The Ray Glasser Collection

Ray Glasser, 1970

Jackson Armstrong, Ray Glasser, Jim LaBarbara, 1988

Larry Morrow and Ray Glasser, 2005
Larry Morrow
and Ray Glasser, 2005

Spinning the records on WMFH, the Hillcrest area's first radio station, is disc jockey Jack Boomer, seated. Standing left to right are engineers Larry Smith, Brian Breen
and Ray Glasser.

Ray Glasser writes:

My interest and involvement in radio and pop music began in the Spring of 1960, when I was 12, when 3 of my neighborhood friends and I were asked if we wanted to be on the radio! A good friend of mine had a neighbor who was an engineer for a local radio station, and had a transmitter, 2 turntables, microphones, etc., and he put us on the air. The station was called WMFH (for MayField Hts., our hometown, a Cleveland suburb), and we were actually on the air at 540 kc for about 6 months! That spawned my interest in radio and music, and it is still with me today. I majored in Radio and TV at Ohio State University, and at one time was working 3 part-time, non-paying radio jobs at OSU! Although I've never worked in commercial radio or TV, I've always enjoyed listening to the great stations and jocks of the 1960s and 70s. I got "out" of radio in 1976 when I got my first Betamax VCR, and became a video fanatic (see my Betamax website at www.betainfoguide.com), but even by then, I had built up an extensive radio and music collection that spans 1960 thru 1976. Some of the many airchecks that I have are on this site. Many were made on my trusty Webcor Royalite mono tape recorder, which I retired in 1973 when I got a Teac 3300 stereo deck.

Being from Cleveland, I was fortunate to have some of the "classic" stations in my area....KYW/WKYC, WHK, WIXY, and of course my favorite, CKLW. I can't believe there isn't more of WIXY on the Web - although it lasted only 10 years, it had some GREAT jocks, played the best music, had great jingles, and was a major force in Cleveland radio in its heyday. I also lived in Maryland in 1973, and made some airchecks of some really good stations at that time - WPGC, WMOD, WCAO,WWDC, WASH and others. I remember tracking 38 FM-stereo stations on the dial when I lived there... not bad for the early 70's!

I've noticed that some of the stations that I'm bringing to this site haven't made an appearance here yet. I'm glad that I can bring some of these to you.

The Repository thanks Ray Glasser for sharing!

Joel Miller, WCCK-FM Erie, PA. January 1, 1976 (scoped) (0:07:43)

Scoped

… Now, stay up – we’re gonna rock and roll all night …

This is one of the few recordings I have from 1976, our Bicentennial year, and oddly enough, it was made early on New Year’s Day. WCCK was in Erie, Pennsylvania at 103.7 Mhz and later changed to WRTS, Star-104. This WCCK aircheck probably has more reverb (which was rare) than any other station I remember hearing in 1976.

Joel Miller, WCCK-FM Erie, PA. January 1, 1976 (0:39:30)

Unscoped

… Now, stay up – we’re gonna rock and roll all night …

Larry Morrow, WIXY Cleveland, OH, March 5, 1967 (0:26:53)

… we’ll pick ’em up, put ’em right back down …

I can’t believe this great jock hasn’t shown up here more often! Larry Morrow has been kicking around Cleveland radio for over 30 years and has made quite a name for himself. Larry arrived at WIXY in 1966 or ’67, fresh from CKLW, where he was known as “Duke Windsor.” He became simply “The Duker” at WIXY and was one of the station’s most popular jocks. This aircheck, from March of 1967, not only shows Larry doing great teeny-bop radio, but also shows WIXY at its best – plenty of jingles, tight board, and great oldies, as this was taped during a “Super-Oldies Weekend!” This ‘check even has some complete newscasts, some with Bob Ingle reporting, who has done Cleveland news since forever! The quality isn’t great, since this was originally taped at 1 7/8 ips and the reception was only fair, but it’s the second oldest aircheck I have of WIXY.

Jeff Leonard, WMOD Washington, DC, January 24, 1973 (0:55:45)

… . Why did the bee fly along with his legs crossed? …

WMOD (WMZQ as of 2004) was a great oldies station in Washington D.C. in the early 1970s at 98.7 Mhz. They played the songs you DON’T hear on mainstream oldies stations, and had personality jocks, great jingles, and even a good signal! Jeff Leonard was my favorite jock on this station; very personable and he worked the jingles well! Sit back and enjoy as Jeff works in “Washington’s Gold Mine”.

Dave Michaels, WTUE Dayton, OH, July 25, 1973 (0:25:23)

… . WTUE Solid Rock song! …

This station was great! Dayton’s WONE-FM became WTUE (get it? – ONE… TUE…) sometime in late 1972, I believe. They broadcast in quadrophonic (known today as Surround, of course), and called it the Super-Two. Their top-of-hour ID is unique… Music POWER-POWER-POWER echoes from channel to channel (I’m presuming that if you had a quad system back then, it would travel all around the room!), followed by their famous “traveling bell.” This aircheck from July 25, 1973 features Dave Michaels.

104.7 WTUE ROCKSThey used the PAMS Solid Rock jingle package. Many of the jingles bounced drums and guitars back and forth from left to right and back – shades of the early days of FM stereo! At approximately 10 minutes into this ‘check is a Hitbound song that is not announced – it took me 30 years to find out what it is (“Lay Down” by The Strawbs).

Plus, there is a rather long but nicely sung WTUE promo around 23:20… something you’d never hear today!