KAAY: Beaker Street, Clyde Clifford, June 1, 1972

Beaker Street has always been a favorite of mine; searching for it a few years ago, in fact, led me to A. J. Lindsey and his blog!  In my efforts to help him with material for his blog, I searched out more audio, contacted and traded with collectors and such, and sent him whatever I could find.

This particular audio clip was originally sent in by our own Greg Barman to A. J.; I do not recollect if we have ever posted it here or not, so please forgive us if we have and enjoy it once again!  Herewith Greg Barman's comments from A. J.'s blog:

"Beaker Street Memories

A few reminiscences. I grew up in Evanston IL, a northern suburb of Chicago. And while the big city rockers like WLS and WCFL provided no shortage of great listening, I was an active DX-er and was fascinated by that exotic station from Little Rock that boomed in every night on 1090. What really made KAAY unique was Beaker Street, which sounded like nothing else on AM in Chicago or anywhere else. In the early 70's, album rock and 'progressive FM' was on the air locally but it lacked the mood of Beaker Street with the 'Head' music bed, Clyde Clifford's laidback style, and the blues and country-flavored music that rarely made it on the air in Chicago. It was strange and spooky, and I loved to listen to it at night as I went to bed. For a young man who was fascinated with radio and eager to work in it, Beaker Street and KAAY was radio magic for me. I occasionally airchecked KAAY and years later I was glad I did.

Here are two airchecks of Beaker Street. Both have mostly good skip reception with some fading. The first is Clyde Clifford from June 1, 1972. The music selection is tremendous, including Eric Clapton, the Grateful Dead, The Flock, Robert Johnson, Leon Russell and Judy Collins. Itâs interesting to hear the spots for the New Orleans club called A Warehouse, with the $4 concert price tickets - imagine that!

---Greg Barman, Dec 21 2006

This aircheck may well be the best and most representative of the original Beaker Street.

(or download here)

The second Beaker Street aircheck Greg mentioned will follow in a later post....

Many thanks to Greg Barman for this material sent in to A. J. in 2006 and to him for us sharing it again here...and to Dave S. for his great help!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)