The Smiley Smile Message Board

Thanks for taking the time to post this very cool stuff, GF2002!  It's really interesting to read articles from the actual point in time in which things were happening.

Also, in another thread a couple of weeks ago you mentioned that it was Tom Maule who was on duty at KHJ the fateful night when Brian and company went to KHJ to give the station the opportunity to premiere H & V to the world, only to have the dj initially say he couldn't play it because it wasn't on the playlist.  I'm just curious - do you know for sure that it was Tom Maule who was on the air at this time?  He is the most likely candidate, as he was on the air from 9 to midnight, but Johnny Williams took over at midnight, and I recall reading recently (I think it was Al Jardine) where the time given for their arrival at the studios was "around midnight".

Maule was new to KHJ, and would have first arrived probably anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks before this incident occurred, having been at KGB, San Diego prior to that.  Anyway, I've always wondered who the infamous dj was.  Maule is probably the most likely candidate, but I'm wondering if his name comes from a verifiable source, or is based on the assumption that BW and company must have arrived before midnight.

Thanks for taking the time to post this very cool stuff, GF2002!  It's really interesting to read articles from the actual point in time in which things were happening.

Also, in another thread a couple of weeks ago you mentioned that it was Tom Maule who was on duty at KHJ the fateful night when Brian and company went to KHJ to give the station the opportunity to premiere H & V to the world, only to have the dj initially say he couldn't play it because it wasn't on the playlist.  I'm just curious - do you know for sure that it was Tom Maule who was on the air at this time?  He is the most likely candidate, as he was on the air from 9 to midnight, but Johnny Williams took over at midnight, and I recall reading recently (I think it was Al Jardine) where the time given for their arrival at the studios was "around midnight".

Maule was new to KHJ, and would have first arrived probably anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks before this incident occurred, having been at KGB, San Diego prior to that.  Anyway, I've always wondered who the infamous dj was.  Maule is probably the most likely candidate, but I'm wondering if his name comes from a verifiable source, or is based on the assumption that BW and company must have arrived before midnight.

I really enjoy the time machine aspect of these surveys, articles, clippings, etc. It's just as fans back in the day would have heard or seen the news about Smile or anything else, and it places it into a context especially with the top-30 or top-40 listings for any given week. Very cool!

I'm pretty certain it would been Tom Maule behind the KHJ mic when this happened.

I've been trying to piece together the Tom Maule information since I first heard a tape of him on KHJ, and that pre-dates the Keith Badman book. In LLVS, they printed a copy of an old KHJ promo print ad with Tom Maule and drew cartoon words around it suggesting Maule was somehow at fault for the whole thing, like the playlist was so strict and rigid or even Maule himself was so uptight he (Maule) or they (KHJ) couldn't allow Brian's new record to be played. Ironically some of this information came to LLVS apparently through Bill Earl, the same Bill Earl who was reading those KFXM newsletters posted above!

I thought putting most of the blame on Maule for not playing the disc was in some ways unfair in light of what I've read in the past 5 years or so.

I am actually planning something further and more in-depth on this topic because it is fascinating, but basically Tom Maule was a new hire to KHJ when this happened - he was hired in mid-June 1967. His shift did go 9 to midnight, and remember getting hired to KHJ in 1967 was about as big for a top-40 DJ as you could get. Tapes of KHJ were being circulated among radio stations across the country so they could try to replicate the format that was making KHJ so much money and making them so influential.

If you got a job there, you'd want to keep it. Which meant for Maule being a new hire and fresh to Los Angeles, he wasn't as schooled in the ins and out of how the station ran politically as the established DJ's like Steele and Morgan. If his PD told Tom to "stick to the playlist" Tom being a professional broadcaster would stick to the playlist, especially wanting to keep his job.

