Oct 14, 2026, 2:01 PM CT
Share
During the fall of 1976, I was a member of Mrs. Shirley Braithwaite's sixth grade class. Whenever the class would start to get a little squirrely in Shirley's class, she would walk back to the piano at the back of the class and start playing This Land is Your Land and other familiar tunes and we would settle down. She loved the fact that I had been performing all my life at family functions and I was comic relief at my parent's card parties so she would often encourage me to sing. These performances may have been much like Alfalfa the crooner during the Little Rascals episodes. My friend was taking guitar lessons from Mr. Bill Czeskleba (another Ithaca teacher) and Karl knew the cords to Me and You and a Dog Named Boo and Sittin on the Dock of the Bay. Our duo was a 6th grade sensation, but the girls always seem to swoon over the guitar player, and I was just an underappreciated lead singer looking for the key. I could also impress with an Elvis imitation when the crowd started to get bored. Having these skills was important because I was not the most athletic, was a bit overweight, and most importantly my dad did not have the biggest tractor. That was a big deal in the hierarchy at Ithaca elementary.
Saturday night on WRCO, I will be in the studio to talk to and text with our friends of Those Were the Days. Listen for the trivia bell and feel free to hang around all evening from six until midnight. This weekend's spotlight will shine on the fall of 1976 hits including Rock n' Me-Steve Miller Band, Play That Funky Music-Wild Cherry, More Than a Feeling-Boston, Don't Fear the Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult, The Rubberband Man-Spinners, Still the One-Orleans, Detroit Rock City/Beth-Kiss, and Say You Love Me-Fleetwood Mac. It was a great time to grow up. I would stay up late in my room listening to far away radio stations and I would make mixtapes of those radio hits. Friday and Saturday night's I could watch the Midnight Special and the Madison Wisconsin local show Lenny's Inferno with scary movies and Twilight Zone tv episodes. Those memories only exist now in our memories, but we can revisit through the music of the era Saturday night during Those Were the Days on WRCO, WRCO.com or through the free Civic Media app. The Richland Center class of 1976 will be listening to us during their reunion. It will be an honor to pick on them.
Philip (former child star)
Adam Hess has been involved in radio broadcasting since 1990, with many of those years spent on the air at WRCO FM in Richland Center. Currently, Adam hosts the Weekend Wake-up and Prime Mover Saturdays on WRCO FM, jumps in and helps out with news duties, handles Social Media duties for WRCO and WRCE, and is the Director of Technology at a Southwest Wisconsin School District. Reach him at adam.hess@civicmedia.us.
