Apparently recorded from some distance from Evansville, here’s a short recording of a regional Top 40 station in the midwest… at 5,000 watts this is typical of mid to late-70s AM Rockers, and this one leans to the Rock side, with Edgar Winter and Kansas in the hit mix in this ultra-SHORT presentation. Frankly, its quite refreshing to hear an AM station trying its best to kick ass without resorting to the typical bubble gum junk that contributed to the doom of music on the the AM band within the following 5 years of this aircheck.
Loading ...
I was the high school kid that ran “AT-40″, “The National Album Countdown” and “The Wolfman Jack Show” Sunday evenings on WGBF and then ran all the public affairs, religous stuff on Sunday mornings.. Buster came in from 99-WERK/Munice and 13/WIFE in Indy.. Young and talented.. ENVY.. Great guy and Charlie Quinn suggested him to Jim Wood, if I am right? What a sound.. Too bad, I was a punk 17 year old who’d try and bend the rules, every time I could.. But to Jim and Buddy Scott, thank you for allowing me enough time to see how good Top-40 should sound on a regional station.. Though 96-’STO has been in the Evansville-Owensboro lead spot for most of its 28 years as a CHR (100kw-FM), when you listen to this last of the AM era top-40 rocker, you’d be hard pressed to think it was in Evansville and not Louisville, St. Louis or Indy! The former PULSE ratings were the fall book in that era.. Three weeks after going top-40, they did a market call out survey… ‘GBF went from next to last, to #2-12+, #1-12 to 17, #1-18 to 34, 18 to 44, 18 to 49 and #2-25 to 49, #3-25 to 54…. I kept the promotional sheets from the sales department! Metro Radio took the old WIFE guys booking on Burden’s FCC fiasco with WIFE-FM and came down to put on a showcase! I wish there were more air-checks out there from: Jim Wood, Steve O’Bryan, Buddy Scott, Charlie Quinn, “Dirty Harry” Lyles, Dave Denver (Ric Lippencot), Don Geronimo (Yes, that one from DC) and the other greats that came thru in this five year era!