Station: 1460 WAXC Rochester, New York
Featured Air Talent: Robert Craig Savage, Tom Birch, The Greaseman, Larry White
Contributor: Steve Bleecker
Date of Contribution: 08.09.2016
Aircheck Entry: 1,431
Comments:
“That record is a thing of beauty, that oughtta be made out of sterling silver instead of black plastic”
Here’s a great example of a relatively low powered, Medium Market city station that dared to be GREAT! This starts out with Morning Man Robert Craig Savage and then moves through the broadcast day, albeit a bit choppy, but we’ve cleaned up the breaks a bit. Indeed, how could a little AM station in 1974 sound this good? The audio is clean, so clean, in fact, it sounds as if it came from the studio skimmer machine or from reel. Contributor Steve Bleecker can probably tell us where this came from.
A few of these guys really made their mark in the radio business after WAXC – including Tom Birch, and Doug Tracht, AKA The Greaseman.
Many thanks to Contributor Steve Bleecker for this long-overdue aircheck!
I lived in Rochester from ’64-’66 and WAXC had not come on the scene yet. it was still boring, lackluster old “retirement radio” WHEC 1460. WBBF 950 had not yet been taken over and cleaned up by LIN Broadcasting yet. it was still owned by the Forman family and played the hits even though the daytime jocks sounded like old men who talked too much and played tons of commercials. I visited Rochester a few years later and couldn’t believe how good those 2 stations sounded. fresh talent as well as ‘BBFs best DJ Larry White jumping ship to WAXC.
Does anyone have any recordings from WQXI , Atlanta , Georgia…..around 1965 or so??? Patrick Aliushes Hughs….
Thanks Randy Underwood
This is one of the aircheck cassettes that LARRY WHITE sent to me about 3 years ago…sent me his entire collection !! He’s a GREAT Human ! In answer to where this “came from”, it was recorded on the station’s Magnecorder reel to reel machine, always mounted in the On-Air studio, both in the original WAXC Studio (WHEC Bldg. 191 East Ave, Rochester, N.Y., since demolished) , and then, in our On- Air studio, after our “around the corner” move to 50 Chestnut Plaza, 4th floor (?). WAXC was the first major competition to WBBF, Rochester, Lin Broadcasting Co., but WAXC’s days were numbered, after much of the station’s money was lost (stolen) by one of the owners. TRAGIC ! WAXC spawned the careers of so many … yet WAXC’s days were, sadly, so few. (1972-1978). WAXC morphed into 3WG in ’78 (?), again with LARRY WHITE at the helm of Programming…also short lived…and later… going “religious”.
Growing up in Rochester -in the shadows of the transmitters of 4 Rochester radio stations…(we lived within 2 miles of WBBF, WHEC, WVET/WROC, WSAY) it was predetermined that I had to work in radio. WAXC was my 4th radio stop (after WSAY, WLEA-Hornell, WENE-Endicott/Binghamton) and one of the most fun. Those on the aircheck, and names like Ray Quinn, Dave Slade, Don Ryan, Ferdinand J. Smith, Chuck Hill, Richard Funke, Wayne Fuller, Jim “No Toads” Rafte, CC Matthews and of course Steve Bleecker helped make it a special place. We had a great engineering staff too – Frank Scheidt was Chief, Gary Warren, Mark Rienzo, Al Gordon (best board op in the world) and the ever-juiced Ted Purves, John McCurdy, Bob Kruppenbacher, Bill Kasperkoski and others helped us get those hits flogged. When I started at WAXC, Larry put me in 6-10, until we all realized how Greaseman would help us on an earlier shift. I moved from 10-1, and “Grease” did the early shift (rightfully so). I got to move up when he moved on to Washington DC. We had a great group of people. After doing this for awhile you find that it’s nearly impossible to keep a staff like this together. It’s a shame that we couldn’t keep it going. Our 5kw signal wasn’t great at 1460, but we did kick some Flower City Booty. (I think that’s ME on the “jock” promo . . )
Ahh yes, the great memories. I grew up in Rochester in the 60s and 70s. Graduated Jefferson High in ’74, the year of this recording. WAXC was a great station, being the first (in my memory, at least) to seriously challenge WBBF for listeners. I wonder how many people realize that in 1974 AM radio was the dominant format. FM was not yet even standard in many vehicles; we had to buy an FM converter and find a place under the dash to install it. No CDs yet, let alone digital; the fight was between eight tracks (man, did they suck) and cassettes, which mostly also had to be bought separately and mounted under the dash. Eastman Kodak and Xerox were the biggest employers in town, employing thousands and thousands in the Rochester area. Both companies were world class organizations at the time. Today they are both as dead as AM radio. They seem to be having a race to the bottom; last one out please turn out the lights.
Life goes on, but the memories live forever. WAXC is one of those fond memories of a bygone era. Thanks for sharing.
Sooooo coool. I worked at both WBBF and WAXC in 1971 to 73 – a kid 15-17 years old. I wasn’t on the air, but took the request calls and tallied them for the top 20 every week. I remember all of these guys and still have contact with Larry White. For awhile in the late 80s/early 90s I lived in DC and heard The Greaseman down there. Anyway, great to hear this flash from the past – up the back stairway at WHEC on on East Ave… Great times.
I’m looking to make a YouTube video with radio checks from 1970s WAXC and WBBF of Rochester,NY with old pictures.The problem is I need the air checks? Help?
I would contact Steve Bleecker, who is one of our contributors. He has some. We can’t let our archives get out into the public domain at youtube, since thieves are notorious for converting youtube videos to mp3 and spreading them all over the web. I’m sure you can understand that.
Steve,I understand.I would make video with no mention of the radio stations in the discribtion.It would not come out on a search.I plan on making video of my old neighborhood with the background audio.
Steve,I’m looking for mid 70s,preferably 1975 air checks from Rochester,NY stations WBBF & WAXC.
Great post! In the 70s AM Radio was the hit.I’m looking for mid 70s air checks from Rochester,NY stations WBBF & WAXC.Help?
Steve,looking for mid 70s air checks from Rochester,NY radio stations WBBF & WAXC.Preferably 1975.About 25 minutes worth.
Ron, I won’t give out aircheck files, as they diminish the integrity of this website. This is to discourage copying our files and sharing all around the world. Honestly, YouTube videos are easily converted and copied and what’s on Airchexx.com stays on Airchexx.com.
Sorry for the inconvenience.