Airchexx.com

Sent in by our good friend Daniel Coloumbe in Canada, here’s Mike Raub (HitOldies) on 96 TIC-FM. This sounds like it was from sometime in the early to mid 90s.

Raub is currently Program Director of 96.7 The Coast (Gold Based AC) and 95.9 The Fox (Classic Rock) in Stamford CT

“All Request Saturday Night” on DRC-FM has been a staple in Hartford for several years now. Ron Sedaille is well known in Connecticut and does a show that’s quite reminiscent of 1960s radio. He even has his own jingles!

Your webmaster recorded this one Saturday evening in North Central Massachusetts (about 8 miles from the New Hampshire state line), using a 7 element FM DX antenna from Radio Shack. The signal has a bit of white nose on it but otherwise this is really great!

Steve from Cape Cod has the knack of having his recorder on at *just* the right time. Here’s an aircheck that reminds us that sometimes automation isn’t ALWAYS bad… given the right circumstances.

Steve writes:

(Here is an) outtake of WTIC news reader Paul Reynolds, from Christmas night, 1985. It starts with the jingle intro to the news, followed by about 20 seconds of silence(apparently Reynolds was passed out in the newsroom). Then, talk host John Birchard scrambles to his mike, vamps for time, then hands it over to Paul…who does his thing.
About 30 seconds into the newscast the engineer realizes what’s happening and yanks Reynolds off the air.

…Christmas parties might have been scaled back a bit in 1986

Contributor Steve from Cape Cod sent this in in time for our New Year’s update, 2009. Produced for it’s 50th anniversary of broadcasting, this off-air recording (with some additions by your friendly webmaster) starts in 1922 and records many important events, including the Hindenburg Disaster, the bombing of Manilla (WW2), programming highlights including Big Band music shows and radio operas like The Lone Ranger… then it’s on to WDRC’s years as a Top 40 station up to then-current 1972.

The final portion of this is a recording made with a mic at a radio speaker at the stroke of midnight as Big D welcomed in 1973. This is an authentic original recording and we thank Steve for his contribution!

…Sue, hello Sue – that was terrible!

Jack Miller did a weekly talent show on WDRC where listeners could call in and perform just about anything. It was, of course, all for entertainment, and some of the callers were truly awful. But, Jack Miller is the star of the show, and he DOES entertain. Shown here in this 14 minute original recording, Miller is a great host, who is much more than a disc jockey. His quick wit and ability to control this ‘talent’ show while playing along with the contestants, serves as a lesson to today’s radio people, that there’s far more to being a jock than playing non-stop music and talking like the kids in high school.

Courtesy of Steve from Cape Cod.

I asked Mr. Gilbert what WDRC-AM sounded like before the flip to Oldies, and so here’s a 9 minute high-quality scope from 1983. While Ken didn’t say so, it sure seems like Buckley did more of a slow format turn towards oldies from Top 40 during ’83. Listen to this, then the aircheck from later in 1983 to get a feel for where the station was going.

Our friend Ken Gilbert sent in another goodie! WDRC (Big D, as it was affectionately known) was, by 1983, primarilly an Oldies station. This wasn’t some cheap imitation of an FM, however… as tape restorian Paul DiMarco (who provided the original copy to Ken Gilbert) wrote:

I know times have changed but this is (absurd) !!!
I’d listen to this type of radio before anything else on today’s dial….and it’s AM !!!
….not only is the DJ one of the best anywhere…..there’s some great commercial clips of other radio poineers like Friendly Floyd and Steve Skip.

The audio quality on this AM recording is fantastic. This really is a must-listen!

Thumbing through the vast unposted tape collection here at the Airchexx studios we stumbled upon this vintage scope of Doug Tract, AKA The Greaseman at WPOP Hartford toward the end of both his tenure and WPOP’s days as a music station before it became an all-news outlet. This is so rare, in fact, I think there is only one aircheck of Greaseman on WPOP on the web aside from this one.

This is a first generation tape which sounds very much like it came right out of the studio skimmer. The only editing done here is your webmaster took the silence out of where the skimmer stopped recording when the mic cut off and back on. The BAD part of this recording is that the first part of each word is cut off, probably due to a delay in the remote relay on the tape machine.

I will tell you that unless you were in Hartford and heard Greaseman in 1975 you will barely recognize him here, as this is not the irreverent guy one might remember from DC-101 or his syndicated program. Its very odd to hear him talking over intros, playing jingles or doing local radio… its really a WOW moment!

Part one of this four-part series starts in the 5 O’Clock hour as DRC-FM brings back a voice from the past! Jerry Kristaffer was the morning host at Big-D back in the early 80s, coming originally from WKCI KC-101… Kristaffer at that time had taken the reigns of morning drive from Brad Davis, who back in those days simulcast mornings on both 102.9 FM and 1360 AM. This time, Kristaffer is taking over for “Cadillac” John Saville.

Listen for two full newscasts, traffic, weather, cancellations (there’s snow and ice in the area on this day) and a wide variety of oldies (scoped) from the 60s – 80s.

…”Good morning, what’s your addiction?”

We profile this Hartford CT morning show now, where the main topic is prescription drug addiction. The topic starter is steroid use in sports but moves on. Also, Harry Potter, and more.

It’s the only morning show featuring FAMILY VALUES (chuckle)… 106.9 WCCC – The Rock!

Program Director Paul Cannon launches this ‘new’ incarnation of WTIC-FM with a few words, and a produced history lesson. “The Rap is gone. Forever.”

