NY Radio Archive - Aircheck Odds & Ends (original) (raw)
Click any thumbnail for a larger image.
AIRCHECK: Murray the K
WNTA May 9, 1958 (33:25)
"...including the Hill and Gully riders with the Party Dolls, kum-a-laka-chuba and the entire cast from the hush puppy plantation!"
Contributed by Charlie Menut
What a find by Charlie!!! This is a very rare aircheck of Murray the K on WNTA 970AM doing a show from 10:30pm to midnight, just after it changed its call letters from WAAT. WNTA-AM, -FM and a TV station had just been purchased by National Telefilm Associates.
This aircheck is of amazing quality: obviously recorded off the board, not off the air, but even considering that, there's no tape hiss and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday.
But Murray wouldn't stay long (he never seemed to stay anywhere too long). He was on WMCA for about three years before this and by September of 1958, would appear nightly on 1010 WINS, where he'd stay until February 27, 1965, when WINS switched to an all-news format. After leaving WINS, he'd join WOR-FM on October 8, 1966 but would leave in August of 1967 when Bill Drake gained responsiblity for programming the station.
AIRCHECK: "Charles DeGaulle"
WINS & WMGM: Wednesday, May 28, 1958
"WHATTT!!!??"
5 minute version contributed by Mark Jurkiewicz
In late May of 1958, the government of France was near collapse and they asked Charles De Gaulle to return to power. The geniuses at WMGM announced on the air that they were going to attempt to get De Gaulle on the phone and a staffer at WINS heard this. WINS decided to play a trick on WMGM.
We have two versions of this call: 3:20 and 5:00, but there's an even longer version of this recording and one that combines what was going on at WMGM and at WINS that I heard Rick Sklar play at The New School around 1971. Unfortunately, that recording doesn't seem to exist any longer. At the end of that recording, you can hear a one word response on the WMGM side.
[ 
De Gaulle 5:00](audio/WINS%5F19580528%5FDe Gaulle%5FMJ.wav)
AIRCHECK: WMGM 1050 AM becomes WHN
February 28, 1962
Sourced from YouTube
WMGM was one of NYC's Top-40 radio stations, competing with WMCA, WABC-AM and WINS. But in February of 1962, they switched to an MOR format more in vein of WNEW-AM.
AIRCHECK: Rosko on AM Radio
KDIA AM - Dec. 28, 1962
"This is Rosko and we GOTTA go...put a smile on your face, we're blasting off into outer space."
Thanks to contributor "srercrcr" on YouTube, we have this several minutes of Rosko (Bill Mercer) on AM radio in Oakland, CA, almost four years before he joined WOR-FM. Notice the fast pacing.
AIRCHECK: A Scott Muni Montage
WMCA, WABC, WNEW-FM
Contributed by Ken Tullipano
This begins with a humorous bit from WNEW-FM and then has various theme songs and promos and concludes with a short aircheck of Scott Muni sitting in for Ed Baer, probably in 1965, shortly after he left WABC, but before October of 1966, when he joined WOR-FM.
AIRCHECK: Murray the K & Mad Daddy [restored-mono]
WINS - October 19, 1964
Contributed by Rob Frankel on Mixcloud
Contributor Rob Frankel has posted a huge number of restored airchecks in Mixcloud. This is a very high quality aircheck of Murray the K and Mad Daddy on WINS.
AIRCHECK: Jocko Henderson [mono]
WADO - January 1, 1965
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud
Jocko began his broadcasting career at WSID in Baltimore and began Jocko's Rocket Ship Show out of WOV and WADO (1280 AM) in 1953. His shows continued on WDAS, Philadelphia until 1974. In the 1970's he ran for Congress in Pennsylvania and he also made some of the earliest rap records. He could be heard until the 1990's and he died in 2000 after a long illness.
In this edition of this show, we hear a lot of old Doo-Wop and vocal group music of the 1950's.
AIRCHECK: Rosko [restored-mono] (76:45)
1500 KBLA - Feburary 14, 1965
Contributed by Rob Frankel on Mixcloud
RadioMaven77 (Rob) has posted a huge number of restored airchecks in Mixcloud. This is Rosko (Bill Mercer) who is sounding quite upbeat and top-40 aggresive for this first day of a new format doing an afternoon shift. You can hear that they're having a few production problems and the echo level changes, but it's a fun listen. Ton Clay was also a DJ on this station. Eight months later, Rosko would be the nighttime DJ on WOR-FM in NYC.
AIRCHECK: "The Outside" Anniversary Show w/ Steve Post [stereo]
WBAI circa 1966-1967 (74:42)
Sourced from the Internet Archive
Here's something a little different: WBAI air personality Steve Post. This particular excerpt is not from a typical Post show - this appears to be an anniversary show from around 1966, but it's still an interesting experience, filled with mind montages.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale interviews John Zacherley [scoped-mono]
WFUV: October 15, 1966
This is a rare aircheck of a segment of Pete Fornatale's "Campus Caravan" show on WFUV, when he was still a student at Fordham University and three years before he would make his debut on WNEW-FM. While not the pro he would later come to be, it's easy to hear the makings of one radio great interviewing another.
AIRCHECK: Steve Post [mono]
WBAI: April 19, 1969
This is a short aircheck of Steve Post doing his overnight show on WBAI with Ian Whitcomb and Marshall Efron.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale: July 1969 [mono] (49:07)
WFUV: Date unknown
We originally thought this was one of Pete Fornatale's last shows on WFUV before joining WNEW-FM just before the Woodstock festival. Pete spoke less than usual on this edition and I suspected he was already emulating WNEW-FM's pacing. We do hear him beginning about 16 minutes in. He "premieres" Blind Faith's album and note what he says about Clapton.
But Pete's son Peter as well as contributor Ken Tullipano have pointed out that Pete was doing a number on us. This show was recorded years later and was a re-creation of his first show on WNEW-FM, which was on July 24, 1969. He had done this several times in his long radio career.
So hopefully one day we'll find out when this was really from.
EDUCATIONAL: Alison Steele Narrates a Music Appreciation Course [mono]
Circa 1970's (29:21)
contributed by Doctor Potchke on YouTube
This is Alison Steele narrating a course on music appreciation, featuring classic rock 'n roll tracks. We never heard about this before and we don't know if there were multiple discs that extended the music into the 1970's. This was quite unusual for a music course in that era, which usually comprised classical music and perhaps a little bit of folk and possibly the American Songbook.
