I have a modern day Home Theater system that plays surround sound but I wanted to experience 1970’s era Quad. The least expensive way to do that for me was to purchase a vintage Dynaco Quadapter which I have done.
I was hoping to hear some Beach Boys music which I thought was recorded in Dynaquad as listed on the sleeve notes. See second picture below. However I remembered that in 2016 Beach Boys engineer Stephen Desper said that the Beach Boys releases supposedly recorded in Dynaquad were in fact only recorded in order to be decoded via a virtual two channel Quad via a gizmo like his “Spatializer.” Desper did work with Frank Zappa on albums that were recorded for 4 channel Quad.
I have some other music that was recorded on Dynaquad and so all was not lost. The best results that I have has with the Quadapter is on two releases that were recorded on the Columbia SQ Quad system. Poco’s Crazy Eyes and the Kooper, Stills and Bloomfield Super Sessions LP. I have the stereo versions of these recordings but they sound excellent via the Quadapter.
I also listened to the tapes with the original recordings on the two clips above. The first clip has a Quad broadcast from San Francisco station Stereo 103 and the second features a Quad show on Berkeley’s KPAT FM. On both broadcasts, the DJ’s say that you can tape the show in stereo and later play it in Quad once you have a decoder. I did that albeit more than 50 years after they made the suggestion.
Unfortunately whoever made the recordings did not record some of the more interesting tracks that were played but you will get the gist of what the broadcasts were about.
Both clips also feature a wildly eclectic San Francisco station called K101. A place where you could hear a Yes album track along with the Osmonds. The content from K101 on the first clip is mostly music but there’s some DJ and ad content on the second clip. I have uploaded another K101 air check in the past. Quite an interesting station.
Eclectic is the key word for the tape as the Quad broadcasts include everyone from Walter Carlos to Perry Como to Janis Joplin to Ray Stevens to Percy Faith. and more.
Click on Images Below to Enlarge:
If you are able to get these, I might recommend some of the recent quad mix SACD’s I’ve bought: Art Garfunkel’s “Breakaway,” Deodato’s “Prelude,’ and Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells.”
Javed, I think “Stereo 103” and KPAT are one and the same. KPAT’s frequency was 102.9. It’s been KBLX for decades.
The only other Bay Area station that could plausibly claim 103 would be 103.7, which at this time was album rock KSFX.
One other interesting (to me, anyway) thing, Javed. The first segment is June 4, 1972, and the final bit is most likely the following week (Ron Wolf said he’d be away and another host would sub for him—my guess is that guy just didn’t use “Stereo 103” the way Ron did, or that those parts of the show didn’t survive).
But—the newest songs on the K-101 portion are from the fall of 1971—and K-101 played currents along with recent oldies.
My best guess is that it was at one time a long K-101 aircheck, that Ron Wolf got taped over the first part, the person doing the taping listened and saved the K-101 he or she wanted and then taped the next week of KPAT on the remaining part of the tape.
Also, I thought it was the Osmonds following Yes and Streisand, too. But I ran Soundhound because I couldn’t get a lyric match. It’s actually “I’m Goin’ Home” by Tommy James (post-Shondells). It was his follow-up to “Draggin’ The Line”, and, again, it’s from the fall of 1971.
Interesting info Mike and probably correct but both hosts use different names for the shows and also the second host uses the term “quadrasonic.” Which I think was the term used for the Sansui QS format as opposed to the “quadraphonic” used for the Columbia SQ system.
I’ll try to do some more digging. I didn’t notice a different show name when Dick Fitzmorris did it. Also, all the music played in the Fitzmorris portion comes from Columbia Records artists. Did they press albums in both formats?
Ron Wolf says “Quad Concert” and Concert in Quad while Fitzmorris says “Quad Show.”
Wolf does mention Columbia SQ Quad as the system they will be using and the music played on his segment all came from Columbia or Epic as well. All Columbia/Epic quad recordings were in the SQ format only during that period. Fitzmorris says both quadraphonic and quadrasonic at the beginning of his segment but later refers to just quadrasonic I believe.
Perhaps the show was in it’s infancy and Fitzmorris was not aware of the “Concert In Quad” title but one would think he should have been.
Okay, Javed—I think we’re getting somewhere. First, I dug into my collection and I have Ron Wolf on KPAT from a month before this—May 3, 1972. It’s a Wednesday at 8pm and on this tape, he calls the show the “KPAT QuadraCast”.
He also never calls the station “Stereo 103”. Just “KPAT”. In another Ron Wolf KPAT aircheck from December, it’s “KPAT, The Music Station” on a lot of his breaks.
So, if there’s inconsistency, it seems to be with Ron. Ron’s listed in the 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook as the station’s Promotion Manager, so perhaps he was just experimenting with slogans and program names on his air shift to see what stuck.
