The KAAY Collection
Oct 14, 2004 
33 Comments
Courtesy of contributor and former alumn Pat Walsh, here’s a three-part series featuring the legendary Little Rock powerhouse, 1090 KAAY
Donated to Airchexx in the Summer of ’06 featuring daytime top 40 programming, full newscasts, et al. The infrequently used PAMS “Kay” jingles are so wonderful (“…Summer, is here to stay…. Kay”). PAMS jingles had such a sound that hearing them again in context when they were aired in their original form is such a warm, comforting feeling. Yes, it will take you back to your youth.
Contributor (and a former co-worker of mine) Charlie C. Allen commented (below) to criticize my original description of this aircheck series because he had thought that I somehow knocked KAAY’s Top 40 format. Perhaps the first time around, I felt it to be strange that a Top 40 station would take such a laid-back approach. But it shouldn’t be any surprise, since having lived in the South for so long, I understand the lifestyle. KAAY was very in touch with it’s community, and did a wonderful job of entertaining.
It didn’t hurt that KAAY’s 50,000 watt signal blanketed much of the United States west of the Mississippi at 1090 KHz, thus exposing an incredibly wide swath of America to it’s unique Southern brand of radio. We were all the better for it!
These Airchecks are from 1971-72.
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Great memories, especially the commercials of businesses long gone. I couldn’t believe that I remembered the great debate over the Texas DJs’ response to the Burt Reynolds pictures in Cosmopolitan.
Anyone out there have any of the old Beeker Street stuff?
I have been listening to KAAY AM 1090 since the early ’80s. The station has an excellent signal at night here in Minnesota one program that I really enjoyed was blues alley. Somewhere in the archives I have recordings of the show from about 1983 or so.
Jon,
Go to
http://www.beakerstreet.com
He is still on the air on Sundays from 7pm to midnight (central time). There is also a link to a download page, but the page was down tonight.
There you go again bashing southern radio in your KAAY comments. Here are other “southern” stations who “GOT HER DUN”….. WFUN, WLAC,WSM,WSB,WBIR, and the first top fourty station in the world KLIF….not to mention the creator of rock and roll WHBQ Memphis. No wonder you don’t get southern stations to contribute. Charlie C. Allen
I agree. KAAY was great! I remember listening to them in late 70s. Incredible processing!
Former 6-10p jock on WLAC and 10-2 on KLIF
Catfish Jim Prewitt
PS: Hi Steve
Bashing? Certainly, nobody’s bashing KAAY, last of not me. I did make the comment “was this any way to do Top 40?” It’s well deserved. This aircheck is GREAT, in it’s own rite, but my comment was intended to be taken as a compliment because KAAY was certainly outside what those of us who heard other Top 40′s around the country remember. It was different, and that was & still IS, a good thing.
I am a native of Conway, Arkansas (about 30 miles NW of Little Rock) and grew up on KAAY. Presently I am a Ph.D. student in mass communications at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Anyone having information about former staff, memorabilia, audio files or any other information–please contact me. If you are a former staff member…I really need to speak with you. I want my dissertation to be on this radio station. My father in-law is Eddie Graham, former saleman and engineer for 25 years there. Thanks.
I grew up with the Friendly Giant in Malvern in the late 60′s and early 70′s–the station’s salad days. My lasting memory is the eclectic programming: from Top 40 music to Marvin Vines’ farm report, to the World Tomorrow and Life Line, each ultra-conservative mouthpieces for Garner Ted Armstrong and H.L. Hunt, to the psychedelic album cuts of Beaker Street. There never was, nor will ever be another AM station like it–classic Southern radio
Richard,
You may have completed your dissertation by now but I was on the staff duing the period of the “Singing Pig” show on KAAY. That was conservative talk radio in its infancy.
Regards,
Chuck
I grew up in Nebraska in the early ’60′s. I’d start my evening listening to Buddy Carr’s carpool party. I was a huge fan of Rob Robbins and would listen for his “rockin’ robin” intro. There will never be another station like KAAY. Everybody from Garner Ted Armstrong to the Lundstroms ran their religious shows and could come on anytime at night. Thanks for the memories. Rev. Jess
Wow…I just stumbled upon this website, spent most of the night listening to the KAAY airchecks and flashing back to growing up in northeast Arkansas listening to KAAY Little Rock, WLS Chicago and WMPS Memphis.
