A Front Row Seat: When ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ Hit the Duluth Airwaves – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — In 1989, when then-Mayor Herb Bergson declared a prominent Canadian an honorary citizen of Superior, the official resolution stated: “But for the talent of Mr. Gordon Lightfoot, the 29 crew members of the Edmund Fitzgerald would have been little more than a forgotten statistic.”

The community’s gratitude to the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” singer-songwriter was understandable, but was it a bit of an exaggeration to say that Lightfoot was single-handedly responsible for preserving the memories of the fallen crew members? Of course, although not as big an exaggeration as today’s northerners might imagine.

On November 10, 1976—one year after what is now often called the most famous shipwreck in Great Lakes history—the News Tribune did not publish a single article on the anniversary. The front page included stories about the death of the real-life Smokey the Bear, whether Duluth could raise funds for a new public library and a new ferry route to a remote Alaska village.

The newspaper had actually published a story about the anniversary the previous Sunday, November 7, with the annoyingly misspelled headline: “Icy depths still shroud Fritz’s fate.” Deeper in the issue was a short article that talked about the influence of a song that was released just last summer.

The News Tribune reported that Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Legend of Edmund Fitzgerald” (sic) was to be adapted by the Duluth Ballet Co. Lightfoot himself endorsed the concept during a stop in town to perform at the Duluth Auditorium. (Duluth Ballet Co. is now known as the Minnesota Ballet, and the Duluth Auditorium is known as the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Symphony Hall.)

The article was accompanied by a stunning photograph of the ballet’s artistic director Gilbert Reed holding a copy of Lightfoot’s Summertime Dream album as three dancers glance sharply out of frame. “Memoria in Aeterna: Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald” received a “good review,” the News Tribune later reported, and was revived as recently as 2000 for the company’s 50th anniversary gala.

Supreme Declaration of 1989

up for auction

as the Lightfoot estate is getting rid of some collectibles, including fan-made “Edmund Fitzgerald” items such as handcrafted song lyrics. Lightfoot will also be awarded gold and platinum awards for sales of the “Summertime Dream” album.

However, one signed gold plaque for the sale of “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” records is located in Duluth. More precisely, it is located in Dave Strandberg’s basement.

“I slept over at WAKX,” recalled Strandberg, now an anchor at KDAL in Duluth. “Someone called and said they got the album (“Summertime Dream”), and they said, ‘Well, there’s a piece on here about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.’ So I listened to it and turned it on and the phones practically lit up.”

The album was released in June, but its first single was the title track. “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was not released as a single until August 1976, meaning DJs like Strandberg, who played the song from the record, were the first to give it airplay.

“We at KDAL were very upset that we were deceived,” Ken Buehler emailed me. At the time, Buehler, now director of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, was working at KDAL, which had a “middle-of-the-road” music format. WEBC was the leading rock station, and “I’m sure WEBC felt even worse,” Buehler suggested.

“I had the opportunity to play some weird tracks in the middle of the night, but during the day they got put into rotation because of all the requests for it, and the rest is history,” Strandberg said. “Eventually, some other Great Lakes radio stations started playing the song from the album, and then the record company decided to release it as a single.”

The song would go on to become one of the biggest surprise hits of the rock era, peaking at number two on the Billboard pop chart and, less surprisingly, at number one in Canada. “Proved to be a big hit despite its length, which was over six minutes, which is quite unusual for a popular single at the time,” Strandberg said.

At the time, it was difficult to imagine the song’s lasting resonance and the amount of attention it would bring to what Strandberg said was then considered a “traumatic event” for the Great Lakes community. Despite the ship’s compelling story, it was still surprising to Northerners to hear a major star like Lightfoot drop such local references.

“Obviously this applied to the Twin Ports,” Strandberg said. “Even I mentioned “some mill in Wisconsin,” which was basically Superior, that’s where the boat came from. There was a big story when it happened, and it was just as big when we heard the song. It kind of reignited the passion for the whole event.”

November 10 marks the 49th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and Northland now looks forward to the annual lighting of the Split Rock Lighthouse as well as the now annual two-day November Storms conference in Duluth. covering the maritime history of Lake Superior.

The song still has the ability to bring tears to listeners’ eyes and make their phones light up. “It’s still a big hit even now that it’s being played,” Strandberg said. “Quite unusual.”

Arts and entertainment reporter Jay Gubler joined the Duluth News Tribune in 2022. His previous experience includes eight years as a digital producer at The Current (Minnesota Public Radio), four years as a theater critic at the alternative weekly City Pages in Minneapolis and six years as the arts editor of the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He is the co-founder of the pop culture and creative writing blog The Tangential; he is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance. You can reach him at [email protected] or 218-409-7529.