Detroit Grass Roots Rock and Soul Bands 1967 - 1970 YES! That's MY voice in 1967! !n February of 1967, 13 year old Mike Lombardi and 14 year old Jim Kerr, landed jobs as a teenage disk jockey team at radio station WYNZ in Ypsilanti, Mi. They played top 40 music of the day and reported on mostly local teen related news. Forward thinking station manager, Brian Hadley, made radio time available to other talented teenagers like Mike Murphy, John Huzar (John Michaels), and George Matsos. Ranging in age from 14 to 16, they were not just radio personalities, their jobs included training in all aspects of radio station operation, passing the FCC requirements as well as sales, marketing, and personal appearances to MC at local teen clubs and events. Eventually, Jim and Mike decided to split up the team. Jim focused on a radio career and Mike was very interested in the local music scene. Mike began to record the bands that were playing at local high school dances and teen centers and playing the best cuts on his radio show. He generated interest by creating a "Battle of the Bands" with listeners voting for their favorites. ATA Studios opened in 1967 in Westland, Mi. to manage, record, and book local area bands. The studio was for all teenagers that were interested in Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java(tm). music related entertainment fields. ATA was made up of and operated by teenagers with some close adult (by Marge and Johnny) supervision. Some of the first bands to join our membership were Solo Society, Six Pak, Coming Generation, Purple Rush, and No-body's Children. Grass roots teen musicians playing locally on weekends at schools, recreation centers and teen nightclubs all over the Detroit area. There were never any "dues" at ATA. The only cost to the members was a 10% booking fee of all paid jobs. There are a lot of audio files here, all in mp3 format. They can be downloaded individually or as a group using the transfer button on the Main Menu. There's no charge, no ads, no sales etc. Just photos and recordings of the bands that contributed to building Detroit's great rock and soul music history.