Airchecks
Airchecks capture the essence of a radio station's sound. They are recordings of radio programs, highlighting the disc jockey and his presentation, the radio station's promotions and audience builders,
and just enough of the music to give you an idea of what was on the station's playlist at the time.
We hope to build the aircheck library here over time, with help from you, the radio listener. If you have any tapes you'd like to contribute, do it!
All of the airchecks in the archive here have been "telescoped." That means the music and many of the commercials have been cut short, with just enough of it so you can hear what the DJ was doing over it,
under it, or behind it. Copyright law is a complex subject, and we certainly don't want a hassle with it. Minimizing the music in the airchecks is one way we hope to encourage the lawyers to ignore us.
And we hope they will. Our intent here is essentially just to preserve and display a bit of radio as it was, while possibly increasing everyone's interest in radio as it is, no matter what station they
pick as their favorite. We think it's a fair use of the material. Nevertheless, we'll immediately honor requests from copyright holders to remove their material from this site. That said, here's our
aircheck inventory so far. More are on the way. To listen, just click the Play button on the tape deck:
A half-hour of early JD, filling in on afternoon show on WPTR in Albany, NY in late 1971, then mornings at KIRL in suburban St. Louis. Although he'd gotten into radio at his college radio station,
WRPI in Troy, NY, as "J. Douglas," WPTR already had J. W. Wagner doing mornings, so J. became Jeff at WPTR and KIRL. At WIXO and WNOE-AM in New Orleans, it was back to "J. Douglas," middays at WIXO in
1974, and all-nights at WNOE-AM in 1975. Can you remember when the Led Zeppelin IV album was brand new?
Jon Wolfert is President of JAM Creative Productions Inc. and their predecessor, PAMS, both of which are Dallas,
Texas-based jingle companies supplying jingles and production music to radio and TV stations worldwide. They supplied 50,000-watt WPTR in Albany, NY, where JD cut his commercioal AM radio baby teeth.
This is a sampling of some of them. Jon is also responsible for Rewound Radio, so be sure to check that out.
Thanks to WPTR's Rick Ryder (Gary Liebisch) for steedring me to this one.
Stephen Stills grew up in Covington, Louisiana north of New Orleans. In September, 1978, he "came home" to see the Muhammed Ali-Leon Spinks fight in the
Superdome. He brought a 2-track tape of his new Thoroughfare Gap album and dropped in on JD on a Saturday night. Sambo did middays at WRNO and lived in the Imperial House motel on North
Causeway in Metairie, which also housed the WRNO studios. He dropped by as well, and actually does most of the interview. Hear what Steve Stills thinks about the recording process, the
music business, the Ali-Spinks fight, the New Orleans police, Gary Busey in The Buddy Holley Story, and the ancient tape deck at WRNO that can be heard doing its best to nearly destroy
his tape! Thanks to Art Parr of Mandeville for this contribution. These days, you'll find Sambo disguised as Bo Roberts doing mornings at KZPS in Dallas, along with Jim White, another
ex-WRNO jock. Interview photo.
Here's Rick Collins on WNOE-AM ("The New N-O-E"), playing Count the Music for $50 bills and getting a winning listener. You'll hear Program Diector E. Alvin
Davis on the Count the Music promos. It's a Saturday afternoon shift, recorded and contributed by Bimbo, the DJ with a JD, who did research at WNOE all those years ago. Thanks, Bim!
Here's your Breakfast Flake, Crazy Bob on WNOE-AM ("The New N-O-E"), trying to give away free money ($4,893). You'll hear long-time WNOE News Director Dave
Kushler's full newscast and interaction with Bob. Check the price on the new 1976 Ford Pinto in the Bohn Ford ad at the end. You'll also hear ads for the Victoria Station restaurant in
the French Quarter (it ain't dere no mo'), as well as the now-defunct A&P Grocery. There are two shows here. You'll hear Alan Beebe introducing Bob for the second one midway through.
The first show was near Mardi Gras in 1976. Not sure of the date for the second. Recorded and contributed by Bimbo. Thanks again, Bim!
