Airchexx.com » Andy Bologovsky

Composite: WAVZ "New Waves 13″ New Haven | July, 1974

Steve West — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:10:34 +0000

Contributor Andy Bologovsky presents this sixteen and a half minute tour of the Kopps-Monahan studios of 13 WAVZ. Its mid-Summer and the New Waves is sizzlin’ with a lineup of jocks who all made it to major market stations after their stay in New Haven. It’s an Oldies weekend, but its not exclusively Oldies, with some 1974 blockbuster hits heard in here along with the classics. Sure, its scoped, but this moves along with lightning speed.

You’ll hear (in order): Mike Dean, Bill Rock (WNBC) and Brian Phoenix, along with plenty of commercials to make you wish you were back in the good old days when gasoline was still under 75 cents a gallon!

Composite: WAVZ “New Waves 13″ New Haven | July, 1974 is a post from: Airchexx.com

Cliff Kenyon, WFIF Milford CT | July 20, 1976

Steve West — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:10:39 +0000

Every now and then, an aircheck comes along that really reminds me of what community full service radio really was in the 70s. Cliff “Rockin’” Kenyon, filling in this day for Randy West, is trying his best to be a big city sounding jock (and who wouldn’t, only 40 minutes from New York City), and in fact he was really SMOKIN’ at hist gig at nearby New Haven WAVZ (see the comments section of WAVZ New Haven, July 1974 where much of the 70s airstaff are sharing memories) as Willie B. Goode.

What, perhaps sets this Bicentennial Summer WFIF (The “Sound of America”) apart from most stations featured on this website is the close resemblance to many small town, community AM stations I remember from my youth. Full service elements such as (in this case) Mutual network news, a local news department, spots for lots of local businesses in and around the southern Rt. 8 corridor (New Haven County, CT), and LOTS of PSA’s! The music on WFIF is all over the place, some bubblegum pop, some early disco hits, some country (I tightly scoped this but you can make out some of the obscure songs you probably haven’t heard in 20 years). Frankly, given the studio equipment described (see the link above), the PD and staff did a great job of putting out a quality product with limited resources. And that’s the one thing that so many small AM stations had in common back in the 70s… aging equipment, old studios, old transmitters, almost no processing and a shoestring budget. But at least they were fully staffed by extremely talented people. Wasn’t that what made radio magical?

I have to add that WFIF was NOT typical smaller market AM radio in two areas: 1. While Milford CT isn’t a huge city (although today, Post Road, U.S. 1 has a huge commercial stretch), its a suburb of much larger New Haven, so it can be considered metro. Also, despite it’s relatively small signal, the format was top 40 in the truest sense in that everything that was a hit at the time got played, not just the power songs. Most small-signal, full-service type stations I remember played either ‘chicken rock’ or had some kind of lazy, haphazard format that included a lot of oldies and even standards mixed in with currents. So, WFIF is very unique, in your webmaster’s opinion. Remember, this part of Connecticut is within the signal contours of just about all NYC AM’s, so the station pretty much had to sound great in order to keep an audience.

This is a gift from Andy Bologovsky, who was a big fan of WFIF. This particular aircheck is presented to the 70s WAVZ staff, many of whom worked here before the step up to Kopps-Monahan a few miles down the road.

Cliff Kenyon, WFIF Milford CT | July 20, 1976 is a post from: Airchexx.com

Judge Harrigan, WAVZ New Haven | July 7, 1978

Steve West — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:20:02 +0000

Sounding like the East Coast version of Dr. Don Rose, Here’s Judge Harrigan with one liners, traffic reports, time checks and the hits – all the ingredients you’d expect from a major market morning show, but this is LOCALISM done right!

On this particular day, there was a power outage in East Haven, and ConRail service was on-time!

Judge Harrigan, WAVZ New Haven | July 7, 1978 is a post from: Airchexx.com

Station Profile: 13 WAVZ New Haven | September, 1976

Steve West — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:10:57 +0000

13 Waves sported some of the best talent in the U.S., and this 8 minute profile from 1976 showcases the talents of such names as Paul “the Morning Mayor”, Midday guy Tom Morgan, “The Chucker” (who narrates this profile), Afternoon personality John E. Walker, Night guy Mike West (WGNG Providence, WTIC-FM Hartford), Sunshine 10pm-2am and Early morning she-jock Lise.

Courtesy of Contributor Andy Bologovsky – Thanks!

Station Profile: 13 WAVZ New Haven | September, 1976 is a post from: Airchexx.com

John E. Walker on WAVZ New Haven | December 1975

Steve West — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:01:25 +0000

Back by popular demand, another great recording of 70s powerhouse 13 WAVZ New Haven. Who woulda thunk this AM station on the Connecticut shoreline would generate such interest? There’s a long list of alumni who frequent the other WAVZ posts on this website, and our longtime site friend and contributor, Andy Bologovsky decided to contribute more. Andy writes:

“Enclosed are a couple of WAVZ goodies from my ‘Vault’ for your website.”

I think you’ll enjoy John E. Walker from 12/1975 (Check out the incredible processing on that signal!). Hope the recordings bring out even MORE listener comments on the website!

Enjoy, Andy B.

This is a long aircheck. Its a “Motown Weekend” and they go back to the 60s a lot, but listen for PLENTY of 70s commercials, tunes and chatter from Walker, who sounds more like he belongs on New York’s 99x (WXLO) than in New Haven, but this Kopps-Monahan station was at the top of its game during this period – and no wonder!

This is a real gem. Thanks Andy!

John E. Walker on WAVZ New Haven | December 1975 is a post from: Airchexx.com

1300 WAVZ New Haven | July, 1974

Steve West — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 12:41:36 +0000

There’s very little WE can say that conveys the excitement generated by 13 Waves during it’s heyday of the mid-late 1970s. Some of the best and brightest broadcasters in Southern New England graced the air on WAVZ – and a few of them have posted comments about this recording below.

If you read the comments before listening, do yourself a favor now, and see why this AM station OWNED the New Haven market, at a time when AM stations were already in steep decline as music stations. Oh, if this had been put on the sister FM station, we’d be listening to 101 Waves instead of KC 101… but would that have been such a bad thing? We can only dream, I suppose.

This aircheck was one of the original recordings sent in by longitme contributor Andy Bologovski. In our last site upgrade that credit somehow fell by the wayside. Our humble apologies. Andy has his own page (which I need to update) here on airchexx which you can access by clicking HERE.

Also, sample this WAVZ aircheck from 1973…

And, recording of John E Walker on 13 WAVZ from December ’75!

1300 WAVZ New Haven | July, 1974 is a post from: Airchexx.com