Re-posts of Phil North airchecks 1970-71

Here are a few re-posts of Phil North airchecks that appeared on early versions of this Blog.  Much of the early blog audio was stored on the Podmatic podcast platform.  Some of those items are no longer downloadable and are lost.  Here are those that still exist, preserved and re-EQ'd a bit for better audio quality.

First here is Phil North on a Saturday night February 21 1970, 8:12-10:10pm telescoped with "Program 70".  There is a short excerpt of Mary Donald with Comex Contemporary News.  Plus, there is a promo for the underground Beaker Street with "Mid-America's super-hippy Clyde Clifford, the leader of radio's most listened-to all-night freak out".  I mean, just wow. 

https://archive.org/details/kaay-phil-north-2-21-70

Next, this is Phil North in early July 1971, a Friday morning show on either July 2 or July 9.  10:42-11:03am.  Note the promo for the fabled Fauke Monster tee-shirt!

https://archive.org/details/kaay-phil-north-july-1971

Finally, here is Phil North on Saturday September 4 1971.  This was originally posted as April 10 1971, but based on the "Labor Day weekend" references the actual date sounds like 9/4/71.  5:35-8:10pm telescoped. There is part of a newscast from Mary Donald.  And, there is a break from 6:30-8:00pm when KAAY was still airing a paid religion block in the evenings.

https://archive.org/details/kaay-phil-north-9-4-71

Greg Barman

1972 Football bet between KAAY & WOAI

Here is another gem from the tape collection of Mark Moss, Wayne Moss' son.

It's an aircheck of WOAI-1200, the 50kw clear channel blowtorch from San Antonio, and DJ Bob Moody on a night in October 1972.  Bob talks about the upcoming game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Univ of Texas Longhorns on October 21.  And, whaddaya know, Bob mentions a challenge from "a radio station in Arkansas" over the outcome of the game.  Then he throws in a swipe that he "didn't know they had a radio station in Arkansas now".

Later on, he introduces the challenger and it's Wayne Moss with the terms and rewards of the bet.  After a few songs he brings Wayne on the show again.  This is all in fun, of course, and undoubtedly arranged beforehand as so many stunts in radio are.  It was a great bet from one 50,000-watter to another!  I got a feeling that Wayne and Bob were already friends before this.

This is DX reception from Little Rock, I assume.  While the WOAI signal is good at the start of the aircheck it deteriorates later on.

BTW Arkansas lost that game to Texas 35-15, in Austin before a crowd of 80,000+.  I wonder if the bet was collected and Wayne wound up doing Bob's show on WOAI?

https://archive.org/details/woai-bob-moody-and-wayne-moss-football-bet-october-1972

Greg Barman

More KAAY history online

I stumbled upon this site while googling for research on KAAY.  It looks like a fairly new Top40 radio aircheck and history site, called RadioAircheck.us .   The site doesn't provide any details on who operates it beyond a statement in their About section -- "Aircheck Radio was founded by a group of dedicated radio enthusiasts and former broadcasters who share a deep appreciation for the legacy of Top 40 radio."  It looks like they are in the early stages of building content on the site.

There is a "Radio History" section that includes a handful of big legacy stations, including KAAY!  And whoever wrote up the station's history did a pretty good job.  They even mention this Blog as a site for vintage recordings and stories about the station, thanks for that!

Here is the site with the KAAY page:

https://aircheckradio.us/kaays-top-40-triumph-in-little-rock/

Greg Barman

KAAY Beaker Street with Ken Knight from mid 1974

Here is the 2nd Beaker Street partial show that we have digitized from the tape collection of Mark Moss (Wayne Moss' son).

This is a brief, 17 minute aircheck of Ken Knight hosting the show on Monday night, July 1 1974.  The show is recorded off-air and DX reception.  The receiving location is unknown.  So, the signal quality varies quite a bit and crashes often, distorting the sound and making some of this difficult to listen to.  There are several breaks in continuity and some songs may be missing. So please excuse the distorted audio at times.  Our goal is to preserve any Beaker Street tape that still exists. 

Ken Knight doesn't say very much here on this aircheck.  This is the discography as best I can tell:

Roxy Music - Mother of Pearl, Sunset

Partial song - can't identify

JJ Cale - Cajun Moon

Thin Lizzy - Vagabond of the Western World

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

Beaker Street often had concert ads from places in distant states within their huge nighttime coverage, and there are two here.  The first is for the Ozark Music Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, touting a huge slate of talent and voiced by Wolfman Jack!  The second is for Hot Rock Two near Spencer, Iowa, featuring the band Baby, a frequent show advertiser, and other bands.  

 

 https://archive.org/details/kaay-beaker-street-ken-knight-7-1-74

 

Greg Barman 

Phil North On KAAY, From Mobile, AL Via Wayne Moss!

 Hello, visitor! 

Greg B. recovered this recording from one of the tapes Mark Moss, son of Wayne Moss, sent in.  This is unique in that Wayne Moss recorded it from Mobile, AL (my home town, sort-of), probably while he was here at WABB AM 1480.  I'll have to look at the dates of his tenure. 

Regardless, thanks to Greg who lovingly restored the tape and uploaded the audio for you to enjoy!  It was recorded over-the-air, so there will be some atmospheric fading, but that adds to the realism ("just like you're there!")

  

 https://archive.org/details/kaay-phil-north-6-3-72

Thanks go to Greg for his fine work and dedication!  And thanks to Mark Moss for sharing!

