This is New Year's Eve, Beaker Street style, starting 11pm Friday, December 31, 1971, and going into the wee hours of January 1, 1972. I got this aircheck from another collector several years ago. From the lack of fading it sounds like it was taped off KAAY's local signal, but I don't know who originally taped it. It is mostly untelescoped, with just a few gaps here and there and parts of some songs left out due to distortions in audio quality. But overall the quality is quite good. The aircheck is divided into four audio files and they cover most of the 3 hour show.
It sure sounds like Clyde Clifford is celebrating the New Year at the transmitter site, and I mean something beyond the countdown to midnight and Auld Lang Syne. Long songs are the norm with Beaker Street's progressive rock format, of course. But this night Clyde is playing some VERY long songs, like Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", "The Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson, and a long unidentified Dixieland-style jam after midnight. Was there a party going on? Listen carefully and you can hear the clues. Clyde says he is drinking "a little eggnog", with no nog in it, sorry, but with some "awful strong nutmeg". OK.....
You will also hear some Black Oak Arkansas, Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, Grateful Dead, Love Sculpture, Guess Who, and Deep Water Reunion's "Cindy's Cryin' ", a Beaker Street classic. The spots include A Warehouse in New Orleans. The Allman Brothers and REO Speedwagon were playing there that weekend and tickets were only 5 bucks --- wow! Other advertisers are Floyd's Record Shop, Jefferson Manor Apartments, Coca-Cola and Stag Beer.
Clyde mentioned listeners in Wisconsin, Missouri and Louisiana, and we all know there were plenty more. Imagine thousands of people celebrating New Year's in their own way, with Beaker Street blasting thru the skywaves and rocking out of radios all over the place to bring in 1972 !
Greg Barman,
Denver, CO
Greg has supplied us the four-part audio file as well as a 30-min. scoped summary. Over the next 7-10 days, we will post all of this great aircheck. We start with the scoped summary aircheck, which serves as an appetizer for the full show, to follow...
If you can't wait for the four parts to come, you can download everything directly from Greg's web sites:
When do we get the rest???
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