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BEFORE WE CONTINUE…
It costs money to build a museum. Fees here, fees there. This month is no exception. Won’t you please contribute a bit to help us with our archival efforts? Every bit counts!
Thank you!
The real competition here was with crosstown 68 WRKO. Signal wise, WMEX didn’t have a chance. But they gave it their best shot and that’s what WMEX is remembered fondly for… a format that still sounds great, hearing again all these years later!
Russ Oasis writes:
This was recorded in 1972. I was using the name Rick Williams. We battled WRKO and during this regime, we never beat them, John Garabedian, before us had beaten them briefly and as soon as he exited, this regime came in. As you can hear, the station is a bit old fashioned compared to the clean and tight sound of WRKO (although this period on 1972 was not one of their best, either). I was constantly trying to tell the management of WMEX that our presentation was square and that we needed to tighten up (as well as get rid of the talk show in the overnight slot). Eventually, they got sick of hearing it from me and it was time for me to move on. Both this and the WRKO composite were recorded at the same time. Compare them to see what I mean.
Heard in this composite, in order:
We’re not sure about the origins of the jingles, but somebody knows. Heller, perhaps?
This aircheck was scoped and processed at the source by contributor Russ Oasis. He did a very good job of bringing WMEX back to life. Be sure to thank him in your comments!
Interestingly, I jumped ship as a listener from 1510 directly to Stereo 105. I was a big fan of personality Top 40 radio and just couldn’t connect to WRKO then, except for Dale. John H., Bud Ballou, Dale Dorman were my top favorite DJs from that era and remain.