Still squeezing out the sparks from my WBCN tapes that I began uploading more than 5 years ago. This tape suffers from some audio issues that may be due to my playing it several years ago on a machine with wiring problems. Unfortunately I may have caused irreplaceable damage but the gist of the great format still shines. Interesting that the end of Layla is played a track before the rest of the tune.
Listen for a Tina Turner station promo at 27:50. One of a kind and probably only available here.
Another prime slice of free form radio. WEBN FM Cincinnati from 1971 and my favorite part of the air check is when T-REX are played near the end. The group was still known as Tyrannosaurs Rex at the time. I was a fan and bought one of the songs played as pictured on my 45 below. I had not heard a track from Dory Previn’s Mythical Kings and Iguanas album since way back when it received regular air play on on CHUM FM and great to relive that memory here.
Thanks to Tom Konard for contributing this great air check.
I had two AM stereo receivers that I purchased in the 1980’s and some of these clips were recorded on those. All segments are taken from radio contests on 1050 CHUM when they broadcast in stereo.
A disclaimer : 1050 CHUM was also on cable FM in stereo and that may have been the source for some of the recordings.
I have previously uploaded some of these to the site.
Brian Master was on Toronto radio for 48 years at CHUM FM, Q 107, CHFI and Jewell 88.5. The first time I heard him was on CHSC FM, St Catherines doing a free form show and I was a big fan of his work at CHUM FM.
This air check is from CHSC AM and he is doing a top 40 show. Over-all the track selection is great despite a few clunkers. Brain can also be heard reading the news.
A great radio memory from a Toronto radio legend near the begining of his career. This air check is from the collection of Tom Konard and used by his kind permission. Tom is a radio legend in his own right starting with his career at WCFL and on to the Air Check Factory.
Southern California had some great free form stations and KNAC FM was certainly one of them. Enjoy Ron McCoy on this prime slice of free form with a wildly eclectic playlist that includes everyone from Laura Nyro to Blue Oyster Cult and many more.
Ron plays a solo track by Ian Mathews but I am linking the track below from his group Matthews Southern Comfort and taken from one of the oldest albums in my collection.
WCMF was a wonderful station. They had begun as part-time free form but were full time by the time of this air check from Aug 1972. I believe they also had a power increase around this time and that is when I began to listen in Toronto when the atmospherics allowed.
The DJ is Tom Teuber who also worked in Buffalo among other places. You will also hear “Unkle” Roger McCall on a few ads. He was newly arrived at the station from WPHD FM in Buffalo. The track selection is diverse and includes Pentangle, Lindisfarne, Brewer and Shipley, the comedy of the Firesign Theatre and more in this excellent example of progressive radio.
Audio used by kind permission from super air check collector Tom Konard who had the original recording taped. Check out his profile via Google from his start at WCFL in Chicago and beyond.
The popular Toronto radio team of Pete and Geets but not together. They were both together on CHUM FM and CFNY but not on these air checks.
The first clip is from CHUM FM from October 22, 1971 and the second clip is from CFNY from Dec 12, 1985.
The CHUM FM clip features Petre Griffin and David Pritchard as Pritchard has ended his show with the electronics piece by Terry Riley called “A Rainbow in Curved Air.” Pritchard actually had an electronic music show on the early CFNY in 1977 which was called A Rainbow in Curved Air. I heard the promo for the show so many times I can still remember it. Pete makes up a fake name for Riley.
The second clip features Geets Romo and Ted Woloshyn. Pete was off. You will also hear newsman Mike Stafford and Fred Patterson with sports. A nice companion piece to a longer 1983 air check with Pete and Geets that I have posted previously to the Radio Corner.
The third clip is an outro that I have used for webcasts since the beginning which utilizes the Riley piece at the start. The the track has been embedded in my mind since the Pritchard promo and I have had the album for a long time.
***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 double shot of 1980’s oldies radio.
The first two clips feature Norm N Nite on WCBS FM playing the hits of March 1968 and then counting down the Top 20 from March 3 , 1968. I first became aware of Mr Nite by way of his encyclopedia of rock. Nice to hear songs rarely played now like Sweet Inspiration by the Sweet Inspiration and The Four Season’s version of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.
The top 20 countdown is not quite complete on this tape but I may have the rest somewhere and I definitely have more “Mr Music” Norm N Nite to upload in the future.
The third clip is from Burlington Ontario’s FM 108 from 1983. The clip features Wes Atkinson and Julius Brown. Interesting that Atkinson mistakenly plays the B side of a Dion hit taken from a DJ promo 45 that was mislabeled. Dion was actually played on some free form stations with his new sound as heard on this B side.
I enjoyed listening to Julius Brown because he played things like Hurdy Gurdy Man and Neil Young, not necessarily the usual oldies heard on FM 108. I have more tape of JB to upload in the future.
My favorite stations at this time were CFNY and WUWU both of which still had some semblance of a free form format but oldies in stereo on FM was a good second choice. The quality is good on both air checks.
News paper article below about the oldies revival on the radio from 1985 from the Toronto Sun
***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 features WKNR FM from Nov 1969. Very little DJ patter but you will hear a bit of Jerry Goodwin and a full Newscast.
The second clip is a composite of free form pioneer WABX from 1977 and 1980 and WRIF from 1982.
Edit – I have just added a second clip which is very relevant to the topic of I Am What I play. The clip is from a tape I recorded in 1981 where DJ Gary Storm and Louie The Mad Vinyl Junkie speak as the progressive free form format is coming to an end at WZIR FM in Niagara Falls NY.
John Donabie on CIUT FM interviewing Roger King, the director of the film “I Am What I Play” along with David Marsden who is featured in the film . The film is about free form radio and also profiles DJ’s Charles Laquidara, Meg Griffin and Pat O’Day. You can hear many air checks of Charles L on this site at pioneering free form station WBCN FM.
John Donabie and David Marsden are Toronto radio legends and both were heard on the great CHUM FM during the early 1970’s . Marsden was also a driving force behind CFNY FM “The Spirit of Radio” for many years and he continues to mine the free form spirit on the internet today at NY The Spirit.
The audio from April 2016 is taken from a show called Mixed Bag hosted by Donabie . A great discussion about free form radio and you will also hear a bit of the regular show which hearkens back to the old CHUM FM. Mixed Bag only lasted a few years and was sadly the last free form show on terrestrial radio in Toronto.
