Fred Winston, WCFL Chicago, March 13, 1981 (scoped) (0:31:15)

Scoped
… I was running around the house like a hairdresser this morning …
[Description by Uncle Ricky] This aircheck of Fred Winston’s first morning show on WCFL was originally recorded by Tim Benko of “Windy City” Airchecks, and contributed just a couple of months before Tim’s untimely passing. Could it be Tim himself who calls to tell Winston that he’s recording the show? Of course, it could have been anyone who wanted to catch a bit of history at 5:30 in the morning of March 13, 1981. WCFL dumped their Top 40 format on March 15, 1976 for Beautiful Music. In 1978, they switched to a soft Adult Contemporary format, and on June 12, 1979, the Chicago Federation of Labor sold the station to the Mutual Broadcasting System. MBS initially tried a short-lived “lifestyle talk” format, and flipped again to Adult Contemporary in 1980. Winston had been working in Chicago since 1971, at WLS, WMAQ and WFYR-FM. This appearance in mornings at WCFL followed a 90-day non-compete agreement, which explains his reference to three months of poison building up in his large mouth. By the way, after a year at WCFL, Winston returned to WLS and stayed there until 1989. Jim Bohannan handles WCFL news, and there’s a LOT of MBS, complete with the network “bee-doop” switching tones in this hour. The exhibit opens with the late commentator Jack Anderson opining that President Ronald Reagan’s tax plan will primarily benefit the rich.  COMMENTS for Fred Winston, WCFL Chicago, March 13, 1981

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