The Andy Bologovsky Collection

[Description by contributor Andy Bologovsky] It’s very difficult to find early WAVZ material! This aircheck features the “bells and whistles” sound of Bill Beamish, from Thursday, September 16, 1965. William R. “Bill” Beamish, 79, passed away on July 8, 2009 in North Miami Beach, FL from complications associated with prostate cancer.

[Description by Uncle Ricky for this exhibit contributed by Andy Bologovsky] I first became acquainted with Hal Weaver and his work on CHUM, Toronto courtesy of Dan Haber’s CHUM Collection right here at REELRADIO. This exhibit originally was a lo-fidelity copy; it has since been replaced with a much better version. This UNSCOPED (includes music for which we pay license fees) aircheck from August 2, 1969 is also fun to hear. Weaver is truly entertaining and quite clever, and I suspect incredibly hip at the time, simply because he was not the standard fare. And this is NOT a liner-card and jingle demo at all. Weaver has long talk sets and is free to fun around here and there. The music IS the standard fare (with some surprises) and it’s a Million Dollar Weekend, but it’s a nice mix. And the spots! A classic snapshot of the time. Notice how Coca-Cola spent a ton on WABC in the earlier sixties and by 1969 was into major promotions on CHUM. And what’s that Storz-era news bug doing in the Coke spot? This aircheck was recorded on the station’s “skimmer” machine, saved for years by a CHUM secretary, and discovered in an antique store by Kent Spraggett. The music was restored by Charlie Ritenburg.

[Description by contributor Andy Bologovsky] This Exhibit ‘SCOPED (05:54) In Stereo: No music more often! But please remember that in addition to music licensing fees for the complete (UNSCOPED) version, there are bandwidth and hardware costs for this ‘SCOPED version, and anything streamed from REELRADIO. Somebody has to pay for it either way, it might as well be you. (Complimentary hack by Uncle Ricky.) When I moved to New Jersey for college, I kept on airchecking. One of my favorite stations was WXLO (99X) in New York. This is a high-quality recording originally made on a chrome tape with Dolby B in June, 1978. It’s an unscoped half-hour in gorgeous stereo. Featured is Al Bandiero, a New York radio fixture at that time. Note the incredible audio processing that really gives everything a larger-than-life sound. This is a true disco-era period piece!

[Description by contributor Andy Bologovsky] This Exhibit ‘SCOPED (05:54) In Stereo: No music more often! But please remember that in addition to music licensing fees for the complete (UNSCOPED) version, there are bandwidth and hardware costs for this ‘SCOPED version, and anything streamed from REELRADIO. Somebody has to pay for it either way, it might as well be you. (Complimentary hack by Uncle Ricky.) When I moved to New Jersey for college, I kept on airchecking. One of my favorite stations was WXLO (99X) in New York. This is a high-quality recording originally made on a chrome tape with Dolby B in June, 1978. It’s an unscoped half-hour in gorgeous stereo. Featured is Al Bandiero, a New York radio fixture at that time. Note the incredible audio processing that really gives everything a larger-than-life sound. This is a true disco-era period piece!

[Description by Uncle Ricky for exhibit contributed by Andy Bologovsky] This Exhibit ‘SCOPED (10:14) For those who can do without the music, we present this ‘scoped version, with a reminder for everyone that we use bandwidth either way, plus we pay music license fees to include the tunes. Please support REELRADIO. Doc Brock is burning all fifty kilowatts — and more — in this incredible high-energy performance from Chicago’s Voice of Labor on September 4, 1974. Included in both the unscoped and ‘scoped versions of this Super ‘CFL sample: Spots for Ronco’s Rock Power, Chess King, Just Jeans, and a couple of high-power Instant Ripoff promos. The influence of Jack McCoy and KCBQ is obvious here, not only in the promo style but in the ubiquitous shotgun jingle. It’s just so seventies to hear that shotgun into Feel Like Makin’ Love. Contributor Andy Bologovsky says this recording was made with one of those early ’70’s radio cassette machines. Part two of this aircheck is below. Grady Brock suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, and passed away at the age of 66 on June 28, 2015.

[Description by Uncle Ricky for exhibit contributed by Andy Bologovsky] This Exhibit ‘SCOPED (10:14) For those who can do without the music, we present this ‘scoped version, with a reminder for everyone that we use bandwidth either way, plus we pay music license fees to include the tunes. Please support REELRADIO. Doc Brock is burning all fifty kilowatts — and more — in this incredible high-energy performance from Chicago’s Voice of Labor on September 4, 1974. Included in both the unscoped and ‘scoped versions of this Super ‘CFL sample: Spots for Ronco’s Rock Power, Chess King, Just Jeans, and a couple of high-power Instant Ripoff promos. The influence of Jack McCoy and KCBQ is obvious here, not only in the promo style but in the ubiquitous shotgun jingle. It’s just so seventies to hear that shotgun into Feel Like Makin’ Love. Contributor Andy Bologovsky says this recording was made with one of those early ’70’s radio cassette machines. Part two of this aircheck is below. Grady Brock suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, and passed away at the age of 66 on June 28, 2015.

[Description by Uncle Ricky. Exhibit contributed by Andy Bologovsky]

This is a restored composite recording, portions of which were orignally presented in a ‘scoped, re-ordered exhibit in The Dan Haber CHUM Collection, on April 1, 2001.

RESTORED-UNSCOPED
You bet, we pay music licensing for each and every play of any musical performance in this exhibit. We are user-supported! Please contribute to REELRADIO today.
Both exhibits are the work of Charlie Ritenburg, who prepared this partially stereo, RESTORED UNSCOPED version for the 1050 CHUM Homecoming event in 2001.

Purists prefer that airchecks be never manipulated, always authentic. The idea of inserting newer, clean recordings of music in older airchecks is not new. It’s very challenging to do, because matching the low-fidelity of off-air recordings with CD’s, or vinyl, is not easy. The results can often be distracting and disappointing, particularly when transitioning from lo-fi mono to hi-fi stereo and back to lo-fi mono. Indeed, the key to the presentability of this restoration is that the original airchecks were made “off the board” at CHUM. They were made at the request of a CHUM secretary who wanted to keep some memories. Charlie’s work on this restoration is flawless – I don’t think anyone could have done a better job.

The original CHUM board ‘checks certainly weren’t in stereo. Further (and this is the most obvious flaw of these restorations) they were made off-the-board, and there was no processing between the board and the tape recorder. This is particularly obvious during the live microphone segments, where distortion is frequently evident. It isn’t unusual for jocks to “pin the needle”. A tape recorder before the limiter takes a tremendous overload.

Still, this hour is great fun to hear, featuring a few rarely heard musical treasures, PAMS jingles and the wonderful humor of Brian Skinner, still wacky and way fun in 2004 – now in Stereo (and only some of it with phase problems, sounds best in BROADBAND at 96Kbps.) Some segments are from before Christmas, and the final segment is from 12/31/1965. Our thanks to Charlie, Kent Spraggett (who originally found the tapes) and contributor Andy Bologovsky.