The T. Storm Hunter Collection
T. Storm Hunter, 1972
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T. Storm Hunter; (birth name: Mark Tucker) pianist, composer, producer, and Sideways Hipster; (b. Laurel, MD, Oct. 11, 1957). His family moved to the Chicago area in 1958, where he lived until 1979. In that year, he moved to Encinitas, California, where he still resides.In 1968, with a ten-dollar bill that he stole from his father's wallet, Stormy made his first record, a direct-cut acetate of piano solos, experimental music, and silliness. In 1970, with his neighbor, friend, and colleage Louie Easley Hanley (b. Oak Park IL 1955, d. Lafayette, IN 1996), he formed Tetrapod Spools, a small record company, releasing tapes, records, and eventually CDs of their own music and also that of others.
In 1975, Tetrapod Spools released "Batstew"(shown as by Mark Tucker). Experimental in nature, rife with tape manipulation, industrial space-folk, and spoken word pieces, it was ignored by radio, reviewers, and the public. Original pressings have since become sought-after collector's items, fetching hundreds of dollars in record auctions. Stormy's interest in radio began at age 11 in Oak Park, IL when he listened to WLS and WCFL at night through a pillow speaker in his bed. He imagined that being a DJ was the most glamorous job in the world. Shortly thereafter, he began recording big chunks of these stations' broadcasts. This hobby continued throughout the years and he kept almost all of the tapes, never realizing that they would become important historical documents. Upon finishing high school, he decided to make radio a career. It never panned out, and his radio career consisted mainly of recording his own "radio" shows on cassette (for which he composed and performed all of the jingles and commercials) and giving them away to friends. One of the remnants of this hobby appears on his 1983 album "In The Sack" (also shown as by Mark Tucker) in a track called "Station ID". |
The Repository thanks T. Storm Hunter for sharing!
[Description by Uncle Ricky, 12/10/2005]
Our thanks to contributor T. Storm Hunter for this Christmastime 1972 aircheck, made possible by The Chicago Federation of Labor. The mistake by “Thumbs” isn’t the most interesting thing about this aircheck – it’s the spontaneous quips from Bob Dearborn about the mistake. Remember that in the world of professional Top 40 radio, everything was supposed to work as planned. Is Dearborn smooth, or what?
Bob Christopher is featured with news. You’ll hear forgotten Rock hero Argent for Pepsi, reports about Nixon and Haig, and Chicago’s Dialogue seems remarkably applicable today.
All of the music in this exhibit has been restored.
[Description by Uncle Ricky. Contributed by Stormy Hunter]
When contributor T. Storm Hunter purchased a used Webster Chicago Wire Recorder years ago, it included a spool of recording wire. Stormy was delighted to discover that the wire contained a recorded program featuring Jim Hawthorne on KNX radio in Los Angeles. On the wire spool, someone had written “November 8, 1951”.
Jim Hawthorne
Jim Hawthorne passed away November 6, 2007. He was 89 years of age, just 2 weeks short of his 90th birthday. Some referred to Hawthorne as the first “free form” disc jockey, beginning his career at KXLA Los Angeles at the beginning of personality music radio in the late 1940’s.
His concurrent work in television, however, made him an early multimedia star and a truly unique broadcaster. In the early 1950’s, he created the first late evening talk show on TV, This Is Hawthorne, considered by some to be the predecessor of Saturday Night Live. He also created, produced and starred in a Saturday night coast-to-coast radio program, The Hawthorne Thing. It was the last radio network show orginated from NBC’s Hollywood Radio City.
Hawthorne was also actively involved in First Generation Top 40, producing features for KYA (San Francisco) and KDAY, Los Angeles. In the early 1960’s, Jim Hawthorne joined KFWB/Los Angeles in mornings and as Assistant PD. He eventually was promoted to Vice President and National Program Manager for Crowell-Collier Broadcasting. He worked at KHJ from 1962-1963. He produced children’s programming in Hawaii and was Creative Consultant for Aku on KGMB. In 1970, he moved back to his home town of Denver, Colorado, where he became GM at KOA. He moved back to Los Angeles in 1980.
