Part Three of the WKNR FM and AM double shot.
The first clip from WKNR FM is from April 1969. The station broadcast in mono. You will hear “Uncle” Russ Gibb and Martin Bell. The air check is partially scoped because of an annoying percussive sound that I believe originated at broadcast.
The second clip continues the countdown of the top songs of 1968 with song number 66 to 55. Recorded in December of 1968. The DJ’s are Dan Henderson and Alan Bush.
https://youtu.be/jRsrDLkACTs
Interesting air check snippets mostly from a station in Springfield Ohio. WAZU ( The Zoo). A rather cool station in a college town. Interesting and playful ads and ID’s. You will also hear Graham Nash doing a promo for the No Nukes benefit LP. Music played varies from Chuck Mangione, the Jags and Warren Zevon. The content is sourced from a 38 year old eight track tape. Air checks are on the first two clips and the last clip is of the B52’s Rock Lobster from a factory recorded 8 Track. Not the best format in terms of sound but the air checks have survived.
Psychedelic Sunday has aired on Q 107 since the mid 1980’s and is now gone. Here’s a compilation of some material from the show through the years.
Clip One – From December 1987 featuring Andy Frost.
Clip Two – From March 2, 1986 featuring Andy Frost ( most of this one has been posted to the site earlier).
Clip Three – A short clip of Rory O Shea from 1995 ( recorded on a camcorder while we were making a family movie from the car and so the quality is as you would expect). Fortunately I captured Mr. O’Shea on much better audio on clip one here from the Six O’clock Rock Report. The two longest tenured hosts of the main block of the show from 12 to 6 PM were Andy Frost and Rory O’ Shea.
Clip Four – From earlier this decade and featuring Andy Frost and Al Joynes
Clip Five- Riffer Madness Contest Aug 2009
Clip Six – Riffer Madness Contest Jan 2009
I have a lot of other Q 107 material posted to the site and you can use the search function to find it and fans of Psychedelic Sunday will also enjoy this clip with the legendary David Pritchard hosting the show. I posted this a few years ago. Almost two hours of the show from 1992.
There was an earlier precursor show to Psychedelic Sunday called the Wax Museum and I have a tiny clip from that show on the site as well.
One regret is the fact that I don’t have any tape of the contest Riffer Madness. I played that many times but I only remember recording it once and that was digitally and the computer it was on crashed. I may find a data recovery wiz to bring it back or maybe I will find some tape of the contest.
Postscript – Riffer Madness lives again on clips five and six above as the dead hard drive referenced above was restored and I found two different clips with the contest.
***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 great air check of Detroit radio veteran “Doctor” Doug Podell on WWWW FM (W4) from 1980. W4 started as a free form station and had morphed into an AOR outlet by the time of this air check. The show is 1060’s, featuring music from the 1960’s on 106 FM. I have more W4 content to upload.
***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.
Part Two of a great broadcast on Toronto’s Q 107. Some excellent commercials and exceptional music by the Who at a time when Q 107 was a vibrant and creative rock radio station.
***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.
An interesting twin spin from Detroit rocker WRIF FM.
The first clip is from 1982 and a show called The WRIF Rock Cafe where older FM rock along with new wave music is played. Sounds not necessarily covered by the regular AOR format. Somewhat like what you would hear on CFNY in Toronto at the time.
The second clip is from 1985 and features the regular AOR format of the station. They play the Mitch Ryder cover of the Velvet Underground’s Rock and Roll which was a top 40 hit in some markets.
Much more to come in the future from Detroit rock radio.
The first clip was recorded in 1980 and the first two tracks were taken from CFNY. The new wave era music that comes next was taken from a Buffalo NY station, WBUF FM, and a show called Anything That’s Rock’n Roll. Interesting to note that one of the “new wave” acts played is actually Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits with his cover of Elvis Costello’s Green Shirt. The last segment on the clip featuring early Marc Bolan with T Rex and John’s Children was taken from Toronto college station CKLN.
The second clip was taken from CFNY in 1980 and it has a small snippet of one of my favorite announcers on that station “The Live Earl Jive” saying goodbye to his sidekick Beverley Hills at the start.
You can hear a longer set with Earl Jive on the sixth clip here
DJ’s will return in full force next post.
Presenting a few clips of Richard Neer on WNEW FM New York from 1975. He was a veteran of the progressive rock format. He helped establish WLIR FM in 1970 as a free form station in New York and then he was on WNEW FM for 25 years starting in 1971. Neer also wrote a book called the Rise and Fall of Rock Radio. He ‘s one of those rare announcers that transitioned from music to sports talk and he can still be heard on WFAN in New York.
The clips are short but each has a bit from Richard Neer. The last clip also has an interesting ad for Crawdaddy magazine and an ad for Pioneer stereo equipment featuring Elton John. The last two clips are mostly from Sept 21, 1975 based on the newscast included in the final clip.
***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.
Part two of the Detroit AM and FM double shot.
The first clip from “underground” WKNR FM from April 1969, begins with Detroit beat poetry and includes some great music and wonderful ads. The long track played by Procol Harum “In Held Twas In I” was a staple on free form FM and nice to revisit that memory.
The second DJ heard on the clip is Uncle Russ Gibb. He was the owner of the Grande Ballroom in Detroit and responsible for putting a lot of Michigan bands on the map. He also brought in out of town acts such as CCR and The Who, In fact the Who first played Tommy in the states at the Grande and he speaks about that. I believe he took a call on air that started the whole “Paul Is Dead” phenomena. That’s not on this clip.
Russ Gibb also was an investor in Creem magazine- a businessman and broadcaster who liked to speak about his business philosophy on air. A Detroit legend. This clip includes an interview with John Fogerty by Mr Gibb starting at 137:16 on the first clip. CCR was appearing that night at the Grande.
The second clip continues the 1968 countdown and includes songs 77 to 66 on Keener 13 or WKNR AM from December 1968. The DJ is Dan Henderson. A journey back in time when it was fun to listen to Top 40 radio.
Look out for more of the Keener 13 countdown as well as more from WKNR FM.
Audio Note: The original tapes from WKNR are recorded on slow speed reel to reel and the tapes are rather delicate and mono. I transferred them to faster speed reel to reel and have used the latter for the digital transfer and for the WKNR AM the best quality was achieved with a dis- balance in volume between the two channels.
***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 great twin slice of Detroit radio from 1968 and 1969. WKNR AM and FM.
The first clip is from the progressive free form format of Dearborn Michigan’s WKNR FM from April 27 1969. WKNR was one of three area commercial “underground” stations at the time. The others being WABX FM and the automated ABC “Love” formatted WXYZ FM. The air check is an excellent example of the diversity of the genre bending “progressive” format. One of the DJ’s heard is Martin Bell. The DJ heard after the Easybeats are played sounds like Brother John who was on the ABC Love format and that segment may have been recorded off WXYZ FM.
WKNR FM had the disadvantage as an FM station in the fact that they broadcast in mono.
The second clip is from the AM side of the dial and features the top 113 songs from 1968. The “Keener 13” air check is from late Dec/1968. I have tape of the entire countdown and this portion is from songs 113 to 77. Sadly one song is missing from the countdown, Fever Tree’s San Francisco Girls. Not sure how that omission occurred. Top 40 radio was at it’s peak and some great songs are heard. The countdown chart is pictured below. The DJ featured is Dan Henderson.
I have additional tape from both WKNR AM and FM and watch this space for more great Detroit city rock and folk and blues.
https://youtu.be/xYe1HnZvioA