It seems that Nancy Plum, who has been one of 2020’s bigger contributors, was heard on most of the major Los Angeles stations at one time or another. Here she is again, this time on 710 KMPC during it’s Full-Service, Adult Contemporary format period. This format is described as “Adult Standards” in an article about KMPC on Wikipedia. It may well have been the home of Sinatra and the Big Bands a bit later, but in this 10 minute scope, it is all solid AC fare.
TECHNICAL details
Unlike many of the airchecks we have received here in 2020, this one suffers from a bit of wear, likely due to age. While the overall fidelity is good, the tape ‘gurgles’, especially in the beginning few minutes. Perhaps its time to re-align our tape play heads again? This tape recording came in partially scoped. That is, there are some parts of it, like the first few songs, that play the whole thing. Disappointingly, the report read by Ken Beck in the KMPC Newsroom was edited out. For exhibit purposes this aircheck has been custom scoped down from it’s original nearly 30 minutes to just over 10. I performed some light processing in an attempt to minimize that gurgle sound. It is improved somewhat but only so much can be done when the source recording itself has deteriorated. This *DOES* get much better toward the middle of this aircheck. Well worth your time to listen.
This is in monaural. While AM Stereo was popping up on the East Coast a few years later, the only major station to actually broadcast in C-Quam AM Stereo in the L.A. area was 64 KFI.
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ABOUT THIS AIRCHECK
One of the first things you’ll notice about this is how very laid back the station is. I would describe the format as, “loose”. As in, most of the elements have pauses between them; things like from Nancy Plum’s patter into commercials, or long song fade-outs before the next one or the jingle starts. Some people enjoy this relaxed form or radio. It’s not my cup of tea, but perhaps owner Gene Autry (the Country singer and also owner of the Angels baseball team at the time) was aiming for a certain sound. Laid back this truly IS! And not to take away anything from Nancy Plum, she is an incredibly talented radio personality, and in 1980, was certainly one of those pioneering women in broadcasting.
LISTENING OPTIONS
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