T. Michael Jordan, KFIF Tucson AZ, 1966 (0:21:46)

… On a million dollar weekend, every other record’s a hit from yesterday …
This partially restored exhibit is a composite of two different airchecks from April 16, 1966 and July 15, 1966. KFIF was a 50,000 watt AM daytime-only station licensed to Tucson, Arizona.
T. Michael wrote:
“The owner (John B. Walton, from Odessa TX) used to listen to us on a special phone setup… he came from an oil made millionaire family, and loved it when I dedicated “Sloop John B” to him. Anyway, we wanted badly to be fulltime (this being prior to multiple ownership in one market), and worked out a deal with the FCC. His idea was to donate the 1550 freq to the University of Arizona, and then purchase a fulltimer at 570 (KTAN). The FCC said “YES”, and the University had a real radio station for students and we had a fulltimer. That just killed everything else in the market. We became KIKX. I was offered the PD’ship, but also had an offer from K/MEN, and I so badly wanted to work in SoCal, so I turned it down and went to K/MEN. I loved (and still do) Tucson.”
Portions restored, the fidelity is uneven, but this is a rare piece of Arizona radio.

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!

Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum