From what I gather from Wikipedia, WKYB in Paducah, Kentucky became WKYX at some point. The FM station, WKYX-FM at 94.3 MHz, is partnered with WNGO as a news/talk station, while WKYX-AM is, as of last January, WBMP, broadcasting an urban contemporary format. Anyway… WKYB-AM was broadcasting Top 40 music on May 13, 1961, and their Top Ten had two two-sided hits. The playlist for all of this is here, if that’s the way you like to listen.
10 – Neil Sedaka, “Little Devil”
9 – The Shirelles, “Mama Said”
8 – Clarence Henry, “But I Do” (or “I Don’t Know Why”)
7 – Gene McDaniels. “A Hundred Pounds Of Clay”
6 – Linda Scott, “I’ve Told Every Little Star”
5 – Chubby Checker, “Dance The Mess Around”/”Good Good Lovin'”
4 – Brenda Lee, “You Can Depend On Me”
3 – Connie Francis, “Breakin’ In A Brand New Broken Heart”/”Someone Else’s Boy”
2 – Del Shannon, “Runaway”
1 – Ernie K-Doe, “Mother-In-Law”
And that’s Top Ten Tuesday for May 16, 2023.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
“Runaway” and “My Mamma Said” are the two standouts in this group, John. I don’t know if I remember them from the time, but I certainly remember them.
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I know those, “A Hundred Pounds Of Clay” and “Mother-In-Law” from oldies stations. That was a little too early for me to have heard them on the radio…
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These were fun to listen to but, funny, I never heard of the #1 song . There’s a few I don’t know.
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You never heard “Mother In Law”? I love it almost as much as I loved my mother-in-law…
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Excellent selection of songs. 1961 was a good year.
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It was an interesting year for certain.
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Now, that’s what I call classic oldies and the type of music they would play on the Sunday night program of my favorite FM radio station SWF3 (now SWR3) back in Germany, appropriately titled “Oldies” and moderated by Frank Laufenberg, a true fan of great music. This man introduced me to lots of outstanding artists and bands, including my childhood idol Elvis Presley. And Little Richard. And Chuck Berry. And The Beatles. And The Rolling Stones. And The Who. And The Kinks. And Motown. And the list just goes on and on!
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Do you still listen to SWR3? I see they stream it…
Part of the reason I started doing this was because so much of the old music was being lost. They don’t do oldies radio like they used to, and a lot of these songs are getting lost in the process…
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I no longer listen to SWR3. Not surprisingly, none of the DJs I used to like are no longer there and many other things have changed.
Unlike in Germany where you don’t have radio stations that are dedicated to specific decades or music genres (at least that wasn’t the case while I was still living there), at least in the U.S., you have radio stations with an oldies format. Though I imagine their days may be counted in an era where radio programming appears to be determined by marketing consultants.
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Ahhh, 1961 I was in 8th-9th grade and I remember most of these.
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I’m kind of hazy on songs before 1964, when I got my first radio, but these were at least familiar. That was an interesting time in music…
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I had an aunt who was 6 years older than me and slightly challenged mentally. She introduced me to teen music when I was barely a pre-teen so I started with Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Pat Boone in the late 50s.
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Great list. I remember the jukebox at Max’s bar in Lansing, Michigan, and me in my college sophomore year drinking on a fake ID.
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Michigan State
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Yup. Undergrad. Grad Notre Dame
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What a wonderful list! I’m a big Neil Sedaka fan from way back.
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He was a great songwriter and singer. Not a bad piano player, either.
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