800 CKLW
Composite: Detroit/Windsor AM/FM | 1974
Date of Recording: 1974 (Exact Date Unknown) Station(s): WHFI/CKLW/CKLW-FM/WNRS/WXYZ/WDRQ/WPAG Format(s): Various Featured Air Personalities: Various Comments: Some airchecks seem to need perpetual work to bring them back to life. This is one of them. First received at our studios in October, 2002, this recording suffers from tape wear and old age. The best we could do was clean up some of the distortion in Adobe Audition and re-post it. Noise reduction would simply reduce the high end frequency response and boosting the high end would bring up the tape noise. The original cassette this came on is in very delicate shape and playing it to re-record is somewhat risky, therefore we worked with the original .wav file. In what should have been part of our “Old Gold” series (this wou...
QuickCheck: “Ted Richards, 800 CKLW (“The Big 8”) Windsor | May 1974
Seals & Crofts are in concert on May 28, The Beach Boys have a new album out, and Teddy Bear Richards counts down the bottom five songs on the CKLW all-time top 500! CKLW today is has a News/Talk format which is programmed entirely for the Canadian audience in Windsor, Ontario. However, in 1974, the hits were aimed straight for the other side of the international border. After all, “Motown” wasn’t just a genre of pop music or a record label, it was everything that encompassed (and what still does) Detroit, Michigan! Since it’s May, and there are still so many fans of The Big 8 and Teddy Bear Richards on both sides of the border, lets have a quick slice of history!
Chuck McKay, CKLW Windsor | February 1975
…”I am a radio star…” If you listen to this closely, you’ll notice that Chuck McKay is returning to CKLW after some time at WLS Chicago (his words). But is this any way to return? He acts like he’s leaving again, and talks about being fired while on the air! This is the classic what not to do in a top 40 format… because the format is trashed 2 minutes into this show! No jingles are heard on this recording, but that is about right, since the Drake days have been over at the Big 8 for some time now. McKay does some name dropping… Byron McGregor, etc… and thanks mom for convincing him to go back to CKLW.
CKLW Windsor/Detroit “Million Dollar Weekend” | 1976
CKLW may have been Canadian, but it was likely the most creative and best station in the RKO chain. It’s also likely that the period of 1970-1976 was probably the height of “The BIG 8”. CKLW was a 50,000 watt music blowtorch covering most of Eastern North America… and it catered to interests in Detroit as well as to it’s own Canadian listeners. Today, however, this is known as “The Information Station” and primarilly serves the Canadian side of the boarder only. If only Canada’s CTRC knew the monster that was created way back when had the power to affect people thousands of miles away… well perhaps they did know. Either way, the CanCon rules enacted in the 70s may have helped Canadian artists, but it did spell doom for CKLW– as th...
Walt ‘Baby’ Love, CKLW, “The Big 8” Windsor (Detroit) | 1970
New from the Mike Raub collection, 6 minutes of Walt Baby Love, heard in 1970 doing the Bill Drake format at The Big 8! Here’s a YOUNG sounding Baby Love, from the years before he would join the cast of WXLO 99X New York.
Darryl B, 800 CKLW Windsor, Ontario | Sometime 1970
Its the heyday of “The Big 8” and the Drake format is alive and well in this 3 minute QuickCheck of CKLW. The Motor City is used as CKLW’s legal ID, and time/temperatures are given for both cities. This is ORIGINAL gold from RKO’s Canadian outlet – heard up and down the eastern seaboard. We don’t remember Darryl B., but he certainly fits in on this “Million Dollar” Weekend! Thanks to contributor Paul Ford in Michigan.
Jack Anthony, 800 CKLW Windsor, Ontario | 1972
Loosely scoped and running about 30 minutes in length, here’s a trip back to 1972 with Jack Anthony on CKLW! Note, of course, the Johnny Mann singers Jingles and Drake formatics! The Drake sound stayed at CKLW for a long time, even longer than at KHJ. You’re listening to Jack Anthony on CKLW – Motor City Rock! One of the great all time Top of the hour announcements. Nothing fake about the voice of Bill Drake himself! Thanks again to contributor Paul Ford for this golden great!
“Super” Max Kinkel, CKLW “The Big 8” Windsor (Ontario) | January 21, 1976
“… on the Money Station, C K L W!!” Six minutes of Motor City madness with Super Max! This is the station once considered the third most listened to station in the world! ‘Super’ Max Kinkel is filling in for Ted ‘The Bear’ Richards, who is with the Bay City Rollers this particular evening and is going to be arriving in the CKLW studios a bit later. Super Max even makes mention of the crowd gathered outside the studio awaiting Ted Richards’ arrival with the band. CKLW is giving away lots of money during here at the start of 1976. In fact, this aircheck starts out with Kinkel giving one lucky listener $50.00 for knowing the right numbers… obviously a great listener! This aircheck ends at 9:06 pm (CKLW time), with Ted Richards arriving in ...
Bob Todd, The Big 8 CKLW Windsor (Detroit) | 1967
It’s said that Bill Drake’s ‘More Music” format arrived at CKLW in 1966. Here’s the Big 8 in all it’s Drake goodness with the formattics intact. Listen to this and imagine a Summer afternoon somewhere in Ontario or Michigan/Northern Indiana/Northwest Ohio… the signal does travel that far! There’s some thunderstorm activity somewhere in the region based upon the static crashes, and this is a daytime signal evident by the lack of fading. Well, this is how CKLW sounded like in it’s prime! This was a monster station, marketed to the U.S. side of the international border, at a time before Canadian Content rules dictated station current playlists. This is a very clean, clear recording. We once again point out the care with which Contributor F...