I have heard this from others too, but I think Tom Maule honestly did not recognize the significance of the group of Beach Boys and friends crashing his show with a new record to play, unheard, on the air. I honestly don't think he knew the ramifications of the history of musicians like Brian Wilson hand-carrying a disc fresh from mastering to KHJ studios to have it "premiered" on the air. Brian did this several times, delivering his new single in person to KHJ where it was played. "Good Vibrations" was premiered on KHJ television - "Boss City" - and it made the music trade news because singles were meant for the radio - here was KHJ going first to television, shades of MTV to come later. Other stations simply did not do this: KHJ was breaking the mold.

In Maule's defense could he have known all of that background with Brian and KHJ? Brian was missing in action for months as he worked on Smile then scrapped Smile and retreated to his home studio. The last "KHJ exclusive" Beach Boys single he would have delivered was October 1966, well before Maule was a part of the KHJ staff, and here comes a group of musicians and hangers-on carrying a single asking him to break the rules he was given and play it. I can't fault the guy for wanting to keep his job, although it is also hard to argue when a figure like Brian Wilson shows up in 1967 with a brand new world exclusive and you don't play the thing immediately!

HOWEVER...I think Brian and company simply picked the wrong time to show up at KHJ. For all of his Genevolyn-astrology bullmerda telling him this was the perfect time for the record to launch, the DJ on duty did not know Brian, and had been on the job a matter of weeks at that point...and had that group showed up at 5 in the afternoon Don Steele would have had them on for hours, or how about showing up for Robert W's morning show? Same deal. Morgan and Steele had a lot of freedom to do what they wanted to do on the air - they could have had Brian on the air for three hours and made some amazing radio, as they were the big guns at KHJ. The other DJ's were more locked into a format and whatever their PD told them to do. A new DJ like Tom Maule had to stick to the rules: An "old pro" like Tom Maule would stick to the format - to a fault.

And even more frustrating...Brian's pal Humble Harve was working the weekday 6 to 9 shift at KHJ!!! If Brian had showed up a few hours earlier, or even more obviously *called* the radio station before showing up to plan it out, he'd have met Humble Harve on the air, the same Humble Harve to whom Brian played a preview of that very same single Heroes as it was in it's early working stages in 1966 when Harve sat next to Brian and listened at the piano.

The date given in Peter Ames Carlin's book for this was Tuesday July 11, 1967. KHJ's lineup would have been Steele 3-6, Humble Harve 6-9, and Tom Maule 9-12. The Carlin book cites Terry Melcher's 1971 telling of the story as well. Coincidentally KHJ's July 12 survey lists Heroes as "hitbound"...would they print the survey overnight or was it a rush to get the premiere on the air? Or is the date a bit off?

And...had Brian taken his new single there on a Saturday night in June-July 1967, he would have again found Humble Harve on air from 7 to midnight!!! Timing was everything - Brian and company got it wrong. He could have delivered it Saturday night July 8, and had a friendly DJ on the air plus the ears of southern California out and about listening to the radio.

I think the bottom line is Brian simply messed up and went there at the wrong time, no matter what his astrologist told him. If he had gone on a Saturday, if the July 11 date is correct and he had gone a few hours earlier on that Tuesday, the reception would have been different. Tom Maule did get chewed out by Jacobs for this, and in some ways rightfully so, but it's not all Maule's fault. Symbolic of many Beach Boys affairs in the summer of 1967, things simply didn't work out because the impulse of doing something was stronger than the notion of planning it out for the best result.

Can someone read and then give me a brief summary of the above post? Too long for me to read.

It's not as if Maule was a new DJ, tho; He was at KMAK in Fresno in 1962, when the  BBs came to play( in the middle of summer) on the roof above the studio.
 So he knew where they'd been and how important they were.  

Wouldn't that previewed date mean the results were from the week before July 12? Like from July 2 through July 9 or so maybe? It seems like I've seen surveys that stipulate the figures were tabulated a few days before the date shown. Maybe not.

I totally agree with GuitarFool that Brian and company should have contacted KHJ ahead of time.  Steele's 3-6 afternoon shift or Humble Harv's 6-9 evening shift would have been perfect for an exclusive Worldwide Premiere.  Had KHJ known ahead of time they could have been hyping it for hours before, and probably gotten BW on the air as well....

