I found all of the tapes that my friend sent to my dad while he was serving in the Navy from 1962 to 1968. In finding these I found a tape of a full 4 hour show of Bill Adams on 1230 AM.......nothing is cut out except for the turn of the tape at the end of the sides (4 track mono on wonderfully ammonia stinky Kodak tape......3 tracks at 1250 feet at 3 3/4 IPS........) I have transferred this (and all of the tapes sent to the U.S.S Lawrence during my father’s tenure) to Variable Bit Rate MP3 for my archives.
That pretty much sums it up. I will just add that I was amazed at the number of commercial breaks and live reads that take place during this four hour show. I don't believe that there are any more actual commercials than were likely present on other stations in this era (and I have not only several other tapes from this general period, but also my own memories), but here in Chicago, at least, I think the commercials were run together in packages of 3-4 minutes. In this segment, it is rare for two songs to be played back to back without significant DJ chatter and at least one live read, if not an actual recorded commercial. And I'm not sure there are ANY segments where more than two songs run back to back without commercials in between.
That doesn't take away from the enjoyment at all - even the commercials are quite entertaining - but I did find it odd. And of course the music is often just glorious, and there's the added benefit of featuring a few records I've never heard before.
That's really all I have to say aside from a giant THANK YOU to Scott. The tape is divided into three segments, all of which are posted below:
Play:
Play:
Thank you! Really enjoy these old tapes. Especially the old radio stuff!
ReplyDeleteHere in Philadelphia around this time, one of the big AM Top 40 stations was WIBG, which was featuring a half hour of commercials per hour's worth of airtime. The station's biggest DJ at the time, the late Hyt Lit, tried to convince station management to scale back the commercial load. I believe the station took heed when it utilized the Boss Radio format in '68.
ReplyDeleteThese are fantastic! Just love unscoped aircheqs from this era...
ReplyDeleteMany thanx Bob & especially Scott.
If there are any more similar tapes like these, by all means, post 'em.
Hearing a DJ plsying Eric Burdon blasting out "Monterey" in glorious AM mono is by itself a good enough reason to give these recordings a listen... while even moldy oldies like "Judy in Disguise" sound fresh in their natural context. Not to mention the ad jingles, movie advertisements, news reports, etc. At the time radio was where it's at, and not just in the USA. It's all so energizing that it's easy to see how The Who were inspired to record their "Sell Out" concept in the same year. Thanks to you and Scott for sharing.
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ReplyDeleteThanks, Bob (and Scott). I'll be listening to these recordings with great anticipation :)