QuickChexx: Dave Thompson, 98.7 WXLO “99X” New York | 1975

98.7 New York WXLO WOR-FM WRKS WEPN ESPN 99X Kiss-FM

Dave Thompson is the subject of this short clip of 99X during a time when RKO’s FM station was beginning to apply serious pressure to ratings king WABC. It would take four more years and a different station to knock off 77 Radio but one of the early major players was this station.

WXLO, here, is two years into its 99X format, having flipped from the sleepier, but still Top 40 WOR-FM. It is probably the closest thing RKO had to its then evolving AM Top 40, personality driven format on FM. Could this have been done like this, on FM, in another city? Perhaps Miami or L.A.. But there’s no underestimating the importance of 99X during the formative years of FM’s rise to radio dominance. Here’s why.

98.7 New York WXLO WOR-FM WRKS WEPN ESPN 99X Kiss-FM

Credits
Airchexx.com gratefully thanks Contributor Steve Bleecker for donating this high-quality aircheck to the archives. Mr. Bleecker in turn would like to thank Andy Kitchen for providing him with tape decks, reel to reel machines, etc., in order that he could master the tapes he sent in to us. And, finally, Steve Bleecker and Airchexx wish to thank Mr. Henry Frick, whose efforts in recording this aircheck and many others like it are ultimately the reason this recording is in our archive to begin with. Or, to put it in Contributor Steve Bleecker’s own words,

“I need to Publicly say “Thanks Much” to Mr. Henry Frick, who is now retired, and living with his wife of many years, in Ft. Worth Texas. Before his long and Successful Career in Railroading…Henry and I were Curry College Buddies in Milton, Mass., and so many of the tapes I now have been able to share were given to me many years ago…and were painstakingly recorded by Henry, either while he was at school, in Milton, or in Greenwich, Conn., at his parent’s home. So…we are so Very Grateful, Henry ! Thank You !”

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