AIRCHECK: A Radio Sweep from the 1970-1983 [stereo]
WABC-FM/WPLJ, WNEW-FM, WCBS-FM, WPIX-FM, WRVN, WKCR, WLIB, WBAI, WKTU, WBLS (61:)
Contributed by Bob Goodman
This is a really terrific sweep of the radio dial mostly from the 1970's, but also with a few segments from as late as 1983, contributed by Bob Goodman, who hosts the "Whole 'Nuther Thing" radio show. This is really a reminder of just how serious, intelligent, dynamic and exciting 1970's NYC FM radio was. Only about half of the music segments that we hear are ever played by Classic Rock radio stations today. And the DJ's are doing far more than just back announcing records. The attitude seems completely different. We hear familiar voices such as Rosko, Zacherley, Scott Muni, Richard Neer, Jonathan Schwartz and Vin Scelsa, but we also hear Bill Minkin, Les Turpin, Gus Gossert, Tony Pigg, Paul Krimsier and a number of other unidentified voices, almost all of whom sound terrific, We also hear a bit from WBAI and some college stations.
In the segments recorded with high audio quality, we hear largely uncompressed, unprocessed audio, especially in the earlier segments and it sounds terrific.
AIRCHECK: Another Radio Sweep from the 1970s
WCBS-FM, WPIX-FM, WXLO, WNBC, WPLJ, WSOU (57:50)
Contributed by Rich Barbato
This is a long sweep of the radio dial during the 1970s of the contemporary and oldies stations. Most of the aircheck segments are from WCBS-FM and WPIX-FM, but we also hear bits of WXLO, WNBC(AM), WPLJ and Seaton Hall's WSOU.
Pt1 (28:52) Pt2 (19:13) Pt3 (9:45)
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale with guest Zacherley [mono]
WFUV: circa September, 1970 [90:00]
Contributed by Peter Fornatale and Thomas Harkins
There's a lot of mystery around this aircheck. We were actually looking for an interview Pete did with Zach in February of 2006. This was located instead. From the events described, the few music tracks played and the fact that Pete wishes Zach a happy birthday, this interview seems to have taken place in late September of 1970.
But by September of 1970, Pete was already full-time at WNEW-FM - he started in 1969 just before the Woodstock festival and started doing the weekday morning show in July of 1970. We don't have an exact date when he started doing the morning show on Satudays but we believe it was in July of 1969, although the weekend schedule changed often. So apparently, Pete still did his Saturday afternoon show on WFUV for a time after starting at WNEW-FM and this interview happened because Pete's car was towed away that morning and he got Zach to drive him to WFUV.
We've also learned that Jay Irwin Rosen and Pat Dawson were in the studio. When Zach says "I don't like him - he has dirty feet", he was referring to Pat Dawson's sandals. Pat would later work at WNEW-FM.
AIRCHECK: Gus Gossert [stereo]
WPIX-FM: circa Sunday, October, 1971 (67:32)
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
Gus Gossert had a Doo-Wop & Oldies show on WPIX-FM on Sunday nights. He took a very mellow, serious approach to the show.
AIRCHECK: Murray the K [mono]
WNBC: Monday, July 3, 1972 (23:52)
WNBC: Tuesday, July 4, 1972 (45:30)
Contributed and partially restored by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
From Murray's July 4th introduction, it sounds like Murray was filling in on this holiday weekend. We don't think he was yet regulalry on WNBC at this time, but he was definitely there on weekends by March of 1974. In 1972, the regular weekday lineup comprised of Don Imus, Big Wilson, Jim Scott and Marv Albert's Sportsline until midnight. (We're not sure who was on overnights). From August of 1973, the lineup was Imus, Steve O'Brien, Tony Taylor, Wolfman Jack and Gordon Hammett (who was replaced by Dick Summer by March of 1974). Murray takes some phone calls from callers who all sound insane and plays lots of oldies.
AIRCHECK: Bob Dayton [scoped-stereo]
WPIX-FM: airdate: July 27, 1972 [49:18]
Contributed by Rich Barbato
WPIX-FM went through many different formats over the years before it settled as a soft jazz station from 1988 to early 2008. They tried everything from CHR to Alternative. During this time in 1972, it sounded pretty much like a CHR station, but with a very strange mix of pop, soul, rock and country. There's nothing wrong with diversity as long as you play the right songs, but this particular day sounds like a mess. Alice Cooper and Reba McEntire in the same set?
But it was nice to hear Bob Dayton, late of WABC-AM back on the air, although he wasn't doing much more than time, temperature and a few lame one liners. At this point in its evolution, Bob Dayton shared the schedule with Les Marshak still doing Pix Penthouse in the mornings, Dr. Jerry Carroll (of Crazy Eddie commercial fame), Barney Pip, Al Gee and Dennis Quinn. Dayton would be gone by Summer of 1973.
AIRCHECK: Murray the K [mono]
WNBC: Saturday, August 5, 1972 (60:52)
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
The first hour of Murray's Saturday night show from summer 1972. He mentions that he's also working on Sunday from 3-9pm, so he was putting in some long shifts. Lots of oldies, plus some relative currents.
AIRCHECK: Frankie Crocker [stereo]
WBLS: circa September, 1972 (67:49)
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
An interesting aircheck because it opens with a jazz track. The diversity of music programming far exceeded anything being done today on commercial radio. And the pacing is phenomenal!
AIRCHECK: Frankie Crocker & Ken Webb [stereo]
WBLS-FM: airdate: circa 1973-1974 [41:24]
Contributed by Rich Barbato
This aircheck was labeled April 14, 1977, but judging from the movie ads and the released date of the Isaac Hayes album, we believe that this contains various segments from May 1973, from August 29, 1974 and possibly other dates.
The first part of the aircheck contains the great Frankie Crocker, who had also appeared on WWRL, WLIB and WMCA. Crocker became program director of WBLS-FM and for a time, it was the number one station in New York City. He also takes credit for coining the phrase "Urban Contemporary", a term used in radio broadcasting to this day, although when Crocker used the term, it was meant to describe an eclectic mix of music appealing to urban residents.
AIRCHECK: "The Tea House" - Alison Steele with Lou Reed [stereo]
airdate: circa 1973 [3:02]
Contributed by Dan McCue
This piece seems to be sponsored by an organization that encourages people to drink tea, although no organization or sponsor is actually mentioned. Or, perhaps Alison thought it was simply an interesting concept.
In either case, this complete but very short aircheck is of Alison interviewing Lou Reed. We're not sure if this every played on WNEW-FM.
AIRCHECK: Dr. Jerry Carroll [scoped-stereo]
WPIX-FM: circa May 1973 [49:12]
Dr. Jerry Carroll is best known for his Crazy Eddie TV commercials, which he recorded for radio from 1972 and for TV from 1975 to 1990. Jerry joined WPIX-FM from late 1970 when it was a top-40 station, stayed through the Disco era and left around the time the station changed to a Punk/New Wave format. This aircheck, from May of 1973, is from a Sunday evening specialty show that played "Newies". And they didn't seem to care what kind of music a new record was - they played top-40 rock, album rock, country, progressive, pop, etc.
