The Lost Art of the Friday Work Whistle
Call it the 5 o’clock whistle. The 5 o’clock send off. The weekend blastoff. The weekend work whistle. The Friday work whistle. Whatever. The point is, hardly anybody does this anymore, and it’s a shame. Below are the ONLY specimens I can find that aren’t some lame DJ blowing a referee’s whistle… but REAL Friday work whistles. Enjoy!
[EDIT: Update: Fixed download link and switched bitlocker so it shouldn’t be deleted again!]
It contains all the following:
1) WMXT 102.1 The Fox — Florence, SC — Better start, more music.
2) WROQ Rock 101.1 — Greenville, SC — Longer, more mixed in clips.
3) WKLS 96Rock — Atlanta, GA — The predecessor to 102.1’s version.
4) WHTZ Z-100 — New York City, NY — The version they did in 1984!
5) NEW!! Adam Curry – The Daily Source Code – Fubar Friday (short)
6) NEW!! WNKS KISS 95.1 — Charlotte, NC – Weekend Blast (short)
7) NEW!! WKLS Project 961 — Atlanta, GA — The ALL NEW version airing currently!
Mega Link — Click Here To Download Them ALL!
Thanks for the 96 Rock whistle… They always segued into Spencer Davis Group’s Gimme Some Lovin, so I always left work *ready*!! I’ll put that together myself for sure!
I was telling a friend about the full 96Rock version with
“The war was on. All the keys on the typewriter had sharp points that kept sticking into out fingers. Our beepers sent electric shocks, just through our bodies like a cattle prod. Out in the warehouse, the trucks kept banging into the docks, not even thinking about stopping. All our frail bodies were strapped to our chairs, and the chairs were chained to the desks. Our pleas for justice were ignored, and the end… seemed… near. But we busted our slave driver’s little bitty balls. We charged out of their brick fortress, and into the streets. The streets are ours, because it’s Friday… Friiiiday…. FRIIIIIIIIIIIII…day.”
Any idea where I can find a copy of that? I just typed it from memory!
Thanks,
Rob
Thanks for this, brings back lots of memories!
Do they have the entire 96 rock version anywhere? Just reading it brought back memories. And it’s comforting knowing i’m not the only one who had it memorized. Lived in atl from 1993-1998. Greatest time of my life. Every time they played the weekend whistle they always cranked an awesome song immediately after screaming ’96 rock’. It was as if the song was part of the weekend whistle. It was always something that got you pumped, like KISS, Ozzy, Van Halen, AC/DC.
There was also a line ‘The dictating equipment started asking us questions’.
Hi y’all,
The extended version of the 96 Rock 5 O’Clock whistle was an unintended collaboration between my self and Steve Mitchell. Steve produced the original shorter version and later, after he’d left the station, Prog Dir Bill Pugh have me a copy of WMMS nutcase Murray Saul rantin’ & ravin’ and asked me, as Production Director, to do something with it. I started with Steve’s good work and built on that. What resulted was the extended version of the Whistle. I have a copy on tape in my attic, but I don’t know what condition the tape is in. I’ll check it out someday and digitize it if I can. I’m happy so many people liked it. –Mattman
I always remember to version that Rob talks about above….man I’d love to get a copy of that…now that was a 5 O’clock whistle…
John – That’s the original extended version I did. Later ones, without that “slave driver’s little bitty balls” rant, were cut down, edited versions of it. As far as I can remember, that’s what I have on tape, in storage. Hopefully, all the oxide hasn’t fallen off the tape stock and it can be played once to digitize it. I promise I will do that, but it will likely be months, or over a year. It is in storage in a place very far from where I am.
Rob, I’ve been looking for that clip, too — for years. This is the closest I’ve found…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYbZTsY-00
Matt – thanks! you built a classic and i will now start the tridition of playing this each Friday (statring today.) Who’s voice is the raving madman screaming “ITS FRIDAY!”? Did yall get that from a movie or show? Thanks again.
Lane – It’s Murray Saul of WMMS, Cleveland – not a jock, but a maniac from their sales dept – who began a tradition of Friday 5 o’clock rants in the 1970s that pre-date all of the above.
