Our feature presentation this week returns us to our 99X archives, where we have a brand new Al Bandiero tape from 12/7/77! This is a powerhouse aircheck… the station is overflowing with excitement. Its an amazing listen, if you’ve got the time!

Exactly 3 years ago today, this was the sound on KIIS-FM. Valentine may no longer be with the station but the high energy remains today! Courtesy of Chris Beckhouse.

It seems that every week we get new contributors of original recordings - here’s one from Chris Johnson, the General Manager of Apex Broadcasting in Charleston, SC. Chris did his share of recording “back in the day”, and dug up this very short scope of Tim Griffin on the legendary WBBF Rochester. While at almost 3 minutes one barely gets time to enjoy this, it does give one a feel for AM top 40 in a smaller market like Rochester. Thanks, Chris!

Moving on to the deep South of Savannah GA, we return to 1993 and the night show on WZAT with Dr. Dave. This is what CHR is all about… Countdowns, Contests & Callers. We really like this one… Sparingly-used jingles, good produced liners, and, ahem, dead segues! All in all, a really great Top 40 station… albeit at the end of it’s CHR rope as the station would flip to Alternative shortly after this recording was made.

Who said there aren’t many new Dan Ingram tapes out there? Contributor Ray Bozzanca has done it again, sending us a near-perfect recording of Big Dan on a 1950s weekend. Its a winter aircheck recorded going back to 1992… Full reverb and all!

Here’s another, again from 1992…

Back to the era where Country was KING! Right in the middle of what we’ll call the Garth Brooks era, here’s a bit of KFGO “Moose Country 102″ in Fargo, ND. No logo available anywhere, as apparently this station flipped to Rock sometime after this aircheck was recorded… it’s now Classic Rock KRWK.

Like so many radio stations that’ll flip to Chrismas music formats this month, we’re getting ready for the big day by opening up the Airchexx CafePress store. Why not treat yourself to a new coffee cup, hoodie or coaster emblazed with our original logo!

We’re looking for ORIGINAL recordings - if you have something of interest you’d like to share with the world, please email the webmaster

It don’t get any better than this!

By the way, for those interested, Al Bandiero maintains his own website. You won’t believe the career he’s had… and your webmaster thought he was just a WKBW jock back when I was just 16 years old!

This is my oldest air check of WBBF Rochester. Recorded on a Christmas holdiay break from college I began recording Rochester radio airchecks to take back to school to share with my fellow college radio station friends. This check is of mid-day jock Tim Griffin doing a Sunday afternoon shift in 1972. It was recorded the Sunday after New Years … you can hear his comment about “a little bit belated” after the “Happy New Year’s” jingle. Griffin is one of my all time favorite jocks … when I was first on air he is who I fashioned my “style” after.

Scoped, classic commercials left intact.

Wanna puke? March of 2008, WZAT’s longtime Z-102 name was replaced with “Mix 102-1″. Yuck. I don’t know about you listeners, but I truly HATE the “Mix” monniker.

Another from contributor Ray Bozzanca

Its a 1950s weekend, something WCBS-FM doesn’t do anymore with their core music now the late 60s into the 70s, but man does it sound GOOD!. You’ll hear plenty of old fashioned reverb on the WCBS-FM signal, and Ingram is in good form on this recording. He’s the king of one-liners and it stands out so much here! It’s a Wintry day with a big snowstorm about to hit New York… Can you guess the EXACT date? Hint: Listen to the commercials (at least the ones not edited out).

Thanks to those who posted comments about this aircheck (below), we stand corrected - this was erroneously described as being on WNBC - an assumption made due to the fact that Summer wrote in his notes along with the airchecks that there were some WNBC airchecks, the fact that the tracks weren’t labelled and the recording sounded like an AM station… so it was just a guess on my part. As my kids would say, my bad…

Dick has his own website: www.dicksummer.com, where visitors can order many of his “Loving Touch” CDs, which carry on the theme of his 1960s and 70s radio program on WBZ. Dick is also a pilot and owns his own airplane, which he’s quite proud of and loves flying…

Just found this site. Thank you for the memories.

Its great to have Dick Summer among the thousands of others who have found and enjoy Airchexx.com!

Contributor Alan Vesely describes how this recording came about:

When I was 15, back in the summer of 1966, my folks moved into the house they still call home in Manitowoc, WI. My Dad took the single car garage that came with the property, cut it in half, stretched it out and made a double garage out of it. He helped me insulate the attic, put in a kerosene heater and make a little den for myself. My buddies and I, lacking imaginatioin as we prepared to enter our sophmore year in high school, named the place the Wisconson Club, after the local beer we were drinking at the time. Over the next seven years, through high school and college, I spent most of my summer nights there.

The wee hours were spent listening to Dick Summer apply the Loving Touch on WBZ. From this distance I cannot recollect why, but one night I hit the record button on my Teac reel to reel. Dick Summer begins by soliciting calls from naysayers. Dick Summer took three calls. They had nothing nay to say. I think you’ll agree, these conversations captured the essence of what the Loving Touch was all about.

After the second caller, I turned the recorder off, but not the radio. When I heard the third caller, the most extraordinary of all, I regreted my haste. I hit the record button once more and caught the rest of the show.

As bad as the world sometimes seems to be, you just know it’s at least a tad bit better because these folks were, and I hope still are, in it.

Thanks Mr. Summer.