The Mike Scott Collection

G. Michael McKay,December 2003 This is a ‘scoped original. G. Michael McKay went on to WGNG in Providence, and after that, years of radio and advertising work in Florida. As of November 2012, he is based in Los Angeles. Contributor Mike Scott stashed this away years ago on reel. Mike worked at legendary KOWH in Omaha where Todd Storz invented Top 40 radio in 1952. But when Mike worked at KOWH in 1972, that history was lost. KOWH was an “urban” station. KOIL was the BIG Top 40 station – twenty years after Storz invented the format at KOWH, KOIL owned the Top 40 format. Ten years earlier The Real Don Steele worked at KOIL, too! The jingles are PAMS, the Solid Rock series created for WLS.

This is a composite of three WFEC morning newscasts with Mike Scott. They were all broadcast within a 95 minute period, so it gives us a chance to hear how Mike juggled the available content and re-wrote each newscast to sound fresh. What is hard to believe is how difficult it was to work with the audio processing (and I was as bad about insisting on it as anyone.) You will hear the reverb and the constant clackity-clack of the teletype underscoring constantly sucked and pumped. I suspect that Mike didn’t listen to the off-air monitor, but instead monitored himself without all the noise. Mike moved to California and KAFY not long after this aircheck, which preceded the election of Jimmy Carter by just a few days. We can hear that the Democrat Governor had the bully pulpit. The audio on the local school issue may have been generated in-house.

A custom greeting from Tavares (natives of New Bedford, MA.) opens this composite recording of WSAR morning newsman Roy Wood (Mike Scott) working his last morning show with Jack Michaels. Roy (aka Christopher Jordan) declares that “the life of a Disc Jockey is not for me”, and departs for WFEC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.Jack Michaels was the second morning man during the “Roy Wood era”, but it’s obvious that the entire group at WSAR enjoyed working together with or without gerbils. By the way, Sidney Pithias never sounded better, and we’re still waiting for those airchecks from Norm Thibeault.

Assurance for the actual date of this broadcast is offered with the news that the U.S. Congress approved their own pay raises (during a recession — sound familiar?) with a vote of 214-213. That would make it July 30, 1975.

Yep, they sure sound like genuine Johnny Mann jingles on WSVP in West Warwick, Rhode Island – but please, this station was not consulted by or associated with Bill Drake in any way, as far as we know. The jingles must have cost them a small fortune, and the money could have probably been better spent for fresh copies of the records they played. This aircheck wins “best cue burns” hands down! You may never hear more damaged vinyl. Somehow, they managed to cue burn the end of some records, too! (This exhibit is ‘scoped, only.) Christopher Jordan (Mike Scott) was 18 and doing his best to be cool and protect Mother Earth. This was his second job in radio. WSVP, with 1000 watts day and 250 watts night, had a hard time competing seriously in the Providence Metro, but it made enough money to try. The real mystery about this aircheck is the actual date of broadcast. One brief announcement places it before September 2, 1972 — but Chris has a news bulletin about a North Vietnam P.O.W. release that was anounced on September 17. Perhaps the aircheck is a composite (it came from an unlabeled cassette at the bottom of a very old box), but I’m not sure how this particular mystery can be solved. The best guess for an actual air date is September, 1972.

Christopher Jordan takes a break from news duties as Roy Wood and fills in for Bob Hollins on a soggy Saturday in Fall River, Massachusetts. Christopher (Mike Scott) is friendly and interactive, at one point using a caller for a time check. WSAR (a Knight Quality Station) had a long history as a Top 40 station, and by 1974, they had morphed into a “slightly hipper” Top 40, featuring a deeper playlist with album cuts and ultra-cool “imaging” promos. Unfortunately, this aircheck was very tightly ‘scoped, and although a few jingles survived, we only hear a few seconds of a promotional announcement. When you’re WSAR, you do a lot more than just play records, or so they said, even though one of the most attractive elements of this restored aircheck are a few unexpected musical selections. Thanks to Stormy Hunter for his assistance with musical restoration.

Christopher Jordan takes a break from news duties as Roy Wood and fills in for Bob Hollins on a soggy Saturday in Fall River, Massachusetts. Christopher (Mike Scott) is friendly and interactive, at one point using a caller for a time check. WSAR (a Knight Quality Station) had a long history as a Top 40 station, and by 1974, they had morphed into a “slightly hipper” Top 40, featuring a deeper playlist with album cuts and ultra-cool “imaging” promos. Unfortunately, this aircheck was very tightly ‘scoped, and although a few jingles survived, we only hear a few seconds of a promotional announcement. When you’re WSAR, you do a lot more than just play records, or so they said, even though one of the most attractive elements of this restored aircheck are a few unexpected musical selections. Thanks to Stormy Hunter for his assistance with musical restoration.