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My hometown Top 40 stations growing up in Greensboro, NC were "1320 WCOG", WHPE-FM (95.5) & WRQK-FM "Stereo 99).
At an early age, my interest in radio was "sparked" by my Dad's Harmon Kardon mono tube FM receiver.
In the early 60's the only music I ever heard on it was "easy listening".
My 1st radio was a Knight Kit Multiband receiver which expanded my interest into AM broadcast & Shortwave Band DXing.
I had a 100' horizontal end fed antenna strung up between 2 oaks at 50'.
The airchecks on this site really bring back memories of all those 50kw power houses such as WLS, WCFL, WABC, WNBC, WOWO that I used to listen to at night.
A neighbor friend who's family transferred to Charlotte in the mid 60's introduced me to BIG WAYS radio while on summer stay with them.
Never had I heard such a dynamic station as this!
BIG WAYS left an indelible impression on me & I still consider it the benchmark in AM Top 40.
After high school graduation in 1974, I attended Western Carolina in Cullowhee, NC.
I managed to land a gig with the campus radio station WCAT-AM.
This was a closed loop AM station that used the electrical wiring in the dorms as its antenna.
The signal was only good inside the dorms & would disappear 50' away from the building.
Wolfman Jack was on the rise at the time, so my radio persona "The Cullowhee Boogie Man" was a clone of the Wolfman.
After a few months of "raising #%*^" on the radio, the station manager asked me to calm it down a bit & to please quit imitating the Wolfman because he was scared of a lawsuit.
We couldn't come to any terms, so I left.
This was my only "gig" as a radio DJ.
My passion for radio never died after this, it just went in other directions- CB, Scanners & eventually an extra class amateur ticket.
In 1982, I enlisted in the Navy an electronics fire control technician.
This gave me the background needed to pursue a career as a radio technician.
I've worked in paging, for wireless phone carriers & two-way maintenance shops.
I met Ray Gooding "Rockin Ray" Gooding when my wife, Pam won the Rock-Ola Jukebox door prize for 1110 WBT's Christmas time "Penny Pitch for Charity.
One Sunday night in the mid '80's while home on leave in Charlotte with Pam, I called in a request to Rockin' Ray during his "Sunday Nite Hall of Fame" show.
My request was for Ray Charles' "The Night Time Is The Right Time".
Ray promised to play it shortly.
After 45' he still hadn't played it.
I called him back inquiring as to what happened.
He said he searched the station high & low & did not have it.
I offered to bring him my copy to the station for him to play over the air.
He said "Come on, I'll let security know you're on the way".
Ray said that since I went to all the trouble to bring him the song, that he would like for me to introduce it.
The moment he opened the mike, I realized that I was on a 50,000 watt blow-torch clear channel AM station that can be heard from Key West to Maine.
I was so tongue-tied that I barely got out "Night time is the Right Time" by Ray Charles". I'm sure you could hear Ray laughing in the background.
Extra Class Ham Operators are not supposed to get tongue-tied!
We still have the Juke Box & it's filled up with 45s that we purchased from Chris Beachley's Wax Museum in Charlotte.
I left the Navy in '92 & eventually ended up in Charlotte.
Still fascinated by BIG WAYS, I stopped by the Wax Museum & asked Chris if he had any material from BIG WAYS.
He gave me a multitude of 7" reels, 8-tracks & cassettes of Charlotte radio from the 60's & 70's.
One of the songs that was being over-promoted on WAYS at the time was Brian Hyland's "The Joke Went Wild".
I called Gary Voncannon aka "Boomer" who was doing the "Drive at 5 Request Hour" on "Magic 96" & requested Hyland's song.
After my 45' drive home, he still hadn't played it.
I called & asked why.
He responded, "We have it in our library of over 5000 songs, but unfortunately it's not on our playlist of just over 700 songs. If I played it my PD would fry my rear-end!"
After this is when I began my collection of airchecks.
What was on the radio 30+ years ago, is no match for today's programming.
Fortunately, my work has a lot of wind-shield time, so my collection has really cut down on road boredom!
WRQK & Wolfman Jack
On April 12th 1975, Wolfman Jack was on tour with Guess Who & Sugarloaf.
That afternoon, I was listening to WRQK & heard Wolfman's startup song.
I rushed to the reel-to-reel to start the recording, only missing the first few seconds.
I had tickets for the show that night & a date with 2 girls that were best friends to go with me.
After the show, I almost got into a fight with a drunk who was jealous because I had "2 girls" & he had none.
Luckily, some bouncers were nearby & told him that he would have to come through them to get to me!
This recording is my favorite & was the "party tape" while at Western Carolina.
The only copy I ever gave out prior to submitting it here was to Tom Armshaw, manager & owner of WRQK.
He made a copy, re-aired in '77 & shared it with a few of his station personnel.
I asked Tom if he could get Wolfman's syndicated show on RQK.
Several weeks later, while doing a remote "Tom was known as the KING of remotes" at Carolina Circle Mall, he announced that starting the following weekend that Wolf's "Graffiti Gold" show would be airing from 6 to midnight on RQK.
Wolf had a 4-5 year run on RQK.
I would occasionally call out his studios, Audio Stimulation in Hollywood with various show suggestions.
This laid the groundwork for me to eventually meet him.
In the spring of 1984, I was finishing up the Navy's Basic Electronics School in San Diego.
The school was self-paced & each module had a maximum number of hours required to complete.
I was 70 hours ahead of schedule. My class commander insisted I take time off.
I called my Audio Stimulation contact, Mike Venema. He asked me, "What are you doing in SoCal?" & then told me to get my butt up here to meet the Wolfman.
I spent the night with the parents of one of my friends I went to boot camp with.
They drove me around Hollywood & showed me where I would be going the next day.
I met with the Wolf & he gave me backstage passes for me a & group of my sailor buddies to an oldies review show several weeks later at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
I gave him a copy of the Beach Music Publication "It Will Stand" since it had an article about him hosting the CAMMYs in North Myrtle Beach earlier that year.
I later found out that his home in Belvedere, NC is less than a mile from the home that my grandfather built in 1895.
I am honored & humbled that my recordings are now available for all to enjoy world-wide.
I am constantly on the lookout for new recordings & will gladly share them when they become available.
Britts Nicholson
Charlotte, NC
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