REEL TOP 40 RADIO REPOSITORY
Joe Evelius is a native of Baltimore and a longtime Top Forty radio fan and broadcaster, having worked part time on the air since 1974 at WNAV, Annapolis; WFBR, Baltimore; WITH, Baltimore and WAMD, Aberdeen. Also, Joe is working on a book featuring Baltimore top forty radio legends - the personalities who introduced the hits on WITH and WCAO in the fifties and sixties. In addition to some great stories, there will also be lots of exhibits including pictures, music surveys and promotional items. About his collection, Joe writes: "Just for starters, some airchecks from Baltimore and Washington recorded by Baltimore native Jim Sheeler, a friend who passed away in 1977. Jim recorded AM top forty beginning in the early 1960's. In 1966 he found WPGC-FM, a legendary rocker with a blowtorch signal blanketing Baltimore, Washington and northern Virginia. Jim recorded WPGC in Cockeysville, Maryland - 40 plus miles from the transmitter site which is in Morningside, Maryland. Hundreds of reels and cassettes remain to be dubbed to digital from both the Jim Sheeler stash and my own collection. There's lots of WCAO, WCBM, WITH, and WLPL, along with "vacation" tapes of KQV-FM (simulcast with AM) and some Florida stuff. Enjoy!" The Repository thanks Joe Evelius for sharing! |
[Descriptions by Uncle Ricky ]
TOP STREAM 44 Kbps (14 Khz)
Classic and Classy Radio Commercials, 1950s - 1970s
(57:23)
[Description by Uncle Ricky] Our thanks to contributor Joe Evelius for this delightful composite of Classic and Classy Radio Commercials from the 1950s, 1960s, and the early 1970s. Joe writes: "For many years I have collected commercials in addition to airchecks, jingles and records. In many ways, commercials are the toughest items to find even though they played such a prominent role on the air. Those jingles seem to stay with people for a long time. I hope this brings more people and their contributions to Reelradio..."Opening with a very early Dr. Pepper spot (at 10, 2 and 4!), this composite is never more than a few minutes from a soft drink song, including Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Royal Crown, Seven-Up and Frosty Root Beer. Petula Clark is also featured with a 90-second rendition of Things Go Better With Coke (Coke ahfta Coke ahfta Coke). Would you prefer a Budweiser, Hamms, Schaeffer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, or Ballantine instead? Perhaps you'd rather share a Schlitz with Ella Fitzgerald or what sounds like The Carpenters (heard for the finale.) And if you're in the mood for a movie, there are spots for Go Johnny Go (starring Alan Freed!), Tammy And The Bachelor, Pillow Talk, Murder, Inc., Cool Hand Luke, The Dirty Dozen, The Graduate, and Patton. Lots more for automobiles, too - even the Studebaker Lark. And there are spots for L&M, Newport, Pall Mall, Winston and Kent. Of course, these familiar melodies were legislated out of existence in the '60's (though they are still legal products!) Buckle Up For Safety, Buckle Up! Many of these commercials are jingles, and it's fun to hear vocal styles and instrumentation change over twenty years. The entire 57+ minutes is a fascinating aural history and highly recommended for your enjoyment. |
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TOP STREAM 32 Kbps (13 Khz)
Fabulous Fifties Spots Montage
(28:37)
[Description by Uncle Ricky]
 Coca-Cola and Seven-Up are included, and this montage begins with a reminder from Pepsi that Grandpa may have liked his women on the buxom side, but slender women live longer. (Exactly how a sugary soft drink keeps them slimmer isn't explained.) It closes with an invitation from Pepsi to be sociable, long before social networking came into common usage. |
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TOP STREAM 32 Kbps (13 Khz)
Sensational Sixties Spots Montage
(48:07)
. . . and thanks to the men at the station for letting us say this, too . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Our thanks to contributor Joe Evelius for his second montage of great radio commercials. This one spotlights Sensational Sixties Spots, and what a show! Joe thanks Sam Ward for the '65 Pontiac and '69 Plymouth Roadrunner spots, and Bill Bell for the Tempo cigarette spot. You've got a lot to like and you'll get a smile everytime. For light-hearted moments, this is the one, and you'll flip at the zip of this pop top holiday. Zing — what a feeling. Isn't this better than dancing? Those who think young will remember Alfred Hitchcock, Anita Bryant, Robert Preston, Ethel Merman (for Zip Code — marvelous!), Bing Crosby, a Nancy Sinatra sound-a-like (she sued Goodyear, see COMMENTS), Donna Reed, Paul Petersen, Dick Clark, Murray The K, Scott Muni, Tiny Tim, Gary Owens, Robert W. Morgan (for Easy Rider) and Dan Ingram. All (and more) are featured in this memorable collection of some of the best advertising from mostly musical (m)admen of the sixties. There are even a couple of announcements for RADIO (America's Sound Habit) courtesy of the NAB (or was it the RAB?) In the opening minutes, note the similarity of the melodies for L&M and Coke, and remember, The Birds is coming! |
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TOP STREAM 32.0 Kbps (10 Khz)
Tiger Bob Raleigh, WPGC Morningside, December 31, 1967
(01:15:10)
This Exhibit 'SCOPED (26:35)
. . .
