[Description by Uncle Ricky]When this aircheck was recorded on July 13, 1966, (yes, it was his birthday again) Jack Gale did not yet own the *one percent* of BIG WAYS (610, 5KW) that he bought from Stan and Sis Kaplan for $1000 in 1967. He had not yet premiered the long-running feature Life Can Be Miserable, this aircheck doesn’t include Lowell Pressure with the weather, and Ralph Smedley never gets to sing, not even with Chubby Checker and Hooka Tooka.
But we do get endorsements by Gene Pitney and Jackie DeShannon, and newsman C. Michael Blackwell is featured with BIG WAYS News Headlines and a complete BIG WAYS newscast. In Same Time… Same Station, Gale writes “one of my favorite newsmen was C. Michael Blackwell… he was a real fun guy”. And as proof, Jack’s “Tonto” dropins are named “C. Michael”. (C. Michael Blackwell left WAYS to become a Baptist preacher a couple of years later.)
Several classic and not-so-classic spots are included, (note that Jack joins right in), a couple of PAMS jings too, and music doesn’t dominate this half-hour of the #1 rated morning show in Charlotte, N.C. circa 1966. Gale had other things to do.
And in July of 1966, his audience (and fans) included the 15-year-old curator-to-be of an online, non-profit radio aircheck museum.