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.
Marantz receiver used to record many of the tapes heard on this site. .Recordings were made during the 1970’s and 1980’sAKAI GX 270 D used to transfer some clips used for siteSony TC-377 used to transfer some of the clips used on this site
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.
***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.
Interesting tape featuring Jack Armstrong near the end of his tenure at Cleveland’s WKYC. This may have been recorded on December 9, 1967. He used the name Big Jack on the station due to the fact that the name Jackson Armstrong was still owned by his previous station WIXY Cleveland.
After Big Jack you will hear Jim LaBarbara, starting at 8:25, doing his last show on WKYC ( January 27, 1968). The station was about to tweak it’s format and launch “Power Radio” and some of the staff was leaving including LaBarbara and Armstrong.
Starting at 32:06 you will hear promos for the coming “Power Radio.” The tape was recorded at night far from Cleveland and you will also hear bits from WABC ( New York) and WCFL ( Chicago) near the end of the clip. There’s no audio on the clip of the launch of the Drake type “Power Radio” as that was in the afternoon and out of range during day time. There are recordings on the net which feature the actual launch.
***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 days of total free form on WNEW FM were over by the time of this air check from May 1985. More mainstream AOR was beginning to dominate but the diversity heard was still miles ahead of what we hear on most rock radio today.
This is part of the top 1027 countdown from 1985. You will hear WBCN alumni Maxanne Sartori, Dennis Elsas and Carol Miller on this iteration of the countdown which ran several times on the station.
Audio Note: The recording deteriorates for about 3 minutes starting at 26:20 but recovers.
Visit the site’s You Tube Channel to see this 1985 interview with REM:
***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.
Since starting a You Tube channel I have been revisiting air checks that I recorded on VCR. I have managed to improve some including the two above that previously suffered from tracking and audio issues.
The first clip is of David Pritchard on Q 107 from January 1992 with an appearance by John Gallagher at 130:39. The second clip is of Bob Magee and the 1050 CHUM morning team from October 1996.
Have been doing some revisions in the Oil of Dog Corner and have gone back to recordings that were previously uploaded and found additional content or have added a bit of noise reduction. I made the original recordings on slow speed reel to reel to capture as many hours as possible but to the detriment of the sound quality. The advantage was that a fair number of shows have been preserved.
Each of the above “revised” clips opens with a set of comedy and also includes a diverse set of music by Nick Drake, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Grateful Dead, The Beach Boys, The Go Go’s, Kajagoogoo, Phillip Glass, Weird Al, Alice Cooper and more. Also a nice station ID from an unknown female announcer at 12:40 of the second clip. Visit the OIL of Dog Corner to hear more from a show that was amazingly available on commercial radio during the early 1980’s.
***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 high quality clip of Jim Bauer on Toronto’s Q 107 playing the Who alphabetically. This comes from a time when Q 107 had shows with journalists Ritchie Yorke and Peter Goddard. Plus they had the famous in Toronto, Geets Romo, when he was temporarily teamed up with DJ Scruff Connors and Q actually had a Jazz show.
The A to Z Who track list will not disappoint fans of creative rock radio programming. Watch this space for part two of this great broadcast. More than two hours to come.
***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.
K101 FM owned by engineering graduate and broadcasting magnate James Gabbert was a rather wild station. Not free form but they had what could be described as an adult top 40 format with a deep playlist where you would hear all kinds of music. The station was very successful from the early to mid 1970’s. Mr Gabbert was was not averse to climbing the antenna tower to fix a problem and he took chances with the programming not satisfied with a cookie cutter and consultant driven formula.
He had a program called Anything Goes where you could literally hear anything and this clip is a great example of his offerings from the 1972/73 period.
