95.5 WPGC
Composite: WPGC FM & AM Morningside MD (Washington) | May, 1979
Here’s one sure to give you goosebumps! If ever there was a Top 40 station recording that epitomized the best of the AM top 40 era, it is THIS! Here’s a composite featuring all the elements that made radio great. It starts with Lee Logan on WPGC “Stereo 95” with tickets for listeners to see Pablo Cruise at Kings Dominion (amusement park). Lee is not only the night jock here, but just full of personality, sports scores and more. Of note, Logan plays a new album cut from Carly Simon, as the station apparently tests new music at night (who does THAT anymore?). There’s plenty of Disco music and lots of commercials from the music labels peddling new Albums. Included in the first segment is a great editorial piece called “Soundoff”, where listener letter...
Composite: 95.5 WPGC-FM Morningside | 1980-1981
Date(s) of Recording(s): Various Contributor(s):Matt Seinberg (Big Apple Airchecks); Lee Chambers (WPGC Tribute Site) Station: 95.5 WPGC-FM Morningside MD Featured Jock(s): Don Bishop, Max Wolf & Don Geronimo Aircheck Entry: #1,839 Comments: This Composite is actually four very short airchecks put together to form one decent composite representing the overall sound of WPGC in the early 80s before the station dropped Top 40 for Urban. Don Bishop is the first jock heard, his portion runs less than two minutes. Next, Max Wolf, who says two lines in about a minute, then two different recordings of Don Geronimo. The last two almost sound seamless, but you’ll figure it out when you hear Geronimo talking about getting up early, then playing two oldies! (and that’s how scary it go...
QuickChexx – Don Geronimo (First Show), WPGC AM & FM Morningside | Fall, 1979
Date of Recording (Approximately): Fall, 1979 Contributor(s):Lee Chambers (WPGC Tribute Site); Matt Seinberg (Big Apple Airchecks) Station(s): WPGC (AM) 1580 / WPGC-FM 95.5 Morningside, Maryland Format: Top 40 Featured Jock:Don Geronimo Aircheck Entry: #1,837 Comments: The file name reads “Don Geronimo’s First Show” – Well, we can only assume so, as this recording (which was mastered to a CD) came in short but at least made it intact and in high quality. Honestly, I’ve never heard an aircheck from Don Geronimo that I didn’t like. Funny, sometimes over-the-top and definitely a smart-ass, the Don Geronimo show, according to the write up on Lee Chambers’ WPGC Tribute Site (//amandfmmorningside.com), turned sagging ratings at WPGC around, and star...
QuickChexx: Waylon Richards, 95.5 WPGC-FM Morningside | February, 1979
Date of Recording (Approximately): February, 1979 Station: WPGC-FM 95.5 Morningside, Maryland Format: Top 40 Featured Jock: Waylon Richards Aircheck Entry: #1,836 Comments: Here is a very short recording of WPGC as heard during the night show when the AM was off the air. We’ve never heard of Waylon Richards before, but he sure does fit the format very well! This “QuickChexx” is part of a larger composite donated to airchexx by Big Apple Airchecks. Owner Matt Seinberg LOVES to trade tapes, and if you have something unique, by all means go to bigappleairchecks.com and see if there’s something you two could trade out.
Steve Michaels; Dan Mason, WPGC FM/AM Morningside MD | November 1978 and December 23, 1978
Date(s) of Recording: November, 1978 & December 23, 1978 Station(s): 1580 WPGC & 95.5 WPGC-FM City of License: Morningside MD, serving Metro Washington DC Format: Top 40 Featured Jock(s): Steve Michaels, Dan Mason Contributor(s): Big Apple Airchecks Lee Chambers Aircheck Entry: 1,383 WPGC FM and AM Morningside! Hello, just after Twelve Noon with Dan Mason and a Blues Brothers album on the way… Comments: Dan Mason – Isn’t he the former CEO, President, etc., of CBS Radio? Well, yes, we sure think so! (Someone out there knows for sure). And here you see how well he fit in to the overall exciting sound of WPGC FM and AM! This is an important aircheck for a number of reasons. Even though this was the Washington DC market, the year was STILL 1978! One could argue that...
Don Geronimo on WPGC Washington DC | 1980
WPGC today is an Urban station, but back in 1980 it was a very hot top 40 station… and on FM no less! Here, Don Geronimo sounds great, after a stint in New York on 99X. He would later end up at WAVA, along with the likes of Tom Kent and Chris Taylor, among others. Click the playlink above if you prefer to listen in Real Audio format, or Click the Arrow to listen using our embedded player. Mobile devices use this link.
Jim Elliot & Don O’Day on WPGC AM & FM Morningside | September 23, 1977
This is Musicradio WPGC! From sometime in the 70s, a really GREAT morning show featuring lots of elements to make you smile. A Gong Show type contest at just before the hour… Dan O’Day and “Choose Your News” (some may remember this feature at WLS Chicago), and more! Overall, this apparently right out-of-the-skimmer tape is fantastic! WPGC would eventually morph into an Urban station in the 80s, but untl then, what an amazing Top 40 station this was!
John Dowling, WPGC AM/FM Morningside (Washington DC) | Sunday, May 27, 1984
Here’s a very different sounding 95 WPGC than the others you’ve heard on this site. By 1984, WPGC, an AM/FM simulcast operation, had completed the transition from Top 40 to Adult Contemporary, and the usual elements you’d find on AC radio are all here. In this 13 minute scope you’ll hear John Dowling (who sounds suspiciously like someone from the old WXLO 99X New York), the *soft* hits of the day like Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias’ “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” (at this point I step in and say… thank GOD this is SCOPED!), recurrent songs from Dan Fogelberg and others, and a real GOLD library – you’ll be amazed to hear Elvis’ live version of “My Way” on WPGC! Lest we not forget the jingles. Never h...
Don Geronimo, 95.5 WPGC-FM Morningside | March 19, 1980 – 6:45 to 7:30 pm
They say its darkest just before the dawn. Or, in this case, the station was hottest just before the end. WPGC would eventually become an Urban Contemporary station and shed it’s longtime Top 40/CHR format as the 80s unfolded. Here, in the first quarter of 1980, Don Geronimo proves that this station cooks just as hot as the best CHR stations of the day! The station is playing the hottest music of the late 1970s, and it’s TRUE VARIETY (not diversity)! Of all things, this aircheck begins with the Captain & Tennile! Yes, its scoped, but you do hear the beginnings and endings. Just some of the titles WPGC has on the evening playlist include Fleetwood Mac, Styx, Bob Seger & the Commodores. We sure wish we could post the unscoped version (maybe someday). Some interesting fa...
Jim Elliot & Scott Woodside, WPGC AM & FM Morningside MD (Washington) | January, 1980
Originally sent in as ‘Washington DC Composite, 1979-1980′, We’ve split this up into separate sections for clarity. This is a great aircheck of WPGC back when they were a REAL Top 40 station. WPGC simulcast much of its broadcast day with its AM sister station. PGC was very personality oriented back in a time when the jocks could pretty much say what they wanted. You’ll hear all the full-service elements that good radio had back in the day; news, weather, sports, traffic… even commentary from the morning jocks! Jingles are from JAM Creative Productions’ “Positron” WABC package as sung for WPGC.
