When Les says "This review says he's (Johnny) the hottest thing to hit Cincinnati since Rosemary Clooney" it is in reference to Rosemary Clooney who in 1945 won a radio spot on Cincinnati radio station WLW with her sister Betty Clooney. Rosemary Clooney is George Clooney's aunt.
The first song Johnny, or rather Rip Tide, plays on "Gotta Dance" is "Xanadu" by Olivia Newton-John, whom Rip introduces as Oblivious Neutron Bomb.
The newspaper that Bailey is reading in the booth is the January 5, 1981 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer