Charlie Van Dyke, WRKO Boston | April 6, 1979

… 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 argue that Van Dyke already was legendary, from gigs in Los Angeles (KHJ) and Chicago (WLS), along with being elsewhere in the RKO General chain. Ed Walsh was WRKO’s News Director for a long time, went on to WBZ for a while along with WCBS NewsRadio 88 New York, and Jordan Rich, while never a real meteorologist, ended up as a talk show host, where he’s currently heard on WBZ! Bill Rossi… longtime radio Sports guy!

WRKO was in it’s final full year of Top 40, although nobody knew it yet. Frankly, WRKO never sounded better. Polished and refined, the people gracing the microphones during this time could still be themselves, but the screamers were gone, and the music was some of the best in a decade. Just three years later, it would be all over, as WRKO went to it’s current Talk format.

Listen to the full newscasts. Note the topics… some things never change.

This is an awesome aircheck well worth your 28 minutes!