AIRCHECK: Gary Byrd [mono]
WWRL: circa May 1973 (46:52)
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
While we tend to think that by 1973, all the exciting action was on FM radio, there was still a lot happening on AM radio. Here's an example of some great soul attitude and sounds on "the Big RL".
AIRCHECK: Murray the K [scoped-mono]
WNBC: airdate: Saturday, August 4 - Sunday, August 5, 1973 [26:37]
Contributed by Rich Barbato
This aircheck is composed of numerous short segments. Hints on the aircheck seem to indicate that it has segments from both Murray's Saturday and Sunday shows. Wolfman Jack was about to join the station and he makes an appearance. It sounds like he's talking from the control room.
While the production isn't all that great, Murray's show is quite interesting. It sounds like a combination of his WINS "Swinging Soirée" approach and his progressive WOR-FM approach. In addition to his interactions with the Wolfman, there's a great production of Don McLean's "American Pie" interspersed with segments from "Sgt. Pepper", "Sympathy for the Devil", Janis Joplin and other tracks. While this certainly isn't something I'd want to hear all the time, this level of creativity is what drove people to listen to the radio and you never hear anything like it on broadcast radio today, although sometimes you do see such creativity on YouTube.
In our opinion, the way that broadcast radio can fight the flight to downloading and streaming is to bring back this level of creativity and surprise to the radio.
Murray would quit WNBC just six months later over issues of creative freedom.
AIRCHECK: Jim Scott + Wolfman Jack's 1st show [mono] (306:24)
WNBC(AM): Monday, August 6, 1973
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud and originally recorded by Joe Persek.
In August of 1973, Wolfman Jack was hired by WNBC to compete with Cousin' Brucie at WABC. In one of the great marketing pranks of all time, WNBC planted a "tombstone" outside of the WABC office building on 6th Avenue. They also issued thousands of miniature tombstone paperweights that declared "Cousin Brucie is going to be buried by Wolfman Jack." However, the Wolfman didn't beat Morrow and he left WNBC after a year when he was replaced by....Bruce Morrow. Bruce left WABC on August 7, 1974
Wolfman's show begins about 28 minutes in.
AIRCHECK: Jim Quinn [scoped-stereo]
WPIX-FM: Thursday, November 22, 1973 [5:46]
Contributed by Rich Barbato
This is a short aircheck comprised of very short pre-scoped segments of Jim Quinn's show. In our opinion, this top-40 type show doesn't hold up very well today. There's a lot of yelling and endlessly repeated lame jokes. In addition, Quinn keeps doing something that sounds like yodeling. Maybe that would work in Texas, but not in NYC. Because the aircheck was pre-scoped, we don't get to hear too much music. Sorry about that.
According to Wikipedia, Quinn has had an incredibly long radio career, starting at WPGH-TV and at KQV and WIXZ in Pennsylvania in the 1960s, later moving to Philadelphia before coming to NYC. After PIX-FM, he moved to WWKB/WKBW in Buffalo, but later returned to Pittsburgh. After implying in a comedy routine that the station's news director was promiscuous, she sued the station and won on all counts. Quinn credits this incident as inducing his conversion to political conservatism and he started doing conservative talk radio. He got into trouble again after stating that NOW (the National Organization for Women) actually stood for the "National Organization for Whores". His talk show aired on some Clear Channel stations and on XM. Of late, he was heard on WYSL outside of Rochester, NY.
AIRCHECK: National Lampoon Radio Hour [stereo] (61:07)
WRVR(FM): Saturday, December 1, 1973
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
The National Lampoon Radio Hour was a syndicated specialty radio show produced by some of the people associated with the National Lampoon magazine (published from 1970 to 1998, but irregularly after 1984), which evolved out of the Harvard Lampoon and also featured some of the performers and writers who would eventually wind up on Saturday Night Live.
Not necessarily in this edition, but those performers would include John Belushi, Christopher Cerf, Chevy Chase, Rhonda Coulet, Brian Doyle-Murray, Christopher Guest, Tony Hendra, Mark Horowitz, David Hurdon, Bill Murray, Alice Playten, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis and Norman Rose.
In 1978, a "Greatest Hits of the National Lampoon" LP was released on Visa Records featuring tracks previously released as far back as 1972. The first track was "Deteriorata", a satire of a verse that Rosko used to read on-air called "Desiderata" that was originally published in 1927 by Max Ehrmann.
Also note the extreme stereo separation in this broadcast.
AIRCHECK: Frankie Crocker [stereo]
WBLS: circa February, 1974 (23:07)
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker playing 70's soul.
AIRCHECK: Steve Clarke [restored-mono] (73:11)
97 WWDJ: Saturday, March 30, 1974
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
Steve Clark's last show on 97 WWDJ playing mostly Soul music.
AIRCHECK: Murray the K on TV
WABC-TV: May, 1974
This is Murray on WABC-TV's morning show pushing his Sock Hops, which was his version of disco. It's like the 60's never happened. He wasn't a bad dancer though for a 52 year old guy, although he was wearing a terrible hairpiece. Murray had terrific knowledge of music, but note that when he corrects the reporter, he can't remember that it was Big Mama Thornton who originally recorded "Hound Dog".
Bowzer from Sha Na Na also shows up. Note that the segment is almost 15 minutes long. If this were done today, they'd probably be given only 3-4 minutes.
Obviously, there's a copyright issue and YouTube has banned access in the U.S., but we're leaving it up in case it's ever restored and for our fans in other countries.
AIRCHECK: Alison Steele's Nightbird & Company with Brian Auger [scoped-stereo]
airdate: circa 1974
Contributed by Dan McCue
Many of the better DJs were featured on syndicated shows that played across the country (but frequently not in their home market due to contractual restrictions). Many of the air personalities put a great deal of preparation work into these shows even though they mostly played in the off hours, especially graveyard shifts. This one was sponsored by the National Guard.
AIRCHECK: Wolfman Jack [mono]
WNBC(AM): June 29, 1974
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud
Wolfman Jack's last show from his first tenure on WNBC. He would be replaced by Bruce Morrow.
Part 1 (97:59)
Part 2 (130:54)
LIVE CONCERT: Kenny Rankin live @ My Father's Place [stereo]
WLIR: airdate: October 19, 1974
Contributed by Brian Wolfsohn
A great live performance by Kenny Rankin
AIRCHECK: Alison Steele with Robert Fripp [scoped-stereo]
airdate: circa 1975
Contributed by Dan McCue
The first 9 minutes of Alison Steele interviewing Robert Fripp, who introduces the last album by King Crimson.
This is one of Alison's syndicated efforts.
AIRCHECK: Alison Steele's Nightbird & Company with Justin Hayward [scoped-stereo]
airdate: circa 1975
Contributed by Dan McCue
Alison Steele interviews Justin Hayward, formerly of the Moody Blues.
