It was an ordinary day. Saturday afternoon and I'm getting ready to turn on my radio to WIXQ 91.7 to listen to the Millersville University's "Oldies But Goodies" show. Show has been on the air since 1979 and is strictly dedicated to songs that were hits between 1955 and 1962. You know...when "Rock & Roll" was King of the airways. If you live anywhere near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, tune in WIXQ and listen to Doc and Mama Roc spin some of my favorite oldies, but goodies. So, just who are the duo who call themselves Doc and Mama Roc? They are a married couple (58 years and going strong) whose real names are Ralph and Judy Anttonen who are retired educators. Their story begins in 1958 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Ralph says that he met Judy when they were seniors in high school and attended a Friday night YMCA dance. At the time he was known as a "Jock," since he was like the guy in the movie "Hoosiers" who had a basketball under his arm at all times. Girls caused him to head to the sidelines, or the wall of the YMCA gym...as close to the wall as he could stand! But, one night he got up the courage to ask Judy to dance. He put it this way: "There she was, here I am, and I'm going to ask that girl to dance." Within a week they were "going steady." They were married in 1962 when Ralph was a junior at Boston's Tufts University. At the time Judy was able to support them since she worked for the government as a stenographer with top-secret clearances. Wasn't long before they arrived in Millersville, Pennsylvania where Ralph was hired as a faculty member and Judy became a special education teacher. At the time it was the early seventies and they didn't find their way to the airwaves until the end of the decade. Ralph was responsible for the Millersville's WIXQ radio station for decades. Then one time, during a DJ Williams show on the radio when Williams called himself the "Duke of Soul", Anttonen said, "Well, then I'm the Dock of Rock." He later subtracted the "K" and Doc and Mamma Rock were born, two decades into their marriage.
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| Doc & Momma Rock |
I can remember listening to the twosome many a Saturday evening over the past many years and just loved their choices they played over the airways. This past January 23 they hosted their first show of 2021 at the University's radio station. It included favorites such as "Twisting the Night Away" by Sam Cooke, "Only the Lonely" by my favorite Roy Orbison and several hits by Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon such as "Palisades Park" and "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans." Now, if you aren't in at least your 50s, you probably aren't familiar with those songs. They change the songs weekly between the time period of the emergence of Elvis and the start of the lads from Liverpool. Now, I should tell you that you won't hear a Beatles song on their show, but probably will hear plenty of Chuck Berry. Remember, they play songs from the 50s and 60s. You might think that after three hours every Saturday you would get tired of the same songs all the time, but they do find plenty of oldies for their playlists every week. Songs such as "True Love Ways" (Buddy Holly), "Sea of Love" (Phil Philips), "Young Love" (Sonny James), "April Love" (Pat Boone), "I Love How You Love Me" (The Paris Sisters), "Only Love Can Break a Heart)" (Gene Pitney), "Never My Love" ( The Association), "What the World Needs Now is Love" (Burt Bacharach, "Puppy Love" ( Paul Anka), "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" (Elvis), "My Love" (Petula Clark), "When I Fall in Love" (The Lettermen) are all on the playlist from time to time. Are you singing a few of those by now? Hey...where else can you hear these songs anymore unless you have them on an oldies CD. And...who would have thought you would find them on a Lancaster radio station? Throughout 2020, with both being retired, they continued to host the show every Saturday evening. Then at the end of the year they both contracted COVID-19 and Judy was in urgent care due to her asthma. They are both near their 80s, but still compete in the Senior Games with both having numerous medals in swimming and running. And, Judy is now running with a knee replacement. Their listening audience is now aging along with them, but remains fiercely loyal. Ralph has been a Millersville mainstay and has become as much a pillar in the community as the college itself. Their online "time capsule" is still listened to by many. Recently someone asked them to play "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. Now, that just wasn't going to happen, since it wasn't in their time period, but they did find a copy sung by Elvis which they were nice enough to play. If you want to listen to the show, you can tune them in on Saturdays at 4:00 PM on 91.7 WIXQ. If you can find the show you will love the "Doc of Rock and Momma Rock" show. That's if you are a lover of Rock & Roll music. And who that lived through the era isn't a lover of Rock & Roll? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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