The Dave Smith Collection
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Dave Smith writes:
"I grew up in North-Central NJ listening to New York flamethrowers such as WOR, WABC, WCBS (AM&FM) and WNBC. Originally I went more for the spoken word type programs such as the story-telling of the late Jean Shepard (www.flicklives.com for airchecks) and the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. It wasn't until the late 70's that I started really getting into recording top-40 radio, which makes me a "jolly come lately", I presume. What lit my flame was hearing "radio over the radio" rebroadcasts of the Ron Jacobs Cruisin' series played on WHAS, Louisville. It took over ten years (and trips to 6 cities) but I was fortunate to obtain original pressings of Cruisin' (55-69), an accomplishment I am still proud of. Don't let them tell you "it's impossible", which many tried to tell me. About a year ago, I started cataloging and cleaning up my collection. It is amazing how good some things sound once the heterodynes are removed! Only after seeing another Golden Gift on REELRADIO did I realize that I had something worth sharing and that's when I wrote Uncle Ricky. All of my experience on the commercial broadcasting side of the mic comes from watching my Stepdad, the late Tom Hally, to whom this page is dedicated. He played Big Band stuff and the accompanying photo was taken at WBRW, 1170, Bridgewater NJ, while doing his Sunday Serenade show. Today, I am back to listening to mostly spoken word (mainly news) with some oldies thrown in, but things are not the same. Skywave no longer has that "travel to a far town" mystique, as one can often hear the same program in 5 or more cities. When I'm not listening to the radio, I spend my time as an Engineer for NASA (in computers and communications, not the rocket side) or riding my bike on the C&O Canal. Of course, I spend plenty of time with my lovely wife, Liz (who thinks this old stuff makes me nuts). 73's for now. |
The Repository thanks Dave Smith for sharing!
[Description by Dave Smith]:
This unscoped but edited recording of WFIL from May 9, 1985 runs for approximately 10 minutes from the start of the show, followed by a 1.5 hour gap, with several smaller gaps later. This was recorded while I was in college, pulling all-nighters for exams!
It starts with the jolting “Wake Up!” (From Cheech and Chong’s “Sister Mary Elephant”) followed by lots of high energy dialog. I liked the chemistry between Joey Reynolds, Jeff Collins and Bill Marshal.
Like so many good things in radio, one day, *poof* they were gone. There was no fanfare or an official explanation (that at least I ever heard), just a substitute DJ who didn’t seem to know why he was there.
Let’s give a memorial chant… “AM..AM..AM..AM”!
This recording of Alan Freed for the AFRTS was rebroadcast on Joe Donovan’s Friday Night Revival on WHAS/Louisville on September 23, 1988. Joe introduces it as produced for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in 1956.
The program appears to be a “highlight” show as it was produced with many obvious edits. It was recorded on a Hammerlund HQ-140X communications receiver in Kensington, MD, so the bandwidth and quality is subject to those conditions
[By contributor Dave Smith]Believe it or not, I found this and several other shows as part of a pile of albums in a flea market near Morgantown, WV.
Murray mentioned a few of the stations carrying the show:
KFMA, Gerome, ID (Now gone)
KGRC, Hannibal Missouri (Still there, at least in name)
KING Seattle, (Now gone)
WDMS Greenvile Mississippi (Still there, at least in name)
WCOS Columbia South Carolina (Still there, at least in name)
WRKO, Boston (Still there, at least in name)
I personally heard a few of these shows via skywave from WBT, Charlotte.
I hope all enjoy this recovered artifact from almost 23 years ago.
Each segment of SOUNDTRACK OF THE 60’s included a “theme” of some sort, represented musically or with interview clips, or both.
Hour 1, Ellie Greenwich (Hanky Panky, Do Wah Diddy, The Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget)
Rain (Rhapsody In The Rain, Rhythm Of The Rain, Rain On The Roof, Rain)
Rodney Dangerfield (Come Back When You Grow Up, Crazy, Respect)
Up To You (I’m Leavin’ It Up To You, It’s Up To You, It’s Your Thing, Wild Thing)
Hour 2, The Lawd (I Say A little Prayer, God Only Knows, Holly Holy)
Billy James, Bob Dylan (Mr. Tambourine Man, All I Really Want To Do, Just Like A Woman)
Bill (Don’t Mess With Bill, Ode To Billie Joe, Wedding Bell Blues)
Michael Gwynne (Wipeout, Let There Be Drums, Silence Is Golden)
Space Fantasy (I Think We’re Alone Now, Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright)
Hour 3, I Love You (People, The Volume’s, The Platters)
Tommy Roe (Hooray For Hazel, Sweet Pea, Shelia, Dizzy)
People (Sly & The Family Stone, Barbra Streisand, The Dixie Cups)
Studio Musicians (Roger, Peter) (Beach Boys, Chantels, Cream)
Nonsense (Brenton Wood, Jesse Hill)
TV and #1 Song 4th Week of September 1968
Unscoped
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
Very limited fidelity, so the ‘scoped version of this otherwise abundant aircheck of the inimitable Joey Reynolds is recommended. You’ll get all the original Joey on WDRC, and it’s a great 16 minutes. But you might not want to miss the full Joey Reynolds Show jingle on the unscoped version. (He plays it with no talkover.)
Several clues suggest that Reynolds was “filling in” here, and not the regular host (from 10PM-2AM?) in 1969. He presents an interpretation of his Jack Armstrong weather, and includes a shot at Cousin Brucie. In this hour, he also has extended, one-on-one conversations with two listeners, one “on the skip” from faraway Syracuse, NY. He also introduces news headlines as the “funny stuff”, and offers a commentary on “mainlining peanut butter”, and glue sniffing vs. marijuana smoking. And despite all the extra elements, he doesn’t neglect his DJ duties.
There’s a sense of “that was then” from this aircheck. Reynolds melds the music with current events and real people on the phone. The music is Top 40, but the “format” is The Joey Reynolds Format.