Special thanks to WPGC Good Guy, Todd Reynolds / Ed Kowalski / Ed McNeal for providing the original, unrestored image.

1963 marked a turning point in the history of WPGC, at least as far as two major new additions to the airstaff was concerned. The first of these, Raleigh Ferreira joined in the March of that year for middays from a station in West Palm Beach as the first of half a dozen different 'Bob Raleigh's over the years. His tenure lasted only a year or so when he left for middays at WWDC, still using the 'Bob Raleigh' air name, despite WPGC having hired a replacement for him using the same name at the same time!

On the very same day he started at WPGC, another newcomer by the name of Harv Moore started, initially covering 7-midnight on the FM after AM sign-off. Within months, he was promoted to mornings when the previous 'Morning Mayor', Jerry G left for KYW (then in Cleveland), just days before the tragic JFK assassination. Harv would go on to do mornings through 1975, making him the longest serving and best remembered air personality in the history of the station.

Though no one knew it at the time, 1963 marked the end of an era musically, as the tide of the British Invasion and Beatlemania was literally weeks, if not days away. Among the casualties was Folk, a heretofore force to be reckoned with. Far ahead of other practitioners, Peter, Paul & Mary's tender treatment of 'Puff, the Magic Dragon' scored the #8 song of the year at WPGC, regardless of alleged drug related interpretations. A staple of the Folk movement, 'If I had A Hammer' was a hit for both P,P&M as well as in a more uptempo version from Trini Lopez.

Girl Groups and solo female singers were still the rage with the Shirelles, Chiffons, Angels, Caravelles, Brenda Lee, Little Peggy March and Leslie Gore all scoring big during the year. Country Crossover, Skeeter Davis, wound up the biggest winner though, surpassing even Billboard's #1 song of the year, Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs', 'Sugar Shack' with, 'The End of the World' as the year-end chart topper at WPGC.

Rock & Roll's Country roots were also present with tuneage from Bobby Bare and Bill Anderson. But that was largely overshadowed by the predominance of Soul music, specifically, the phenomena that would become Motown. Marvin Gaye, who had grown up in DC, joined other early compatriots from the Motor City such as the Miracles, Martha & the Vandellas and Mary Wells with multiple hits in 1963. But it was thirteen-year-old, 'Little' Stevie Wonder who bested them all with his initial effort, 'Fingertips, Part II' that finished the WPGC Top 100 at #7.

Other harbingers to come made noise in the form of early hits for the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean as well as their counterparts on the opposite coast with the Four Seasons barely missing the #1 Song of the Year honor, coming in at WPGC at #3 for 1963 with, 'Walk Like a Man'.

In what might be viewed as the last serious gasp for Middle of the Road artists, Tony Bennet led the pack with, 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco', and Andy Williams was not far behind with, 'Can't Get Used to Losing You'. Johnny Mathis, Al Martino, Wayne Newton, Sammy Davis, Jr., Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme and Nat 'King' Cole made their collective presence known, often immediately adjacent to bona fide Rock & Roll records.

'Wordless Wax' was also ever-present during the year with an ample supply of Instrumentals. The Surfaris caused spontaneous drumming on whatever surface was available with 'Wipe Out' while the Village Stompers, and the Vince Guaraldi Trio took a more subdued approach with their hits. Duane Eddy, the Rebels and Los Indios Tabajaras also made hits without vocals needed.

For those who might be challenged when it came to words of the American variety, foreign language hits from Kyu Sakamoto with, 'Sukiyaki' and Sister Luc Gabrielle, aka, 'The Singing Nun' with, 'Dominique' both ended their run for the year at WPGC in the Top Ten, at numbers 9 and 10 respectively.

When it came to Out of the Ordinary, Novelty records, typified by their usual quick rise and fall on the charts, found favor in '63 with the Trashmen's, 'Surfin' Bird' making it all the way up to #11 to end the year and the Randell's, 'Martian Hop' delightfully weird. But for sheer memorableness (not to mention multiple lives), nothing topped Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Crypt Kickers', 'Monster Mash'. Despite being originally released to coincide with Halloween in 1962, its enduring appeal crossed over to '63 and since that time has gone on to forever be associated with that holiday.

With change of the musical winds in the offing, 1963 marked in many cases the effective end of several artists' careers. Names like Bobby Vinton, Ricky Nelson, Chubby Checker, Dion and even Elvis Presley would no longer enjoy the mass acceptance they knew during Rock & Roll's infancy. True, some giants like Elvis would eventually reappear later in the decade. But the glory days of the Greasers and Teen Idols were quickly fading.

Nevertheless, a good indicator of how influential the year 1963 was musically can be judged by just how many songs from that year would go on to ultimately be remade many years later. The list is impressive. Just some of the titles that would live again by different artists include the aforementioned, 'Sukiyaki', and 'Wipe Out', 'Memphis', 'Our Day Will Come', 'Deep Purple', 'Hello Stranger', 'Heat Wave', 'Mockingbird', 'Go Away Little Girl', 'The Loco Motion' and 'I'm Leaving It Up to You'. Neil Sedaka would even go so far as to remake his own hit recording of, 'Breaking Up Is Hard to Do' well over a decade later.

1963 then represented the culmination of Rock's ascendancy to not only be on par with Standards from years past, but set the stage for profound changes musically and socially in the tumultuous decade that was the 1960's. Tellingly, the final #1 song at WPGC for 1963, Bobby Vinton's remake of, 'There! I've Said It Again' also happened to be the final #1 song of the year on Billboard before, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' by a group calling themselves, 'The Beatles' would replace it at the top in DC two weeks later. The world as we knew it would never be the same again......

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