Happy Holiday!
. . .
[Description by Uncle Ricky, contributed by Joe Evelius] Recorded from monaural WPGC-FM (Washington, D.C.) about 40 miles from the transmitter, this is a true FM off-the-air reel recording, Optimod-PC processed for streaming presentation. The grunge on the music is the REEL thing - that's how vinyl sounded at the time. Tiger Bob Raleigh Bill Miller, d. January 29, 2018) is doing double duty as DJ and News Dude at Good Guys Radio. It's the last late morning of 1967, and The Holiday Weekend Spectacular is underway. There's a mix of PAMS (and other?) jingles, lots of promos and production elements, throbbing reverb on everything and even an acapella for the postal mailing address. Note multiple promotions - more contests, more prizes, more music and Things Are Great in '68! Listen to WPGC on FM and you can listen until Midnight - 7 nights a week. Apparently, they weren't 24 hours, yet. |
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TOP STREAM 32.0 Kbps (10 Khz)
Todd Chase, KQV-FM Pittsburgh, August 16, 1968
(02:19:03)
. . . People Got To Be Free - to pay taxes . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Todd Chase is heard on KQV-FM (simulcasting KQV-AM) on August 16, 1968. The exceptional fidelity of this exhibit is exceeded only by a marathon length: Two Hours and Nineteen Minutes snatched from an otherwise forgotten Friday night in the Steel City. It's not exactly clear what was going on with KQV-FM at this time. ABC News interrupts Down at Lulu's (thankfully!) and Jerry Marshall's National Sound Survey (featuring the PD of KORD in Pasco, Washington) seems to rejoin the Chase show in progress. Perhaps KQV-FM cleared some ABC network features that didn't run on the AM? Bill James is heard with news. He does a fine job until the last five minutes of this aircheck, when you'll hear a seriously-flawed newscast that is SO messed up it's hard to believe it was on an ABC O&O. In addition to hearing James fumble around for carts, you'll hear someone walk into the studio! The final commercial is cut off, but this amazing recording is complete with the official Sign Off, The Star Spangled Banner, and "No Carrier". |
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TOP STREAM 32.0 Kbps (10 Khz)
Tiger Bob Raleigh, WPGC Washington, D.C. July 20 1969 (01:49:27) . . . Let me open up the Maryland Request-O-Matic line . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] First, this is also a very long exhibit - almost two hours. I couldn't consider any edits because the fidelity is so consistently excellent. So, it's all here, from about 9am until 10:49AM on July 20, 1969. Thanks to contributor Joe Evelius for this great addition to the Repository. Bob Raleigh appears in two roles on this aircheck, and we're told it's the same guy. Tiger Bob Raleigh is the DJ, and Bob Raleigh is the news guy featured during this unscoped hour and 49 minutes of WPGC-FM. It's a Sunday Morning, and it's a Solid Gold Million Dollar Weekend, and we LOVE that reverb! You'll also enjoy an interesting blend of Pepper-Tanner (I think) and PAMS jingles, and a cornucopia of period marketing (for all the important things, of course.) Request-O-Matic and Sound-Off-of-the-Week are fun, but scattered between the expected hard-core Goldens and Top 40 "Hits" of the period, you'll find a bountiful garden of mid-chart weirdness - including at least one cut you *can't* play today, you'd be sued into bankruptcy! Amazing fidelity on this exhibit, reminding us mostly how bad 45 RPM records sounded after being played over and over again on radio station turntables. But for me, nothing can beat some of the great R&B featured here as heard then — from a grungy, cheap plastic 45 and a dull needle with a lot of reverb and lots of indiscriminate gain control. Yum. |
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TOP STREAM 64 Kbps (13 Khz)
Super 70s Spots Montage
(24:27)
. . . Were you ever a teenager in love? . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] This Super Seventies Spots Montage from contributor Joe Evelius includes multiple campaigns for Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, but there are also memorable minutes for movies, McDonalds and Miller Beer. A few of these are in stereo, but most are not. Most offer excellent fidelity, but a few do not. Overall, however, this 24 minutes is a solid sample of the sounds that sold in The Super Seventies! It concludes with a short feature named Sixty Second LP, presented by Freshen Up - It's loaded with flavor! |
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TOP STREAM 32.0 Kbps (13 Khz)
Jim Tice, WLPL-FM Baltimore, June 13, 1970 Pt. 1
(01:04:00)
