Airchecks 2

Otari MX5050BIII Tape Deck 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:

Airchecks Menu

JD the DJ on WRNO, New Orleans, June 15, 1985

Here's JD on his Saturday night gig on WRNO, New Orleans, June 15, 1985. Depeche Mode is so new, JD doesn't klnow how to pronounce them. You'll hear plenty of classic rock as well as then-current stuff from the Eighties. Some of the local spots are left intact so you can hear what was happening on the local club and bar scene. Voices include WRNO PD and morning man Michael in the Morning, WRNO founder and owner J. Mark Costello welcoming Eddie Van Halen and others to a New Orleans convention, afternoon jock Weerd Wayne, WNOE-AM newsman Dave Kushler as spokesman for Marshall Brothers Lincoln-Mercury, and many more.

Dan Ingram on WABC, New York, June, 1970

Dan Ingram was JD's DJ idol. Here he is in the afternoon drive slot on WABC in New York in June of 1970. Several different shows were captured in this aircheck by JD's college radio buddy, Gary Liebisch. You'll hear the infamous "unbroaching of the Coach" on a day when the ABC network audio line went dead. Howard Cosell ("the Coach") was speaking in the studio next to Dan, but there was no audio making it to the control board in Dan's studio. This creates a "Ball of Confusion," and that's the Temptations record Dan tosses to his board operator to fill the time. You'll hear Dan burping his obstreperous transmitter, and answering the rhetorical questions of Ron Lundy, the midday jock who precedes Dan.

Mike McCann on WQUE-FM, New Orleans, May 12, 1984

Mike McCann was on the air on opening weekend for the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. Walton & Johnson check in with Mike from their remote at Maison Blanche on Canal Street. May 12, 1984. Mike is still in New Orleans doing voice-overs, commercials, audiobooks, and podcasts at his AirLift Productions

Bob Walker & Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux on WTIX-FM, New Orleans, 2005

Bob Walker returned to radio after Hurrican Katrina in 2005 with his trusty Traffic Reporter, Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux. Here's a classic traffic report complete with the "Geese from the East" and the all-important lowdown on the Adult Movie Sign at the I-10 highrise bridge. Contributed by New Orleans radio & TV archivist, Aaron Handy III.

Bob Walker & Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux on WTIX-FM, New Orleans, 7/13/2006

Bob Walker and his trusty Traffic Reporter, Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux were still cracking up listeners in July of 2006 with T-Ben's zany traffic reports and opinion on poetry. Contributed by New Orleans radio & TV archivist, Aaron Handy III.