Early air checks of WXRT are rare. The first clip above features snippets from the station recorded between 1975-8. Not a full air check but interesting nevertheless. The station began as a part time progressive station in 1973. You will hear some of the music heard on prog stations during this time and also the intro from a Santana concert simulcast on WXRT and channel 11.
The quality of the tape is not the best and I played it through my AM stereo transmitter and received on a Sony Radio.
The second clip has a very short segment from WSDM FM Chicago from perhaps 1976.
The only radio I listen to anymore is WLTUA.
WXRT was a full-time, block-programmed Multi-Ethnic format in 1972. After the demise of WGLD (102.7) as a full-time Progressive Rock formatted station, ex-staffers from WGLD began to fill in late night blocks of time on WXRT. At first, one could hear Progressive Rock at 93.1 from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM. Eventually, Progressive Rock was extended through 6:00 AM. Between 1974 and May 1979, the start-up of the Rock programming moved back to 8:00 PM, then 6:00 PM and finally 3:00 PM, as the Multi-Ethnic Block programming contracts expired.
In May 1976, WXRT went full-time Progressive Rock. To this day, WXRT remains very loosely-programmed by today’s radio standards, and I still stream them on occasion.
I have been coming to to your website for a few years, and I appreciate the fact you have preserved airchecks of the Progressive Rock stations of the 1960s and 1970s. I caught the tail end of the era (1976-1979) in Sacramento. We had KZAP (98.5) and KSFM (102.5), and thanks to their programming, I was turned onto a lot of great music. I own about 5,000 CDs and LPs today. I still buy new music even though I am in my late 50s. I am also a radio geek, and have a pretty vast knowledge of radio markets and the stations that broadcast Progressive Rock and AOR through the years.
Thank you for all your great work. You are performing a public service, and I appreciate it very much. Your website is the best.
You sure as hell know your radio history when it comes to ‘GLD and ‘XRT – they never cared much for trying to bust out in the ratings but they didn’t need to. They had and still have a loyal and devoted following, especially among the hip and sophisticated listeners.
Stumbled on this site as I was searching XRT for something else. Read the comment about the Santana simulcast back in the day. I still have my reel to reel tape of that simulcast (Tower of Power was the guest band).