Note how even though Steele introduces herself as the Nightbird, she has a different persona on these interviews as compared with how she sounded on WNEW-FM.
AIRCHECK: Al Brady April Fools Day show [scoped-mono]
660 WNBC: airdate: April 1, 1975
Contributed by Rich Barbato
This show is both intentionally and unintentionally a mess. At first I thought this was a failed early attempt at voice-tracking. But then I looked at the date. The audience didn't get it either.
AIRCHECK: Norm N. Nite with guest Don Imus [scoped-mono]
WNBC: Sunday August 17, 1975 (65:47)
Norm N. Nite, who spent years at WCBS-FM playing Oldies, interviews Don imus.
AIRCHECK: "In Conversation": Nat Hentoff interviews Clive Davis [mono]
WOR-AM: February 10-11, 1976 (56:52)
In Conversation was a syndicated talk show that appeared on hundreds of U.S. radio stations in the 1970's and was produced by Cinema Sound Ltd. In NYC, the show appeared weekday evenings on WOR-AM.
Jazz critic and political columnist Nat Hentoff interviews Clive Davis, former head of Columbia Records and at the time of this interview, head of Arista Records. This is show #367 and #368. The first half is edited (but without introductory theme) and the second half is unedited.
This was from back in the days when AM talk radio actually had intelligent, insightful and entertaining discussions instead of nothing but right-wing anger and nonsense.
AIRCHECK: Dick Summer [scoped-mono]
660 WNBC: airdate: April 4, 1976
Contributed by Rich Barbato
Dick Summer has had a long career in radio and in voice-overs in Boston and on numerous stations in New York City. He was the original morning man at WNEW-FM from July to December of 1968. He did mornings for a short time on WPLJ in 1973 before Jim Kerr took the shift in early 1974. He was on WNBC (AM) from March of 1974 until Bob Pittman took over in September of 1977 and WYNY, which was essentially WNBC-FM, in 1979. In 1983, he could be found early mornings on WPIX-FM weekdays and on Sunday afternoons and by 1985 in mid-mornings. He's also a writer and has written books of poetry and can be heard on numerous commercials. Dick has a pleasant, smoothing voice that lends itself to mornings, overnights and lazy Sunday afternoons.
Here's Dick Summer from April of 1976 on WNBC(AM).
AIRCHECK: Alison Steele's Nightbird & Company with Boston [scoped-stereo]
airdate: circa April 1977
Contributed by Dan McCue
Alison Steele interviews members of the band Boston, shortly after they released their first album.
AIRCHECK: Billy Joel Live in Concert [scoped-stereo]
WLIR: May 6, 1977 (117:19)
Contributed by Brian Wolfsohn
WLIR (FM) broadcast many live local concerts. This concert was recorded on May 6, 1977 and rebroadcast around the Christmas holidays, but we don't know the year of the rebroadcast. WLIR broadcast many past concerts during that week. Part 4 is after the concert and features a bit of air personality Michael Ross.
AIRCHECK: Cousin Brucie's Last Radio Show [scoped-mono]
WNBC-AM: Friday, August 12, 1977 [2:40:40]
Contributed by Rich Barbato
This is Bruce Morrow's last radio show on WNBC-AM, which was about to change format with a new programming team. Bruce made it sound like he was leaving radio completely, but he would eventually join WCBS-FM (from June 1982 until the JACK format started in June of 2005) and soon after its demise, to Sirius Satellite Radio (in 2005). In the meantime, Bruce became a co-owner of half a dozen radio stations and a TV station.
By listening to the show, one would think that Bruce was leaving over issues of creative freedom, but all indications were that he was let go to facilitate the format change. Bruce had joined the station in August of 1974, first in a 6-10pm slot, then moving in December to 10am and eventually back to evenings. Other DJs on the station included Joe McCoy, Walt Baby Love, Dick Summer and Johnny Michaels.
A few weeks after Morrow's departure, Bob Pittman would take over and the lineup would include Ellie Dylan, Johnny Dark, Lee Masters, Alan Beebe, Batt Johnson and Frank Reed. In the Fall of 1979, Don Imus would return to the station and in late Summer of 1982, Howard Stern would join, changing the tone of radio forever.
Personalities appearing on this last show, either in-person or on the phone, included Bobby Wayne, Ted Brown, Don Kirshner, Mel Phillips, Tony Guida, Jack Cafferty, Bob Fitzsimmons, Joe McCoy, Johnny O, Les Marshak, Jack Lacy, Mitch Levy, Paul Sherman, Don Imus, John Bohannon, Bill Rock, Dick Summer, Joe O' Brien and Charlie Warner, among others.
On WINS and WABC-AM, Bruce was an incredible personality who created an amazing anarchic persona and a party atmosphere. He truly created a 'theater of the mind'. On the downside, his over-the-top platitudes and self-importance could be tiresome. But he had and has a very loyal audience with people who have been listening to him for over 50 years.
Being his last show, you'd think there would be tons of old aircheck segments and the like. But aside from re-recorded pop theme songs with Cousin' Brucie lyrics and two segments from his WINS days, there's not much in the way of archival material here - I guess WABC wouldn't let him use anything from his tenure there. WNBC was a full-service radio station, so we do get to hear extensive news, which is quite interesting (we cut out most of the weather reports). There seems to be a ton of spots, so one wonders why they felt the need to change formats, although in 1977, WABC-AM was still winning, so maybe WNBC felt they had to differentiate.
Pt.1(31:37) Pt.2(29:50) Pt.3(31:59) Pt.4(30:43) Pt.5(36:31)
AIRCHECK: Alison Steele's Nightbird & Company with Neil Sedaka and George Martin [scoped-stereo]
airdate: circa Summer 1977
Contributed by Dan McCue
In 1977, in an attempt to boost his career beyond the revival he had in 1974, Neil Sedaka left Elton John's Rocket Records for Elektra. He issued an album called "A Song", produced by George Martin. The album achieved only moderate success, reaching a peak position on the Billboard charts of 59 and appearing for seven weeks.
Both Sedaka and Beatles' producer George Martin appear in this interview with Steele.
PROMOTION: The Crawdaddy Rock Review
circa Fall 1977
In 1977, Crawdaddy magazine reformulated its syndicated radio show and hired production company Cinema Sound Ltd. to produce a magazine style show with host Pete Fornatale. The show was short-lived: it lasted only 13 weeks, but it contained some marvelous interviews and other bits. This is an early ad for the program, which was sponsored by Discwasher, a company that made LP vinyl cleaning products.
AIRCHECK: The Crawdaddy Rock Review #3 w/Pete Fornatale [stereo]
1st air: October 15, 1977 (51:54)
As noted above, The Crawdaddy Rock Review with host Pete Fornatale was syndicated to many stations across the country.
