Karen on Olivia's 1977 radio special?

Walkinat9

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

Has any of you heard (of) Olivia Newton-John's Thanksgiving Day radio special from November 1977?

Apparently Olivia felt she had to get back to the public ear after only having done one 5-week tour in the Spring of '77. Concerts had been scheduled for the Summer that year, but all (?) were canceled because of the filming of "Grease". There was also no customary second studio album that same year (as in previous years). The second album released that year was the "Greatest Hits" LP and Olivia did a promotional tour for it in the Fall.

Besides the tour she also did two radio specials, one for Thanksgiving Day (with Karen as one of the guests) and one for Christmas as is mentioned in these newspaper articles:

Clipping from The Pittsburgh Press - Newspapers.com (mentioned in the middle of the second column)

Clipping from Chicago Tribune - Newspapers.com

Clipping from The Tribune - Newspapers.com (I have no idea what RKO stations are though)

Clipping from The Minneapolis Star - Newspapers.com (Olivia fans may recognize the head of this article plus photo - in the thumbnail - from the intro of the Live 1982 video 🤓 )


I really hope that someone out there taped this special back in 1977. Would be great to hear what Karen & Olivia were talking about on this show (at least that's what I got out of the last article, Olivia talking to some of her favorite singers)


Greg
 
Hi all,

Has any of you heard (of) Olivia Newton-John's Thanksgiving Day radio special from November 1977?

Apparently Olivia felt she had to get back to the public ear after only having done one 5-week tour in the Spring of '77. Concerts had been scheduled for the Summer that year, but all (?) were canceled because of the filming of "Grease". There was also no customary second studio album that same year (as in previous years). The second album released that year was the "Greatest Hits" LP and Olivia did a promotional tour for it in the Fall.

Besides the tour she also did two radio specials, one for Thanksgiving Day (with Karen as one of the guests) and one for Christmas as is mentioned in these newspaper articles:

Clipping from The Pittsburgh Press - Newspapers.com (mentioned in the middle of the second column)

Clipping from Chicago Tribune - Newspapers.com

Clipping from The Tribune - Newspapers.com (I have no idea what RKO stations are though)

Clipping from The Minneapolis Star - Newspapers.com (Olivia fans may recognize the head of this article plus photo - in the thumbnail - from the intro of the Live 1982 video 🤓 )


I really hope that someone out there taped this special back in 1977. Would be great to hear what Karen & Olivia were talking about on this show (at least that's what I got out of the last article, Olivia talking to some of her favorite singers)


Greg
You mentioning the 82 tour reminded me of Karen's aborted plan to play drums at some venues....even if she'd been fighting fit in '82 it just seems like such a random, but brilliant, plan....not to sing with Olivia, but to play drums.

Perhaps through her therapy her first love was again coming to the fore.
 
You mentioning the 82 tour reminded me of Karen's aborted plan to play drums at some venues....even if she'd been fighting fit in '82 it just seems like such a random, but brilliant, plan....not to sing with Olivia, but to play drums.

Perhaps through her therapy her first love was again coming to the fore.
Brilliant? Absolutely, I agree with you! You can bet they would have had to sneak in at least one duet, though. :)
I saw Olivia at the Universal Amphitheater during that Physical tour. She was great!
 
Brilliant? Absolutely, I agree with you! You can bet they would have had to sneak in at least one duet, though. :)
I saw Olivia at the Universal Amphitheater during that Physical tour. She was great!
It also shows the massive difference in popularity between the 2 women at this time...i mean can you imagine a "Touch Me when we're dancing" tour? They seemed closer than ever at the end of Karen's life but it must have been tough for Karen to see a best mate who she was commercially on a par with a few years earlier be so much more popular than her now.
 
It also shows the massive difference in popularity between the 2 women at this time...i mean can you imagine a "Touch Me when we're dancing" tour? They seemed closer than ever at the end of Karen's life but it must have been tough for Karen to see a best mate who she was commercially on a par with a few years earlier be so much more popular than her now.

I think each act had its turn. Carpenters were huge in the early to mid 1970s, Olivia popular but limited to country - and certainly not a pop superstar at that time. That switched completely around 1978. I’d bet Karen was thriller for Olivia but saddened by their own career slide. I’m sure one of Richard’s regrets is that they didn’t manage to recapture that success again before she died in 1983.
 
Hi all,

Has any of you heard (of) Olivia Newton-John's Thanksgiving Day radio special from November 1977?

Apparently Olivia felt she had to get back to the public ear after only having done one 5-week tour in the Spring of '77. Concerts had been scheduled for the Summer that year, but all (?) were canceled because of the filming of "Grease". There was also no customary second studio album that same year (as in previous years). The second album released that year was the "Greatest Hits" LP and Olivia did a promotional tour for it in the Fall.

Besides the tour she also did two radio specials, one for Thanksgiving Day (with Karen as one of the guests) and one for Christmas as is mentioned in these newspaper articles:

Clipping from The Pittsburgh Press - Newspapers.com (mentioned in the middle of the second column)

Clipping from Chicago Tribune - Newspapers.com

Clipping from The Tribune - Newspapers.com (I have no idea what RKO stations are though)

Clipping from The Minneapolis Star - Newspapers.com (Olivia fans may recognize the head of this article plus photo - in the thumbnail - from the intro of the Live 1982 video 🤓 )


I really hope that someone out there taped this special back in 1977. Would be great to hear what Karen & Olivia were talking about on this show (at least that's what I got out of the last article, Olivia talking to some of her favorite singers)


Greg
Great catch! I wonder if someone in the Olivia fandom has it?
 
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