Air Week: January 12-18, 2026

We begin a multi-part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the “golden ear” for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, “the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl.” Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner’s first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. This week, we’ll take a close look at Goldner’s first R&B label, which helped put Rock n’ Roll on the musical map with the 1953 smash, “Gee,” by New York vocal group, The Crows. “Gee” crossed over to a very respectable #14 on the pop chart and just might be the first Rock n’ Roll hit by a Rock n’ Roll group. From there, Goldner signed The Wrens, The Valentines, The Joytones, The Heartbeats, The Harptones and other NY groups that are now considered vocal group royalty. His house band was led by the tenor great, Jimmy Wright, who put his sax stamp on all these classic records for Goldner’s various labels. Next week in part 2, Matt The Cat will focus on Gee Records as we continue our look into the ground-breaking labels of George Goldner.

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