The Art Vuolo Collection

[Description by Uncle Ricky, contributed by Art Vuolo] As always, Robert W. Morgan is fantastic. Fidelity is exceptional. I suspect this was the first, or one of the first, Robert W. Morgans on KIQQ-FM (K-100). January 21, 1974 was a Monday, and what better time to introduce a new Morgan guy? Unfortunately, Boss Expert Woody Goulart has a super-secret email address now, so I can’t provide better background for this outstanding aircheck provided by Art Vuolo, nor do I expect to find better background than what will be offered via COMMENT (below). This Exhibit ‘SCOPED (14:06) If all you want is Robert W. Morgan and just a taste of the news and the spots, this version’s for you! Please remember that in addition to music licensing fees for the mostly UNSCOPED version, there are bandwidth and hardware costs for this ‘SCOPED version, and anything streamed from REELRADIO. We welcome your support. Hey, if you spend about 80 minutes with your radio each morning – try THESE 80 minutes – pure joy, though some of the music is way past burned-out for old Top 40 deejays. It’s almost everything broadcast on K-100 FM between 6 and 7:18 AM the morning of January 21, 1974, in mono. I don’t know why it’s monaural, but COMMENTS (below) confirm that K-100 was Stereo at this time. And RWM was offering Stereo Morganization. There is no audible phase error; this mono FM sounds very good. Morgan’s old bud B.R. Bradbury is featured with several newscasts, and the same social problems that existed in 1974 (gangs, violent crime) are as troubling 30+ years later. You’ll also hear a couple of recorded RWM promos for K-100 – they’re quick, listen closely, and remember that it’s the Dawn Of A New Radio Day. Interesting that Drake-Chenault didn’t feel they needed jingles to be successful on FM — they just needed Hit Music and Super Talent. And what happened? How bizarre that Drake’s trendsetting FM stations in both NY (WOR, years earlier) and LA (1974) didn’t have the huge success that seemed appropriate. Perhaps, in both cases, FM penetration (or the sampling methodology) simply wasn’t sufficient to tip the diary totals.

[Description by Uncle Ricky, contributed by Art Vuolo] For those of you who haven’t discovered our first WXLW exhibit, you’re about to be truly tweaked. This is the madness of early ’70’s Top 40 taken to the max, with awesome “imaging” (they didn’t call it that, then) by the late Gary Gears. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition! Steve Michaels and Bill Shirk (owner and PD) are featured here. Hot, Hot, HOT! Great Top 40 on AM in 1974. Is it still OK to air a promo that says, “Write It Down”? I think not, I think Arbitron declared this a no-no a few years after this. After all, it’s too suggestive to tell your listeners to write your call letters in their diaries. We can’t have listeners honestly reporting their listening.

[Description by Uncle Ricky, contributed by Art Vuolo] Without a doubt, this is the most aggressive (musically) and varietal (not diverse!) FM Top-40 station of the early Seventies I have ever heard, at least on the “rock” side. And we get to hear the EEEEE-lectronic Mama jingle up front, too. There are long sweeps of album cuts that will require me to consult my AOR music expert to prepare the music reports (yes, we pay fees to stream music, please support us). Much of this stuff didn’t break “top 40” charts anywhere! BUT – note the jingles ALWAYS into music – still, I’m not happy with the stop set starting directly out of a music set, definitely unusual for hit music stations with live jocks at the time. Bonus: A full newscast with Paul Page is included. The newscast (at 30 minutes in) may be where you realize this station was running REVERB on their program chain. Yum! But what a strange LACK of balance – what would otherwise be an Album-Oriented FM of the period interrupted with Tie A Yellow Ribbon and Playground in My Mind! Wow, this is almost surreal, particularly with Mike Griffen “honeying” and “babying” me through all the male-targeted rock numbers. Or was that the Barry White tune? No unscoped version for this one, you must listen and try to understand. It was 1973. There was no satellite radio, and the concept of a single format for everyone was still a worthy pursuit. This is the last hour or so of morning drive, and there’s a bit of Mike Charles on the tail.