“Swingin’ With The Good Guys…”
The BMR show with the Big Bad Bear! WMCA was in heated competition with WABC during this time, and the station was captializing on the Beatles as much as anyone. Listen for the announcement of the Beatles arriving in a few days at Kennedy Airport. WMCA had hoped to be the exclusive Beatles station, but as history records, WABC got most of the attention. But you can hear the excitement that WMCA was generating. There are lots of Beatles records on the air here. Listen for plenty of WMCA jingles, and that irritating reverb-on-demand button, that got used way too often.
WMCA is playing “Name It And Claim It” as one of their main contests. Listen for the WMCA countdown, ranking the songs by listener’s votes. Was it really listener votes or did they make that up? It sure sounds authentic.
This is just over 8 minutes of one of the best recordings from 1964 I can remember posting. Audio quality is amazing, right off the source reel – definitely ear candy for those who remember early 60s WMCA!
Two things. This aircheck’s been out there for many years, & I seem to recall it being from August 4, not July 31. Not 100% sure on that. And the arrival at Kennedy Airport that Ed refers to is BMR, returning from his trip to hang with the Beatles in England. Great to hear it again! MCA was my station as a kid.
Don, I know it’s been traded… I have it here on a cassette donated several years ago that I just got around to posting. The date on the tape says 7/31/64. It could be wrong I’ll have to ask the guy who donated it. Still a great sounding aircheck.
High energy Ed Baer.Nice change of pace from his regular Sunday shift.Don Davis on all-night show about 6 months before Dean Anthony took over slot.
Murray the K on WINS was the jock I most associated with Beatlemania, which, of course, was the way Murray wanted it.
I did go back and forth between Fabulous 57 and 1010 WINS at this time (6th grade) and, unlike most of my peers, never really warmed up to top rated WABC, with its squeaky tight playlist.
His name is B. Mitchel (not Mitchell) Reed.
From :50 to :52 is how WMCA would sound beginning a year later–only this time the reverb (as opposed to the literal echo heard earlier in this aircheck) was not on demand!
I meant, “…only by then, the reverb (as opposed to the literal echo heard earlier in this air check) would not be on demand!”.