***A note to air check traders. Please do not record these air checks and try and trade. I have the original tapes many of which I recorded myself and thus the authenticity can not be in doubt and can be easily traced.
This is part three of the Radio London tape that I rescued from obscurity at a used audio store. The DJ is unfortunately cut at many points but this will give you some indication of what records charted on Radio London’s Fab 40 chart during the week of April 10, 1966. Somebody Help Me by the Spencer Davis Group was at number 1 and this was well before they ever cracked the top 40 in North America.
You can see the complete Fab 40 Chart for April 10, 1966 at the Radio London Website. Somebody Help Me is the song which has made the most appearances via air checks on this site. This is the fourth time around.
FIGHT THE BLIGHT OF RESTRICTED PLAYLISTS AND SUPPORT THE ALTERNATIVES
DEEP CUT 45’S INCLUDING TRACKS BY THE OUTSIDERS, THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, MANFRED MANN, THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS, THE FLAMIN’ GROOVIES AND MANY MORE !
*I announce the first track on this webcast as the flip side of Time Won’t Let Me by the Outsiders but it was actually the flip side of the second track that I played which was Respectable by the Outsiders.
A new upload of the Oil of Dog from WUWU FM has been updated to the OIL OD DOG CORNER. Enjoy the great music and comedy as brought to you by the one and only Gary Storm.
***A note to air check traders. Please do not record these air checks and try and trade. I have the original tapes many of which I recorded myself and thus the authenticity can not be in doubt and can be easily traced.
WZIR FM ( Wizard Radio) was one of the best free form stations in the area but it only lasted for one year. The first clip is from the station that succeeded Wizard and is from 1981. They had changed to a classic rock format and were previewing the new Neil Young album, Re-ac-tor. You can hear a station ID at 2:54 and a unidentified female announcer at the end.
WBUF FM was the longest lasting free form station in Buffalo and also a fantastic station in their prime. This clip is from 1979 and the station had changed to a regular AOR format. The clip features them playing 60’s music on a weekend special. There’s two announcers on the clip but their identity is also unknown. This was the 60’s weekend but a few cuts from the 70’s are featured.
Note at the end the announcer promotes a show called Anything That’s Rock’n Roll hosted by Paul Hines. I used to listen that as it featured alternative music and still have a tape of music recorded off the show. Sadly, like WCMF’s Import/Export show, alternative and non mainstream rock was relegated to special segments. I commend the station for playing oldies as I doubt that many current rock or classic rock stations would play some of the songs featured on the clip. I have maybe 90 more minutes of this broadcast that I will upload in the future.
Please let me know if you know the names of the announcers featured on these clips. Regarding the WBUF segment, the first name of each DJ is mentioned by the other. I have an idea about the first announcer, a Jock from the top 40 era, but I’m not certain as it does not jive with the first name that is mentioned.
***A note to air check traders. Please do not record these air checks and try and trade. I have the original tapes many of which I recorded myself and thus the authenticity can not be in doubt and can be easily traced.
Two Blasts From The Free Form Past !
The first clip is of CHIC FM 102.1 from Brampton Ontario. This was the predecessor to CFNY FM, operating at low power and for time a free form album rock station. This clip is from the early or mid 70`s during the time they played entire albums only interrupted by the occasional ad and station ID’s as they flipped album sides. You can hear a very brief segment of an ad as well as the station ID as they changed sides on LP’s by the Moody Blues and Grateful Dead. I used to listen to the station on cable FM and by 1976 they had announcers and a full blown free form format. I think All Night Andre and Bruce Heyding were the only ones that made it to the launch of CFNY after the power increase in 1977.
Addendum: The CHIC FM clip above is part of my tape collection but I could not have recorded it as it seems to be from a time prior to my cable FM hook-up and that’s the only way I could receive CHIC/CFNY before the power increase in 1977. I went over the full tape again and all the tracks are from albums released in the early 70’s or late 60’s.
The second clip is an exceptional example of free form radio with David Marsden and his renowned Christmas show. This is the 1985 edition. I have about 90 minutes of this broadcast and will be posting a part two in the future.
The broadcast finds David Marsden at his holiday best with wide ranging music from Jona Lewie, Mike Oldfield, Bing Crosby, top 40 oldies, National Lampoon and more. You will also hear Don Berns on a station ID and an Xmas greeting by Jim Reid. Plus a character named Willie Crinkle.
This is one of the longest vintage clips of David Marsden available on the net and a reminder about why the free form format on commercial radio is sorely missed today. Stay tuned for part two which also includes a great eclectic assortment of free form music.
***A note to air check traders. Please do not record these air checks and try and trade. I have the original tapes many of which I recorded myself and thus the authenticity can not be in doubt and can be easily traced.
**Have added the entire show here, almost two hours with some noise reduction which I usually hesitate in using because of audio loss
This is the second part of a rare David Pritchard broadcast on Q 107’s Psychedelic Sunday Program. Part One with some details about the broadcast can be found here. Part Two includes a portion of a newscast by Dave Trafford and a sports commentary by John Gallagher.
David Pritchard was one of the pioneers of the free form format in Canada and I’m pleased to present air checks of him from all three Toronto rock stations. This air check does find him constrained by a classic rock heavy playlist but there’s a few nuggets from the free form days. Plus a personal favorite of mine from the top 40 era called Somebody Help Me by the Spencer Davis Group featuring Stevie Winwood, a track which is sadly neglected these days.
