Louis, Missouri-based radio station KSHE, whose status as one of America's most influential rock stations boosted their platform beyond the Midwest. The Midwestern United States was the original REO Speedwagon fan stronghold and is pivotal in this period of the band's history. With Richrath on board, the regional popularity of the band grew tremendously. He is quoted as saying "I'm going to be a part of that band whether they like it or not", and then went about making it happen. Richrath had driven 100 miles (160 km) to see the band and become a part of it. Richrath was a Peoria, Illinois-based guitarist and prolific songwriter who brought fresh original material to the band. Steve Scorfina (who would go on to found progressive rock/ album-oriented rock band Pavlov's Dog) came aboard for over a year, composing with the band and performing live, before being replaced by Gary Richrath in late 1970. Fiorio then departed in late 1969, eventually assuming the name Duke Tumatoe, and went on to form the All Star Frogs. Crownover played guitar for the group until mid-1969 when Bill Fiorio replaced him. When Mike Blair left the band in mid-1968, Gregg Philbin replaced Blair, Marty Shepard played trumpet and Joe McCabe played sax until McCabe moved to Southern Illinois University. In early 1968, Terry Luttrell became lead singer, and Bob Crownover joined as the guitar player, replacing Matt. The first lineup consisted of Doughty on keyboards, Gratzer on drums and vocals, Joe Matt on guitar and vocals, Mike Blair on bass and vocals. They continued to perform cover songs in campus bars, fraternity parties, and university events. An advertisement in the school newspaper produced their first job, a fraternity party that turned into a food fight. Rather than pronouncing REO as a single word as the motor company did (" REE-oh"), they chose to spell the word out, pronouncing each letter individually ("R-E-O"). Doughty had seen the name written across the blackboard when he walked into his History of Transportation class on the first day they had decided to look for a name. They named the band REO Speedwagon, from the REO Speed Wagon, a 1915 truck that was designed by Ransom Eli Olds. The members returned to school in the fall of 1967 and had their first rehearsal before classes started. On his Farfisa organ, he learned " Light My Fire" by The Doors. They made a list of songs to learn over the summer break, and Doughty landed a summer job to buy his first keyboard. On the last day of the university's spring semester, guitarist Joe Matt called the band's leader and told him that he, drummer Gratzer, and bassist Mike Blair had decided to leave the band to start a new one with Doughty. The keyboard player was the leader, but several other band members were unhappy with the situation. Gratzer had been a drummer since high school, and was playing in a local group on the weekends, while Doughty had learned some Beatles songs on his parents' piano.ĭoughty began to follow Gratzer's band, eventually sitting in on a song or two. They held an impromptu jam session in the basement of their Illinois Street Residence Hall dormitory and soon started a rock band. On his first night, he met fellow student Alan Gratzer. In the autumn of 1966, Neal Doughty entered the electrical engineering program at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, as a junior.
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