Al Jardine of the Beach Boys is born. (1942)

Bill Haley & the Comets turn down their first invitation to tour outside of the U.S. because of a fear of flying. The Australian offer of $2,000 for 15 dates wasn’t enough to get them on a plane. (1955)

Billboard reports independent record manufacturers are continuing to expand at an unprecented rate. They took in $20 million last year. (1955)

The Four Tops “Reach Out I’ll be There” enters the Hot 100 where it claims the Number One position on October 15. (1966)

Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” hits #1 on the chart, while Stevie Wonder’s “Blowin’ In The Wind” peaks at #9. (1966)

Question Mark and the Mysterians’ “96 Tears” makes into the Hot 100 where it will peak at Number One for a week on October 29. (1966)

Folk singer Woody Guthrie dies of Huntington’s Chorea in New York City. He was 52. (1967)

The Four Seasons’ “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is released. (1969)

Rolling Stone reports that the Bob Dylan bootleg “Great White Wonder” has sold over 350,000 copies and that the Dave Clark Five have broken up. (1970)

At the Palermo Pop ’70 Festival in Italy, Arthur Brown (of the Crazy World of..) is arrested and put in solitary confinement for four days after he set fire to his helmet and stripped naked during his stage performance. The audience threw all sorts of things at him. While in solitary, he was given a note signed by over 200 locals telling him to get out of Italy and stay out. (1970)

The Rolling Stones’ “Angie” is released. (1973)

110,000 fans descend on Old Bridge, New Jersey for an eleven hour concert by the Grateful Dead, the New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Marshall Tucker Band. (1976)

Heart’s “Barracuda” peaks at #11 on the pop singles chart. (1977)

Styx’ “The Grand Illusion” LP enters the charts. (1977)

The three day U.S. Festival gets under way in San Bernardino, California. Over 400,000 people show up to hear Fleetwood Mac, the Police, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, the Cars, Pat Benatar, Talking Heads, Dave Edmunds, Santana, the B-52′s, the Kinks, Eddie Money, the Ramones, Gang of Four, the English Beat and Jerry Jeff Walker. It’s financed by Steve Wozniak, the founder of the Apple Computer Company. (1982)

Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble’s “Texas Flood” LP enters the chart. (1983)

The Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” hits #1 on the pop singles chart. (1983)

David Bowie appears on the cover of “Architectural Digest”, the first human to do so in 4 years. He tells the magazine that, “my ambition is to make music so uncompromising that I will have no audience left.” (1992)

Former Stray Cat leader Brian Setzer marries Christine Schmidt. (1994)

The Rolling Stones’ “Love Is Strong” peaks at #91 on the singles chart. (1994)

John Mellencamp and Me’Shell NdegeOcello’s remake of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night” peaks at #3 on the singles chart. (1994)

Crosby, Stills and Nash release the LP, “After The Storm.” (1994)

We finally got them all out of the boxes they have been in.

In the final two hours of Flashback we will feature The Story of Radio England.

Swinging Radio England (“SRE”) was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the “World’s Most Powerful” that operated from 3th May 1966 to 13th November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England. While the station was dubbed a pirate radio station, its operation took place within the law and its offices were in the West End of London. Its representation was by a company formed earlier in the year to represent in Europe the ABC radio and television stations of the United States.

Swinging Radio England was the brainchild of Don Pierson who lived in Eastland, Texas, USA. According to an interview by Dr. Eric Gilder with Don Pierson published by Sibiu University Press in Romania during 2001, Don Pierson got the idea following the success of his earlier venture called Wonderful Radio London.

The power company is working on an upgrade in our area, we will be off the air for about half an hour. Thanks for your patience.

Chicago’s James Pankow is born. (1947)

Robert Plant, vocalist for Led Zeppelin, is born. (1948)

The late Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy is born. (1951)

John Hiatt, solo artist, is born. (1952)

Connie Francis begins working on her acting debut, as filming for MGM’s “Where the Boys Are” starts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. (1960)

The Temptations’ “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep” is released. (1966)

The New York Times reports about a new noise reduction system for album and tape recording developed by technicians R. and D.W. Dolby. Elektra Record’s new subsidiary, Checkmate Records, will be the first label to use the new Dolby process in its recordings. (1967)

The director of the University of Tennessee’s audio lab, Dr. David M. Lipscomb, reports a guinea pig subjected over a three month period to 88 hours of rock music recorded at a Knoxville disco at 120 decibels suffered acute damage to the inner ears. The New York Times was told by Steve Paul, owner of the New York disco, The Scene, “Should a major increase in guinea pig attendance occur at the Scene, we’ll certainly bear their comfort in mind.” (1968)

Frank Zappa disbands the Mothers of Invention right after an eight day tour in Canada. Zappa says he’s “tired of playing for people who clap for all the wrong reasons.” (1969)

The Rolling Stones release “Angie.” (1973)

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform a benefit concert for Vietnam veterans at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. (1981)

Carlos Santana receives a star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame. (1996)

Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan is found dead in his New Orleans apartment. He was 31. (1999)