Wildflower 1/22/19

Let's talk about Rosalie Trombley.

From 1968 to 1984, Rosalie was the Music Director at CKLW in Detroit (Windsor). Rosalie was a legend in the business. She had an uncanny knack for choosing hits! In fact, the list of artists she is credited with helping includes Earth, Wind and Fire, Kiss, Ted Nugent, The Guess Who, BTO, The Main Ingredient, and Bob Seger. (Seger even wrote a song about her: "Rosalie!") She also persuaded Elton John to release "Bennie and the Jets" as a single.

Those of us growing up in the CKLW listening area, which included the triangle of Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland, didn't know how lucky we were that she was helping shape our musical tastes!

Motown was local so she could easily choose and promote some legendary groups and songs---but Rosalie was also working under a handicap that COULD have been a problem if she weren't so good at her job.

The Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission required all Canadian radio stations with a popular music format to play at least 35% Canadian-based artists. Of course, Canada's population is smaller than ours, so the number of bands and artists to choose from was smaller as well. Rosalie did her best to meet the percentage requirements and choose the Canadian records she thought had the best chance of becoming hits in both Canada AND the U.S.

And that brings us to today's "Great Canadian Song of 1972." It was an album cut that Rosalie insisted was a hit, but the record company was not inclined to release it. At that point, CKLW essentially became the only station in North America playing the song!

Finally, after 3 months of airplay, the response from CKLW listeners in BOTH countries was so positive, the record company relented and released it. It quickly went to #1 in Canada, #9 in the U.S., and sold more than a million copies!

The group: Skylark. The Song: "Wildflower." TRIVIA: The word "Wildflower" does not appear anywhere in the lyrics!

Thanks, Rosalie! For all the great music!