This is show #3, featuring interviews with Dwight Twilly & Phil Seymour of the Dwight Twilly band and with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. It also features reviews of albums by Nona Hendryx and the Rolling Stones as well as comedy bits from Steve Allen and "Nonsense News". This is a complete show, except for two spots.
This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. It aired on several hundred commercial and non-commercial stations across the U.S. (The Dennis Wilson interview is in part 2).
AIRCHECK: The Crawdaddy Rock Review #4 w/Pete Fornatale [stereo]
1st air: October 22, 1977 (51:29)
This is show #4, featuring interviews with Bee Gee Andy Gibb and Phoebe Snow. It also features reviews of albums by Hirth Martinez and Danny Peck (talk about rarities) as well as comedy bits from Woody Allen and "Nonsense News". This is a complete show, except for two spots.
This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. It aired on several hundred commercial and non-commercial stations across the U.S.
AIRCHECK: The Crawdaddy Rock Review #5 w/Pete Fornatale [stereo]
1st air: October 29, 1977 (52:23)
This is show #5, featuring interviews with Karla Bonoff and George Benson. It also features reviews of albums by Steely Dan and Tom Waits as well as comedy bits from Bob Newhart and "Nonsense News". This is a complete show, except for two spots.
This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. It aired on several hundred commercial and non-commercial stations across the U.S.
AIRCHECK: The Crawdaddy Rock Review #7 w/Pete Fornatale [stereo]
1st air: November 12, 1977 (53:46)
This is show #7, featuring interviews with Mary Kay Place and Dickey Betts. It also features reviews of albums by Joan Armatrading and Randy Newman as well as a comedy segment featuring W.C. Fields and Charlie McCarthy and "Nonsense News". This is a complete show, including the original spots.
This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. It aired on several hundred commercial and non-commercial stations across the U.S.
AIRCHECK: The Crawdaddy Rock Review #12 w/Pete Fornatale [stereo]
1st air: December 17, 1977 (53:42)
This is show #12, featuring interviews with Melissa Manchester and Johnny Winter. It also features reviews of albums by Gentle Giant and Chick Corea as well as comedy bits from Stan Freberg and "Nonsense News". This is a complete show, except for two spots.
This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. It aired on several hundred commercial and non-commercial stations across the U.S.
AIRCHECK: The Crawdaddy Rock Review #13 w/Pete Fornatale [stereo]
1st air: December 24, 1977 (51:57)
This is show #13, featuring interviews with Todd Rundgren and the late comedian David Brenner, who died in March of 2014. It also features reviews of albums from Alan Price (Animals keyboardist) and Earth, Wind & Fire. This is a complete show, except for two spots.
This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. It aired on several hundred commercial and non-commercial stations across the U.S. The David Brenner interview begins Part 2.
AIRCHECK: Alison Steele's "Inside Track"
circa 1979
contributed by Dan McCue
We're guessing at the date. It probably could have been anytime between 1975 and 1980. This was a series of very short interview segments Alison did with various artists for this syndicated feature which was sponsored by the U.S. Army Reserve. Why they thought Alison Steele would be someone who would attract potential candidates for the Reserves is beyond me. I suspect Alison excerpted these from much longer interviews.
We removed the Army spot from all but the last interview and combined the two Jan & Dean segments together for easier listening.
Part 1 contains: Robert Plant, Chuck Mangione, Hall & Oates, Nicolette Larson, Cliff Richard and Jan & Dean.
Part 2 contains: Brian May (Queen), Mickey Thomas (Jefferson Starship), Melissa Manchester, Bev Bevan (ELO), Rupert Holmes, Charlie Daniels and Richie Furay.
AIRCHECK: Jim Kerr [stereo]
WPIX-FM: Monday, February 19, 1979 (30:58)
contributed by Rob Frankel via his Mixcloud postings and sourced from "rambler390"
Jim Kerr is a terrific DJ who has the ability to work any format with his warm and friendly voice. Kerr worked at stations in Michigan and Florida before returning to Detroit and then moving to NYC where he started at WPLJ in March of 1974. He stayed at WPLJ until Spring of 1989, but he left the station for a short time to join WPIX-FM's short lived Punk/New Wave format from around May of 1978 to around March of 1980 before returning. He also did stints at WYNY, WMXV and Y107. As of this writing, he can be heard on WAXQ where he's held down morings with Shelli Sonstein since 2003.
AIRCHECK: Meg Griffin [scoped - stereo]
WPIX-FM: November 1979 (56:52)
contributed by David Weinstein
This is a spectacular aircheck of Meg Griffin on WPIX-FM during its stint as a progressive rock station. She plays a killer set of music. Only Meg could segue The Clash into a very early Beatles track or David Bowie into Hank Ballard and make it work. We also hear from Fingerrprintz, Tom Petty, Dwight Twilley, Neil Young, Donovan, Lou Reed, Mink DeVille and more. This is what great programming was all about and what made radio necessary and fun. Nothing sounds like this today and it doesn't sound the least bit dated because it has so much integrity.
AIRCHECK: A Pete Fornatale Compilation
circa 1980
We actually don't know when this is from. It's a tribute to Pete Fornatale featuring a compilation of segments mostly from his Campus Caravan college show on WFUV before joining WNEW-FM with segments from probably 1966 and 1967. There's also a segment near the end that features Dennis Elsas and Scott Muni that's quite funny.
We believe that this may have been put together by Dennis Elsas to celebrate his friendship with Pete. It was a fitting tribute when it was made, probably 30 years ago, and it's a fitting tribute today. We assume that it was broadcast, but we don't know.
"Rosko recites Desiderata"
circa 1980
contributed by David Weinstein
"You are a child of the universe.
No less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here"
A recording of Rosko reciting Desiderata, which sounds like a hippie feel-good mantra, but was actually written in either 1906 or 1920 (accounts vary) by Max Ehrmann. Radio and TV personality Les Crane (who once hosted a TV talk show debate between free-form and top-40 jocks) recorded it in 1971 on Warner Bros. records where it spent an amazing 12 weeks on the chart and peaked at #8. It also became a popular poster. While this version was recorded for LP, Rosko used to read this on the air from time to time.
In 1971, the National Lampoon satirized the Crane recording with "Deteriorata", featuring voice-over actor Norman Rose backed up by a then little known singer named Melissa Manchester. It was released as a single which peaked at #91 and also appeared on the Radio Dinner album.
Thanks to RJJNY for posting this on YouTube.
AIRCHECK: Alex Bennett [stereo]
WPIX-FM: February 20, 1980 (183:12)
contributed by Rob Frankel on Mixcloud
Alex Bennett started his New York career at WMCA in 1969 when he was 30. He was let go when WMCA acquired the rights to the NY Yankess game broadcasts and he moved to WABC-FM/WPLJ where most people remember him from. In early 1971, he had a morning air shift before moving to nights after Zacherley's shift until 1974 and then moving to weekends, but was let go later that year.
