Longtime Contributor Steve Bleecker returns with a new look into some long forgotten personalities. Included in his latest tape, is this early FM Top 40 screamer Tom Birch. This was high energy you’d find on the AM dial – and little wonder, in 1974, this is the way Top 40 really DID sound, and it was mostly on the AM side of radio!
Mr. Bleecker writes:
Tom Birch writes “It was great to be part of the team that made Y100 the Most Listened to station in South Florida, AND the ICON for Great Radio in the 1970’s !”
***Tom’s Most Memorable Moment” : “Awarding a listener from Homestead Air Force Base $24,999…IN CASH ! This was the FIRST winner in the “Know What’s In It and Win It” Cash Call contest !”
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My Personal THANKS to RADIO’S “Best Man”, LARRY WHITE , for Special Delivery of THIS GEM to me…then onto Mr. West !
Had to be later than 1974 with all that 1975 stuff but not sure exactly when……….JJ
Jeffey, I’d place this tape somewhere in the summer of ’75, owing to most of the songs.
It’s no surprise why Y100 was number one in South Beach in the 70s Tom sounds great and the music mix was on the money. If any station was to attempt this today they’d beat a lot of today’s music stations. Thanks for the post.
Actually, this aircheck was from ’75, as at least two of the songs “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” and “I’m not in Love” were released well into ’75. Still good music though; beats the crap out of what passes for music today.
I wish I could put a radio and recorder into a time machine and bring back several days worth of this programming. Sadly even oldies stations these days jumble up several years/decades at time rather than trying to duplicate the programming you might hear on just one day on a single top-40 station back then. I would really enjoy listening to a station that would take the playlist of random days back in the 1970’s and 1980’s and play the day straight through.
I was 12 in 1974 and remember that as a fun summer. Surprisingly the only song I did not hear on this check is “The Night Chicago Died” which was played around every 20 minutes on the New York City stations that summer. I am guessing this aircheck was made earlier in the year before it topped the charts.
Another thing, we’re about the same age. I was 11 in the summer of ’74; 12 in ’75.
Thanks to Larry White, Steve Bleeker and Steve West for sharing. I’ve not heard a Tom Birch Y100 aircheck in years and didn’t know there was one in circulation until Bleek brought it to my attention.
And, Steve West, this is my first experience with Airchexx.com. Great site! I’ll be surfing it!
Steve West . . . please note that this aircheck was from 1975 (not 1974) . . . Jarl Mohn (then known as Lee Masters – the founder of E! Entertainment and present CEO of National Public Radio) and Dave Dunaway “shared the chair” in 1974. I replaced Dave in February 1975 when Dave moved to AM drive (replacing Bill Tanner, who was elevated to run 13Q/Pittsburgh and Y100 from Pittsburgh).
This was actually the summer of 1975…I was working at crosstown WFUN and this incredible station destroyed us in the ratings. What I would not do to have great radio like this today. Miami radio was soooo great! Rest in peace Don Wright and Bradford Baad, my mentors.
This aircheck was dated 1974, but “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” and “I’m not in Love” charted well into 1975. Really takes me back, though. I was 11 and 12 years old when this aircheck was made. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
The contributor just today told me it was from ’75. The aircheck came in undated and I erroneously made an uneducated guess based upon most of the music. You’re right, Gary.
Whoa ! Awesome…this tape just released to the Public 3 days Ago …and LOOK at All the Response…VERY NICE, Everyone…Thanks…and, yea…of course, THIS one especially worthy of HEAVY RATINGS ! Tom…RATINGS !!
Anytime I heard Y100 live or on tape, it was a fun station. Love the joy!
Greatest station ever !