Jim Hawthorne and his instrument
This KNX program features some of the greatest voice and comedy talent of the era. Hawthorne’s first guest is Stan Freberg. Hawthorne and Freberg perform a live parody of Freberg’s controversial John and Marcia single, called George and Cynthia. Arthur Q. Bryan is introduced as the voice of Elmer Fudd, and Dixie Doogan cartoonist Renny McEvoy joins Hawthorne for a musical performance. Hawthorne also reads a letter from Bill Ballance in Denver, and offers a gag with McEvoy where he encourages the live studio audience to “call it out – he can play anything!” The program is sponsored by The Los Angeles Brewing Company, makers of East Side beer. Every time it’s time for a commercial, Hawthorne creates a surprise introduction.
Jim Hawthorne and his instrument on ABC
There is very little documentation regarding this show and Hawthorne’s time at KNX. Hawthorne was selected to replace Steve Allen on his Saturday Midnight show when Allen was called to New York to host The Tonight Show. The exact date of this broadcast has now been determined. There’s a reference to Wabbits and a recent Easter. Google Books Billboard ® archive of April 14, 1951 includes a short promotional item about Frank Devol’s new record, Theme for John and Marcia, which Hawthorne refers to on this show as a “new record”. Although the wire recording was labeled November 8, 1951, it’s likely this show was broadcast earlier in the year, in the Spring of 1951. Our dedicated REELRADIO research team has decided on Saturday, April 7, 1951. (see COMMENTS).
For a program of this vintage, the fidelity is surprising, better than many of the cassette recordings made twenty years later. Of course, it’s likely the wire was an original recording, not a copy, and there weren’t any alignment issues. Some portions of the recording were lost and it may never have included the entire show. A few minutes from both the beginning and end were missing, and a small portion was lost when the original machine owner recorded a birthday message.
Unscoped
[Description by Uncle Ricky. Contributed by Stormy Hunter]
There’s quite a lot going on with Paul Williams overnight at KNUZ in Houston. He’s one of the seven Southern Gentlemen and his own newscaster, too. There’s a Stuck Record contest, lots of reverb, a time-tone, and a dazzling variety of rock, R&B, country and pop music from the Sonic Sixty Survey.
KNUZ was the primary competitor of Gordon McLendon’s KILT. You’ll hear many influences from better-known Top 40 stations of the day, including jingles by the jocks, like WMCA, the term FunTest, like WFUN, and elaborate show, feature and even pre-recorded record introductions like KBOX. After the news, there are TWO introductory pieces for Paul Williams. Later on, Bill Drake described this kind of programming as “clutter”, but at the time, it was exciting, aurally stimulating contemporary radio.
Paul apparently has some trouble with a MacKenzie deck, but otherwise, the fidelity of this studio recording is exceptionally good. (Some music was ‘scoped, and has been restored in the full version here.)
Scoped
[Description by Uncle Ricky. Contributed by Stormy Hunter]
There’s quite a lot going on with Paul Williams overnight at KNUZ in Houston. He’s one of the seven Southern Gentlemen and his own newscaster, too. There’s a Stuck Record contest, lots of reverb, a time-tone, and a dazzling variety of rock, R&B, country and pop music from the Sonic Sixty Survey.
KNUZ was the primary competitor of Gordon McLendon’s KILT. You’ll hear many influences from better-known Top 40 stations of the day, including jingles by the jocks, like WMCA, the term FunTest, like WFUN, and elaborate show, feature and even pre-recorded record introductions like KBOX. After the news, there are TWO introductory pieces for Paul Williams. Later on, Bill Drake described this kind of programming as “clutter”, but at the time, it was exciting, aurally stimulating contemporary radio.
Paul apparently has some trouble with a MacKenzie deck, but otherwise, the fidelity of this studio recording is exceptionally good. (Some music was ‘scoped, and has been restored in the full version here.)
Unscoped
Scoped
Here’s more of Bob Eubanks on April 1, 1992, when KRLA became A Thing Of The Past with reconstructed airchecks from the Sixties. This is the second part restored from Bob’s airchecks.
Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto are featured with a catchy jingle for Maclean’s toothpaste, Dave Hull does a promo for Dick Biondi, and we are encouraged to see the U.S.A. in a Chevrolet.
Most of this aircheck seems to have been recorded after The Beatles made their first appearance in America  KRLA was Your Beatles Station. The music is a mid-60’s mix from several years.
Listen to the elaborate and detailed description of a suspected murderer being sought by the FBI on Crime Beat, and a quick drop from Mick Jagger.