...All of the Drake consulted stations like KGB and KHJ had tightly controlled playlists, but seasoned LA radio vets like The Real Don Steele or Humble Harv would have instantly recognized the opportunity presented when Brian Wilson and company showed up unexpectedly at their door.  Tom Maule should have at least welcomed BW and instantly made a call to Program Director Ron Jacobs, explaining that Brian Wilson was in the studio with the Beach Boys new record.  But, like GuitarFool said, he was new to his dream job, had most likely been sternly warned never to play anything not on the playlist, and didn't want to take any chances not following protocol.

So really, both Brian and Maule screwed up.  Ya have to wonder how things would have worked out for Brian had he bothered to call ahead of time and arrived earlier during Steele's or Harv's shows.  Heroes and Villains wouldn't have sold any better or been a bigger hit, but Brian's ego, after visiting the station, sure would have been in better shape.

NOT EVEN.
  Brian was being, BRIAN. Brian the unpredictable. Brian the genius. Brian the visionary( "Hey Chuck can we bring a horse in here") He wasn't a follower; he was still in "Leading the pack" mode, even with Smile being a (hopefully) fading memory. Brian wasn't of the mind to ask someone if he can bring them an exclusive. He was doing them a friggin' favor!! And he was, at least according to  Badman, sneaking it out without Capitol's knowledge. You don't think all day promos on KHJ, is going to go unnoticed at the Tower? And when it gets right down to it, he was A; waiting for this  astrologer to see the signs, and B; he's Brian friggin' Wilson of the #1 group in America!!  He's granting them a Damn exclusive.
  Maule fodido up. The guards fodido up by not calling Jacobs to let him know what was going on and/or not calling Maule, so he could call Jacobs.  
But Brian fodido up?  please... That's unrealistic as all get out

That would make sense with "previewed" but that would still leave a time frame of from July 11 or July 12 back to the previous cycle of July 4 or 5 wouldn't it?

Edit: Also, I don't know that it means anything, but H&V was registered with the LOC on June 29, 1967 but that is the music and not the recording I believe.

The first press of the radio station story I've found was reported from NY by Nancy Lewis in the July 15 1967 iss of Disc and Music Echo. So if her deadline was the same as Derek Taylor's deadline from LA seemed to be, she would have known on or before July 11.

Sooooo........useless info, probably......

Bgas: I can't get it out of my mind how a simple phone call could have given the Boys a "Heroes' welcome" :-D  that night at KHJ, and I'd almost guarantee Ron Jacobs would have been there to personally greet them and get the song on the air immediately. Brian played a part in helping Jacobs launch "Boss Radio" from the beginning, and was a friend of the station. Or a phone call could have made sure a friend like Humble Harve was behind the mic when they arrived. All someone had to do was make that call and plan ahead. That's not getting Maule off the hook for an obvious blunder, but it's not all his fault.

  Oh, I see your point. I"M NOT STOOPID. I just don't believe Brian thought of it in that manner. He was all about gifting KHJ with the exclusive; the thought that someone would refuse to play something this special would never enter his mind, no matter what time of day/night it was.
Do you really think Brian really thought about Midnight not being the same as 11oclock in the morning? I don't.
His history of recording is evidence of that. His time, ANY time,  was the right time.

Nice post. Much appreciated.

I guess that's what happens when you don't proof read; I forgot the smiley  :)  I actually enjoyed the original post! My bad!

Good job. I'll stand down on the Ron Jacobs e-mail.

So until someone comes up with an aircheck or log or memory, sometime from July 5 to July 11 is best we can do on the date and Tom Maule [or his unexpected substitute for a night] is the best suspect for the DJ.

Alan in Goldmine in 2000: "We were working on "Heroes And Villains" just prior to his withdrawal and we were excited. Actually Brian was so excited, more excited than the rest of us about the way "Heroes And Villains," the single, had come out. We went down to a radio station, I think it was KRLA, and burst in on the jock and played the record. Brian wanted to be the first person to play it for L.A., for the whole city to hear it, and it just didn't have any punch."

Have any replies come in from the emails mentioned above?