Matt can you tell me more less what year it was this started. I am pretty sure it was after I graduated in 1980 but hey School daze you never can tell.
Thanks Glenn
Big Thanks for the 96 Rock whistle. I lived there from 1990 to 2000 and never thought I would be able to hear it or find it again. Found it just in time cause this is a Friday I really needed it.
It was always followed by The Shanty Song by Jonathan Edwards
I’m so glad I found this. I lived in Marietta until ’94 and I would occasionally catch the 5 o’clock whistle on 96 Rock played as I went *into* work on swing shift at Lockheed. Great memories!
I am STOKED to find this! Matt, you did an amazing job on this little ditty. It will forever be etched in the hearts and minds of millions! I “won” the weekend whistle 3 times in the summer of 94 and I remember flying up interstate 75 to get home in time to record the whole whistle all three times. Don’t know what ever happened to the cassettes they were recorded on, but I would give my left arm to be able to hear them again! I remember 96rock released a cassette of some of the antics of the wakeup crew. Is there anyone out there that might still own a copy and make me a copy of it? I’ll pay real money! Thanks for the memories, ya’ll!
THANKS Matt and huge Thanks to whomever uploaded it to youtube I now have it on my iPad and will play it every friday!. I have so many fond memories of leaving a hot warehouse job in East Point with this rattling the windows!
You, sir, rock fu***ng socks! All the internets belong to you!
I have a copy of the WKLS version where the guy talks about the “keyboards grew sharp point” and the trucks kept banging in to the docks not even thinking about stopping… Where do I send you a copy???
Here it is in all it’s GLORY!!! ENJOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opCkrzPzTDM
p.s. found this by googling the words
“the trucks kept banging into the docks”
Knew there had to be other fans out there!!!!
It’s QUITTING TIME!!!
I didn’t listen to 96 Rock all that much, except after Z93 changed over to “92.9 Dave FM”. I remember when Kaedy Kiely was on Z93 (I know she was on 96 Rock for a while), she did the 5 O’Clock Whistle. I listened to the one linked above, and I think Kaedy did some editing and remixing for Z’s version.
One thing I remember hearing on Z93 was a 5 O’Clock whistle for every day of the week. Monday’s through Thursday’s whistles were shorter than Friday’s, but if I remember correctly, they all featured clips of songs that mentioned that day of the week. Monday’s featured “Monday, Monday” by the Mamas and the Papas, “Come Monday” by Jimmy Buffett, and a couple of others. Tuesday’s featured “Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones and “Tuesday Afternoon” by the Moody Blues. Wednesday featured the Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home” (“Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock…”) but with the “morning” cut out, and “5 o’clock” repeated a couple of more times. I can’t remember Thursday’s whistle that much.
Good times, good times.
This Link is no longer working any chane i could still get a hold of it? thanks.
Jeremy, Can you send me the mp3 zip file to my email. I get an error when I try to download it from the site. Or just let me know when it is fixed. Thanks!
We still play it straight up at 5pm CST every Friday- here’s the audio, along with another bit the guy did…
Sloan, can you send me the MP3 link? I hear it every Friday on the Loon and love hearing it. Its great to hear at quitting time!
I have been searching for this as well! This is one of those “you can’t explain it but gotta hear it” sort of things! The radio stations of today have no personality with corporate song list piped in, same songs day in and day out and certainly nothing as original and fun as the 5 O’clock Whistle!
I remember listening to z100 with lover boy Working for weekend and another song take this job and shove it
I remember the whistle begin 10 minutes long, have it recorded on cassette from 1993 somewhere. It brings back memories of a great time in my life, loved to find it on u tube today. Listened to it 4 times already. 96.1 wkls definitely rocked back then. Long live the 5 o’clock whistle.
I can’t wait to hear this every Friday on 103.7 The Loon out of St. Cloud, MN.
LOOK FOR THE AUDIO FOR THE FULL VERSION OF THE FRIDAY 5 o CLOCK WEEKEND WHISTLE HERE…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NRsHBqvZlg
(QUITTIN TIME!) “Who says it’s quittin’ time? I’s da foreman at Tara, I says when it’s quitting time. ……..QUITTIN’ TIME! QUITTIN’ TIME!”