Recording Date: 1973 (Exact Date Unknown)
Station: 95.5 WPLJ (WABC-FM) New York (Wikipedia) (Website)
Branded: “Rock ‘N Stereo”
Format: Freeform Album Rock
Ownership: The American Broadcasting Company / ABC (Current:) Cumulus Media
Sister Stations: 770 WABC/WABC-TV 7 (Current:) 770 WABC/WABC-TV 7/94.7 WNSH/103.9 WMBN
Featured Air Personality: Dick Summer (WBZ/WPLJ/WNBC/WYNY/others)
Contributor: Big Apple Airchecks
Total Time: 12:25 (Telescoped)
#1,576
If you’re 90 years old this Spring and you’re getting married, I suggest you be very careful…
Curator’s Notes:
If you’ve never heard the beginnings of Freeform Album Rock, this will be quite a shock. There’s almost no trace of any real ‘hard’ rock here. Plenty of album cuts and one very familiar pop tune. Dick Summer talks between almost every record.
This features a full newscast from American FM Radio, ABC’s news network for it’s FM radio stations. This ‘cast is anchored by Bill Owen. It opens with a telling story of consideration being given to kicking Israel out of the U.N. for it’s attack on Beirut, Lebanon. The reporter is Peter Jennings. This should narrow the broadcast date down a bit.
I think there are many surprises here, considering just a couple of years later, this would be considered the hardest Rocking station in NYC.
There’s a bit of tape hiss, and a bit of added compression through a faux Orban processor to make this sound a lot better than it did. And don’t quit listening when you hear Airchexx and Big Apple Airchecks imaging in places here – it’s only added for security and our branding.
Other Dick Summer airchecks that you may enjoy:
Dick Summer & the Nightlite Show, WBZ Radio 103 Boston | August, 1964
Dick Summer; “Mouth vs Ear”, 97.1 WYNY New York | January 1979
Dick Summer, “New York 97” WYNY (97.1) | 1979
It would’ve had to be sometime after March 30, 1973, as that was the date given for Jane Fonda’s speech. Also, she was hanged in effigy on a college campus. Hard to see that happening to a liberal nowadays. Also, WABC-TV is no longer co-owned with WABC-AM and WPLJ. The TV station is owned by The Disney Company, while the radio stations are owned by Cumulus Media. Some of the songs played here surprised me, as I thought ‘PLJ was strictly hard rock by that time. Thanks for the ‘check.
Also, it should be WNBM, not WMBN. WNBM is in Bronxville, NY, and is indeed 103.9. I looked up 103.9 FM at Wikipedia, and got my info from there.
Yea Gary. Fat fingers lol. You caught that before me.
This one was fairly easy to date. I’m gonna date this as Friday April 13, 1973. The aircheck refers to an Israeli raid on Beirut which took place on April 10th, reference in the newscast refers to the raid “on Tuesday”, and the talk of the weather looking ahead refers to the weekend. Finally, the promo for the “In Concert” show refers to “tonight”. The show aired on Friday nights on ABC-TV
Jay is correct—this is from Friday, April 13, 1973. The promo for “In Concert” is the clue.