By waz (209.210.72.2 - 209.210.72.2) on Friday, November 16, 2001 - 07:38 pm:

Does anyone remember a R&B show on Detroit's WDET in the late 70's hosted by one "Mr. Z", whose tag line was the title of this post?
The show was broadcast on Friday and/or Satuday nights starting at about 11:00PM and featured an incredible array of local and national R&B, mainly from the 50's but some from the 60's and even the late 40's.

Who was Mr. Z and what happened to him? I assume he had done dj work elsewhere, but I haven't heard of him before or since.

By waz (209.210.72.2 - 209.210.72.2) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 11:16 pm:

No dice, eh?

I remembered his full name. It was Fred Zalenka. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.4 - 62.252.128.4) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 12:03 am:

waz

hopefully someone will give us an update.

was this primarily a white radio station at that time? please provide more info on WDET because radio is an interesting subject.

thanks david

By fox (63.27.53.160 - 63.27.53.160) on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 07:38 am:

WDET is the public broadcasting station out of Wayne State University, located in Detroit...and not far from many of the recording studios.
Fred Zalenka was relegated to late nights. He had at least one other program with a different name, I think. The station would probably still know how to reach him, they have a website: http://www.wdetfm.org/

By Fox (63.27.53.160 - 63.27.53.160) on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 08:18 am:

Found this at http://www.freep.com/newslibrary/index.htm

This article mentions Fred, maybe Kim Heron knows where he is...I don't have an account so could not access full text...This will give you a little bit of an answer to your question about what kind of station WDET was, prior to '83...There was ethnic programming on weekends, some morning/afternoon mixes. Judy Adams has been there forever, she would probably also know about Fred.

Heron and Adams are found on this page:
http://www.wdetfm.org/content/program.php


Detroit Free Press (MI)
JAZZY SOUND FOR PUBLIC RADIO
Published on February 13, 1983. 1628 words
Article 1 of 1 found.


BY W. KIM HERON Free Press Staff Writer

The piercing trumpet of Miles Davis wafted out of a portable tape/radio set in a 10th floor office in the Detroit School Center Building one morning last week. Six months earlier, at the same time of day, one might have heard the music of Maurice Ravel or Franz Josef Haydn from a radio tuned to the same station, WDET-FM.Candid, talkative and still reserved, Marvin Granger, the man responsible for the change, reduced the volume to a whisper and fielded questions about his few but


Click for text - $1.95 (no photos or illustrations)
There is no charge for articles retrieved in searches performed in Michigan public, school and academic libraries participating in the AccessMichigan program.

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.7.3.12 - 62.7.3.12) on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 08:35 am:

thanks fox.

i e-mailed wdet on tuesday but still await reply.

By cl (207.75.177.130 - 207.75.177.130) on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 07:58 pm:

I remember Fred's show very well. It was called " Gone but not forgotten".

Wdet is the public radio station in detroit. So it has no commercials. I don't know if it could be compared to the bbc except that it is not privately owned.

Anyway I listened faithfully on Sat nights and I remember that the intro tune was handclappin by Red Prysock (Arthurs bro) the great swing and jump blues tenor saxophonist who I once heard John Sinclair refer to as the John Coltrane of jump blues.

By thecount (65.59.41.30 - 65.59.41.30) on Thursday, May 23, 2002 - 09:45 pm:

Here is a shirt of ,"Sounds Sweet As A Honey Bee"Freddie Z,gave me this tee-shirt about 12 yrs. ago.I scanned it and hope it will post.Also have "The Famous Coachman.Lets see what happens here first. Steve "The Count"