Rosalie Trombley - Influence

Influence

Her career with the station began as a part-time switchboard operator on Labour Day weekend of 1963, before she was offered a full-time position in the station's music library a few years later. As CKLW's popularity boomed and Rosalie became more and more influential, her job title became "Music Director". Trombley served as Music Director from 1968 through 1984, at which time the station changed formats to classic Big Band Jazz.

The term "crossover hit" owes much of its definition to Rosalie's ability to pick artists from urban and rock playlists and cross them over to CKLW and their CHR Top 40 format, which in that era of radio, was the most listened-to format as defined by cumulative audience listenership and reach.

Trombley is legendary in the history of AM Top 40 radio and was known for her ability to pick future hits. Artists that have acknowledged her pivotal role in their success through early belief and airplay include Elton John, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Earth, Wind & Fire, Anne Murray, Tony Orlando and Dawn, The Guess Who, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, Gordon Lightfoot, The Stylistics, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Aerosmith.

A 1973 Billboard article notes her role in promoting the Skylark song "Wildflower", playing it for over three months as an album cut before its release as a single.

Seger immortalized her in his 1972 song "Rosalie" from his Back in '72 album. "She's got the tower, She's got the power / Rosalie, Rosalie Trombley" are two lines from the lyrics of that song. The song has been covered by the band Thin Lizzy, on their 1975 album Fighting. Trombley reportedly refused to allow the station to air the song, threatening to quit if the station added it to its playlist; thus, CKLW never played it, although the song did receive airplay on other Detroit stations.