This  exceptionally well recorded time capsule was contributed to the site by Ray Fox. This was a commentary that David Marsden did a few iterations  of around 1979. I have heard one clip of a different version  of this on the web but the quality of that one is poor.

Ray kept the song placement just as it was on the original broadcast and here is what he had to say about how it was recorded and why it sounds so good:

I recorded the original file in 1979 on reel-to-reel. In 1988 I copied it to a very high end cassette deck. And in 1997 I copied it again to a Sony Mini Disc recorder. So the quality did not diminish too much.

I have an Adobe Audition audio program that I can fix up the sound quality and create musical projects.

I used an Akai reel-to-reel and a Yamaha cassette deck. The songs and programming are identical to what he used, except the last song, “Spirit of the Age.” The Marsden excerpt was taken from one of my CFNY mix tapes, in which that song was the next one on my tape.   

A big thanks to Ray for letting us hear this again and keep an eye out for a few future CFNY contributions from him.

Speaking of Spirit of The Age and Hawkwind, I recall Hearing the group played by perhaps Bruce Heyding when CFNY was still CHIC FM and I was maybe one of three people listening to them on Wired City Cable back in 1976/77. Went and bought the album Quark Strangeness and Charm from which the track is taken and still have the vinyl to this day.

Another early memory I have of Hawkwind is Mr. Marsden playing the track Silver Machine on CHUM FM a few times around 1973/74.

 

I could not find much information about the short lived KLSX FM Classic Rock in Los Angeles but I have a Maxell reel to reel tape with the above recording. Mostly a music block with no DJ’s but some station promos and commercials are included.

The good news is that there is not a single track on the tape of the homogenized AOR that dominates classic rock today and I think I have a physical  copy of every track played except for one or two.

Nice to hear prog rock groups such as the Moody Blues, Yes and ELP even if it’s their hits.  Also Baby You’re a Rich Man by the Beatles probably does not get much play on the radio today.

The Inner Light by the Beatles is not on the air check but it’s flip side Lady Madonna is.

Joe Rogers began his radio career at WBCN FM in Boston in 1968. He used the name Mississippi Harold Wilson there.  He moved to  KPPC FM in Los Angles in 1971 and the used the names Mississippi Fats and also Mississippi Brian Wilson.

This folk-centric air check from Joe at KPPC is very low fidelity but gives you a good taste of the counter-culture programming emanating from free form radio at the time. Joe plays Neil’s Young’s Last Trip to Tulsa  and I think I heard the track played at around the very same time on WYSL FM by David Khan in my back yard.  I clearly remember that as it was the first time I had heard the track from Neil Young’s first solo album released about two years earlier. A rather intriguing track with strange lyrics,  the likes of which I had not heard before and such was clearly a part of the appeal of free form radio for me.

I have a modern day Home Theater system that plays surround sound but I wanted to experience 1970’s era Quad. The least expensive way to do that for me was to purchase a vintage Dynaco Quadapter which I have done.

I was hoping to hear some Beach Boys music which I thought was recorded in Dynaquad as listed on the sleeve notes.  See second picture below. However I remembered that in 2016 Beach Boys engineer Stephen Desper said that the Beach Boys releases supposedly recorded in Dynaquad were in fact  only recorded in order to be decoded  via a virtual two channel  Quad via a gizmo like his “Spatializer.” Desper did work with Frank Zappa on albums that were recorded for 4 channel Quad.

I  have some other music that was recorded on Dynaquad and so all was not lost. The best results that I have has with the Quadapter is on two releases that were recorded on the Columbia SQ Quad system.  Poco’s Crazy Eyes and the Kooper,  Stills and Bloomfield Super Sessions LP. I have the stereo versions of these recordings but they sound excellent via the Quadapter.

I also listened to the tapes with the original recordings on the two clips above. The first clip has a Quad broadcast from  San Francisco station Stereo 103 and the second features a Quad show on Berkeley’s KPAT FM. On both broadcasts, the DJ’s say that you can tape the show in stereo and later play it in Quad once you have a decoder. I did that albeit more than 50 years after they made the suggestion.

Unfortunately whoever made the recordings did not record some of the more interesting tracks that were played but you will get the gist of what the broadcasts were about.

Both clips also feature a wildly eclectic San Francisco station called K101. A place where you could hear a Yes album track along with the Osmonds. The content from K101 on the first clip is mostly music but there’s some DJ and ad content on the second clip. I have uploaded another K101 air check in the past. Quite an interesting station.

Eclectic is the key word for the tape as the Quad broadcasts include everyone from Walter Carlos to Perry Como to Janis Joplin to Ray Stevens to Percy Faith. and more.

Click on Images Below to Enlarge:

This air check is from relatively early in WCMF’s move to a full time free form underground station . The DJ is Fred Filbreck and he speaks about a surprise concert by Cactus for the station that had taken place earlier that night.

Includes some nice period piece commercials from the underground era.

Stereo version below. Above is in mono:

This air check was kindly donated to the site by Ted McConville. Ted is originally from New York but grew up in Australia and now resides in Seattle. He came for a visit to Toronto with his family in 1967 because his mother had  relatives in the area. His parents returned to Australia but he stayed back and worked and lived in Toronto until 1978, working in film production. First at CFTO television and then the CTV network.

He recorded this during the Mariposa weekend likely on July 25 and 26,  1970. He made the recording on the TEAC reel to reel deck pictured below below the CHUM FM jocks.

A big thanks to Ted for providing this quality recording from CHUM FM during it’s free form heyday.

The first DJ on the clip appears to be Steve Harris and the second  is Walter Michaels who ID’s himself at around 01:35:55. The music is wonderfully eclectic with a number of Mariposa friendly folk acts like Ramblin’ Jack Elliot in the mix.

Addendum: I was very happy to receive an email from Steve Harris who is the first DJ on this air check and he had noticed that the speed was a bit fast on the recording.  I noticed that as well when the AD  for Warner Brothers near the beginning started.  Steve fixed the glitch and sent me the updated version which I have now uploaded. Many thanks to him for the correction and input.

Below is part of the email that Steve sent to me and also a picture of the CHUM FM on air staff from the era. Click on Image to see a larger view:

Javed:

 

I was absolutely thrilled to get a note from Benjy Karch, who was the most excellent music director at CHUM-FM in 1970, telling me to check out the CHUM-FM air check from July 25, 1970.

 

That was a weekend I remember well.  It was special like every other weekend on CHUM-FM in those days.  We had a magic crew of talent with a passion to create, communicate, and collaborate.

 

On that Saturday, after my show, I went over to Toronto Island and joined the rest of our team – Reiner, Benjy, Dave, Geets, Pete, Larry, Walter, and Tim, all of whom were there when not on the air.

 

On one day I met James Taylor and Joni Mitchell and had good chats with both of them.  What a thrill it was – they were so gracious and kind hearted, not to mention immensely talented.

 

It was such a pleasure to hear our air check from that day.  I do remember it, and it brings such wonderful loving feelings from a time long ago.

 

Thank you for posting this and keeping our precious magic radio station on the air.

The personnel list above should actually read from left to right. Technically the front three staff are Peter Griffin, Larry Green and Benjy Karch. Click on image for a larger view.

 

 

 

 

Another prime slice of free form radio from the the great WCMF in Rochester, NY . More to come in the future from this unsung station from upstate  NY. Watch this space.

This air check was donated to the site by the late great Tom Konard.

CHUM FM and David Pritchard  from March 1970 just updated to Kal’s Corner