WPIX-FM changed formats often but from around May of 1976 until March of 1980, they had a format that included a lot of Punk and New Wave music and Bennett did a show there during at least part of that era. This is a three-hour sample of his show.
Bennett worked at stations in San Francisco and Miami in thhe 90's before moving to Sirius Satellite Radio from 2004 to 2013. He now hosts a podcast.
AIRCHECK: John DeBella [stereo]
92.7 WLIR-FM: Friday March 27, 1981 (73:11)
contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud
John DeBella hails from Queens, New York. He started his career at WLIR hosting the DeBella Travesty. He was part of WMMR's Morning Zoo. As of this writing, he still has a show on WMGK, a classic rock station that serves Philadelphia.
AIRCHECK: Soupy Sales [scoped-mono]
WNBC(AM): Friday, May 21, 1982 (46:09)
Contributed by Rich Barbato
Soupy Sales (Milton Supman) was born in January of 1926. After serving in the military near the end of WWII, he started performing in nightclubs as a comic, dancer and singer while obtaining his Master's degree in journalism. Sales hosted a number of local shows in the early days of television in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit. By 1955, when he was still in his 20's, he hosted a lunchtime show that was broadcast nationally on ABC and he became known for frequently taking a pie in the face during comedy routines.
Soupy also hosted a nighttime show that featured such jazz greats as Stan Getz, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Joe Messina, who would later become a member of the Motown house band, The Funk Brothers, was a member of Soupy's studio band.
In 1960, Soupy's show emanated from Los Angeles and he also often guest hosted on "The Tonight Show" in the period between Jack Paar and when Johnny Carson took over the show in October of 1962.
Soupy was best known for his New York City daily TV show that ran between 1964 and 1966. 260 episodes were syndicated nationally. This show featured such music groups as the Motown acts The Temptations and The Supremes and stars such as Jerry Lewis, members of the Rat Pack and Judy Garland. Even Frank Sinatra took a pie in the face on this show. The show also featured puppets and characters such as "White Fang" and "Black Tooth".
Soupy was reputed to have told off-color jokes on the air, but he once offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove that had actually been the case. He also once jokingly told kids watching the show to sneak a dollar out of their parents' pockets and send it to him. Alternative versions of the story either have him receiving tens of thousands of dollars or absolutely zero. The network suspended him for two weeks. But it made him even more popular.
In April of 1965, Soupy had a hit single with the novelty song, "The Mouse". While it only peaked nationally at #76, it stayed on the charts for six weeks during the height of Beatlemania and received much radio play. Soupy sang the song on the Ed Sullilvan Show in September of 1965 appearing right before the Beatles.
In the late 1970's, Soupy hosted a new short-lived TV show out of Los Angeles and he was also a popular talk-show guest and game-show panelist appearing on such shows as "What's My Line" and a revival of "To Tell The Truth".
Soupy's radio show on WNBC began in March of 1985 where he did mid-mornings between Don Imus and Howard Stern. Stern and Soupy didn't get along and Stern would 'torture' Soupy on the air. In 2007, Stern claimed to have regrets over how he treated Sales. In March of 1987, after Soupy's contract was not renewed, he ranted on the air about how he had been unfairly treated and was removed from the air.
This aircheck contains a small bit of Soupy's show just two months after it started. In our opinion, Soupy's hesitant speaking style didn't lend itself very well to radio. Soupy was a visual comedian. And while Soupy was a jazz and soul aficionado, he didn't seem to know much about the boring music he was forced to play, which was usually introduced by another member of his "crew". But in spite of that, listening to Soupy was far more fun than listening to your average liner-card reader or hot-talk comic.
Soupy died in 2009 at the age of 83 after battling cancer.
VIDEO: Zacherely from the Vaults, Vol 3 (46.01)
1982-1991
Contributed by anarchivism on The Internet Archive
Here's an interesting collection of various TV appearances by Zacherely. This "reel" contains a pilot for "Don Kirshner's Crazy Nights" from October of 1985, which is incredibly awful; Zach on Joe Bob Briggs show; Zach on TMC's Horror Host Week from October of 1991; the Rick Turner show from February of 1991 and Zach's appearance on The Uncle Floyd Show from 1982. Vincent Price also partakes.
AIRCHECK: WLIR: Vin Scelsa [stereo] (91:01)
Tuesday, November 2, 1982
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud.
This is a rarity: Vin Scelsa as guest DJ on WLIR. Scelsa filled in on the morning show after the departure of John DeBella. He's not allowed to talk a lot, but he still is able to say some interesting things that would appeal to the more culturally aware listeners, such as a reference to the film, "The Last Wave".
AIRCHECK: Meg Griffin - Bob Waugh [stereo] (70:37)
WLIR: Monday, May 14, 1984
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud
WLIR became a progressive rock station on July 1, 1970 and featured Richarad Neer and Mike Harrison, but they left for WNEW-FM in 1971. In August of 1982, Program Director Denis McNamara did what all radio stations should do: differentiate themselves from what other stations (and today, other media) are doing. WLIR did exactly that by emphasizing new wave and punk groups, while WNEW-FM was playing traditional progressive rock - mostly groups who had come of age in the 1960's and 70's and WPLJ was playing only the top AOR hits. WLIR would have records from the UK flown into the U.S. and play them before they were officially released in the U.S. And so for a time, WLIR was the station you went to if you wanted hear the leading edge of music.
. Due to legal issues, the owners of WLIR lost their FCC license in 1987 and Jarad Broadcasting took over ownership and the station became WDRE.
On this aircheck we hear the great Meg Griffin sitting in for Denis McNamara followed by Bob Waugh.
AIRCHECK: Dick Summer [stereo]
WPIX-FM: Wednesday, March 5, 1986 (72:59)
Contributed by Rob Frankel
Dick Summer was heard on many different radio stations, especially in Boston and New York City. He grew up in Brooklyn and attended Fordham University where he broadcast on campus radio station WFUV (where Pete Fornatale would also broadcast from years later). That led to airshifts on WNRC in New Rochelle and WROW in Albany.
In 1957 he found himself at WHNC in New Haven and then at WIBC in Indianapolis followed by WISH and WISH-TV, where he hosted a dance party show. In 1963, he joined WBZ Boston doing overnights.
He did mornings on WNEW-FM from July through December 1968, but right before that, he played standards on WNEW-AM, but was soon replaced by Julius LaRosa. He returned to Boston and joined Top-40 WMEX in May of 1969 as Program Director and in 1971, he returned to WBZ.
In 1972, he returned to NYC and did mornings on WPLJ until 1974. In 1976, he did nights on WNBC(AM). In 1979, he was on nights on WYNY. In 1983, he did overnights on WPIX-FM and in 1984 switched to mornings wher he stayed until about 1988. After that, he concentrated on voice-over work, podcasting and working as a hypnotherapist. This aircheck demonstrates what a great morning man he was. Dick passed away at the age of 89 in May of 2024.
