Sometimes there’s very little that can be said to describe a particular aircheck. So it is with this brief look at Q93, a CHR station that apparently is still in operation as a hit music station today.

This came to us on an unmarked cassette recorded on Maxell UR tape. Even listening all the way through, the jock doesn’t mention his name, the stopset is all national/brand spots with no identifying material to actually tell us what market… but they do mention Louisiana, and so a search of Q93 Louisiana gave us the call letters at least.

Perhaps someone can identify the jock and this station better. Your comments on this aircheck are greatly appreciated.

I hate to call this ‘sloppy’, but there are numerous pauses between elements in this format. It sounds as if WTIX-FM is using one of those old fashioned reel-to-reel automation systems that had a bit of a lag at times when switching from one reel, or cart machine to another. Either way, this was recorded before computer automation and it’s associated ability to allow production folks to make gawd-awful, effects laden sweepers that run between every song these days. Yes, there are plenty of dead segues here, and that’s nice to hear.

Listen for old WTIX (AM) jingles, a playlist that’s literally all over the place, and a full network newscast from Doug O’Brien (WNBC, WINS).

What can be more unique than a Blues station? How about one on AM, with ABC Information News & the late Paul Harvey. This sounds more like a local, full service station than a major market station, but perhaps that was what it was supposed to be.

This is the station that started out as an old-line NBC affiliate, WDSU. It was an important station in New Orleans back in the day, but at this point in time, after several call letter and format changes including CHR and News/Talk, a very popular Blues format was evolving. It was a good run, lasting until 2002 when owner Clear Channel Communications flipped it to All-Sports. Its now a Gospel station.

Enjoy this little AM station remembering it for what it was, just before consolidation and jockless formats. A nice, local sounding station serving a special community. One full newscast and Paul Harvey report included!

One of Matt over at Big Apple Airchecks’ good friends “in the biz” is Allan Beebe, who is heard here back in 1972 on KNOE, one of those northeast Louisiana stations that was originally an AM only but added FM service shortly after signing on. This station was started by Louisiana Governor James A. Noe, Sr., back in the early 50s… so the station had been around awhile.

Beebe would go on to greatness at such stations as 91X in San Diego, 66 WNBC New York, and elsewhere. Interestingly enough Beebe actually says his FIRST name on this aircheck. At other stations, he simply would introduce himself as “I am Beebe”.

Enjoy this, another historic broadcast brought to you via the services of Matt over at Big Aple Airchecks in New York – Thanks!

Back in happier times in the Big Easy… Nick Bazoo. The name may not be familiar to those of us outside this market but the voice sure sounds familiar. This is short but a very high-intensity presentation in a tightly scoped aircheck. Talk about hot CHR! This will take you way back to the days when Pat Benatar was on Top 40 radio!

And… it’s Mardi Gras time – so party on with Nick Bazoo on B-97!

They don’t say their names, but this is a funny break from the WYAT morning show… funny because they play the Contours a second time (someone forgot to remove the already played cart!), then the whole show goes downhill from there! Talkabout screwing up your concentration!

You get one break, worth about 2 and a half minutes of the “other” Oldies station. Yeah, and WTIX was Oldies too. What were they thinking?

We know very little about this station except that from research it appears that the AM flipped to Christian programming at some time after this recording.

This sounds like an Urban AC formatted station. Someone who remembers may be able to better fill us in on the details. We did manage to find a station logo… on the side of a station van pictured below.

Here’s an 8 minute helping of the Ed Clancy Show on WTIX. Now, this is not from the Top 40 era, but they did play music as this was the station’s Oldies incarnation. Not bad for it’s time, and Ed Clancy is very entertaining, but with the big FMs doing music better than TIX can at this point, it’s just a matter of time, as they say.

What an amazing staff this station had! Listening to WTIX from Memphis, Tennessee was just about unheard of due to the station’s night pattern but the evening that Katrina rolled in, they stayed on their daytime pattern using an emergency broadcasting rule that the FCC has on the books. These guys were the last stations on the air in New Orleans and stayed till the roof caved in and water destroyed the studios. Most of the full time airstaff who didn’t evacuate was there, and did an unbelievable job. As we used to say in the Navy…. Bravo Zulu!

(Comments by Steve West)

Remember back in the days when WRNO transmit (sometimes) a simulcast of its FM rock station on Shortwave? I still remember the frequency. 15.420 Megahertz. Sometimes Hard Rock, sometimes Top 40 (I heard Casey Casem on it one time), sometimes religion especially towards the end of it’s life, and for about a year, the home of Rush limbaugh.

Anyway, this is not about the shortwave station, although it’s from the FM – SW simulcast era. It’s about the early Classic (active?) Rock era at 99.5 FM in the Cresent City. Today, WRNO IS Classic Rock and is owned by Clear Channel Communications. The Oldies days are long gone, and so is the Shortwave station.

This is short, about 4 and a half minutes, which technically makes it an official Airchexx.com QUICKCHECK… but it should remind everyone of the radio heritage that was in New Orleans for so many years!! And, check out the (way out of place but sounding good anyway) 70s era Top 40 jingles this station used infrequently. I always wondered if that was for the benefit of the Shortwave listeners or what???!!!

Man there was some good radio in Nawleans! Listening to this recording, you notice the JAM jingles which were in common use at so many CHR stations. You also hear Cammie McCormick doing sidekick/news duties (she went on to be a CBS radio news anchor), and a promo done by our site friend Alan Beebe!

All was well back in ’87 – and if you’re from the area, take a listen (if you’re not, listen anyway!). It’ll bring back some happy memories from before last year’s hurricane took it all away.

One of the reasons Airchexx.com exists is to chronicle broadcasts of an historic nature. There may be none more memorable in American history than the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

On this aircheck, WWL is in it’s second week broadcasting under the collective umbrella of parent company Entercom Communications, LLC and Clear Channel New Orleans (click HERE for a sample TOH ID) – operating in a limited partnership arrangement called “United Broadcasters of New Orleans“. The studios are located in Baton Rouge, LA. Virtually every broadcasting facility in the New Orleans area was destroyed in the hurricane, and the programming on WWL is being simulcast over the few remaining radio stations still broadcasting in the area – broadcasting with a transmitter on emergency power with no studios available to originate content.

As demonstrated on this aircheck, WWL / United Broadcasters are virtually the only communication for the people who are left stranded in the desolate New Orleans area. Its an example of the power of radio (AM in particular) that can get the word out when all other media fails.

This aircheck is intended for education and historical purposes and not to upset victims of the Hurricane Katrina. It’s our hope that future visitors to our site will listen to this and understand that with respect to radio, this is exactly what the FCC means by radio broadcasting in the public interest.

While we wait for other audio samples to arrive from various sources, it’s important to note that this aircheck, recorded via DX from Memphis, TN between 3 and 5 AM on the morning the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast, may be one of only a handful available. To my knowledge, there were actually few stations left on the air by the time the storm made landfall – those include Entercom’s 870 WWL and WTIX 690 (which was broadcasting using it’s normal daytime pattern all night until the station was destroyed sometime during the storm).

This aircheck will be difficult to listen to. There’s a tremendous amount of white noise on the signal. I set this to record before I went to work, and when I set up the delayed timer to start at 3am, MPB was coming in very well. By 3am, atmospheric conditions had reduced the signal to barely audible. So, this is a hard to hear catch that we did – but sometimes for historical purposes this is important to preserve… so here we have it for you.