Airchexx.com

A live, AM music station in 1995? You better believe it! There were a few scattered about in the years immediately before Telcom ’96 ruined everything, and this one is very unique. Who ever heard of an oldies station that played ALL the hits? By that, I mean everything from Dean Martin and Doris Day to the Buckinghams and more! This station wasn’t shy about playing something that had a rock guitar in it back to back with a Standard vocal from the non-Rock (or Pre-Rock) era!

Our contributor, Ray Bozzanca checks in with a description…

My radio friend Bill Houston fills in for Dean Anthony, an ad for Windows 95 and Walter Cronkites 20th Century is featured (on this aircheck).

Contributor Ray Bozzanca says this is his friend Bill Houston – Ray is heard at the front of this aircheck on the phone with Houston during this 1992 broadcast. Ray writes:

…at the beginning of this aircheck I pretended to be a caller named Bob, like you the first time you D-Jayed I was nervous as hell! I was more interested in technical workings behind the scene of radio than on-air,but later in 1998 Bill got me as the so called side kick for the internet but I did get over my on air shyness so to speak.

He’s right on about the shyness.. your webmaster’s first day on the air, way back in 1980 scared me out of my wits! Anyway, this is WLNG, pretty much an institution for decades from Sag Harbor out in Eastern Long Island. Enjoy!

Not knowing much about this particular clip, I’ll simply describe it as something Contributor Matt Seinberg just sent in as an Airchexx Exclusive. Sure, its a week after Labor Day, but this modern day Top 40 station really sounds quite different 26 years ago doing nothing but Oldies. Thanks Matt!

Just received today in time for posting is this recording of the August ’06 WLNG Sag Harbor NY Jock Reunion! Sent in by ‘LNG alumn Tony Marzocco, here’s what some call “The Original Time Capsule”. Most everything you would want or need to know about this still-broadcasting antique is available online, as is their live stream. www.wlng.com.

It’s an amazing listen, as jingles from all the great eras of PAMS are heard… including resings of classics from WABC, WNBC and others around the country… How they fit Drake, ABC, Q and all the great formatics done over the years in a station heavy on local news and weather and deejays that span four decades is just amazing… but somehow it works.

Listen now… Bob Shannon does the intro, then you’ll hear a few of the old jocks spinning wax, as they used to say… the way it was back in the day, on WLNG!

And we thought nobody was doing radio like this anymore!

Contributor Mike Erickson sent this along on a CD with two home recorded WCBS-FM airchecks that we’ll be featuring starting June 3. This is real, honest-to-goodness Oldies radio done right! And, it’s not done by a station owned by some large corporation, no, this station is owned by Sachem Central School District Holbrook (according to Radio-Locator.com anyway) out on Long Island.

Mike didn’t say and we’re not sure if this is the regular station format or a specialty show, but it sure SOUNDS real. Somebody really remembers classic top 40 radio. And Mike’s a pretty good jock, too!

We included this on airchexx.com, among other things, to show how Oldies radio SHOULD sound (at least we think). Not that it matters much, with most Oldies stations going the way of the dinosaur. Still, for those who remember, this will sound good to your ears!

Thanks, Mike, for sharing!

Okay, this one is so short I should call it a ‘lightning check’! Courtesy of Frank Ellsworth, who said he found a 1 minute aircheck and emailed it to us, here’s a short look at the morning show on WBAB “Long Island”, as they ID’d themselves for years. Nick Sarames (one of our esteemed contributors) says this might not be the morning show… listen for youself then read and participate in the comments section. Pat Traverse is the in-studio guest!

(UPDATED) Here’s Pam Merly heard back in the days of the ‘old’ progressive rock WLIR. Yes, a bit subdued, but that’s the way AOR was done. Notice that in ’78, AOR was NOT all hard rock, but a true representation of great rock artists and cuts off their albums that didn’t get played on top 40 radio. This format truly was great, unlike today’s 200-song playlist Classic Rock format.

Pam Merly, we hear, can be heard on SiriusXM Deep Tracks – Check her out if you have Satellite radio.

Here’s the only aircheck we have for you from WBAB. Their legal was, for many years, WBAB “Long Island”… well not really the legal, since they did mention their COL as Babylon, but the regional coverage of the station was their domanant sales tool. Not quite NYC, WBAB was THE rock station (and still is, albeit Classic Rock these days) for the whole LI area.

This is a classic representation of AOR radio in the late 70s.

Click HERE to Listen!