a guitar-ensemble from Kansas City in the US when 1,683 guitarists, played Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water

1999 - singer, songwriter and actor Hoyt Axton died in Victor, Montana He wrote ”Joy to the World” and “Never Been to Spain”, both big for Three Dog Night. Ringo had a hit with Hoyt’s “The No No Song”.
Hoyt played the role of the dad in the first “Gremlins” movie. His mother Mae Boren Axton wrote 'Heartbreak Hotel'.

1974 - "Then Came You," a duet between The Spinners and Dionne Warwick, goes to #1. It's the only chart-topper for either act.

1968 - Janis Joplin appears on TV for the first time when she performs on the ABC variety show Hollywood Palace with Big Brother & the Holding Company.

1965 - Queen Elizabeth II invested The Beatles with their MBE's at Buckingham Palace, London. According to an account by John Lennon the group smoked ma*****na in one of the palace bathrooms to calm their nerves, although George Harrison said it was just to***co. Harrison and Paul McCartney put the awards on their jackets for the Sgt. Pepper album cover.

10/25/2025

Music notes for Oct. 25:

The late Helen Reddy born this date. Reddy enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed 15 singles on the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six made the top 10 and three reached No.1, including her signature hit 'I Am Woman.

2017 - Nashville stages a star-studded farewell concert for Kenny Rogers, who has decided to retire after a 60-year music career. The highlight of the evening is when Rogers takes the stage with his duet partner Dolly Parton, as the two close out the night with "Islands in the Stream."

2014 - Jack Bruce, best known as one third of Cream died aged 71. Bruce played bass, sang and was the principal songwriter in Cream.

2002 - Better known as accomplished actor, Richard Harris, who had the 1968 hit #2 hit “MacArthur Park” passed away. At over 7 minutes, it is one of the longest chart hits.

1974 - The Pointer Sisters become the first Black female group to play the Grand Ole Opry. They earn their invite from their song "Fairytale," which goes on to win a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group.

1986 - For the first time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the top three spots were held by female solo acts. Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colors' held down the No.1 position, followed by Tina Turner's 'Typical Male' at No.2 and Janet Jackson's 'When I Think Of You' at No.3.

1964 - The Rolling Stones appeared for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show from New York, performing ‘Around And Around’ and ‘Time Is On My Side’. A riot broke out in the studio, prompting Sullivan’s infamous quote, ‘I promise you they’ll never be back on our show again.’ The Rolling Stones went on to make a further five appearances on Sullivan’s show between 1965 and 1969.

10/24/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1984:

1 I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU –•– Stevie Wonder
2 CARIBBEAN QUEEN –•– Billy Ocean
3 HARD HABIT TO BREAK –•– Chicago
4 PURPLE RAIN –•– Prince & The Revolution
5 LUCKY STAR –•– Madonna

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK AT NO. 45 — WE BELONG –•– Pat Benatar

IT WOULD PEAK AT #5

10/24/2025

Music notes for Oct. 24:

2018 - songwriter Tony Joe White died of a heart attack on, at the age of 75. He is best known for his 1969 No.8 single, 'Polk Salad Annie' (also recorded by Elvis Presley and Tom Jones) and ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970.

2017 - pianist and singer-songwriter Fats Domino died aged 89 at his home in Harvey, Louisiana after a long-term illness. Domino had 35 records in the Billboard Top 40. Domino’s 1956 version of ‘Blueberry Hill’ was selected for the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry of historic sound recordings worthy of preservation. His real first name Is Antoine.

2016 - Bobby Vee died age 73. Born in Fargo, he had 38 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20. Vee's recording of 'Take Good Care of My Baby' in the summer of 1961. Vee's career began in the midst of tragedy. On February 3, 1959, "The Day the Music Died," when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, were killed in an airplane. Vee then 15 years old, and a hastily assembled band of Fargo schoolboys calling themselves the Shadows volunteered for and were given the unenviable job of filling in for Holly and his band at their next gig. Their performance was a success, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Vee's career as a popular singer.

1989 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces its fifth class of inductees: The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, The Kinks, The Platters, Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, The Four Seasons, and The Four Tops.

1987 - Michael Jackson started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Bad'. A music video for 'Bad' was directed by Martin Scorsese.

1979 - Paul McCartney received a medallion cast in rhodium after being declared the most successful composer of all time. From 1962 to 1978, McCartney had written or co-written 43 songs that had sold over a million copies each. Rhodium is a very precious metal that is three times more expensive than gold.

1975 - Heart get a big break when they fill in as opening act for Rod Stewart's band Faces at the Forum in Montreal. Thanks to support from local radio station CHOM, many in the crowd know their songs "Magic Man" and "Crazy On You." They continue to build support in Canada before making their move in America in 1976.

Address

Minneapolis, 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

Share

Category