The Bruce Portzer Collection
Bruce at his listening post in 1970.
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Bruce Portzer has lived most of his life in the Seattle area. He grew up listening to stations like KOL and KJR, Seattle's Top 40 powerhouses in the late 60's. Both stations were entertaining, intensely competitive, played great music, and had wonderful on-air talents, like Robert O. Smith, Lan Roberts, and Burl Barer, to name a few.
His radio interests began in grade school by building a one-tube receiver, which picked up a few local AM stations. When he was twelve, he discovered AM DXing and the thrill of hearing stations hundreds or thousands of miles away. Vancouver's two Top 40 stations, CFUN and CKLG, came in all day long, offering songs and DJs he couldn't otherwise hear. At night he sometimes listened to clear channel stations from other parts of the country, as well as small town stations in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. From there his interests grew: "During high school and college, I was a veritable radio junkie. I collected record surveys, bumper stickers, and other radio memorabilia. While traveling, I sometimes visited stations for impromptu tours, oftentimes getting into the control room and chatting with the DJs. I also swapped airchecks with friends around the US and Canada. At the time, I wasn't into building a tape archive. I would listen to the tape a time or two, record some local stations over top of it, send it back, and wait for the next one to show up. As a result, a lot of great recordings were sent to that Big Tape Archive in the Sky, but I held on to a few of them as well as some I made for myself." Bruce was an announcer at the University of Washington's 10-watt FM station, KCMU, but that was the extent of his on-air experience. He majored in Electrical Engineering, with the idea of doing something broadcast-related after graduation, but the broadcast part never quite came together. He worked in the aerospace and two-way radio fields for a while, and then spent 18 years with a couple of consulting firms, designing communications systems for clients around the country. He's been in the wireless industry since 1996, and currently works for AT&T Wireless Services. |
| He notes, "my early interest in radio not only influenced by career choice, but turned into a fascinating lifelong hobby. REELRADIO rekindled my early interest in Top 40 radio and the excitement that went with it. I'm thrilled to share a few of my own airchecks."
The Repository thanks Bruce Portzer for sharing!
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Our thanks to contributor Bruce Portzer for this unscoped version of a REELRADIO Classic: Alan Freed “The Moondog”, WJW, 1954. The original ‘scoped exhibit (from Programmer’s Digest, November 1973) was HITBOUND on March 29, 1997.
Now, on February 23, 2003, we are pleased to introduce this contribution from Bruce, which is not only unscoped, but includes an additional segment that was not featured in the Programmer’s Digest excerpt. Bruce places this aircheck from March or April of 1954, based on Freed’s mention of a Palm Sunday (April 11, 1954) concert.
REELRADIO pays music licensing fees to present unedited music online. If you enjoy full-length airchecks like this one, your tax-deductible contribution to our operating fund will help keep this and other “unscoped” exhibits available.
Unscoped
Scoped
[Description by contributor Bruce Portzer]
Here is legendary DJ Arnie Ginsburg with a weekend airshift on all-oldies WROR. It’s a laid back show, perfect listening for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
This exhibit includes a WROR Bicentennial Clam promo, and classic Woo-Woo promos by Sonny and Cher, Jay and the Americans, and Bobby Vee.