AIRCHECK: Soupy Sales with guest Dan Ingram [scoped-mono]
660 WNBC(AM): November 12, 1986
Contributed by Rich Barbato
Dan Ingram sits in with Soupy and talks about his career, including the giant ratings WABC had achieved, how WABC used wireless microphones to cover the Beatles, his stint with comedian David Brenner, his sort stint at WKTU, the 'Principal of the Year' contest and his work on HBO's "Coming Attractions". This interview is interesting because it covers a lot of ground that I think most people, even radio nerds, have forgotten about Dan Ingram's career.
AIRCHECK: Ruth Brown's "Harlem Hit Parade" (NPR)
[scoped-stereo]
Sunday, January 4, 1987
Contributed by Ken Tullipano
Ruth Brown, who has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was one of the major forces behind the success of Atlantic Records, beginning in 1949 and lasting through the 50's, recording such classics as "Teardrops In My Eyes" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean". She left showbiz in the 1960s, but returned in the mid-70s on a TV sitcom with MacLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H) in "Hello, Larry" and in the film "Hairspray". She hosted NPR's "Harlem Hit Parade" and "BluesStage" for many years. She died in 2006 at the age of 78.
This edition of "Harlem Hit Parade" features Ben E. King, the Drifters, the Heartbreakers and Winnie Brown and includes much music that is virtually never played on the radio anymore, not even on the few so-called Oldies stations that are still around in a few markets.
AIRCHECK: Ruth Brown's "Harlem Hit Parade" (NPR)
[scoped-stereo]
Sunday, January 11, 1987
Contributed by Ken Tullipano
Here's another edition of Harlem Hit Parade, hosted by the performer Ruth Brown, playing more of some very old-school vocal group sounds and R&B.
AIRCHECK: WQHT (Hot 103): Broadway Bill Lee (stereo]
Saturday, January 24, 1987 (45:44)
Contributed by Rob Frankel as RadioMaven77 on Mixcloud
Hot 103, playing what passed for dance music back in the day. Bill Lee also did time on WCBS-FM.
AIRCHECK: Scott Muni's "World of Rock" with The Moody Blues
[scoped-stereo]
airdate: circa May, 1988
Contributed by Dan McCue
This appears to be a raw interview sans music, straight from the board, of Scott Muni interviewing Justin Hayward and John Lodge of Bluejays and The Moody Blues. Note the great audio quality and the fact that the interview was recorded in stereo.
AIRCHECK: Scott Muni's "World of Rock" with Mark Knopfler
[scoped-stereo]
recorded: June 6, 1988
Contributed by Dan McCue
This is another unedited raw interview that Scott Muni conducted for his "World of Rock" syndicated show, this time with Mark Knopfler. At the time of this interview, Knopfler was still leading Dire Straits and had written film scores for "Local Hero" and "Cal".
In this interview, Knopfler talks about Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, the Everly Brothers and his charitable efforts.
AIRCHECK: Mary Thomas [stereo]
WBLS: August 26, 1988 (61:33)
Contributed by Rob Frankel as RadioMaven77 on Mixcloud as originally recorded by Charles Menut
A nice quality aircheck.
AIRCHECK: Ray D'Ariano [mono] (197:06)
WNBC(AM): Thursday, October 6, 1988
Contributed by Rob Frankel via Rob's RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
Ray D'Ariano is a long time NYC radio mainstay, having worked at WNEW-FM's "Finally Fridays" with Dan Neer, at WKTU, as a Promotion Director and writer/performer on the Jay Thomas Show; at WNBC with co-host Soupy Sales and then solo in mid-days for 2 years. He also worked in the record industry having been a VP at MCA Records twice and General Manager of Casablanca/NY. He worked with Kiss, Elton John, The Who, Donna Summer and others and worked with many in radio promoting his artists.
This show was recorded on the last day of WNBC(AM) playing music. It would become Sports WFAN the next day. Ray takes us through a musical history of NYC AM radio and he pays tribute to those who came before him.
AIRCHECK: CBS Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Radio Special [stereo]
CBS Networks: Thursday, January 17, 1991 (180:00)
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud as originally produced by Rob for Radio Today and the CBS Radio Networks and hosted by Cousin Brucie.
Broadcast in conjunction with the 1991 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. That was the sixth induction ceremony. Inductees were LaVern Baker, The Byrds, John Lee Hooker, The Impressions, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Reed and Ike and Tina Turner. Also inducted that year was Howlin' Wolf in the "Early Influences" category, Dave Bartholomew and Ralph Bass in the "Non-performance" category and Nesuhi Ertegun of Atlantic Records receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.
AIRCHECK: Jim Kerr with Pat Prescott [scoped-stereo]
WQCD: January 27, 1997 morning drivetime
Contributed by Rich Barbato
Many people have asked us why we don't have any airchecks from WPIX-FM. It's simply that we don't have any in our archives and no one else has contributed them yet. But this one comes close: WPIX-FM became smooth jazz WQCD in August of 1988 and Jim Kerr had been with the station back in 1978 and 1979. Pat Prescott had been doing morning drive on the station at least as far back as November of 1990. On January 23, 1997, Jim Kerr rejoined the station and shared morning drive with her. This aircheck is from a few days later.
AIRCHECK: Supersnake - Famous Amos [stereo]
WTJM (Jammin' 105) - Friday, September 24, 1999
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on Mixcloud
This aircheck has really terrific fidelty of the relatively short-lived Jammin' Oldies" format on WBIX, which began on December 10, 1998 and changed its call letters to WTJM. Jay Thomas was hired for mornings.
However, it's owner, Chancellor, merged with Capstar Broadcasting in 1999 to form AMFM Inc. In 2000, AMFM Inc. merged with Clear Channel and the station evolved into an urban oldies station and then to an urban comtemporary format. Frankie Blue (who programmed the station) brought in George Wallace to co-host the morning show and that did well, but the station did poorly in other dayparts and the station switched to a mainstream urban format and called itself Power 105 WWPR-FM.
One thing you'll note in this aircheck is that we hardly hear the DJ's.
AIRCHECK: Felix Hernandez's Rhythm Review [scoped-stereo]
WTJM 105: Sunday, March 5, 2000 apprx 8pm (44:31)
Contributed by Rich Barbato
Felix Hernandez has been hosting his "Rhythm Review" R&B and Soul show on WBGO since 1986. It also aired on WTJM 105 Jammin' Oldies from 1999 to 2002 and on 98.7 WRKS from 2002 to 2012.
