***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
Your comment about traders is a discussion we have at the House of Toast. The Toasters put a portion of their collection on the free Internet Archive site. These uploads often are then found being sold on commercial sites. It is surprising that this happens as the files are free at the Archive.
To get around this we have begun to insert non-commercials into the uploads. These are little spots that point out the original location of the files at the Archive.
We have actually received complaints that these spots are difficult to remove and get in the way for the reseller.
Just came across this in searcing for top-20 countdown on WCBS in the 80s or early 90’s as I enjoyed then, I think with Harry Harrison but maybe after seeing this it was Norm.
***If anyone is reading this please let me know, rgood2222@gmail.com. I’m a musician and historian. what’s striking is how “16 years ago”! from 1984 wayyy back to 1968, does anyone do oldies today going back to 2007??? Not that I would listen lol. Whoever provided this, thanks!, and please let me know more about these countdowns other than AT 40 on Sirius.