Month: January 2014

Courtesy of Big Apple Airchecks, here’s a fun aircheck of a night Beaver Cleaver (KFMB-FM, KTNQ) came to New York City, probably upon the insistence of someone at RKO General, and did the first of many appearances at 99X! We’re not sure how many times Cleaver was on WXLO, but we do have another aircheck of Cleaver here, a year later (watch for the link, still to come). Yes, it’s June, and Disco has arrived in the Big Apple. Its a very warm day over 80 degrees and Cleaver starts with a bang! The first minute at the Top hour ID, is a short aircheck of Cleaver at KFMB-FM San Diego and 1020 KTNQ Los Angeles! At that energy level, Cleaver then goes on to have fun with the comparatively laid-back Top 40 format at 99X.

Pure heaven is probably the only way to describe this nearly one-hour long scoped composite featuring the talents of Bobby Rich (Bobby’s B-100), who here is in for Al Bandiero, Sue O’Neal, Bobby Messina and more! Courtesy of Big Apple Airchecks, this was donated to our site nearly 10 years ago and finally is finding its way to airchexx! You will notice that this really just before the disco days as 99X is solidly Top 40, with Rock, Pop and a few Oldies well represented! You will enjoy!

Lee Roberts is showcased here as one of the “X-Men” on the old 99X. Notice the amount of Disco music in rotation here! Perhaps it was not enough, or too much, but less than a year after this aircheck was recorded, 92.3 WKTU would become the number one radio station in New York City, knocking “MusicRadio 77” WABC off it’s longtime #1 perch. 99X was in the Top 5 overall. This is personality oriented Top 40, on FM, and 99X was very hot at this point in time! But the station lost it’s way, as would so many stations on the AM and FM dial in a short period of time, because the Disco craze changed everything, including the way in which radio stations would identify themselves with audiences. For example, about a year later, PD Glenn Morgan would take over and t...

Active on Facebook (so you can contact him), Nelson has been in radio for a very long time. Much of it was with RKO-General’s chain of radio stations. His resume includes radio stations like WRKO Boston, KFRC San Francisco, WJBQ Portland Maine, WROR Boston, and even a stay at WXLO “99X” New York! As heard on this aircheck, Harry Nelson is amazingly consistent in his style from one station to the next. Warm, funny and very likeable, Nelson really comes across as someone you’d like to be friends with… at least listening to him. And now, from the archives of the former 99x-fm.com website, here’s Harry Nelson, on 99X! Courtesy of Big Apple Airchecks

Just to prove that 8pm to Midnight were the ‘rock hours’ on top 40 AM radio, you’ll hear (scoped) hits by the Beatles and even Deep Purple, mixed in with the top Motown sounds. What’s really amazing about this aircheck, while Berlin is a ‘puker’ (weren’t they all back then?), he does a masterful job of getting requests on the air. Notable here, not many stations were known for airing phone requests in 1968, but there are plenty on this recording. Berlin must have been working up a sweat in a control room with no computers, just manual cueing of carts, 45s and reels. Jocks really WORKED for their pay. Note the sports and even breaking news, all handled professionally by the jock on duty. Gang, this is what we jocks got into the business for in the f...

Right off the reel, here’s a brand new exhibit from Karl Phillips. WKDA has occupied three AM frequencies, that we know of, since 1968. 1240, as in this aircheck, more recently as a Spanish station on 1430, and currently on 1200 (later info courtesy FYBUSH.COM) after a move there in 2002. This aircheck is unique for a number of reasons. First, this really is typical of most of the top 40 stations in the late 60s. Sure, there was WLS, WABC and a handful of others which always stand out. But most of the middle & large markets had stations which sounded very much like this. And they sure were popular. Especially when you realize that WKDA was only a 1,000 watt station by day and 250 watts at night. Yet, people remember the DJs who graced these stations. Bill Berlin is one we’...

“B100 FM with the Original Chucker…” And you’re asking where we dug this up?! Too bad this is only about three minutes long. Chuck Browning was heard all over America within and outside the RKO chain of radio stations, including WXLO New York and KFRC San Francisco, both of which are posted right here on Airchexx.com! Courtesy of…

And now, the story of a Country music show that may have lead to the eventual Country format of WINQ, a station that today is at 98.7 in Keene NH. Back when 97.7 first went on the air, it was what eventually would be called Adult Standards. Non-Rock vocalists from the 1940s and 50s with a few instrumentals thrown in… kind of a cross between Beautiful Music and Standards. That was 1983. After trying an Adult Contemporary format for a couple of years, the station was sold to Larry DeHaan and some partners… I believe the company was Quality Communications, or something like that. My friend David Bickford knows. At any rate, when DeHaan got WINQ, he flipped the station to Automated Oldies. At some point in either 1989 or early 1990, there was a live Saturday night request show done...

Liz is in for Sandy Benson, and honestly, I can’t tell if her last name is Solar or something else. Sure hope I haven’t mis spelled or mis-identified her. Here’s five minutes of the ORIGINAL Oldies 103, from the early days after flipping from CHR WHTT. WODS didn’t add the POINT 3 to its on air identifier for a few years. CHR is back on 103.3, having flipped to “Amp Radio 103.3 within the past year. Only history will tell if that was a good move or not by parent company CBS.

“…First in Music, First in Fun!” Dick Biondi (WBBM-FM, WLS, others) is captured for all time on this near studio-quality recording from 1110 KRLA, just two months after crosstown 93 KHJ flipped to Bill Drake consulted Top 40. After listening to this, one could easily understand why KHJ clobbered KRLA in the ratings. While very entertaining and immensely popular, Dick Biondi talks after EVERY record! In fact, the whole format is, while typical of early-mid 1960s Top 40 radio, disorganized and cluttered. Drake came along at KHJ, removed the clutter, started playing 2-3 records in a row, and blew everyone out of the water. About this particular aircheck. Our regular ‘PD’ visitor will likely have much to say. Please. By all means, fill in the blanks. Here are our ...

This came to us on CD about ten years ago, cut up into 21 tracks and mastered from the original source tape. The Rolling Stones were in the middle of their biggest U.S. Concert tour of their career, the “Steel Wheels” tour, promoting their then-new album of the same name. When Mick Jaggar and company came to Pittsburgh, they played the biggest arena – Three Rivers Stadium, and the city’s biggest Album Rock station came out to greet the band with a live broadcast from the event itself. On air and behind the scenes WDVE staffers set up outside and inside the stadium and did interviews with the public, handed out plenty of station swag and turned a big concert into a huge on air event! This recording captures the pre-concert party atmosphere on air, as WDVE wove interv...