Lincoln Radio WLKN had golden era
By Rick Mullen

The Beatles came to Lincoln. So did the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Chubby Checker, the Hollies, the Who, Connie Francis, Bill Haley and the Comets, and other pop icons of the 1960s era.
They came not in person, but by way of a radio station called WLKN.
Brought to you by Mr. Solid Gold.
From 1979 to 1987, Lee Rand owned a piece of air time in Lincoln – playing oldies that he knew the public loved, as he loved them himself. As Sunday afternoon disk jockey for the Lincoln radio station, he came up with a radio show that clicked so well with listeners so that “even now,” he said, people still recognize him by the sound of his voice.
Rand, who grew up in Old Town, got hooked on “oldies,” as they became, at an early age. He performed his first DJ role at a sock hop when he was thirteen – by that age already known as a big record buff. He would go on to play the drums in rock bands and work as a DJ at Bangor radio stations and at weddings and other special events.
A DJ from Old Town, who heard Rand’s show of ‘50s and ‘60s oldies, “wanted to know if I’d be interested in working in Lincoln.” Rand took the job.
The name of his radio show was Solid Gold – and when Brenda Lee addressed him as Mr. Solid Gold a few years later, the name stuck.
The show wasn’t originally supposed to happen. WLKN had hired Rand to be the local radio voice covering Boston Red Sox baseball games on Sunday afternoons. The station also played “album-oriented rock,” or selections from record albums (music came on records in those days) that weren’t necessarily hits.
Rand pointed out to the station manager that there was some free air time before the Sox started; and if there was a delay of game, there could be hours to fill. He proposed to fill that time with oldies: rock and pop classic numbers.
Rand had reason to think he’d get a good reception. “I knew that the music the people liked in greater Lincoln was oldies and country & western,” he said. “I knew that from doing wedding receptions.” Rand had performed his DJ role live, and he had seen what excited audiences.
It was the same kind of music that excited him.
Solid Gold was born.

On that first Sunday, Rand chose first to spin a song called “Bye Bye Love,” performed by the Everly Brothers. A highly popular 1960’s era rock-country duo, they had made their debut in 1957 with this song, which reached #2 on the US Billboard Pop charts.
Before the song was over, Rand says, “We started getting phone calls” from listeners who liked what they’d heard. The first Solid Gold show lasted just 45 minutes, and “That 45-minute time slot got eaten up quick,” he said.
“Then the Red Sox came on, and I kept getting calls during the game.”
Solid Gold was off and running.
“We had listeners all the way from Houlton to Bangor,” Rand said.
The show became so popular that it propelled WLKN into Bangor’s list of top-rated stations, Rand said. A survey of radio listeners, he said, showed that “WLKN Solid Gold was listened to by 46.8 percent of the people in the greater area who were listening to the radio on a Sunday afternoon.” Of all the stations from which to choose, his show was capturing about half of the total audience.
Solid Gold was about more than the music: it was also about the personalities behind the sound. “It was not just about playing one record after another,” said Rand. “I knew the music, and could talk about it. I would talk to the audiences like they were fans of the music, just like I was. And I knew celebrities in the music business.”
In the course of his career in the music biz, Rand had met big-name artists of the 1960s, such as folk/blues/rock singer-songwriter Johnny Rivers, and the rock legend Chuck Berry. Rand saw a young Wayne Newton arrive in Bangor on a bus, carrying his guitar, to do one of his early gigs.
“I could talk about some of the people who made that music,” Rand said. “Some stars would call the station.” Brenda Lee (a 1960s-era pop and country star who had 37 hits on the US charts) would call from Nashville, he said.
“It was just a fun time.”
Solid Gold was a winner, but the station’s other fare did not fare as well; WLKN went into economic decline. The station’s ownership changed several times, and despite some tinkering with the format, the run came to an end. In 1994 WLKN (now WHMX) filed for bankruptcy protection.
By this point, Lee Rand already had left to form Rand Advertising, which still operates in Lincoln to this day.
Rand thinks the closing of WLKN was a loss for the town.
WLKN gave people a sense of personal connection with each other that is not readily found in radio stations of today, Rand said.
But Mr. Solid Gold did have a chance to revive some memories – and make some.
“It was a fine afternoon,” he said of his Sunday show. “We had a ball.”

BOOK MAY BE IN THE WORKS

May 14, 2012- Today Lee made the following announcement: "Yes, I have been putting together ideas for a book partly about Lincoln's radio station WLKN and my experiences as musician, DJ, live entertainer and radio personality, as well as radio station manager. Tentatively titled "A Broken Record", it would be published as an e-book, probably in late 2013. That timetable depends on several things I can't divulge at this time. Lot of work to be done.

"This is something I've been asked to do many times, and actually something I, too, have felt should be done. There ARE stories to be told before they're lost to time and memory.
This project will dwell mainly with the years from 1963 through 1995. Although my experiences at WLKN AM/FM in Lincoln will be at the center of "my story", there will be a lot more included that has nothing to do with my involvement for several years in broadcasting.

"Anyone interested in the world of rock 'n roll in eastern and northern Maine from the point of view of someone who was in the middle of it may find this publication at the least mildly entertaining, and at the most quite insightful. I'll keep you all informed of any future developments."

Mr. Lee
Lincoln, Maine

Here's a copy of a recent postcard Lee received from one of his many friends in the music business!!

ONLY KNOWN PICTURE OF LEE & HIS BAND ON STAGE FOUND!!