If you've ever watched any of those "My Music" specials that your local PBS station airs around pledge time (which, come to think of it, seems to be all the time!) you've certainly seen a guy named TJ Lubinsky. He's the producer who arranges for those groups from the glory days of Top 40 rock to appear and redo their hits live. 

But what you never got to see were the interviews with the group members, because time never allowed for them to run. Now Lubinsky is repackaging those Q&As in a new program called "The Oldies Show," scheduled to air in the fall. The idea is to explore the stories behind some of the most famous tunes that everyone knows from the people who made them happen. 

An example:

"Lubinsky says, music lovers might remember “Only In America,” a song released in 1964 by Jay and the Americans. But they might not know that the track was originally recorded by the Drifters, the quartet of Black vocalists whose doo-wop and R&B hits include “There Goes My Baby” and “Under the Boardwalk.” Record executives at the time decided that the Drifters’ version could alienate record buyers, he says.

“So they … gave it to Jay and the Americans, who recorded it and had it become a big top 10 hit.” “It was always a Drifters song, though,” Lubinsky adds. 

In his interviews, Lubinsky asked members of the Drifters and Jay and the Americans how they felt “now that they know the song’s true history,” he says. “And then the big payoff is that we’ll get to see both groups together singing the song for the first time on television.” 

This sounds like Must See TV to me. As for when it airs, that's much harder to say beyond the Fall. PBS stations are notorious for airing shows at different times across the country. So you'll have to keep an eye out for this one if it doesn't run nationally. But if the desciption is accurate, it sounds like it's going to be well worth the wait. 

With ‘Our Music,’ TJ Lubinsky aims to tell stories behind hit songs of yesteryear