Just when you thought you’d heard all the KHJ airchecks avaliable, comes this new, right off the original reel recording of Johnny Williams, then, the great Robert W. Morgan on 93/KHJ!
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This stands out for a couple of reasons. First, this is a very crisp recording made with a typical AM receiver back in ’68. Note how wide-banded this is (almost too much top end). With less electronic gizmos and gadgets in our lives back then, plus an AM bandwidth that was 13khz wide per FCC regs at the time, you get a much cleaner sound out of your AM receiver.
Next, the music. In addition to the popular hits of the day, there are some rarities that most will either not remember or will have one of those ‘oh wow’ moments. Listen for KHJ 20/20 news in its entirety, and some wonderful, memorable commercial jingles (the one for Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum really stands out!). And, of course, the Johnny Mann singers bring those wonderful 93/KHJ jingles into our headphones. This is a really great aircheck!
You bet this IS a really great aircheck. Please never stop bringing us the best of the best examples of radio that will never be topped. Mike, Missoula, Montana.
This is great air check and Michael is right never stop bringing us the best of the best examples of radio that will never be topped I miss Robert W. Morgan and I love the Johnny Mann singers and the Jingles
What a great air check. It brings back so many great memories growing up in LA listing to KHJ “Boss Radio” and Robert W. Morgan. KHJ and Robert W. Morgan are so much a fabric of LA radio,there will never be anything like them again.
Thank YOU…Steve West ! Thank You…Thank You…and SOOOOO Many Thanks from all of us
Drake fanatics !!!
I LOVE J. Paul Hudleston (from a strictly business perspective, of course) but I would seriously like to know how one of the residents exploded. And what the h–l is a Tarpolian?? Something like a Mongolian? Robert W. seems a little tightly wound. In ’69 he Morganizaed himself and that fixed it. GREAT aircheck! Thanks.
Would love to hear more really miss those days
“Crisp”? “Almost too much top end”? No, just a receiver that wasn’t tuned properly before “record” was pushed. Thankfully it clears up by the time we get to Robert W. Morgan. It’s still technically problematic. KHJ sounded WAY better than this.
The date on this would be May 8-14, 1968…the week the Dionne Warwick record was hitbound. KHJ celebrated its birthday for the entire month of May each year.
Early RWM airchecks (before mid-late ’68) are fairly rare, so most people have forgotten or never knew that Morgan was “tightly wound” for the first few years. It was after the RFK assassination that he took a breath and backed off a bit. And in ’69, following a failed 60-day strike intended to land a raise and an incident with the LAPD where he found himself at gunpoint on the way to work, the grouchy, irascible Morgan most people remember really jelled.
As for J. Paul, obviously he should have said “when one of the houses exploded”…and he mispronounced “tarpaulin”…which we’d just call a “tarp”.
Correction: The date for this would be May 15. Giveaway is the newscast and the story about the primary elections.
Great to hear this aircheck. About J. Paul Huddleston using the word, tarpolian, that’s the long name for tarp. I think in that case I would have used the long word as well.
This air check has to be 1969 if the birthday promo says more in year number four!
I stand corrected. It is 1968 as the newscast confirms.
Steve:
What’s the year before your first birthday?
Year one.
So for KHJ, year one was May 1965-May 1966.
Year two was May 1966-May 1967.
Year three was May 1967-May 1968.
And year four….
May 1968-May 1969.
By my measurement,
1965 to 1966 = year 1
1966 to 1967 = year 2
1967 to 1968 = year 3
1968 to 1969 = year 4
but that’s just me.
This is so awesome! I would kill to go back to the 60s in Southern California (I was born in ’79) and actually witness first hand the top notch way KHJ ruled the airwaves. Morgan and Steele are simply the masters of their craft, then and now. Thanks for sharing this as I can’t find enough!!
I had the pleasure and privilege of sitting in the KHJ control room with Robert W. Morgan during the last hour of his show on a Saturday just six months after BOSS RADIO was launched (Nov 1965) I was just 15 years-old! We remained friends and I ended up working afternoons at a radio station he owned in Tuscon, AZ in 1978/1979. (KHYT)
At time mark 21:10 the announcer for the Pan Am commercial sounds a lot like Hal Linden of Barney Miller fame. I did a search on his background and he apparently did do voice work in the 1960’s but whether or not this is him I do not know. If not, it is a very good impression! Dietrich!
Date of aircheck is May 8, 1968 – the newscast references the Washington DC primary (which was held on May 7) as having taken place the previous day. Also, the baseball scores given are from May 7.
I revisited this great May 1968 Robert W. Morgan air check. I can’t believe how great this air check is. I graduated from high school in June 1968 can’t believe it has been almost 55 years ago. It brings back so many great memories. Loved hearing all the old commercials. Robert W. Morgan & KHJ were the gold standard of radio.