Memories of Stan's Record Shop on KAAY

From an email:
I had been listening to KAAY since day one. My radio was a nine transistor three-band Realistic radio purchased from Radio Shack when they had only three stores.

The music on KAAY was superior from my point of view because they filtered out some of the stuff I didn't like. It was pretty much good, clean music. When I first

heard Stan's record shop advertising on KAAY, I decided it would be a great place to purchase some lost or worn-out oldies. Each time I ordered, I would have the

45's sent COD. I was never disappointed. My draft notice came in 1966, and I reported for induction. I was sent to Fort Campbell, KY where I was able to listen to KAAY at the end of my day of basic training. 1967 found me in Vietnam. There wasn't a lot to hear on AM radio there except AFVN. I had to try something different.

I bought a tube type three-band radio and strung-up a long wire antenna. I was going to get KAAY no matter what. It never happened. My parents mailed me some

of my 45 RPM records, but there were some oldies I wanted which I had never purchased in the first place. How was I ever going to buy them in Vietnam. I knew

Stan's wasn't going to deal with COD to a foreign country, so I wrote to my parents to call Stan's to figure out if there was a way I could by some records. I never did

figure out what actually happened, but a package with my requested records arrived less than two weeks later. My guess is Stan was sympathetic to me being in Vietnam and didn't wait for the money to arrive. There was always a special place in my heart for Stan's Record Shop after that. I always wondered what his shop actually looked like.

When I was released from the army in 1968, I made a trip to visit a friend in New Orleans. The driver of the car decided it would be fun to visit Stan's, so we stopped there on our return trip to Chicago. Wow! I was in awe. They had all of the current records setup on displays, but down below is where the oldies were kept. They

were in large drawers and arranged alphabetically. I spent more money than I intended that day. One of the most impresive things was a gold record displayed on

the wall. It was on Stan's own Montel label, and it was "I'm Leaving It Up to You" by Dale and Grace. My friend Ronnie Allen did an on-the-air interview with Dale and

Grace about three years ago. They said that they had no idea whatever happened to the gold record. How many of you have ever seen a real gold record up close?

Stan's labels were Montel and Paula. Does anybody know if he had any others?

A few years ago, I was talking on my amateur radio to a fellow named Ship in Shreveport, La. When I mentioned I had been to Stan's, he sadly informed me that

Stan's record shop was no more due to the poor economy of the area at that time. What a great loss to the recording world. Ship went on to tell me how he was

proud to call Stan his friend. I think I was envious.

Sincerely,

Ron Henselman
Melrose Park, IL (suburban Chicago)