***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.
Gord Johnson is the DJ on this long air check from CHUM FM from January 1986.
CHUM FM at this time still went by “The Rock of Toronto” but had started to lean in a softer direction. This was a 60’s weekend and some excellent music was played. Roger Ashby who had switched from CHUM AM to FM the previous September can be heard on a commercial and Gord James is the announcer on a Beatles and also Woodstock segment.
The air check also includes TV themes and segments on special events from the 1960’s. There is a cart error which results in the Friends of Distinction being played on just one channel and this was probably the last time that Country Joe and The Fish were played on the station and one of the few times when a certain expletive is heard.
The recording is from one reel to reel tape and I still have almost an hour to upload in the future. All of it fit into one tape as it was recorded in slow speed which does impact the fidelity but over-all the sound has held up well.
WGLD FM in Oak Park, Illinois switched to a full time progressive rock format in January 1970. Terry Hemmert who had a long career at WXRT began her professional career at the station. The first clip above features Digby Welsh from Feb 6, 1971, during the station’s progressive era.
WGLD switched to oldies and the second clip is from the oldies era and features Ross Brooks from Oct 25, 1973. A relatively early example of the oldies format on the radio.
These excellent examples of Chicago radio from the early 1970’s were contributed to the site by Tom Konard.
A collection of commercials, station ID’s and Breaks on FM radio that range from 1967 to 1985.
Below is a list of what you will hear. A sometimes bizarre collection of antiques and curios some of which I have never posted to the site before including the segment from Scott Muni on WNEW speaking live with a bank hostage taker.
Canadian Electronics AD CHUM FM 1975
El Mocambo AD CHUM FM 1975
WBUF FM ID 1975
Sly Stone AD WVBF FM 1973
Ad for Exorcist
Fritz The Cat Ad – WNEW FM 1974
Charles Laquidara Turing Stereo Light off and then on WBCN FM 1971
WBCN FM AD Break interspersed with Firesign Theatre
David Marsden CFNY FM 1985
John Donabie CHUM FM 1973
7 UP ads CHNS AM 1967
WMMR FM ads for Beach Boys 1972
WCMF FM ID and AD interspersed with Firesign Theatre 1972
WKNR FM Janis Joplin AD 1969
Jeff Gordon WUWU FM 1982
KSAN FM ID 1974
KNUS FM ID 1969
Bruce Springsteen concert break Richard Neer WNEW FM 1975
Scott Muni speaks live with bank hostage taker WNEW FM 1975
Russ Gibb and AD WKNR FM 1969
Pete and Geets CFNY FM 1982
Bizarre Ad Break on WZIR FM 1981
Ads on WMMR FM for Trenton Times and Murray McLaughlin WMMR FM 1973
The first clip features Bruce Heyding on CFNY from June 1980. He was the music director at CFNY and made the transition from the David Pritchard era to the David Marsden era at NY. In fact I have a recording of him with David Pritchard on the first day that CFNY increased their power and could be heard all over Toronto.
He is hosting the import show and playing the new Kevin Ayers album. Ayers was one of the founders of the Canterbury prog rock band the Soft Machine. What I always remember about Heyding’s Import Show is the fact that he once played the prog rock band Grobshnitt and the times he played Hawkwind and related bands.
You will also hear the Late Night Andre on the first break and Brad McNally on the second break.
The second clip features the Unknown DJ on WUWU FM from 1982. I recently found this on my prerecorded reel to reel copy of the Rolling Stones Through the Past Darkly. I taped it at the blank part at the end of the tape and probably had not heard it since I recorded it but the Unknown DJ sounds like I remember him.
The third clip is from an eight track tape recorded in 1974 and consists of a snippets from WPDH FM and WGRQ FM Buffalo. Rufus Coyote can be heard briefly on WGRQ . There’s also some dial twisting and I hear what sounds like Brian Master on CHUM FM for a split second. The tape did have content from CHUM FM but unfortunately no DJ’s and so I did not include it except for a brief segment featuring Hawkwind at the very beginning which perhaps David Marsden played on CHUM FM.
The fourth clip is really short and also taken from an 8 track tape and has what sounds like Rock 102 from Buffalo and 1050 CHUM from 1980.
The final clip is taken from a cassette of Rock 102 from 1984 and is mostly music and it’s great hearing the Style Council played on a top 40 station. The only announcer heard is at the end where they speak about the fact that they have laid off the compression in processing the station audio.
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.
Had uploaded parts of a 1982 tape, from Q 107 FM Toronto, a few years ago and here’s a segment of that tape tape played through my home use AM stereo C-Quam transmitter. The station was having a double shot weekend and you will hear some great selections by the Who, Steppenwolf, the Doors and more. The DJ is Eric Westin I believe.
The second clip features the progressive pop rock period Beach Boys and the final clip highlights the Grateful Dead. Both of these clips also played through the AM stereo transmitter.
I have obtained a very low power’d AM C-Quam stereo transmitter for home use and I have taken a cassette recording of Brian Master on CHFI FM from the 1990’s and run that through the transmitter. The show was Saturday Night Oldies.
The idea was to experience AM stereo as there are very few radio stations still using the technology and none in this area ( Toronto).
I have also included one other clip from an oldies CD so you can hear what these hits would have sounded like on AM radio if stereo was available at the time.
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.