I’ve been spelling the other DJ’s name wrong. It’s Dick Fitzmaurice, and getting that led to a lot of information—most of it from a recent podcast by a San Francisco musician, Carlos Avalon, who had Dick as a guest.
Turns out Dick was a college student and did a paper on KPAT. He took them a copy of his finished product and asked their advice on how to get into broadcasting. They told him “hang around here.”
In a few months, he went from volunteer to part-time employee. So what we’re hearing here is a very young person literally getting his on-air start in the Bay Area.
Dick went from KPAT to Washington State, and then in 1974 to KVEC in San Luis Obispo, which means we were across the street from each other—that’s when I was at KSLY.
It was at KVEC that he had the opportunity to transition from music to news, much as I did a few years later at KOLO in Reno, and Dick then went to San Luis Obispo and San Francisco, landing a wonderful, lengthy career at KCBS, the big-league all-news station. Dick retired just before I came home to Northern California, so I missed hearing him.
Anyway, I think that explains the inconsistencies. I’m going to reach out to Dick, let him know this is here and invite him to share any memories and insights he has about KPAT.
Hard to remember but Ron Wolfe probably made up the Quad Concert title on his own. Mainly I think because no one in authority titled it. Actually, not a bad title – even tho unofficial. Ron also came up with “Radio EastBay” to go withe the new KRE call letters.
General Manager, Ollie Hayden had the idea for the QuadCast. He came from Sales at KCBS Radio and always wanted something unique to talk about with potential advertisers. Quad was his hook.
The QuadCast morphed into African Roots hosted first by Chuck Gatling and then by Donnell Lewis. It featured mostly smooth jazz. At some point, Alice Potter became the first woman to be GM of a Bay Area radio station. I believe it was she who expanded the format to all day parts. And KBLX was not far behind.
Oh, and yes KPAT -FM was ID’d as 103. Back in the non digital day, it was quicker to say – and easier for listeners to remember – 103 rather than 102.9.
Thank you Dick for the first hand info and also a thanks to Mike for informing Dick!
….and of course, NOW I remember the Osmonds’ “Yo-Yo” is in there, too…oops.
I do have one follow-up. KPAT has a lengthy history.
https://bayarearadio.org/sf-radio-history/kre
In that article, and I’ve confirmed it elsewhere, it notes that the AM station celebrated its 50th anniversary on June 11, 1972 and that on that date, the FCC approved the call letter change back to the original calls—KRE. KPAT-FM also became KRE-FM.
That means the Dick Fitzmaurice segment would have been BEFORE the June 6 Ron Wolf, not after—and that the Ron Wolf is the last Quad Show/Quad Concert/QuadCast on KPAT-FM.
Thanks for the sleuthing Mike. I actually saw that Bay area piece about the call letter change previously but did not make the connection to the first part of the tape being recorded just days before. When I first heard the Ron Wolf segment years ago I assumed that the station was perhaps a NPR like affiliate or community station. I still don’t remember how exactly I got this tape but it is a fascinating one including the K-101 segment.
Absolutely agree. It occurs to me that Ron’s “Stereo 103” may have been because the call letter switch was only five days away—a transition identifier, apart from the top of the hour. This is the latest KPAT aircheck I’ve heard, and I didn’t hear the station after this , live or recorded until after the KRE calls had been ditched again for KBLX, so I don’t know if “Stereo 103” was part of KRE’s identification.
If Dick Fitzmaurice checks in, perhaps he can fill us in on that, too.
Awesome recordings from the past! Was an avid listener of KIOI and KRE-AM 1400 kHz. Used to hear Bill Dodd on his Sunday Afternoon Request Time from 1971 to 1972.
K-101’s studios were still at 1001 California Street in San Francisco. The move to 700 Montgomery Street would happen shortly after June. James Gabbert wouId speak occasionally about Quad broadcasting on his “Anything Goes” programs Wednesday evenings.
I remember listening to an early dual stereo simulcast from KIOI and KFMS Stereo 106.1 MHz. one evening. Can’t remember the exact date, but sometime before June because I was still in school. I have a photo of the custom board made possibly by Michael Lincoln and his technical staff and the Ampex AG 440 B reproducer.
There is more technical information about K-101-FM and its Dorren Quadraplex (discrete quad) experimental broadcasts. pp 281-321 from the Harold Ennes book AM-FM Broadcasting Equipment, Operations, and Maintenance from Howard W. Sams & Co. , Inc. 1974
Thank you for posting. Wonderful air checks from two of my favorite stations. They made a huge impact on my career, which started in 1978 at KRE. The format had already changed to jazz. Donnell Lewis was on the AM side at night while Rick Holmes was on the FM. Jay Smith, Rob Singleton and Clifford Brown Jr, were all on air at the time. My first visit to KRE was when Dick and Ron were still there. I was at Piedmont High School. In May 1973 I went to the station with a couple of student bird callers to promote the Leonard J Waxdeck Bird Calling Contest. I think it was Ron who interviewed us. Lots of fun memories.