***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.

https://youtu.be/LHF2LHtHt78

***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.

Check out Joey Vendetta, Rory O’Shea and Steve Warden on the Six o Clock Rock Report on Q 107 and Punch Andrews on mix 99.9. Just added to Radio Miscellany.

This is the second air check on this site featuring an unusual cover of Whole Lot of Love by Led Zeppelin as played by Gary Storm on WUWU FM. This time it’s the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra’s twisted and humorous interpretation. The clip also features more from the Import Export show on WCMF FM from Rochester, New York. The station was mainstream AOR at the time but this show featured Punk, New Wave, Garage and Psychedelia. The show usually had two hosts and one was Unkle Roger McCall and I believe that’s him on this air check.

Gary Storm can be heard briefly at 2:30. I think this was during Halloween weekend  at WUWU and they called it “The Weird Weekend.” Roger McCall on WCMF can he heard starting at 5:45. Date of the air checks is most likely 1982/83.

***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.

Radio London AKA The Big L and Wonderful Radio London was one of several Pirate radio stations that broadcast offshore targeting the UK. They existed to fill a void as The British government did not permit any commercial stations at the time and the BBC had a monopoly in broadcasting. The station was on the air for about two and a half years from late 1964 up until August 1967. Underground DJ John Peel had a show on the station called The Perfumed Garden and the station’s legacy’s lives on famously on the Who’s Who Sell Out album which features Radio London inspired jingles and more in between the tracks.

CHECK OUT RADIO LONDON PART TWO IN THE RADIO MISCELLANY SECTION

The two clips above feature DJ Dave Dennis and a wide variety of music including a number of female artists. British artists Twinkle and Marianne Faithful are featured on the intros to their tracks recorded for Dave Dennis and the station. There’s some British garage rock by way of The Pretty Things, The Zephyrs and The Chapters. Also a number of big name British and American rock and pop groups and artists from the era. There’s an interesting ad for a charity event for Thalidomide children and a news cast read by Earl Richmond where a echo effect is used to announce every headline. Some Radio London jingles are featured as well. The programs were taped off air at various points in March 1965.

The first clip is almost continuous and the second one is more of a montage. Please note the last track on the second clip by Twinkle actually comes from another station and I believe Jimmy Page is one of the session musicians featured on that track.

http://youtu.be/oJbf1dzktqg

This is a composite of tracks recorded off CFNY from the early to mid 80`s. Some of the tracks  such as the Demics New York City and Captain Sensible`s Happy Talk were NY staples. Clip is short on DJ patter. There`s a station ID at 00:36 and you will hear Jim Reid at 8:20 and The Live Earl Jive and James Baby Scott for a few brief seconds later in the clip. The recording quality on Happy Talk and the final  track, File and Forget by Karel Fialka, is quite good and in stereo. Enjoy this small slice of the Spirit of Radio era NY at it’s peak.

A big thanks for former CFNY announcer Jim Reid for  confirming who the artist was on File and Forget. I remember the track well as it received a lot of airplay on NY but Google searches and even Shazam had turned up nothing about the artist and it sounded like James Scott was saying Carol Fialkin. The song and LP it comes from is currently out of print and hence why it was difficult to find info about it.

A great honor JR to have you visit the site. I was a very regular listener and fan of your show right from the start in the late 70’s.

***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.

British Folk to The Sex Pistols. Public Image Ltd. to Bach

Part Two of The last Oil of Dog program hosted by Gary Storm on WZIR FM from 1981. The show was revived on WUWU FM a few years later ( Please visit The Oil of Dog Corner for the WUWU clips and I will continue to upload more of those).

There’s three long sets of music on the two clips above and they feature Gary and Louie The Mad Vinyl Junkie. Listen to the breaks at 25:04-29:30 (first clip) and at 15:39-18:51 & 43:32-48:27( second clip). You will hear Gary Storm’s passion for what he was presenting. He laments the fact that there will no longer be an outlet on the radio to feature the diverse acts played on Oil of Dog and WZIR. He was the music director at the station. He speaks about how he was the first and perhaps only area DJ to feature some of the acts played. He also speaks, during the final break, about the sexism inherent in mainstream radio. He championed numerous female artists and says that will not be the case on the new mainstream rock format of the station.

Just before playing a selection from Bach, during the middle break, he says “this music is so beautiful that God made ears for it.” Enjoy this remnant of the classic free form format on commercial radio. There’s almost 90 minutes of great music and commentary. Please also check out part one of this broadcast further down the page.

Addendum: I was gratified to see that the one and only Gary Storm posted this comment in the Oil of Dog Corner yesterday:

 Javed,
This is incredible historiography. It is a brilliant example of what scholars like to call cultural ethnography. If you haven’t use these audio artifacts as the basis of your thesis or dissertation, you should do so. This stuff – and I am not talking about my stuff at all – is important history. It will matter more than any of us can imagine. Make sure your files are preserved, not just on line, but some place like the history museum. Thanks for all of your careful archiving. Like I said before, Tears in my eyes.

A great double shot of Progressive Free Form radio.

The first clip is of Pete and Geets on CFNY from 1983 and they open with an oldie. When was the last time you heard Gene Pitney on CFNY ? Possibly when this air check was recorded. The great thing about early CFNY was that they were not limited to new or “Modern Rock” and the element of surprise and variety was alive and well. Audio quality is not the best.

Check out the Radio Corner section for a longer set by Pete and Geets on CFNY and watch this space for more. I have some tape of them on CHUM FM.

The second clip is from WBUF FM from 1975 and features Cal Brady, the program director of the station at the time. The clip captures the essence of underground free form with a great psychedelic era station ID and a counter culture intro to a song by the Jefferson Airplane. Brady says “good morning…don’t believe everything you read in the papers.” The actual time was 5 PM. The clip is sadly too short but serves as a great reminder about why the free form format was so interesting.