Red Robinson’s final radio sign-off
AM radio legend who started in the ’50s shares anecdotes about Elvis and Buddy Holly
When The Beatles played Vancouver’s Empire Stadium in 1964, John Lennon had a question for Red Robinson: what’s Buddy Holly like?
Talk about being able to put together a double-ended anecdote, which actually adds two further angles on top.
“When The Beatles were backstage, John Lennon wanted to know all about him,” the retiring disc jockey recalled Sunday. The question surprised Robinson. Still he replied he didn’t know him well but said he’d found him to be a friendly, straightforward guy.
He asked Lennon why he was curious about singer known for late ’50s hits That’ll Be The Day and Peggy Sue.
“He said when (Holly) came on he was playing a Fender Stratocaster. ‘We’d never seen anything like that,’ Lennon said.”
At that time, manufactured goods that weren’t made in the U.K. were very difficult to find in Britain. The Fab Four told Robinson how they’d often have to pay friendly merchant sailors to pick up American musical instruments on their behalf, then bring them back to Liverpool.
Lennon had also been taken by Holly’s style. The Texas rocker was known for his black, thick-rimmed eyeglasses.
“He was a star and he wore glasses,” Robinson said. “Lennon had terrible eyesight and said he should learn from Holly.”
Robinson, 80, said he’s found himself thinking about Holly last week as he prepared and recorded his final radio show for CISL, which aired Sunday afternoon. The station, which has broadcast at 650 AM since the early 1980s, will be re-launched Sept. 4 as Sportsnet 650, ditching music for sports talk.
“He was like a guy I’d grown up with,” Robinson said of Holly, who died in a 1959 plane crash along with Richie Valens and the Big Bopper — known as The Day The Music Died.
“He was down to earth, just full of fun.”
Another famous anniversary comes later this week: the 60th anniversary of Elvis Presley playing in Vancouver.
Presley rarely played outside the U.S. — indeed Canada was the only foreign country where he had ever played — and was drafted into the army in early 1958, putting the 1957 Vancouver show on a rather special pedestal.
A massive crowd turned out to Empire Stadium Aug. 31, 1957. Robinson said gate receipts confirmed it as nearly 26,000 people.
The King of Rock and Roll was 22 at the time; Robinson, was just 20. He had been a radio DJ for four years already and at that time he was working for CKWX. He was at Empire as MC.
“To stand on that stage and look out at that crowd, it was out of this world,” he said.
It was the first proper stadium concert in Vancouver history.
The plan had called for the crowd to sit in the stands ringing the football field, but the fans had a differently plan and rushed on to the field, getting close to the stage.
Twice the police stopped the show because of safety concerns. Presley played just 22 minutes that night before escaping the crush.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” he said.
With a laugh he said he felt a bit like he was on “death row.”
“You’re reflecting on your life; on everything that’s happening.”
He called listening to the pre-recorded show on Sunday, which also featured longtime colleagues Pat O’Day, Wink Martindale and Bruce Allen.
“Poignant,” was the first word out of his mouth.
“It’s interesting, sitting here listening to the show. It’s bittersweet.”
But he said recording the show hadn’t been difficult, "because I had good friends with me.”
He’s delighted that much of the memorabilia he’s collected over the years is going to the Museum of Vancouver.
And while he officially retired earlier this year, he suggested he’s probably not going far.
“I learned years ago you have to adapt with the times.” So, does that mean a podcast? “You never know,” he replied, after pausing for a moment to ponder the idea.
Finally, there was another word to the wise:
“I think the best line I’ve ever heard was from David Letterman. He’s going back on TV and he was asked about what happened to his retirement. He said, ‘If you’re going to retire, one lesson I’ve learned is you should check with your family.’ ”