High School Oooh Oooh
There was a novelty record done in the 50's called High School Ooh Ooh - it featured the original Maytag repair man guy (pre Gordon Jump) as an unscrupulous record producer out to manipulate radio to make hits. The piece gets its title from the song he's trying to push (which was made by grabbing a kid off the street to be the teen idol, putting him in front of a microphone, telling him to just say what he was doing that day and poking him with a sharp stick to get him to scream into the microphone ie "I was on my way to high school (poke) ooooh! (poke) ooooh!...) while a studio group plays vanilla doo-wop behind it.
The bit was a commentary on payola, big record company arrogance, and an affirmation of the power of the uncompromising principles of DJ's. It was also, oddly, anti rock n roll and pro jazz.
I heard it on the radio years ago and have never been able to track it down since. But I think its still relevant. Want better radio? Kill the program director and hire talented and principled DJ's with eclectic taste. Already the demographics are beginning to look simplistic and in Denver I've found a local station that is beginning to mix up their play list with unprecedented variety (I have no idea if this is part of the machine wising up or an actual rebel station).
BTW, if anybody manages to track down a copy of high school ooh ooh I'd like to know where.