Chuck Kirr on WTIX around 4 PM in December, 1979 when WTIX sounded pretty much like WNOE-AM at the time. You'll hear Terry Young on a commercial, and a promo
for Bobby Reno doing Noon to 6 PM the next day. , You can hear “The Chucker” now as “Doc” Thayer, owner of WZPH, 96.7, The Zephyr in Florida. A well-traveled (and well-educated) disc
jockey whose been to stations in Illinois, Milwaukee, Trenton, Fayetteville, Buffalo, Miami, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Miami, “Doc” has settled with his doctorate and
radio station in the Tampa area. Thanks to Christopher Roach for this contribution.
Athena & Jeff on the now-defunct WKZN, 105.3 The Zone. This telescopes the 6 - 9 AM portion of their 5 AM - 9 AM show on 11/17/03 into an aircheck a
little over two hours long, so there wasn't much music to remove. Plenty of talk and fun, though. They ask listeners for wedding proposal stories, and interview Cosmo magazine's
Louisiana bachelor lawyer and hunk Josh Holmes, who in turn interviews a couple of lady listeners Dating Game-style. The winner gets a French Quarter date with him. Gene & Julie
from Lite 94.9 in Atlanta call in to pay off on a Saints-Falcons game bet.
Bill Stedman was the Program Director installed at WRNO by Lee Abrams and Sonny Fox when they brought their Superstars format to New Orleans.
He also handled the midday jock chores. This aircheck was from a reel-to-reel tape that had apparently rolled on a tape deck in the Radio Shack store in Arabi, Louisiana
(it ain't dere no more, thanks to Hurricane Katrina) The tape was discovered behind a stereo display fixture in the store a few years later. This sample makes it clear that
the format was "all about the music." Trigger Black (Gary Guthrie) shows up for his afternoon gig at the end of this clip. Trigger had done a brief stint at WNOE in 1973,
then at the megawatt AM XEROK in Juarez, Mexico (as B. J. McAllister), before landing back in New Orleans at 'RNO. Also heard in this clip: longtime WNOE newsman Dave
Kushler peddling Marshall Brothers Lincoln-Mercurys; Pre-Superstars WRNO PD Doug Christian on an ad for The Courier, a favorite long-haired New Orleans weekly newspaper;
Greg Allman's 7-minute Dreams twice in one jock shift (must have been in the hot rotation); an ad for the feature-length cartoon, The
9 Lives of Fritz the Cat as a midnight
movie at The Saenger Theater; "Hosie" Pollet, an 'RNO engineer, peddling Maxell tape for Alterman Audio, and plenty of mention of 'RNO's music "in quad," the short-lived 4-
channel quadrophonic sound which appeared on vinyl discs in several different formats, mostly the matrix SQ format from Columbia and other labels. WRNO also used two separate
mikes for the jock at the time, so you can hear the jock turning his head.
Robert W. Morgan on his second last day at KHJ, Los Angeles before his move to WIND, Chicago. It was October 1, 1970. You'll hear all-night jock Johnny
Williams play his last record for the night, then Robert starts his morning show with an impersonation of Wolfman Jack, with whom he claimed to have been up all night recording radio
shows. About 11 minutes in to this half-hour aircheck, Robert starts worrying about Charlie Tuna, who would be replacing him on the morning show the next week. Charlie hadn't showed
up yet to "break in" and learn how to do the show. So after another record or two, Robert looks up Charlie's number in the "unlisted Wet Pages" and calls him at home. Charlie agrees
to listen to Robert's show at home to get Robert's pointers. There's also a little snippet of a "Fractious Friday" with The Real Don Steele at the very end. Thanks to Gary Liebisch
(a.k.a. "Rick Ryder" at WPTR in Albany) for providing the aircheck!
Bobby Reno was usually somewhere on the New Orleans radio dial from the weekend Hurricane Betsy arrived in 1965 until late 2016 when he passed away at the age
of 72. He spent time as a jock at WTIX-AM and WRNO, and as Program Director at WNOE-FM and WCKW-FM in New Orleans. He also jocked in Memphis and at KSLQ in St. Louis. In this aircheck,
Bobby's playin' dem oldies on WTIX-FM on Ash Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras in 2014, sounding pretty much like he sounded decades earlier playing them when they were brand new on
WTIX-AM, the Mighty 690.
