Radio & Records

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Victor Stredicke

Victor Stredicke is a longtime figure in Seattle-area media, best known as the former radio-TV editor for The Seattle Times. He wrote a dedicated column covering local and regional radio broadcasting, including station changes, programming, personalities, controversies, and industry news. This legacy is the driving force behind QZVX (qzvx.com). In 2023, Victor Stredicke was honored at the Radio Conference Call meet-up for his longtime contributions as a newspaper radio-TV columnist, with appreciation from readers and people he had covered.

5 thoughts on “Radio & Records

  1. dan strode • September 5, 2020

    Don’t remember when but it was much later when I heard the Capitol version.

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  2. Steven Smith • September 4, 2020

    Dan,
    That they are. So in the NW which was the bigger hit…the version on Piccadilly which as I recall was a NW label…or Capitol. I prefer the first simpler version.

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  3. Steven Smith • September 4, 2020

    Jay…I remember the song. Did not realize the flip was the Danny O’Keefe song.

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  4. Jay Hamilton • September 1, 2020

    In the “For The Record” listing of “The Top 20” in the Seattle area in March ’69 (based on sales information) #16 is “Tunesmith” by The Bards … a NW band originally from Moses Lake, whom I became acquainted with while I was PD/MD/deejay at KSEM-Moses Lake in the mid-60s. At the time they were known as The Fabulous Continentals because Ken McDonald, their then leader & drummer, was the son of the owner of the local Lincoln/Mercury dealership. Anyway, this particular song was written by Jimmy Webb, who was at the height of his career at that time … writer of such classics as “Galveston”, “Wichita Lineman” & “MacArthur Park”. The band chose Jeff Afdem of the Springfield Rifle (mentioned in the same section above) to arrange and produce that particular recording … which was released on Parrott Records (a U.S. subsidiary of London Records). The B-side of the record was “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” which The Bards had hoped would be the A-side … and was written by another NW talent Danny O’Keefe, who would actually have a national hit with the song 3 yrs after The Bards’ version.
    Here’s a link to “The Tunesmith”:
    https://youtu.be/pb38_dRvRGg

    Perhaps The Bards most successful NW release was “The Owl & The Pussycat”.

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