***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.

A rare early clip of Boston’s oldies DJ Little Walter and his signature show Time Machine. Walter had paid his dues at MIT’s original WTBS FM.

Oldies were becoming  hip . The Woodstock appearance of Sha Na Na may have been a touchstone. NRBQ was was a contemporary band sounding somewhat retro. Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys had their hit Good Old Rock’n Roll. A number of free form FM stations added an oldies show starting in the early 70’s. This clip provides a good example of that. Another example was John Donabie’s  Sock Hop on CHUM FM and you can catch a brief segment of that here  (at the end of the clip).

On This clip you will hear Little Walter spinning some oldies, a  few cool ads and even an appearance by the legendary Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg,  the pioneering Boston Top 40 jock. Ginsberg was the WBCN station manager at the time of this air check. Listen also for a live cut by Little Richard recorded at the Boston Tea Party in 1970.

***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.

I had posted this in segments in the Radio Corner of the site. Here is all the tape that I have of CFNY FM on it’s first day after their power increase, Up to that point the station was a low power outfit with a very limited range and the on air talent was mostly unknown.

You will hear former CHUM FM heavyweights David Pritchard and Reiner Schwarz  on this first day and it is apparent that the idea was to bring back the old CHUM FM brand of free form radio. Pritchard was the new program director Sadly the line-up and aspirations of the station were short lived but here is a reminder of what could have been. I should point out that CFNY was a pioneering force after the David Pritchard era but it did not exactly  replicate the old CHUM FM free form spirit.

This tape is not in stereo and that is inexplicable except that I may have dubbed it to reel to reel from a mono cassette recording.

https://youtu.be/RCQgU2XypTM

***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.

The first clip is an absolute treasure . You will hear the great Charles Laquidara with a heartfelt plea for volunteers to help with the phones and some great music including the closing track by Hapshash and The Coloured Coat.  The track may gave been played by others during the free form era but I don’t remember hearing it and it sounds  ahead of it’s time in early 1971.

The second clip features Charles reading the news and playing the Stones. This was not a Stones special but he seemed to be playing them because he wanted to and could.

Radio when it was great and worth listening to. You can hear other clips from the great WBCN FM on this site with more to come.

Most of the WBCN air checks on this site are quite good quality-wise but there are a few hiccups on these particularity at the beginning of the second clip.

https://youtu.be/AVi_Z5aQRHE

This clip from CHUM FM from early 1970 offers a fantastic window into the world of free form radio from the early 70’s. The opening foreshadows some of the new music that CFNY would play later in the decade.  A off kilter hybrid jazz-rock track.

Reiner debuts the new Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album Deja Vu and you will also hear a bit of the great David Pritchard taking about his Beatles special which was just debuting on the station.

This is the third contribution on the site from Kal Raudoja  and please write to him at mailto://50sradio@istar.ca and let him know you want more as I know he has more CHUM FM from the early 1970’s. I also encourage you to visit his web site at http://radio50s60s.com/

You can use the search function on the site to listen to more Reiner and David Pritchard most of which I recorded myself but there’s more from Kal as well.

ENCORE PRESENTATION OF ONE OF THE EARLY UPLOADS TO THE SITE. THIS ONE DESERVES A REPEAT !

The CBC FM Network was producing some of the most cutting edge radio during the 1980’s. There was “Brave New Waves” all night and it was the place to hear cutting edge new wave rock. There was also Nightlines on the weekend and that show was hosted all too briefly by a veteran of Winnipeg free form named Ron Robinson who you will hear on this clip. The show’s last host was the one of the preeminent musicologists on Canadian radio ever David Wisdom. His show was as eclectic as David Pritchard’s old show on CHUM FM.

Ron Robinson is the host on this clip and things begin with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Talking Heads and Bill Nelson. After that there is a fascinating interview with John Cale of the Velvet Underground and you will also hear two tracks by the Velvets.