Anyone Here Collect Radio Station Air Checks? I'm Searching High & Low For Some

[mr_june]

Does anyone from Philly know if WDAS kept anything from the 60's and 70's? Here in Chicago I have a few things from WVON but it's the same material that everyone else has. Sadly VON did not keep recordings. I'm looking for air-checks for stations in any city that played r&b and soul with commercials, news and everything else. The air-checks from pop radio stations are easier to find for some reason. The reason I'm looking for them is because I like to listen to the music just like it was on the radio when I first heard it. The commercials, news, commentaries and the like puts it all in perspective. Tv shows from the same era with vintage original commercials are just as good.

[oldiesmusicfan]

Mr. June - Have you looked at this site -

http://www.las-solanas.com/arsa//airchx_intro.php

I don't see any from Philly [[my area in the 60s!) but you may be able to contact someone from the site for more leads.

Oldies

[mr_june]

Thanks oldies. I'll let you know how it went.

[oldiesmusicfan]

Mr. June -

This sounds exactly like what you are looking for. I just came across this while clearing out My Favorites. This is a really old link and I know nothing about the reliabiliy of their business. Maybe someone else here has bought things through this site.

"SONNY HOPSON

1969 Philadelphia AM Radio Broadcast

Contains funk and soul music of the day, cool commercials and wild chatter from legendary Philly soul DJ "The Mighty Burner" .

This original radio show
will take you back to a precious time in Philadelphia history when black AM radio ruled the airwaves.

Price: $8"

http://www.distortionsrecords.com/

Oldies

[Doug-Morgan]

You might want to give Art Vuolo a try. You can reach him through www.vuolovideo.com [[http://www.vuolovideo.com) Note that although his website doesn't get updated often, he still may be one of your best sources, and if he doesn't have a check, he should know who does.

Althugh I didn't see one for WDAS on his aircheck page, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Art has one of the largest aircheck collections I've ever seen. It wouldn't suprise me if he had one of mine somewhere in his vaults [[although I'd hope he would have burned it by now.....).

[acooolcat]

Here's a suvery from WHAT Radio - nice to see Edward Hamilton included....2986

[sunshineonacloudyday]

Mr June,

I'm a collector of radio airchecks too. I also enjoy listening to entire shows, commercials and all--for the complete experience.

One of my favorite sixties shows was Wolfman Jack on The Mighty 1090--XERB [[Tijuana, Los Angeles). I found some entire shows at this website

http://http://www.rockitradio.net/store.html [[http://www.rockitradio.net/store.html)

I've found many of these old airchecks sound as if they were recorded by some kid with a cheap tape recorder next to the transistor radio on the nightstand, lol. Still, the great music and nostalgia more than makes up for
the crappy audio. In fact, when I listened to those Wolfman Jack shows on my 9v transistor AM radio when they originally aired, the sound wasn't much better.

I have that Sonny Hopson "The Mighty Burner" CD that oldies mentioned above. The show originally aired on WHAT in 1969, and again the audio is poor, but the experience is priceless!

Thanks to all for sharing the surveys too. Here's another website with surveys and airchecks from the Bay Area.

www.bayarearadio.org

[sunshineonacloudyday]

http://http://www.radiotimeline.com/ [[http://www.radiotimeline.com/)

[[At the site menu to the left-- "Aircheck collection", "The Aircheck List")

Above is another link to a large library of airchecks available on CD, though I've never ordered from this site...Yet!

[mr_june]

Mr. June -

This sounds exactly like what you are looking for. I just came across this while clearing out My Favorites. This is a really old link and I know nothing about the reliabiliy of their business. Maybe someone else here has bought things through this site.

"SONNY HOPSON

1969 Philadelphia AM Radio Broadcast

Contains funk and soul music of the day, cool commercials and wild chatter from legendary Philly soul DJ "The Mighty Burner" .

This original radio show
will take you back to a precious time in Philadelphia history when black AM radio ruled the airwaves.

Price: $8"

http://www.distortionsrecords.com/

Oldies

Thanks Oldies. I went to that site but there are no live links to click on. I do want that air check too.

[sunshineonacloudyday]

You can buy Sonny Hopson CD here:

http://http://www.amazon.com/Original-1969-Philadelphia-Sonny-Hopson/dp/B00005YKSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305737868&sr=1-1 [[http://www.amazon.com/Original-1969-Philadelphia-Sonny-Hopson/dp/B00005YKSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305737868&sr=1-1)

[mr soul]

I have the Sonny Hopson CD & the audio quality as previously stated ain't great, also it's presented as one track lasting 1 hour, which means so far I've never got 'round to listening to the whole show or even had the inclination to split it up in to indivual tracks, maybe one day.

[oldiesmusicfan]

You're welcome Mr. June. I'm glad sunshineonacloudyday put up that Amazon link for you. I checked it out, and there is a brief sample of the audio quality. Just the sound of it really takes me back. It's been over 40 years since I've heard that kind of radio program! Just great. I may have to buy it myself!

Oldies

[mikey]

The iconic John R of America's powerhouse radio station WLAC Nashville http://youtu.be/-KrVu5DfQ2A

[daddyacey]

I've collected some air checks too. Thanks for those links.

[mr_june]

You can buy Sonny Hopson CD here:

http://http://www.amazon.com/Original-1969-Philadelphia-Sonny-Hopson/dp/B00005YKSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305737868&sr=1-1 [[http://www.amazon.com/Original-1969-Philadelphia-Sonny-Hopson/dp/B00005YKSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305737868&sr=1-1)

Thanks for the link sunshineonacloudyday, I ordered it from Amazon through a seller [[Go Hastings) whom I picked up items from in the past. I found a website that has a has some great airchecks. I'll have to post a link when I get home. Yes it is nice to be able to hear our favorite stations once again. To bad there aren't more of these around though. Back when I was in high school, I had a friend that recorded reels and reels of WVON on his reel to reel tape recorder. I've been trying to track him down for the longest to see if he still has them. Sadly he and his siblings had taken to using drugs years ago and there's no telling if they are still around. Man if I only knew then what I know now I would have picked up a couple of reel to reel recorders and went to town recording from the radio.

[tamla617]

mr june
check this site out link below
http://www.detroitradioflashbacks.net/

hope its got something in there for you

[davealan]

It's been a while since I last got on the message board, but I had to reply. There is a blog that has several airchecks from Rhythm and Blues stations from the 60's anf 70's and it's free!
Here is the link. Enjoy!
Dave Alan formally of Baltimore, now in Memphis, Tennessee.
http://stepfatherofsoul.blogspot.com/

[sunshineonacloudyday]

You're welcome Mr June. I think you'll like that CD. It's like an audio time capsule, complete with news headlines of that time [[Nixon was the President, lol)

I once put together a 2 CD comp of all the Top 40 songs from KDIA's survey for the week of May 21, 1966 [[with station IDs, but no commercials). Just listening to the entire Top 40 from one week in time is a real treat.

[alanh]

The Reel Top 40 Radio Repository is another good site for radio archives - just streaming, not downloads or CDs - and you have to subscribe to listen. But there's some great material there.

http://www.reelradio.com

[mr_june]

The Reel Top 40 Radio Repository is another good site for radio archives - just streaming, not downloads or CDs - and you have to subscribe to listen. But there's some great material there.

http://www.reelradio.com

Wow! this and the other sites are just what I've been looking for. The older I get the more nostalgic I get. I don't personally know one person that collects air checks or old tv shows with the commercials in tact. Sometimes it gets a little lonely not knowing anyone that you can get excited about something with. Thanks to everyone here that posted.