Today, CBS Radio O&O WTIC-FM shares the same building with it’s AM counterpart, dinosaur WTIC AM 1080, Lite 100.5 WRCH and a few others. The station…. pretty much your typical Hot AC now, and FAR from it’s CHR glory days.

For those who remember (and even those who don’t or don’t care to), here’s what it sounded like over a dozen years ago from the Insurance Capital of the World….

Courtesy of Peter Q. George from Massachusetts. Thanks, Pete!

We’re thinking of the world’s most rhyming DJ these days along with plenty of fans hoping Bill Lee as he is known on the air today find another radio home soon. Now, more from late-70s Hot Hits! ™ era WTIC-FM Hartford, courtesy of Steve McVie!

We’re sad to hear that Bill (Lenke) Lee was let go from longtime home 103.5 WKTU New York recently. Lee has always been one of our favorites, and no doubt he’ll wind up somewhere very soon. (hopefully somewhere in the Northeast!).

Meanwhile, back to a happier time, at least for all of us as Bill uses his REAL name at 96-Tics, the Mike Josephs consulted Hot Hits! ™ formatted top 40 that got the ball rolling on hit music on the FM band all those years ago.

Lee was the slammin’ night man on TIC-FM during some of the best of the top 40 years and he never misses a beat. From here, Lee went on to KFRC and some of the best radio ever heard anywhere before eventually ending up in the Big Apple and WKTU.

…it’s so hot today, I saw a chicken plucking itself

“Hitman” Bobby McGee…. did he work at any other New England radio stations? Well, no matter. Here’s another great Hot Hits! ™ jock who fit in perfectly with Mike Josephs’ Hartford format affiliate!

Know any La-Hues? Tell em to call TIC-FM to win! (Okay, you have to listen to the aircheck)

More Lee Roberts, who was a staple of the early Hot Hits! ™ sound of WTIC-FM in the late 70s. You’ll love the music, but it’s the formatics that always got me! And the most unique set of jingles (made, of course, by TM Century) heard anywhere!

Thanks again to Steve McVie, who has amassed a huge collection of Hot Hits! ™ station airchecks at his site, www.stevemcvie.com! Please visit, and be sure to tell him you found out about it right here at airchexx.com!

Thanks to Steve McVie out on Cape Cod, one of my all-time favorite stations. Mike Josephs “Hot Hits” ™ formatted CHR WTIC-FM. There are a number of “Hot Hits” stations profiled here and at other web sites, but none quite capture the engergy and creativity of TIC-FM.

Prior to flipping to Top 40 in 1977, WTIC-FM was a Classical station – the FM sister station to one of America’s original 50kw AM stations WTIC 1080. When it flipped, TIC-FM was an immediate ratings winner.

Lee Roberts was heard on WAVZ and WKCI New Haven prior to moving to WTIC-FM.

Back to 1990 and Robin King who is doing ‘Love Lines’ on Hartford’s ‘other’ CHR, Kiss 95.7. This opens with a very long string of callers – long even by 1990 standards. Then it moves into the hits as the night show gets fully underway.

Another from Robyn Watts’ collection.

Courtesy once again of Robyn Watts’ massive collection, we bring you this awesome clip of A.J. doing the night show on CHR 96 TIC-FM. This is apparently only a couple of years before the station would go Hot AC, but it definitely SLAMS! Once again, check out the great Ernie Anderson IDs!

Click HERE to Listen!

Another from this massive new collection given to us from Robyn Watts: Hartford CHR Wars 1.

This features alternating airchecks from WTIC-FM and WKSS 95.7 Kiss FM spanning from December 1991 through February 1992. Talk about a couple of hot CHR stations!

We’re trying something new this week. You can listen to the complete hour and 22 minute aircheck all the way through, or start at the point you wish using the links below. If the individual links don’t work on your machine, please email us so we can investigate the problem – like I said, trying some new coding this week.

Click HERE for the complete aircheck!

8:25.90 – Jay Beau Jones on 95.7 Kiss FM

19:14.56 – Dana Lundon on 96-TIC-FM

38:16.63 – Robin King on 95.7 Kiss FM

40:18.65 – Learjet on 96-TIC-FM

54:02.47 – Michael Mays on 95.7 Kiss FM

1:07:41.15 – Joe Mama on 96-TIC-FM

1:17:09.32 – Paul DeFranco on 96-TIC-FM

And now, ladies and gentlemen… The Robyn Watts Collection!
Just in to the airchexx.com production room is this collection of literally hundreds of airchecks from all over America! Thanks! We’ll be dipping into this collection often (unless Gina, our co-producer goes postal with all the tapes and CD’s laying around our room).

Now, the first of many.

Jeremy Savage started at Kiss-FM way back in the late 80s. I personally first heard Savage when he was on Worcester (Massachusetts) rocker WAAF – calling himself “The Master Blaster – remember, we don’t pronounce our aaaahs up in Mass…. lol.

Savage made the transition from AOR jock to CHR very well. Here he is with some, er, adult material on the Kiss 95.7 morning show. It’s presented here in low-fidelity Stereo, so all can enjoy!

Click HERE to Listen!

This is short, about a minute of each jock.. but several breaks each. Once again, showcasing the unbelievably fast pace that this Mike Josephs’ “Hot Hits” formatted station exhibited. No wonder it was tops in the market!

Click HERE to Listen!