Bud S. 

 

Beaker Street show from O'Brian! July 1973

We have some new Beaker Street tape!  Thanks to the generosity of Mark Moss (Wayne Moss’ son) and his tape collection, partial airchecks of two Beaker Street shows have been digitized and available to us here at the Blog.

This first show is a partial aircheck of O’Brian on a Saturday night in 1973, probably July.  It’s 39 ½ minutes starting with the Gary Gears “Greetings to the Great Northwest” station ID at 11pm, then the Beaker Street intro.  It’s a studio quality tape and sounds great. 

Discography:

Leon Russell (Live album) – Jumping Jack Flash and Youngblood

Fever Tree – Imitation Situation

Traffic – Rainmaker

It’s a Beautiful Day – White Bird

This was digitized from a cassette tape that still sounds good, 50+ years after being recorded.  I’m glad the tape holds up so well after all this time. 

More Beaker Street to come!

https://archive.org/details/kaay-beaker-street-with-o-brian-1973

 

 Greg Barman

Wayne Moss Composite Recording

 Hello, dear visitor! 

Greg B., in his magical and wonderful ways, has recovered and repaired numerous tapes of Wayne Moss that we previously did not have, thanks to his son Mark Moss!  This one to follow is a composite of audio, 'scoped and sounding studio-quality.  It contains Wayne bantering along, with intermixed commercials and music.  A decently long recording, it was a lot of fun to listen to when I first accessed it.  It gives one a good idea of the day in the life of KAAY, and with Wayne at the helm, shows why the station was so popular:

   

 https://archive.org/details/kaay-wayne-moss-composite-1974-76 

Enjoy!  Please leave us comments on how you like the recordings and don't forget to thank Greg B. for his gracious efforts to bring us priceless audio... and to Mark Moss for so thoughtfully providing it!

Watch for more to come!

Bud S.

Funny KAAY Shotgun Story From Mark Moss

 Dear visitor,

 

Mark Moss told me a funny story and sent pictures (three here) of a shotgun the staff kept on-hand at KAAY.  Pat Walsh said it was gonna be there for protection.  Wayne Moss took the bird shot out of it and loaded it with buckshot!  It's a Marlin magazine-fed bolt-action model, no telling what vintage.  Wayne had painted it with camouflage colors... after all, he WAS a hunter!  But now Mark has a great piece of KAAY and his dad's history.

Per Mark: "It was located in the main long hallway, hung on a pair of hooks above the door before you got to the rear parking lot exit.  It was very close to my dad's office (which was probably no accident).  Dad was notorious about having a pistol with him when he went to work.  Dad was a firm believer in people having access to protection in the station, particularly in the late hours, as the station wasn't in the best part of town."  Mark mentioned that this particular studio was near the Capitol building.

 

 

Thanks Mark, for sharing!

 

Bud S.

Wayne Moss Recordings!

Dear visitor,

Wayne Moss' son Mark Moss recently sent us a bunch of tapes, etc. for us to share here.  Greg B. has now digitized them and they are ready for posting....

It has been a long dry spell, and I apologize for lack of material; however, Barry Mac has been faithful with sending his programs our way.  He is doing mountains of work to keep the memories alive.

Nonetheless, soon to come are links with Wayne Moss and some Beaker Street recordings, too... even a recording from my town Mobile, AL!  I am not sure where it came from, perhaps from Wayne himself , when he was tenured here in Mobile, AL at WABB.

 So sit back, hang on and enjoy the memories!

That 80s Show has landed!

 

Barry Mac's Tin Can Alley and Flashback Tracks are a regular feature of our blog, appearing every week.  (They are also broadcast on the Arkansas Rocks radio network.)

 A few months back, Barry started a new show, That 80s Show, which does for 80s pop and rock what his other two shows do for the 60s and 70s.  We've added Barry's third show to the blog, appearing in the right column with the others --- enjoy! 

Wayne Moss, R.I.P.

 It is with sad heart that I come to you with the news of Wayne Moss.  I heard from both Tony Meyer and Mark Moss of Wayne's passing over to Radio Heaven.  I had a good phone conversation with Mark after my wife said he e-mailed me (I'm the world's worst at checking my e-mail, after being on the computer all day at work.)  Here below is the e-mail from Mark:

Hi Bud,

This is Mark Moss, the son of Wayne Moss (KAAY DJ in the 1970s)  I wanted to let you know he passed away on March 5th of this year.  I was wondering if I come across any old KAAY related items to include recordings, etc. if you would be interested in having them for your website. If you're interested, please let me know. I'd be happy to give them to you.  I know one item that is definitely in the house is The house is the original Moog sound effects album that he used for the beaker street introduction soundtrack, but I'm sure there's several other things I will come across in the coming weeks as I go through this possessions. 

Thank you

Mark Moss"

After speaking with Mark, he has pledged to send materials for this Blog to share with you, dear reader.  Here are some pictures he sent ahead of time of Wayne's goodies:

 

 Wayne was truly one of The Greats.  When I had the privilege to speak with him over the years, his voice was still strong ans vibrant.  He had a hand in helping start a new station in Virginia, but even though his DJ days were over, he did some commercials. 

 In the coming weeks, we hope to be able to share more items that Mark Moss contributes to the blog.  Thank you for your patience.

 

Bud S.

staceys4@hotmail.com