Back in ’85, I was commuting back and forth every weekend from Norfolk, VA to my hometown in Massachusetts. It was my weekend escape from the Navy, when my ship was actually in port and not underway somewhere.
From about Dover, Delaware up to about midway up the NJTP (about 50 miles from NYC), I had my choice of TWO Philadelphia AOR stations.. 93-3 WMMR and this one, 94 YSP. WMMR was much harder, as I remember, playing more hair band stuff and more Zeppelin, etc. The alternative was to go here to 94 YSP.
I guess in 1985 I was a serious rocker, AM top 40 was completely dead, and for some reason (maybe it was Michael Jackson), I was loathe to listen to CHR for a while. So, this is a good representation of your webmaster’s crazy listening habits for a time from 1984-1987.
The jock doesn’t mention his name but, hey, I had to write some kind of summary!
Dead segues, occasional imaging… that’s what Album Rock USED to be like!
What a great aircheck! this really takes me back, especially hearing the Herman’s Sports jingle again…classic! I also love the mention of the new taste of coke in the Roy Rogers commercial.
. A few things…First, I think the actual date of this check is June 15 1985. There is a commercial that says to come in today for Big saturday. If it was indeedSaturday, the date would have to be June 15. Second, I’m not 100% certain, but I think the jock on the first part of the aircheck is Steve Trevelise. Finally, this aircheck finds WYSP in a period of transition. they had been a classic rock station for several years, but in 1984 they switched to a much harder format — playing lots of new music. Scruff was the morning man, and the other jocks I remember were Killer and tim The Animal. I was 15 years old and absolutely loved the format, but apparently nobody else did because, by the time of this aircheck, they were already softening their sound, and would eventually switch back to classic rock. In fact, when they switched back to classic rock, I remember on a Sunday evening they had a live call-in program with, I believe the Program Director to talk about the new format. I can still remember him saying something like, “Well, for about a year now we’ve been trying to dictate tastes, but now we will reflect tastes.” I can still remember being ticked off at a statement like that, (Remember I was a teenager), because WYSP had been playing so much great new hard rock that no other station was playing, but now they would be playing the same old stuff over and over again.
Thanks so much for sharing this moment frozen in time. That’s why I love this web site.
Cool aircheck. The “Ron Pearlstien discount diamonds” commercial is neat. In 1986, Ron Pearlstien went to jail for cheating almost every customer he sold diamonds to. The format was somewhat cheesy with the “tough” names given to the DJs. Scruff, Killer and Tim the Animal were supposed to be somewhat like the guys you hung around with. Not so. The format was a flop which sent me to WMMR for my rock. Thanks for the cool website. The airchecks bring back a lot of memories.