680 AM WRKO
68 WRKO “Blooper Tape, circa 1968-73
For you radio people, how many of you remember sitting down at a staff meeting or a holiday party at some restaurant, and the GM or PD pulled out this tape of bloopers, things nobody was EVER supposed to hear? How many of you can relate to someone producing the master production reel with 500 pieces of splice tape on it and a recording or two of one of the airstaff trying to get a production piece right while a little frustrated… or in the case of after hours production, a little inebriated? Well, there’s nothing quite THAT shocking on this tape, but to hear well known WRKO jocks making ANY mistakes is shocking in itself. Hand here it is, thanks to Contributor Steve Bleecker, the unofficial bloopers tape from WRKO, from sometime around 1968 or so, up to perhaps, 1974? Someone o...
“Exciting” Mike Adams, 68 WRKO Boston | August, 1976
“How ’bout some concert tickets, eh… Caller number NINE...” You’ll love this rather short, but high-energy aircheck of Mike Adams on WRKO during Boston’s Bicentennail celebration in the Summer of 1976! One can’t help but be swept up in the excitement heard on the air on RKO during this time period. For comparison, or perhaps, to illustrate where the entire broadcast chain was during this time, Co-Owned stations WXLO (98.7) New York, 800 CKLW Windsor, Ontario, 560 WHBQ Memphis, 610 KFRC San Francisco and 93 (930) KHJ Los Angeles all had nearly identical formats during this time and really were the industry leaders. All of these RKO stations were in very good shape in 1976, but it would only be a year or two before FM began to seriously impact these ...
New England Radio Composite | April 1980
Curator’s Notes: This composite is a collection of various airchecks of stations in the 6 state New England region. One of the real joys for a radio listener up there is, There are a lot of medium market stations, all within earshot of the major cities of Boston, Hartford, Providence, and, while not technically in New England, Albany NY. If you liked radio in the Northeast, or lived anywhere in the central part of Massachusetts where atmospheric conditions varied so much that one could catch stations from all over New England, this will be a real treat for you! Please consider a generous donation to this website for site support. You won’t find many things available for free on the web these days, so take the time to support your favorite website! Use the Donate button below...
Big Ron O’Brien, Willie B & Tom Murphy; 68 WRKO Boston | November 30, 1978
Six O’Clock on your cruise through the ozone with Big Ron O’Brien… Curator’s Notes: A full, daytime scope of WRKO and a few of its iconic personalities are featured here in late 1978. It opens with Big Ron O’Brien, then Willie B., and finally Tom Murphy. In the case of Tom Murphy, this is only the second aircheck featuring him, and listening as I edited the audio, I could swear that this was Harry Nelson! As some would say, however, it’s all in the signal processing. You’ll laugh, listening to Ron O’Brien try to pronounce words in this aircheck where Ron’s having a bit of trouble with his tongue this day! Aside from that, this aircheck roars past at the speed of light! This is a super-tight Top 40 format, true to RKO General form, and t...
New England Composite, October-November 1978
Original Comments: Close your eyes and imagine yourself in Boston. The year is 1978. You start tuning around the radio dial. You start on the AM band, because that’s where your favorite station has been for many years. You stop for a moment at 680. WRKO is still going strong. They call themselves “New England’s Album Station” at this point in time – a slogan that will take a lot of heat by the jocks at WAAF out in suburbia – Worcester. Not that it matters to the folks at WRKO. This is the morning show and you’re listening to Charlie & Harrigan. Open your eyes. Yes, you were dreaming for a few minutes. This is actually a recording. And, thanks to Matt over at Big Apple Airchecks, you’ve got 45 minutes worth of memories to plow through. Th...
World Exclusive! Ron O’Brien, 68 WRKO Boston | September 17, 1978
Recording Date: 09.17.1978 Station: 680 WRKO (WNAC) Boston Format: Top 40 Branded: 68 WRKO – Boston’s Concert Station; Boston’s Super Star Station Featured Air Personality: Ron O’Brien (Real Name: Richard Walls; October 24, 1951 – April 27, 2008) Contributor: Big Apple Airchecks Total Time: 22:39 Aircheck #1,580 WRKO.. Yes, if I had to pick between loving and fist fights, I’d pick love every time!!… Curator’s Notes: There’s not much I can say to describe this aircheck. You really must listen for yourself. This is probably the best that WRKO ever sounded as a Top 40 station. (All you current WRKO Talk listeners never heard what this station REALLY was like) WRKO simply COOKS! RKO General really knew how to program a tight radio station. And th...