Felix has been involved in the R&B world for decades. From 1983 to 1985, he travelled the U.S. recording hundreds of hours of interviews with R&B artists, some of which were used in a syndicated NPR documentary called "Harlem Hit Parade". In 1989, he was awarded production grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts to produce a live blues and R&B program. 234 episodes of the program were created, which were hosted by singer Ruth Brown.
And perhaps most well known are the Rhythm Review dance parties, which began in 1991 at the Tramps nightclub and soon moved to Roseland Ballroom to handle the crowd of several thousand dancers. The event was held regularly at Roseland for more than 20 years and monthly editions of the event are still held at other venues as of this writing (March 2015).
The first part of this aircheck contains the end of an interview with Harvey Fuqua, the leader of the Moonglows and a great record producer. That's followed by a countdown from 1972. The second part of the aircheck includes listener requests.
AIRCHECK: WFUV: Pete Fornatale's First Anniversary [stereo]
Saturday, January 26, 2002 (174:54)
This is an almost complete 3-hour show in which Pete dedicated his first anniversary program on WFUV to the theme of radioo.
We hear songs about radio, interviews, actualities, airchecks and more. Included is an interview with Alison Steele and Rosko reading one of Pete Hamill's columns. We also hear the brilliant spots created by Stan Freberg to promote radio.
Pete had a student radio show on WFUV fron 1964 to 1970. After spending decades at WNEW-FM, K-Rock and back to WNEW-FM, he rejoined WFUV on Saturday evenings beginning in January of 2001, which continued until his untimely death in 2012.
AIRCHECK: Scott Muni: Sometime In New York City [scoped-stereo]
September 26, 2002 (40:32)
contributed by David DiSanzo
This is a montage prepared for an event featuring Scott Muni at the Museum of Radio and TV (now the Paley Center for Media) in New York City. It features many highlights from Muni's broadcasting career. Many of these segments can be heard elsewhere on this site, but here they are all together.
Part 3 begins with a short live interview with Scott from the event.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale's Mixed Bag [stereo]
WFUV 90.7: Saturday, March 1, 2003 (164:35)
contributed by Brian Wolfsohn
This show was labeled "March 2", but we think it was really March 1st.
Pete's theme for the show is "Letters of Appreciation". We also hear from Jonathan Schwartz and Mr. Rogers.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale [partial show - scoped - stereo]
WFUV 90.7: Saturday, July 12, 2003 (26:10)
contributed by Dan McCue
Here's a segment of Pete's show of "Loose Ends" - tracks he wanted to play on other shows, but couldn't because of time or other reasons.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale [partial show - scoped - stereo]
WFUV 90.7: August 23, 2003 (44:50)
Pete would dedicate at least one show per year to the theme of radio. This is the last 75 minutes of the show he did in 2003.
Much of the show comprises of interviews DJ Pete Migliore did with Jonathan Schwartz and Pete about the history of progressive rock radio.
There is some distortion on this recording, but it's well worth a listen.
AIRCHECK: John Zacherley [scoped - stereo]
Sirius Disorder Ch 24: October 31, 2004 12:00 midnight
“Sirius Disorder - I have a friend of mine who is in the hospital with that very affliction.”
On Halloween 2004, Zach did a special six-hour show on the Sirius Disorder channel, the channel programmed by Meg Griffin. While Zach probably didn't pick the music and the Sirius shows were voice-tracked, it was still great to hear the "Cool Ghoul" on the air and there's a tremendous diversity of very interesting and unusual music here.
Part 1(34:22) Part 2(37:09) Part 3(32:40)
PHOTO: Pete Fornatale
October 1, 2005
Contributed by Martin Brooks
Pete relaxed at the new WFUV studios.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale's Mixed Bag celebrating the 40th Anniversary of WNEW-FM [stereo] (163:49)
WFUV 90.7: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Pete celebrates and documents the history of WNEW-FM on the week of its 40th anniversary.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale's Mixed Bag with guest John Zacherley [stereo]
WFUV 90.7: Saturday, October 25, 2008
Contributed by Brian Wolfsohn
In this Halloween show, Pete played a condensed version of an interview he conducted with John Zacherley in February of 2006, who sounded fantastic at 90 years old (in Part II).
Part I (131:16)
Part II (with John Zacherley) (101:58)
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale's Mixed Bag: Election Day [scoped-stereo]
WFUV 90.7: Saturday, November 8, 2008
Contributed by Brian Wolfsohn
This is a great Mixed Bag show from a few days after Barack Obama was elected in 2008. There's a wonderful montage at the beginning put together by Pete's (then new) engineer, Jeremy Rainer, followed by a masterful selection of well-chosen appropriate songs. This constitutes about the first 103 minutes of airtime.
VIDEO: Pete Fornatale Introduces Poco
posted on YouTube June 2010
Contributed by Rich Ticho
This is an interesting short video of Pete Fornatale introducing Poco and arguing for their nomination into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale's Mixed Bag: Xmas Eve [stereo]
WFUV 90.7: Saturday, December 24, 2011
Contributed by Brian Wolfsohn
This isn't just any Christmas Eve show. On most Christmas shows, we hear a compilation of the same songs we hear every year: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and a bunch of songs from the Phil Spector Christmas record. Nothing wrong with that. But this is so much more.
These four hours are a brilliant montage that not only includes Christmas songs, but we hear excerpts from movie soundtracks including the Marx Brothers, "It's A Wonderful Life" and others. It weaves us through a panoply of sound.
What's wonderful about this is that it demonstrates how great radio can be and what it can do that streaming doesn't do. What's sad about this is that this was Pete's last Christmas show - we lost him four months later. And radio never does anything like this today.
AUDIO INTERVEW: Dan McCue interviews John Zacherley
2012
Contributed by Dan McCue
Dan Mc Cue is an author and journalist who is in the process of writing the book to end all radio books about WNEW-FM. In 2012, he interviewed John Zacherley by phone. Zach was about 94 at the time and somewhat forgetful of his own history, but he still sounds youthful and great.
AIRCHECK: Vin Scelsa on the Death of Dave Herman [scoped-stereo]
XM Radio: Thursday, May 29, 2014
Contributed by Dan McCue
Vin Scelsa lets his audience know about the death of radio legend Dave Herman.
AIRCHECK: WFUV: Paul Cavalconte [stereo]
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Contributed by Rob Frankel via his RadioMaven77 postings on MixCloud
Paul Cavalconte is an immense talent who is still active and heard in recent years on WFUV, WQXR and WNYC-FM. He has an incredibly deep knowledge of all kinds of music and the ability to tie them together. It's the incredible failure of commercial radio that Paul never found a viable place on commercial radio and given the freedom to do his thing.
AIRCHECK: Cousin' Brucie's Last Show on Sirius/XM [stereo]
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Sirius/XM Radio
All four hours of Bruce Morrow's final show on Sirius/XM. He would move back to WABC-AM on Saturday nights.