. . . we'll tell you when it's time to roll over . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Jim Tice counts down the All Time Top 200, interspersed with selections from the current WLPL Top 30, on June 13, 1970. As a service of the Even Tan Club, Tice provides reminders to turn every 15 minutes, but he doesn't sound as comfortable with a five-minute newscast. The first part of this two-parter includes hits #118 through #109, and because we're hearing the lower-ranking "All Time" hits, there's blessedly little burn-out. WLPL was Baltimore's first FM Top 40 station, but it's not clear if they were broadcasting in stereo, or if it's just the recording that was made in mono. In either event, the fidelity is very nice for a recording of this vintage. Unfortunately, WLPL didn't have much in the way of jingles and production elements, both of which are exhausted within the first few minutes of this aircheck. |
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TOP STREAM 32.0 Kbps (13 Khz)
Jim Tice, WLPL-FM Baltimore, June 13, 1970 Pt. 2
(01:12:24)
This Exhibit 'SCOPED (20:52)
. . . Our all-time Top 200 . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] In Part Two of this recording of Jim Tice from June 13, 1970, the WLPL-FM All Time Top 200 continues with hits #93 through #72. WLPL was Baltimore's first FM Top 40 station, and comments on the first part confirm that they were broadcasting in monaural. There are a few reception "blurgles" and one song is mangled. Hard to tell if it's the recording, or if the record actually skipped! Also, you'll hear a few fresh "frankenstein" jingles, pieced together from various sources. |
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TOP STREAM 32.0 Kbps (16 Khz)
Steve Miller, WLPL-FM Baltimore, December 1971
(48:54)
. . . Congressman Wilbur Mills says the Democrats could beat President Nixon in 1972, if they tell the truth . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Contributor Joe Evelius wrote that WLPL-FM was Baltimore's first FM rocker at 92.3 Mhz. Anyone who worked in a small or medium market in those years will recognize the Frankenstein Acapella Jingle Company offerings here. OK, so WLPL owned a few jingles of their own, and they stitched them together with some other jingles. With the exception of Footstompin', which has audible phase error, (the only serious defect in this otherwise excellent recording) it's likely all of the music on this unscoped exhibit was from 45 RPM vinyl singles. Holiday Alert: There are a couple of seasonal musical offerings in this unscoped 48 minutes of the Steve Miller program on a Million Dollar Weekend from a Saturday night in December, 1971. Steve also reads the news - following a muddy musical stager dating back to the early sixties! The lead story advises pregnant women to avoid emptying the cat's litter pan. Please make a note of it. |
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TOP STREAM 64 Kbps (64 Khz)
Loo Katz, Don Geronimo, WPGC Washington, D.C. July 25, 1981 (01:21:43)
This Exhibit 'SCOPED (20:49). . . it's a girl I went to high school with, should have taken more study halls with her . . . [Description by Uncle Ricky] Contributor Joe Evelius wrote that this recording was converted to digital from the same machine used to record it. REELRADIO provided some multi-band expansion in the encoding processing to overcome the overwhelming compression in the original recording. So, the sound you will hear is a bit "softer" than the original recording. This was a hard processed, loud, kickin' radio station in 1981. We've heard of Don Geronimo before, but Loo Katz is fresh to the Repository - certainly a precise format jock in this format. I do recommend the 'scoped version for this exhibit, unless you are crazy about 1981 CHR music. But there's no doubt that THIS is a genuine slice of 1981 contemporary music radio on FM. |
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TOP STREAM 64 Kbps (64 Khz)
JJ McKay, WPGC Morningside-Washington D.C. July 5, 1982 (01:36:08)
This Exhibit 'SCOPED (18:37)
[Description by Uncle Ricky] A couple of songs were restored toward the end, but otherwise, this is a very sweet-sounding recording of JJ McKay on WPGC-FM on July 5, 1982. WPGC might be able to sue Apple for copying the iPod format, but there does seem to be a method to the "guess what station you are listening to" madness here. There's a jingle. One jingle, but it is used out of spots, into music, and the first two records are always played back-to-back, with no ID. When McKay is allowed to talk, he is tight, concise and relevant — No wasted verbage here AND, there are things going on. The stopsets are LONG, but mostly packed with exceptionally well-made radio commercials. WPGC was getting top dollars for ad time, that's for sure. As for JJ, the WPGC Tribute Site says "JJ McKay joined the station in 1981. JJ left the following year when he was spotted at a Redskins game after having called in sick that day! Today he does mornings at KXKL-FM/Denver." | ||
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