Johnny Dark, 68 WRKO Boston | 1975
Recording Date: Summer, 1975 Station: 680 WRKO (WNAC) Boston Format: Top 40 Branded: “Sixty-Eight R K O” Ownership: RKO General Contributor: Steve Bleecker Featured Air Personality: Johnny Dark Thank you all for your nice comments. It was a great thrill to work at both WRKO and WNNNNBC. I never worked at WCAO. That IS a different JD. I also worked at WYND..WSRF… WSHE..WMYQ..WOKY..WHTT..WMRQ..WFLC..and WKIS. Thank you all again, Johnny Dark (now in Florida) Curator’s Notes: With the benefit of time passing between the original posting of this aircheck and now, a few things can be said. First, the date can be narrowed down to 1975, not 1976. A few people have commented about this recording to help make that determination. Johnny Dark himself found this airchec...
New England Sampler #2 – Composite: 68 WRKO Boston | March 31, 1980
Date of Recording: 03.31.1980 Station: 680 WRKO Boston Format: Top 40 Featured Air Talent: Various. See Description below. Contributor: Big Apple Airchecks Total Time: 6:06 Post Date: 11.30.2017 Airchexx Entry: 1,528 … Presenting Elton John at the Music Hall… This has not been posted elsewhere so THANKS to our contributor! Curator’s Notes: Audio: This came in with very poor audio consistent with a cassette tape that’s had much of it’s oxide coating worn off. Muddy and bottom-heavy (sound wise), I had to do a lot of digital doctoring to make this listenable. It is now, but it’s not quite WRKO… It’s a bit muddy, even after my cleanup efforts. Other than that, this is a GREAT representation of RKO General’s flagship radio station.
Charlie Van Dyke & Company, 68 WRKO Boston | April 6, 1979
Date of Recording: 04.06.1979 Station: 68 WRKO (WNAC) Boston, Massachusetts, USA Format :Top 40 (News/Talk) Featured Air Personality: Charlie Van Dyke (KHJ/WLS) Contributor: Bob Gilmore (bobgilmore.com) Original Post Date: 02.01.2010 Airchexx Entry: 985 Curator’s Notes: This is posted today as part of an overall facelift. Charlie Van Dyke is currently retired and living in Arizona, where he still records occasional voiceovers. Original Comments: Charlie Van Dyke is one of America’s foremost voices, heard on TV, Radio and even in Movie Trailers… but for most of the 70s and 80s, his career was spent behind the mic of some of the best Top 40 stations ever heard. WRKO, by 1979 is feeling the pressure from FM – WVBF, in particular, and unbeknownst to most people, is in i...
Charlie Van Dyke, WRKO Boston | April 6, 1979
Date of Recording: 04.06.1979 Station: 680 WRKO (WNAC) Boston, Massachusetts, USA Format: Top 40 Featured Air Talent: Charlie Van Dyke (jock), Ed Walsh (News), Bill Rossi (Sports), Jordan Rich (Weather) Contributor: Bob Gilmore Date of Posting: 09.18.2017 Total Time: 28:24 (Telescoped) Airchexx Entry: 1,511 … WRKO at Seven Forty-Two. Got Tom Kasano on the phone… thanks for listening and try to stay awake! Curator’s Notes: One of the big movies featured during this time is The Deer Hunter. It’s uncharacteristicly cold for April 6th, temperatures dropping into the 30s, and WRKO is still doing a traditional Top 40 format. That would change in about a year. Who in the world would figure that this cast of misfit radio pros would all go on to legendary status? One could a...
J.J. Jeffrey/Chuck Knapp and the “Top 300 Best of All Time”, 68 WRKO Boston | October 20, 1967
Our good friend Bob Gilmore returns with another fantastic aircheck of old! It seems kind of odd that WRKO, a new station at this point, having flipped to Top 40 from the former WNAC earlier in the year, would be counting down the Top 300 Best of All Time – I mean, the Rock & Roll era only began 12 years prior… but I digress. J.J. Jeffrey starts out counting down the hits from #232 to #230 before handing the reigns to Chuck Knapp. Chuck continues with songs #229 – #220. The recording ends in the middle of a commercial break with Knapp doing a live read for Surf Music. This is CLASSIC Drake Top 40! Cue the Johnny Mann Singers, and the original WRKO Jingles. All the formatics are in place, and the commercial breaks are filled with businesses that no longer exist, or ar...
Mike Addams, 68 WRKO Boston | December 25, 1978
Yes, the disco era is in full swing, and WRKO is doing its part to burn a hole through the genre… but there’s plenty of Rock to be found on this Christmas day 1978. True ’nuff, this is a scoped presentation but you will hear the artist titles, and promotions for picture disk giveaways, concerts and more, with Mike Addams. Notice, there’s no Christmas music? Interesting. It’s just a typical day at the legendary 68 WRKO – this aircheck very representative of the late 70s when we all were in a different state of mind. This ‘check includes a ’60 second news update’ – that’s the way they used to present news from about 1976-1978.
