Bob Shannon, WKBW Buffalo, NY July 8, 1968 (RESTORED) (0:20:49)

Unscoped
… I owe ‘KB twelve dollars for blowing the title of the record …
[Description by contributor David Adams] This Exhibit ‘SCOPED (10:57) All reportable music performances have been removed. Please remember that in addition to music licensing fees for the mostly UNSCOPED version, there are bandwidth and hardware costs for this ‘SCOPED version, and anything streamed from REELRADIO. We welcome your support. The original Bob Shannon of top forty radio is another western New Yorker who spent his high school years listening to WKBW. According to Bob, “WKBW and it’s outstanding line up of jocks like Perry Allen, Art Roberts, Dick Biondi, George “Hound Dog” Lorenz, Fred Klestine, Russ “The Moose” Syracuse, Joey Reynolds, Dan Neaverth, and Tom Shannon was one of America’s great radio stations in the late fifties and early sixties. Tom Shannon had left such an indelible mark on me that when I finally broke into the biz, 1 did the only thing a young impressionable young jock could do — I stole his name. Incredibly a few years after finishing high school, I found myself living my boyhood dream when I joined the staff of WKBW in 1968.” Bob Shannon, 1968 Shannon would go on to work for several other legendary stations like KXOK St. Louis, KDWB Minneapolis/St. Paul, WIXY Cleveland, KCBQ San Diego, KJR Seattle, and KFI, KHJ and KRTH-FM, Los Angeles. By 1968, much of KB’s luster had worn off from the days when the great personalities graced the hallways in the late 50’s and early 60’s. But still, the station was energetic, fast-paced and tight, as displayed here by 21-year-old Bob Shannon during the “Classic Hour” from 11 pm to midnight. This was originally a studio aircheck. Bob Shannon himself restored all but the first song, in stereo. In addition to a few classic PAMS jingles, you’ll hear an episode of Chickenman.

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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. 

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Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum