From the late Gary Blau collection provided by Lee Chambers, this 45 minute aircheck in AM Stereo is sure to please everyone who appreciated the state of Top 40 radio in the mid 1980s! This aircheck has a lot of special things to offer… First off, because of the incredibly high quality audio that this recording of WNBC Radio has (Harris, I think this was the Independent Sideband Stereo Modulation that didn’t catch on – someone remembers), I’m offering this one in both a full, unscoped version, a telescoped version as we do with all airchecks here (for those of you who just wanna hear the jock and the elements), and eventually, hopefully very soon when I have time, a video version to post here and on our “Airchexx Classic Radio” YouTube Channel. Visit the link and see what we’ve got on YouTube. And don’t forget to subscribe!
Joel Sebastian was a legendary jock in Chicago – he worked both sides of the river at both WLS and WCFL. He also made a substantial name for himself in Detroit as well, and all that, LONG before being hired to work in the nation’s #1 Radio Market.
In 1985, WNBC was still touting itself as a Top 40, personality oriented hit music station, and this aircheck proves just how awesome the format as done by WNBC sounded. It’s been said that there was a period of time, from around 1981 until the launch of WHTZ Z100 in 1983, that WNBC was, at least in the evenings, the number 1 music station in NYC 12+. That says something about not only the state of the industry but makes a giant statement that personality radio done correctly, could and probably would have extended the useful life of the AM broadcast band for another decade – had not owners and managers thrown in the towel and gone to talk, as WABC did in 1982. But, that’s for a different discussion.
This is a fantastic aircheck and you really should do yourself the favor of listening through, at least ONCE.
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