This 5 minutes will take you back to 1979 and WTIX. The Krew of 'TIX included Robert Mitchell, Ya Pal Al, Bob Walker, Terry Young, Marty with the Party, and
Greg Fox with sports. Buzz Bennett guarantees that WTIX will give away $25,000. Thanks to Ya Pal Al for ressurecting this one!
WIXO all-night guy Jeff Bennett was JD's roommate in early 1973. By 1975, JD was at WNOE-AM and Jeff Bennett had moved on to WFLI in Chattanooga,
changing his airname to "Jeff Scott." Coincidentally, WFLI's Program Director was one-time WRNO jock E. Alvin Davis, who took on the PD title at WNOE-AM in 1976 and re-hired
JD after he'd been fired by the preceeding PD, Jason O'Brien. Radio broadcasting could sometimes be a very small world! Here's a 10-minute sample of Jeff as he sounded then,
playing "the mid-South's best music."
J. Douglas, WRNO-FM & WRNO Worldwide, New Orleans, 1991
JD in the revamped studio in what was then the WRNO Building at Clearview Parkway & I-10 (now it's the WTIX Building). The studio was built to be bigger, since the old room was running
out of room for the vinyl LPs, which were still the bulk of what 'RNO played at the time. In addition to the Panasonic SP-10 direct-drive turntables, the studio did have CD decks, and
there was a small stack of CDs in the studio. On this late November night, the Tulane Green Wave led the LSU Tigers early. Watch JD get the Led out, and check the final score on the
game. Hear WRNO founder Joe Costello offer the shortwave services of WRNO Worldwide (first non-religious, commercial shortwave outlet in the US) for listeners to send messages to loved
ones in the armed forces overseas right before the 1991 Gulf war. Some of the sound is as received off the air; some was the live sound in the studio.
Captain Humble on WCCL-TV, New Orleans
Some may say this is TV, not radio. But Captain Humble did both in the 80's, spinning the rock records at WCKW-FM, and hosting the afternoon movies on WCCL-TV in what was billed as The
Traveling Picture Show. This broadcast was from the New Orleans International Airport (as it was known at the time). The movie of the day was Mafia Princess, starring Susan Lucci and
Tony Curtis. Helping out the good Captain were his ex-radio sidekick Celeste who was headed off to do some modeling and radio in Dallas, and Cap's traffic reporter Holly Brown, who
contributed the VHS tape. You won't see any of the Mafia Princess, but you'll see plenty of Cap and friends. Thanks, Holly!
Ben Walsh (aka Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux and Benny the Jokeman) on One America News Network, 2014
Jay Leno is gone from the Tonight Show, but one of his ace monologue writers lives on. On WTIX-FM's Michael in the Morning Show, he's Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux. He's also known as Benny
the Jokeman, and this was his appearance as a "political analyst" on The Daily Ledger with Graham Ledger on One America News Network, October 10, 2014. Think of this as radio with pictures!
The History of WTIX and Other Storz Radio Stations
Not really an aircheck, but an interesting history of of the landmark rock 'n' roll radio stations established by Todd Storz. They included WHB in Kansas City, KXOK in St. Louis, WDGY in
Minneapolis, WQAM in Miami, KOMA in Oklahoma City, and, of course, WTIX in New Orleans. Longtime WTIX General Manager Fred Berthelson introduces it, and WTIX Production Director Perry Murphy narrates.
WABC's Dan Ingram
New Orleans archivist Matt Dillon steered JD to this gem, which features a 1969 and 1970 TV dance show hosted by legendary WABC DJ Dan Ingram, one of JD's idols It was a pilot for The Now Explosion. It started
on local Atlanta television station WATL-TV and became syndicated nationally. Featuring locally produced current music videos, it came a full decade before MTV. The link Matt provide was
Now Explosion Web site, but it seems to be dead now.
So, to take its place for now, here's a tribute to Big Dan Ingram from Art Vuolo, another radio archivist, which features a video aircheck fom the latter part of Dan's career at New York's WCBS-FM.