In Houston, Texas for the past 30 years…found an old truck opened it up and there were cassettes of broadcasts of KAAY. Music, News, Commercials…and yes, Beaker Street and even Beaker Theater (old radio sci-fi dramas that followed Beaker Street)…the ‘top of the hour’ news jingle with UPI world news!!! What a riot.
The times they are a changin’.
I grew up with Beeker Street 11pm to 2am and to 5am. I remember so much.Its my past and I am so lucky to have it.I also recorded about 10 hours of Beeker Street in the years of 75 to july of 77.Ive recorded ky on new tapes and am ready to transfer them to CD’s.The flavor will not be lost.If you remember kaay was a type of Monterey,Woodstock and trippy undergrown radio not found today.A friend R.J. hosts a program Fri Morn 6am-8am on KKFI.org 90.1 KCMO.Check him out He’s Good. P.S. kkfi is a free speech station! Love John, Keep those memories….
I was the PD at KAAY in 1975-ish and oversaw the “Big Move” from the old studios to the brand new building on the river. Pat Walsh was out. Jim Tandy from Nashville was in and brought me with him. We brought in Wolfman Jack. The governor; Jim Dandy dropped in – I have a million stories…
But, before I go into any of that -and if no one cares, save me the writing ;
For Scott Baker, if he’s still reachable: A. J. Lindsey, a.k.a. “Doc Holiday” from KAAY is looking for anything audio from the station; if you still have those tapes, I’m sure he’d be glad to get them or copies of them! Google “KAAY blogspot” and you’ll find his blogspot.
I’ve been able to get a few airchecks of Beaker Street and still enjoy them. My e-mail is: melvin.stacey@cummins.com
For Dick, former KAAY PD: please get in touch with A. J. Lindsey! If you don’t know how to get in touch with him, Google “KAAY blogspot” and his address is there…I’m sure he’d really like to hear from you!
My e-mail is: melvin.stacey@cummins.com
In the early 1970′s I alwaysed listened to Beker Street, loved te music and the weard but cool sounds, I wish some one would hace a tape of those sounds they could send me, KAAY BEKERSTREET with the sound effects.
Thanks
TomSongy
Metirie, La.
Tom Songy, contact me at melvin.stacey@cummins.com for audio!
Tom, the “weird sounds” were from the album by a group named Head. The “song” was “Canabis Sativa”. Clyde Clifford played this between songs because Beaker Street was broadcast from the KAAY transmitter instead of the studio. He played the music to try to drown out the load humming of the generators in the background.
The weird sounds were recordings of whales!! LOL
I enjoyed listening to the KAAY collection. It brought back memories. As a kid I was interested in weather and AM radio. A friend from school told me about KAAY in 1975. It impressed me that KAAY has such a strong daytime signal in northeast Mississippi. I was an avid listener for the next 10 years. I recall listening to Ray Lincoln on the morning show, keeping up with the latest Arkansas weather, the cool station format and good music. On fishing trips to a local lake, I would carry my trusty Panasonic RF-1090 and listen to AM 1090 and the noise never kept the fish from biting. There was something special about KAAY. Those were the days!
Jeff Wilson
Tupelo, MS
A whole bunch of us listened to Beeker Street in the early 70′s from the Duluth, Minnesota area. We got a perfect signal. It was most clear on those cold sub zero winter nights. The Album Rock they played was the best!
In the late 60′s when my Mom thought I was sleeping I would have my AM radio under my pillow on Friday and Saturday nights to listen to Clyde Clifford and Beaker Street. I lived north of Duluth,Minnesota (Silver Bay) and will never forget my 1st Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Emerson Lake and Palmer and many others that I have not heard again (remember Stoned Cowboy by Fantasy and The Shield by Deep Purple?). And Beaker Theater was the best – War of the Worlds almost made me pee my pants it scared me so bad. I sure do miss those days,,,
Just got a year-old message from Melvin to contact AJ, which I have done, did (since we’re talkin’ southern radio here).
