Rock radio legend Peter Cavanaugh officially left the day to day operations in Flint radio in 1983. I thought the 30th anniversary of his departure from Flint Radio would make for a great opportunity to reflect on some of his contributions.

-By Jim Baade

Peter C circuit early 70's while at WTACYou Say You Want a Revolution Peter C on-air in Syracuse, NYI have never known a world without Rock n' Roll, a visceral collision of ideas punctuated with primal beats and rhythm. In the 60's and 70's, the radio was the life line for rock music when the world was changing for better or for worse, every city had the local DJ's at ground zero broadcasting the revolution. It wasn't like there was a conscious effort on the part of DJ's to incite rebellion, it was just in the air and Rock n' Roll was the collective voice for youth. These were the days when having a couple of joints would get you locked up in a federal prison for 20 years like it did for John Sinclair and there was that sorted affair with Nixon's hard-on to fuck John Lennon over supposed subversive activities. All the while as the world was burning with protest there were the local DJ's playing the anthems for a counter culture, gleefully shouting over the music intros between commercials for pimple cream and fast food. The best of the DJ's had a command and power that even a fire and brimstone gospel preacher would admire and within my hometown there were names like Fat Cat Flanders and Fred Boogie Brian, but my favorite was Peter C.

The Punk Meets the Godfather Recent image of Peter CIts been 30 years since Flint said goodbye to the maestro of radio, after building two radio dynasties: first at WTAC and then later at WWCK, Cavanaugh went on to achieve similar success in Toledo. Still before his 19 years in Flint radio had ended, I had the opportunity to work for Peter Cavanaugh at WWCK in the 80's when it was the top rock station in the country. How important are Cavanaugh's contributions to the history of Flint? Radio? Rock n' Roll? I'll let you decide, later, but let me start with this idea,- if you had to ask one person what this whole radio business was all about Peter C would be your guy. Today, Cavanaugh is still active as a self-employed radio and marketing consultant, author and political activist. The old fire still burns within the now age 73 Cavanaugh, as evident by the rapid fire insights and lessons he espouses swirling in a breeze of pathos, ethos and logos of minding fucking brilliance.

It was my luck to get into radio as a studious neophyte under Cavanaugh's leadership at WWCK and I remember him hammering that staff into shape. The excitement of preparing for the next big moment was always an adrenaline rush during the ratings period, or what we radio folks called "the Book". Cavanaugh as a manager was all about structure and within that structure the magic of winning would manifest. There was never any flying by the seat of your pants at WWCK, each member of the on-air staff was expected to fully understand the stations' mission and their individual role, - failure was not acceptable!

Basically it just boils down to fundamentals: run a tight board, NO DEAD AIR, strictly follow the programming format, don't talk too much, mention the music you have coming up, play the commercials and get back to the music. Yet Peter C wasn't just a paint by the numbers kinda guy, he was a radio architect. Just like a songwriter follows certain structural rules: intro, hook, verse, bridge, chorus and so on, that doesn't make for a hit, if you want to hit em' between the eyes you need more than structure. The real creative effort comes from pouring into the structure what comes from inside and by capturing something that connects with people, that's talent. Same can be said about Cavanaugh, he had passion for his craft and his personality was stamped for all to see in everything he did.

I often marveled at the loyalty Peter C has inspired, everybody from rock stars to the everyday listener, they all seem to love him or at least respect the hell out of him. I have a theory it's the architect in him, the builder of big ideas. Why? Because he is a man who is first a fan of radio and the loyalty Cavanaugh earned is because of HIS loyalty to HIS people. It called authenticity!

This isn't just me talking either, Peter C was recognized for his impact on early rock radio programming and concert promoting by the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. While at the Big 6 WTAC, the flood gates of the Rock n' Roll music were pouring into the American mainstream, but it wouldn't have made the mainstream had it not been for guys like Peter C.Heavy MusicBack in the late 60's and early 70's, we had the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Motown and the Who, but it wasn't enough just to play the hits. Rock fans wanted more and it was Peter C that delivered by programming album rock tracks at night on AM radio long before FM rock did. Featuring a mixture of album cuts from the current cutting edge artists of the day with some good ole Michigan Rock n' Roll, the formatting was revolutionary as fans just turned on the Big 6 and rode that static wave deep into the free form Rock vibe.

The richness of Michigan's Rock n' Roll scene was further enhanced by the Detroit based Creem Magazine, an irreverent flavored rock mag that you had to be hip enough to get the humor. Creem would spare nobody of their parody, but were by the same token hard hitting rock journalists. Creem had critics like Lester Bangs and Dave Marsh. who coined popular music terms like Heavy Metal and Punk Rock. The overall effect of the music, the press and radio at this time was like a firestorm of pure made in Michigan rock attitude! In fact you would be hard pressed to find a more important music area than what Michael Moore called Michigan's Golden Triangle spotlighting: Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Flint. Of course there were bigger music scenes such as London and San Francisco, but per capita we were just as important.

Detroit was the anchor of Michigan's Golden Triangle of course and certainly attracted huge bands to venues like the Grande Ballroom and Cobo Hall. Ann Arbor was not like the other two though, Flint and Detroit were clock driven factory cities, on the other hand Ann Arbor is home of the University of Michigan where the combustion of the changing times had students burning draft cards and bras while protesting the war and civil rights issues, but still a big part of the shared music experience and hometown to Bob Seger. In my hometown, the Flint sound was captured by Grand Funk Railroad. This fantastic creative influx was all building into an exciting period and it was during this time that fans went to concerts to actually hear music. Its worth noting the Woodstock Music Festival and the Rolling Stones tour of 1969 helped in the evolution of the concert experience with new designs in sound that carried further. Gone were the days of screaming teenage girls at deafening levels.

Flint probably would not have figured into this equation of the Golden Triangle as prominently as it did if not for Cavanaugh. The up-close and personal concert experience of the Sherwood Forest shows from 1969 to 1972 is what really put Flint on the map. Featuring a who's who roster of Michigan's greats and other rising stars, Cavanaugh and his partner, John Irons surely made a nice little profit from their venture, but legend has Peter C working like a madman possessed as he heeded every detail from contracts, promotion, set-up, tear-down, security and other necessary deeds in order to accomplish the hectic task of putting on a rock show for a few thousand or so fans.

The concerts were not unique, but they were special to us in Flint and it brought live Rock n Roll to our factory town. I was too young to go, but I heard the stories from my older brother and his friends. Certainly amongst the chemical induced debauchery there were a fair share of caveats, such as over zealous police chief Ed Boyce looking for the slightest provocation for confrontation, and usually found it in the persons of infamous rock outlaws like Iggy and the Stooges and the MC5. Police Chief Ed Boyce However, after the last show in 1972, the concerts dried up and the concert promoting business went big business as Peter C was forced to decide to continue as a promoter or remain a radio man.

Long Way to the TopNot long ago, I made a short retrospective documentary on WWCK, called Flint's Best Rock. While making the movie I was lucky to Skype an interview with Peter C to use for the film and it was a great experience to go back and relive the magic and appreciate his talent all over again. The movie was well received and even went into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe that was the significant contribution I secretly promised myself I would make to the station so many years ago. Peter C said he loved my movie and boy that felt great!

Finally, in Peter C's book Local DJ (2002) on his life and times he wrote, You can't have liberty without Rock n' Roll or vice versa. How true, the Rock n' Roll attitude Cavanaugh embodies is the ultimate expression of personal liberty that no concentration of power could stop.

Now you can decide.