Jim Kaye “The Big Tuna”, Last Show on WAQY Wacky 102 Springfield | August, 1981 (52:36) Scoped

Nov 17, 2004 5 Comments

Is there anyone in New England who remembers the late, great Wacky 102? Okay, surely one must remember the likes of Ken Gilbert, Jim Rising, Rick Kelly and this guy… Jim Kaye, AKA, “the Big Tuna”?.. Sure you do.

This was such a hugely popular station among high schoolers. It seemed everyone was listening. Maybe that was the trouble, everyone under the age of 18 WAS listening. But they don’t buy cars and big ticket items. And, adult at-work listeners didn’t care for 16 commercials an hour and hard rock. And so it was that my absolute favorite radio station in 1981, my junior year, dumped what was arguably the most popular format among people my age in favor of then-AOR (it wasn’t a complete loss… I was a big fan of all the Rock that the new Rock 102 would play so then THAT turned into my favorite station as I matured). I digress.

What you hear on this aircheck is night guy Jim Kaye doing his last show before the format change – at midnight. Tell me, just how many stations do you know of that allow the jock to do a ‘last show’? This one belongs in a museum… and to the best of my knowledge, I, your webmaster, am the only one who had the foresight to pop a tape into my cheap recorder. To think, I never expected to keep it this long. This, apparently is the ONLY copy of Tuna’s last show. Enjoy it!

wacky102.jpg

Click Here To Play!

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Springfield MA

5 Responses to “Jim Kaye “The Big Tuna”, Last Show on WAQY Wacky 102 Springfield | August, 1981 (52:36) Scoped”

  1. Don Lupien Reply Feb 17, 2005 at 12:20 pm

    This is a classic Thanks for bringing me on a trip back to my childhood. By the way do you know where i can find air checks of Rich Roy and Tommy Macks Shows on WHYN?

  2. Ed Aubry Reply Nov 10, 2006 at 7:42 pm

    I taped about an hour of this show, including an archive of a “J and K” show. I have no idea what happened to the tape, but I think it’s possible that I still have it packed away somewhere….

  3. Jim Kaye (The Big Tuna) Reply Jul 29, 2009 at 1:52 am

    Hi Steve! I did NOT realize it was YOU who ran this EXCELLENT WEB SITE!!!! (I have visited many times before!!!) Just wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH for preserving my LAST SHOW at WACKY 102..!!! THOSE WERE the DAYS!!!! I went BACK to WAQY-FM in 1984, Part time doing the GOLDRUSH OLDIES SHOW Sunday Mornings until 1988 (Had a disagreement about the playlist with the P.D.) So I MOVED the show to WHMP-FM in Northampton, Mass in 1988 until 1995… I MISSED RADIO SO MUCH, that in June 2008, THANKS TO THE INTERNET, the GOLDRUSH was RESURRECTED! (A WEBCAST with VIDEO and AUDIO on 5150fm.com) Then in January, 2009 Moved the webcast to http://smashfm.biz – where I am having TOO MUCH FUN playing a mix of 50 years of Rock, R&B., Pop and Soul… Sunday Nights… PLUS! My Good Friends, Former WACKY jocks GLEN FM STEVENS and KEN ‘SQUIRT BABY SHOOT’ GILBERT are on smashfm, too! We are all BACK TOGETHER on WACKY SUNDAYS at smashfm! – ALL OF US HAVING FUN DOING RADIO THE WAY IT USED TO BE!! (and YOU CAN WATCH US!)

  4. Bob Reply Jan 24, 2010 at 11:24 pm

    Alas, this aircheck has suffered the ill fate of the omnipresent
    error 404. Perhaps someday it will be resurrected.

    • Steve West Reply Jan 25, 2010 at 11:45 am

      Bob, you’re the winner of the “find a bug” contest. we moved Airchexx to a new, larger server over the weekend and were trying to find bugs. You found the first. So, THANK YOU!.

      That said, the Tuna Last Show aircheck now works. Enjoy