WCOP was an early Top 40 competitor in Boston. In 1961 there wasn’t much competition for the format, WBZ 1030 certainly, but it would be a few years before WMEX and WRKO would chime in with their own brands. WBZ would ditch Top 40 in the mid-60s for MOR and nighttime talk.
On this aircheck, we hear Bud Kelly, a very capable announcer during his show sometime in 1961. It’s one of our oldest airchecks, and likely one of the rarest available anywhere on the web. It’s a great example of how radio was done at the dawn of the Top 40 era.
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My dad is Bud Kelly, he is still on the air in San Jose California KLIV am. He has been on the air for 57 years. This was really exciting to find.
Growing up as A BABY BOOMER IN YOUNGSTOWN,OHIO HAS BEEN FUN. IN MY EARLY YEARS, I LISTENED TO WHOT AM/FM , WFMJ-AM AND LATER ON, Y-103,WYFM, IN SHARON,PA.–IN THIS AREA(OHIO),THE BROADCAST PIONEERS ARE (DT)DICK THOMPSON AND JOHNNY KAY WHO ARE NOW BROADCASTING ON AM-600,WSOM.—I REALLY ENJOY LISTENING TO MY OLD RADIO AIRCHECKS.–BUT YES, CLASSIC RADIO WAS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE 1960′S AND 1970′S.–WHOT AM/FM AIRCHECKS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND FOR THE 1970′S AND IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND FOR THE 1960′S.–WHEN WFMJ- AM LEFT THE RADIO AIRWAVES, I DON’T KNOW, BUT THE TELEVISION STATION IS STILL AROUND.——-JOHN
David,
Your dad is Bud Kelly. Is that the Bud Kelly who worked at WCFL Chicago in 1980? That one did sports for my morning show. I’d like to contact him.
Jim Bohannon
Westwood Radio
Washington, DC
According to information from baseball-reference.com, the date of this aircheck is Monday, May 1, 1961.
Bud Kelly was an instructor for a school I attended in San Jose called Ron Bailie School of Broadcasting back in the early eighties.
The school was a ripoff, but Bud was a quality guy who told me if I ever decided to sue the school for my tuition he would testify on my behalf. I quit the school, did not pay, it went bankrupt and I never heard from them again. Thank you Bud for your support.
My Dad is Bud Kelly and on Friday June 6th, 2008 he retired from broadcasting from KLIV. This was his 60th year on the air. It is good to know that some one remembers him. He is still a quality guy and looking forward to less time talking and more time relaxing.
I can recall listening to Bud Kelly on WBBM FM in Chicago during the early pop rock days(1967-1970).He hosted a show called “The Young sound”. I still remember the theme song.I was a teenager at this time and didn’t have a clue of where I was headed in life.I was lost.Bud’s show made life a whole lot easier to swallow and I want to thank him for that.
I am unable to play this aircheck. What program do I need to open this with?
The WCOP studios at the time of this air check (5/1/61) were located at the transmitter site off route 2A in Lexington. I visited another ‘COP long time air personality at the time, Tom Evans, there. He was a good friend of Bud’s and they would continually play jokes on one another– a favorite of Tom’s was to soap up the door handle leading into the studio (control room) so Bud would have a really hard time opening the door– always seconds before he was do to go back on the air after completing a bathroom break! Bud and Tom are class guys who are a credit to the broadcasting profession– I wish them both all the best!
John Fama – You must have Quicktime installed on your computer in order to hear this aircheck. We’re toying with the idea of using a different player, but frankly I just don’t have time to go back and re-encode every aircheck on the site to a new player, so whatever it is will be comparable to what we have now.
Hope that helps
As a kid from Chicago, i remmber him as a announcer for WFLD-TV Channel 32 telling what was commimg up next for the next program.
I graduated from Ron Bailie School of Broadcast in 1980 which was a rip-off because after I grauated, I was never able to find a job in radio because the school was no longer recognized as being accredited due to fraud in the case of Ron Bailie, Nada Bailey and Terri Bailie. Can anyone give me information on re-entering the braodcasting world.