However, no guarantees either of their emal addresses are valid, so i figured I’d repost here and check it every year or so, just for grins.
dd
KAAY PD ’75 (or so, brain cells pretty much dead from that period)
For those who do not know, A. J. Lindsey, of the KAAY blogspot, passed away on May 17, 2009. Here is the message I received from his daughter-in-law:
“Passed away on Sunday afternoon. I am sorry to break the news this way, but going thru his i touch this afternoon, saw the emails you had sent him regarding his health. It was very sudden and shocking for us as it may be for you. He was not sick for long, and fortunately did not suffer. We, his family, appreciate your concerns and prayers. You can check out his service information at
http://www.edwardsfuneralhome.com/
Thank you,
Brandy Lindsey (daughter in law)”
His blogspot is still active, as of this date (6/16/09) and the website is mentioned above in one of my earlier messages.
R.I.P, good friend…you will be missed….
I remember hearing Beaker Street IN Chicago in the 70′s in my 62 Mercury Comet. Rock on
Sorry, Beeker.
This is not a tall tale: I remember that we were able to hear the station in the western part of Cuba. Back then in the 60s and 70s is was prohibited the diffusion of rock music (american or british) on the state controlled radio. Some musio stations from Miami we heard but their progamming was more like soft pop (WGBS). Beaker Radio (we called it Baker Radio, Sherlock Holmes?)have a great following since was the only one to air undergroung rock.
Raulmanny, may I quote you on: http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/ for the record, please?
This is a new blog that several of us started after A.J. passed away and it has been highy successful! We’re always looking for new material to share about KAAY from 1962-1985 and are happy for folks to visit and leave comments!
Let me add more from my memories of radio listening in Comunist Cuba. This is from Wikipedia:
Its nighttime signal extended well beyond Little Rock and Arkansas, covering much of the Great Plains, North Central, and mid-south regions of the United States, leading to its sobriquet “The Mighty Ten Ninety.” KAAY could be heard clearly at night in Key West, Florida, and as far to the northwest as Jamestown, North Dakota. This radio station was a big inspiration to Cuban rock musicians and rock fans who listened Beaker Street every night to keep informed about American music and underground music in the 70′s. They listened undercover with Soviet made transistor radios.
Hi, Raul. I’m interested in your comments about KAAY. A few years ago, I emailed another guy who grew up in western Cuba and told me a little about listening to KAAY and how popular it was. If you remember, did you also hear WQAM, Miami, at night?
Special Note To All…
I really enjoy this Site ! Hearing lots of my old friends, fellow Air Personalities brings back lots of memories.
I was at KAAY from April 21, 1969 to September 15, 1972…3 1/2 of the BEST years of my life AND career.
I was Air Personality & Music Director and the Staff we had at that time, formed one of the best crews the station ever had.
In my early years there, I did 8p-11p and, yes, I got mail from SO many States as well as Canada & Cuba. In fact I have many of those letters saved in my Archives.
Pat Walsh, the G.M. at the time, was a good friend and just wonderful to me during my stay at KAAY. I left the station in September of 1972 to move to Detroit where I began working for Bartell Broadcasting at WDRQ-FM.
I’ll be happy to contribute some of my Air Check Collection here at Airchexx Radio but, in the meantime, you might want to check-out my Personal WebSite that chronicles my career from the Early Days to Today: http://www.jonnieking.net
ALSO, my Syndicated Morning Feature for Radio “The Breakfast Serial” has its own WebSite: http://www.serial.thewwbc.net
AND, my Legends WebSite: The Hall Of Fame Legends Series, which documents the histories of the Legends of the Rod & Custom Car Industry: http://www.legends.thewwbc.net is having its 3rd Anniversary and is the Hottest Independent R&C Site on the net.
All my best to all of you connected to this Site ! Great Work, Great Memories !
Jonnie King
PS: In the KAAY Aircheck Featuring my old friends Sonny Martin & George Jennings from our Summer Of ’72,in Part 3, about 10:45 into the aircheck Sonny mentions that he’s going on vacation and that I was going to fill-in for him.
WELL, I did and George & I had a great time…BUT I did not relish getting up at 4:00am to do the show ! (My girlfriend at the time would tell you that !)
However, we did it, had lots of fun in the process…and was VERY glad when Sonny returned !
Thanks to great Internet Sites like Airchexx Radio, we can now share this type of information. I loved being at KAAY, and am glad to contribute the “Personal Touch” to add to the History of this truly great field of communication that I’ve been in since 1967: Broadcasting.
JK
PS: You can also get more KAAY info at our Mighty1090 Blog Spot…everyday.
http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/