Hamilton Ontario’s 1150 CKOC is Canada’s oldest continuously operating radio station. The station has been playing Top 40 rock and oldies since 1960. That is about to come to an end next month when the station will switch to a all sports format. The memories and the magic will live on via the clips posted to the Radio Miscellany section of this site. Two new clips have just been uploaded.
https://youtu.be/w9dpv-bDFQQ
***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.
WBZ FM switched to a automated Top 40 format in June 1973. This is a countdown show taped shortly after the switch. The voice over work seems to be by student listeners. There’s some humorous patter between most of the songs played. Later in the year the station employed some pros to do voice tracks.
This was a good time for Top 40 rock and there are some great tracks on the countdown. You will hear a few one or two hit wonders such as Albert Hammond’s Free Electric Band ( on clip one) and Gunhill Road, The Mighty Tom Cats and Andy Pratt ( on clip two).
Avenging Annie by Pratt was a big regional hit in parts of the east coast, including New England. The song was inspired by The Byrd’s version of Woody Guthrie’s Pretty Boy Floyd. Initially featured on free form progressive rock stations, the track eventually crossed over to Top 40. Soul Moussaka by by the Mighty Tom Cats can be described as either proto-disco or world music.
A most interesting playlist and a reminder that the early Top 40 stations on FM were more experimental than their AM counterparts.
***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 a bit of Benjy Karch on CHUM FM from the summer of 1975. He was the music director at the station and also did on-air fill in work. The station had tightened it’s format and some of the eclecticism of the free form days was gone.
This clip features mostly music and artists such as The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Free Beer, King Crimson, 10 CC and Robert Palmer provide a window into the state of the station at the time. The format had tightened but some musical diversity could still be heard. There’s a bit of dial twisting and I eventually end up on WBUF FM and you will hear the great voice of Yola, who also worked at WGRQ FM and WKBW AM later in her career. I also seem to recall her on WPHD FM for a period before her stint at WBUF. BUF was at the peak of their free form format at the time but all you hear on this air check is a brief segment from Yola. I have other longer air checks from WBUF posted on the site.
Benjy Karch can be heard at 5:56 and Yola at 28:03. I had previously posted the bit from Yola in another section but include it here as it’s part of the source tape for this aircheck.
The date of the second air check is unknown but is likely from the late 80’s or early 90’s and features a segment from Roger Ashby’s Sunday Morning Oldies show. The show ran from 1980 to 2009 and was heard on CHUM AM for most of it’s run but it switched to CHUM FM for a period. This clip should be of interest to fans of Steve Winwood and The Spencer David group. Group leader Davis describes the inspiration for their signature hit Gimme Some Lovin’ and also how the cover of I’m A Man by Chicago probably came to be. Unfortunately very little of Mr Ashby is heard on the 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.
WBZ FM switched to an automated top 40 rock format in June of 1973. This aircheck is from their first week with the new format. Most of the voice over work on this aircheck seems to be by students or amateurs. Later in the year the station did hire some pros to do the voice-overs.
The history of FM rock in Boston at the time is a bit convoluted. Free Form WBCN was the most stable station but in addition to WBZ, a number of other FM stations introduced some variation of a rock format around this time including WVBF, WROR and others.
Top 40 stations on FM during the early 70’s were more album oriented than their AM counterparts and generally gave greater exposure to songs which were receiving airplay on the free form stations. One such example, Roll Over Beethoven by The Electric Light Orchestra, is heard on this clip. The track is from the second ELO album and is perhaps their most adventurous hit record. The song charted on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks largely to FM airplay. There is a truncated version of a song by the Glass Harp called Can`t You See Me that I don`t think was played on many AM top 40 stations. A brief instrumental section of the song is heard just after I`m Doing Fine Now by New York City.
You will also hear a few minutes of WVBF after the Osmonds are announced and then back to WBZ FM. The aircheck ends with a record by novelty artist Dickie Goodman called Watergrate. One of Dickie’s usual spoofs using small bits from hit records of the day in between his comedic comments. Also note that The Monster Mash was played not as an oldie but a current hit as it was riding the charts upon it`s re-release during the summer of 1973.
I have more tape from this broadcast, a continuation of their Top 40 countdown, Stay tuned.
https://youtu.be/a-80S9gGdB0
This clip was recorded on my JVC Stereo VCR and based on Barb Hansen’s brief news update I think it’s from 1988-89. You will also hear Scott Turner at 3:36. This was recorded during the “History of Rock Saturday.”
Judging by the tracks played and announced you would think you had tuned into Q 107 sometime in the late 70’s. I’m not sure if this was before or during Reiner Schwarz’s tenure as PD. The station’s format recovered from earlier tightening with Mr. Schwarz at the helm.
A classic rock staple by Manfred’s Mann’s Earth Band is featured in the clip above but the You Tube link below is from an earlier incarnation of the band and has them covering Randy Newman. A track which I heard regularly on CHUM FM in the early 70’s and which is now forgotten by radio.
Audio of this air check is generally better on this You Tube upload:
This is Part three of the WBUF FM 60’s weekend show from 1979. The station had a mainstream AOR format at the time but the playlist is surprisingly heavy on bubblegum. There’s also a few FM rock hits including What About Me by Quicksilver Messenger Service and a track from the 70’s by Lighthouse. Quality is not great as the source tape is defective and suffers from Sticky Shed Syndrome. The fourth and final installment will be posted in the future.
***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.
This clip dates from the summer of 1973 and features DJ Ron Robin on WVBF FM ( Electronic Mama) from suburban Boston. A good example of their Top 40/AOR hybrid format. There were a number of FM stations in the US around 1972-74 with a similar format.
The playlist includes a few pure AM singles, some FM friendly singles and also an album cut by the Stones. Steven Tyler from Boston’s own Aerosmith calls in from a concert location near the end of the clip. Their single Dream On had just taken off and was a hit huge in Boston on it’s initial release in 1973. The song became a much bigger national hit upon it’s re-release in 1976.
***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.
Another nice double shot of FM radio from the Boston area from 1971 and 1973.
The first clip features the fantastic free form powerhouse WBCN FM with a set of mostly blues and R&B tinged music. Things get started with a great instrumental by a group called Demon Fuzz. The set ends with the album version of the Beach Boy’s Help Me Rhonda. The clip is from April 1971. All the announcers on the station were music fans with stellar taste and this set is no exception. . Please help me ID the DJ on this and several other clips that I have uploaded.
The second clip is from WVBF FM (Electronic Mama) from the summer of 1973 and features DJ Ron Robin. The station began as WKOX FM and was an early FM Top 40 pioneer in 1969. The outlet was owned by Richard M Fairbanks when the call letters switched to WVBF in 1971. The call letters stood for Welcome Virginia Brown Fairbanks in tribute to the owners wife.
WVBF was a Top 40/AOR hybrid during 1971-73 and reported into Billboard magazine’s album rock airplay list as the Boston representative around 1972 ( see picture below from Billboard Aug 1972). This list consisted of submissions from mostly progressive rock stations around the country which submitted their weekly new additions. This song selection on this particular set is mostly top 40 as that side of the format began to gain ascendancy and eventually the station became full time Top 40.
Here’s another alternate version of Help Me Rhonda with Dennis Wilson on Lead