Times Sondock

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Malcolm Ronald "Mal" Sondock (born July 4, 1934 in Houston , Texas , † June 9, 2009 in Cologne ) was an American disc jockey , radio presenter , music producer and singer who worked for many years in the WDR style for music moderation.

life and career

Sondock was born in Houston in 1934 and grew up there as the son of a dentist with a sister who later lived in Florida . At age 17, he worked in Oklahoma City as a disc jockey and college student for several small radio stations and a record company.

After joining the army in 1957, he came to AFN , where he served as GI in Frankfurt am Main , Bremerhaven and Munich . He also improved his pay as a DJ there by organizing dance events in which a dance band did not play, as is usual in Germany, but records were put on. That is why he is considered one of the inventors of the first discos in Germany.

Then Sondock applied to ARD as a DJ and came to WDR , where he was used as a vacation replacement for Chris Howland . From 1961 he moderated the Monday afternoon melody , then from 1966 the show Diskothekenbummel , from which the disco on WDR developed from 1967 . From around 1966, Mal Sondock's trademark was to greet his audience as "your old jockdiskey Em-A-El".

The WDR disco at WDR 2 became the WDR's most popular music program for young people until the 1980s. It was broadcast live or recorded in front of a young audience. A five-person jury recruited from the audience decided whether the new releases of pop and rock music presented in the program would be “hit or miss”. The listeners of the show also chose their most popular tracks by postcard, which were played in ascending order up to first place. The show was replaced in early 1981 by the shorter studio show Mal Sondock's hit parade , in which listeners could tap “hit or rivet” by phone. At the end of 1984 this program was also canceled, which was officially justified with too low ratings. The validity of this reasoning was later repeatedly questioned.

Since the 1970s, Sondock could also be heard on NDR , SDR and Radio Bremen , later also on BRF . He also worked as a music producer (he discovered Michael Holm and produced his first singles) and sang some German-language hits himself in the 1960s. In 1966 he hosted the first six episodes of the Hessischer Rundfunk broadcast Beat, Beat, Beat . In addition to his work on the radio, he appeared in a small supporting role in the 1961 film City Without Pity . He also worked as a promotional man for Roulette Records for Morris Levy, which also owned the Birdland jazz club in New York City .

Supported by some credit institutes, for which he had produced the first cross-label hit samplers in Germany, Sondock performed in many German cities with a mobile disco event during the 1970s and 1980s. Later he produced and moderated music events for various airlines and Deutsche Bahn .

At the beginning of the 80s he opened the steak house "Buffalo Mal" in Düsseldorf, but with which he had no economic success and had to close it again. In his final years he worked as an entrepreneur in the marketing and multimedia industry.

In June 2009 Mal Sondock died after a short, serious illness at the age of 74 in a Cologne hospital. He left behind his wife and a son and daughter. He was buried in Palm Cemetery in Orange County, Florida .

Radio broadcasts (selection)

  • 1961–1966 Monday afternoon melody
  • 1966–1967 strolling through the discotheque
  • 1967–1980 discotheque in the WDR
  • 1981–1984 times Sondock's hit parade
  • 1987–1987 Hit or Niete ( Belgian radio )

Movie and TV

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Hey, Annabella Susann
  DE 16 03/01/1962 (16 weeks)
The girl with the sad look
  DE 32 09/01/1964 (12 weeks)
I'm worried about you
  DE 36 03/15/1965 (2 weeks)

Albums

  • In 1965 he was represented on the Fritz Graßhoff / Lotar Olias LP Songs for Mündige alongside Edith Hancke , Ernst Stankovski , Gustav Knuth , Inge Meysel , Hanne Wieder , Lale Andersen and others with Urwald-Ringelpietz and The Real Old Trappers . The songs were accompanied by the Hans Last orchestra .
  • In 1965 he sang together with Lale Andersen on their LP Twelve Countries - Twelve Songs for England In an English Country Garden .
  • 1974: Sparkasse hits (as promoter)
  • 1999: Mal Sondock's hit parade 1970s Radio Kult (3-CD box set including non-stop radio show mix), Disky Musik, NL
  • 1999: Mal Sondock's hit parade 80s Radio Kult (3-CD box set including non-stop radio show mix), Disky Musik, NL
  • In 2007 Bear Family Records released a CD with 24 tracks (his singles) and a booklet under the title Love at First Sight
  • 2009: Disco with Mal Sondock - The hits of the 70s (3-CD box set), Sony Music
  • 2009: Mal Sondock's Hit Parade - The hits of the 80s (3-CD box set), Sony Music
  • 2010: 75 Super Oldies - presented by Mal Sondock (5-CD box set), Sony Music

Singles

  • 1960: Because I'm still the same / Last night in the moonlight
  • 1960: I have no money / I don't think that's nice of you
  • 1961: My Heidelberg-Baby / Pepe
  • 1962: Hey, Annabella Susann / Papa O Papa
  • 1962: dream / yes, she is a hot potato
  • 1963: Jenny let me go / love at first sight
  • 1964: The girl with the sad look / Texas Cowboy and Mexico Girl
  • 1965: I'm worried about you / Hey, Hello Baby
  • 1965: Don't let the sun see that you're crying / A house without a window
  • 1966: Lock and bolt / She is a stranger here
  • 1966: Juanita Banana / I always see you in front of me or I always only see you

Continental Brothers (Mal Sondock & Drafi Deutscher )

  • 1965: I lost your heart / Only lonely me

J & M ( Johnny Tame & Mal Sondock)

  • 1970: I sing for you (I play & sing) / Everyone talks about love

Charles Nowa Orchestra

  • 1960: Rotterdam-Polka / Gemütlichkeit-Cha-Cha (Vocals B-side: Mal Sondock)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Siegmund Helms: Schlager in Germany: Contributions to the analysis of popular music and the music market. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden. 1972, ISBN 3765100668 .
  2. ^ Rüdiger Bloemeke: Live in Germany. Voodoo Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-023781-2 .
  3. ↑ Malcolm Ronald "Mal" Sondock (1934 - 2009) - Find A Grave Memorial. Retrieved August 20, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Charts DE
personal data
SURNAME Sondock, Mal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sondock, Malcolm Ronald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American disc jockey and radio presenter
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston , Texas
DATE OF DEATH June 9, 2009
Place of death Cologne