Chuck Williams, WNHC New Haven CT 1970 (0:07:19)

… How do you like me so far? …
[Description by Uncle Ricky, contributed by Eric Rhoads]If he sounds familiar, you’ve probably heard his 1971 WLS exhibit, or his outrageous 1975 CKLW performance (as Chuck “Hot Ticket” McKay.)

The “fidelity”, such as it is, is atrocious. Too many airchecks sound like this, blown out and distorted, and they were supposedly recorded by “broadcast professionals!” This one is “splattered” to death. Nice editing though, and this aircheck must have sounded great when brand new, before it was copied, and copied, and copied

Chuck was a great jock! It would be easy to predict his acension to the majors, but not necessarily his 50KW breakdown five years later.

Williams, (real name Jim Welch), died of natural causes in Phoeniz, Arizona, in 2008. He was 59.

Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Board of NCBHP
North Carolina Broadcast History Project