70s FM Radio.

The free-form style of FM radio was still going on with 99.5 KISS in San Antonio as late as 1980. I really loved hearing 15-minute / side-long album cuts, deep album cuts and obscure tunes fairly often.

Since everything was played on vinyl on KISS back then, you'd sometimes hear skips and crackles on songs. I remember once hearing the last verse of "Dazed & Confused" skipping and repeating over and over again until the DJ finally moved the needle. (He was probably off doing restroom or doobie duties.)

In 1981 the playlists started to get tightened and formularized, and some of the newer DJs were not so knowledgable about the music. I distinctly recall one of them saying "here's a song from a new band called In Times Two." I guess she didn't really know anything about INXS.

 

It's great you discovered lots of music by listening to 102.3, but it's a shame you had to lose the Sinatra and Peggy Lee. Seriously.

 

We got our 1st FM Rock station in the early 70's, so coming from AM to FM was simply amazing sound wise. Hearing some stuff for the first time in stereo was an eye opener.

Even better was the fact that it was my music and I was a teenager made it even better.

Ironically this station (Chez106) is still going strong, while others have come and gone!

 

I guess that's one way to say it....

 

LOL. To this day, that's how I pronunce Philly.

 

Loved FM radio in Philly during the 70's. Lot's of great stuff to tune in to. The over night hours were the best.

 

Here's one for ya...
Mid 70's, Steve Dahl was the king of morning radio in Detroit (this was before he moved & became famous in Chicago).
He had the 6:00am to 10:00am slot on either WABX or WWWW (he had worked at both). One day he was complaining how he needed to get off early, and his boss wouldn't let him. Dahl strung together a :25m version of "Hey Jude", utilizing the long outro, and left at 9:35.

Radio will never be that good again.

 

Are you implying it was a doobie break?

 

The problem is some people only "remember" how good it was. No effort to re-create the magic. It's o.k., I have playlists that are everything music-wise that I always loved.
Right at my finger tips. You can't go back, because it will never be the exact same scene, that's life. Carry on...

 

Well, it was the 70s.

 

I was in high school at a pivotal time in music history. Between 8th grade and freshman year Woodstock happened followed by The Beatles breaking up. The following year (1970) I had one ear on AM top 40 WIXY-1260 and the other ear on 2 FM stations (WNCR & WMMS). By senior year half my class was strictly WMMS and the other half WIXY.

 

What a walk down memory lane!

A big shout out to:

KRAB - Seattle, the original free form radio

KTYD - Santa Barbara ("the mighty fine 99")

By the way both Dusty Street and Rachael Donohue (of KSAN fame), along with Jimmy Rabbit, latter worked at KROQ in the late 70's.

 

Here's the way-back machine for WNEW in NYC

NY Radio Archive - WNEW-FM 102.7

 

Any recollection of who the DJ was?
I have a guess.

 

MMS was the single best radio station i ever had the pleasure to listen to, coupled with 'fresh air' (and under the influence of...) on kent state radio and you had some very interesting nights listening to music on the radio.

 

Oh, I not only remember but I still occasionally use what I learned and remember. Much like yourself I have my own version of "playlists." I loved what I heard back then so much that back in the day I had two Dual CS 5000 turntables (dual Duals!) with Signet TK9Es running into a nice quiet Peavey DJ mixer (still use it.) From there out to a Nakamichi BX-1 cassette (still have it) and then later into my Sony CD recorder for an 80 minute continuous music program. I now have one Rega turntable and two Arcam CDs (with two Onkyos in reserve.) I can assign cross-fades to vinyl to vinyl, vinyl to CD, CD to CD, and CD to vinyl, plus whatever other line input I can come up with (DVD etc.) I can adjust lows/mids/highs with the built-in 3 band EQ to compensate for differences in mastering and recording quality for each input source. My own in-house radio station, if you will. The resulting programs are varied yet musically cohesive and are made of the different music I love. It may not be a perfect "audiophile" chain but the CDs, not computer files, sound really good and I and others find them aesthetically interesting and pleasing.

Even though I'm recently "officially" retired I don't currently have the huge amounts of free time that I need to audition and compile the songs, write down the various input volume levels and EQs, then actually record the damn things. Because they're "mixed/segued" the recording has to be done in one sitting -- I can't stop and come back. My problem is I'm caring for my elderly Mom who's sliding into Alzheimer's. She's not too far gone yet but she's still a handful and I gotta stay on my toes. Days are mostly nudging her around and taking care of the house. Frankly, most evenings I'm just done. And I thought I was retired!

You're right, you can't go back and I don't think any of today's "kids" will be able to bring back the style and attitude of those days. So it's up to people like you and me to bring it into our own worlds and . . . carry on.

 

Unfortunately, our best station at the time was AM (54 Rock), playing a little heavier stuff than our classic FM rock station, but it was nice having a choice.

 

broadcasting....high....atop the Triangle Towers, WHFS in Bethesda, Maryland.

The station owner will tell you exactly what free-form FM was back in those days (1:38-1:50)



WHFS ad for a shop called The Joint Possession (yeah, its what you think it is, haha) by DJ Cerphe....

WHFS-FM Joint Possesion Ad by DJ Cerphe

 

Yo, Efus,
Where did you find that? Are you from the D.C. area?
Yep, the Triangle Towers Building on Cordell Ave. I remember all the DJs featured and pictured in the trailer. Met Cerphe, Weasel, and Damien on several occasions. I think I still have my old "Feast Your Ears" t-shirt buried somewhere. Wonder if it still fits - hahahahahah, yeah right! 35 years and 50 pounds ago! I need to look for the film. It'll be a neat companion piece to the documentary on The Bayou, the legendary music club in Georgetown.

 

Oh, my.... WNEW FM NYC from the 1970s. Alison Steele (the Night Bird!), Scott Muni, Dennis Elsas, Pete Fornatale... NY Radio Archive - WNEW-FM 102.7. They were part of your trusted circle, your closest friends, very hard to explain. This was just as much a factor as the music was.

Or, from the "I guess you had to be there" department, NY Radio Archive - WABC 770 AM which was my soundtrack as a teenager in the mid-late '60s while gluing together model rockets in my bedroom. Into the evening Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, Bobba-Loooo late at night.

<edit> PS - I posted this after reading only about 1/2 of the first page of this thread, not seeing that someone posted the WNEW link a few posts above mine here. But I'll leave it anyway...

 

DOC-tor-De-MEN-to
DOC-tor-De-MEN-to
Pico-and-Se-PUL-ve-da..!

or KLOS Fraser Smith "Too hip, gotta go!" in the morning, drivetime.

 

I remember the sound quality, the eclectic play lists of various DJ's, the new album hours...lots of cool stuff. After a while ya get tired of records and just left the FM on.

And the blue glow of the receiver late at night, friends sitting around......

 

I also leaned towards WMMR, mostly because of DJ Ed Sciaky, the guy most responsible for keeping Springsteen's career alive before Born to Run. I remember WYSP playing more hard rock, whereas MMR would play more mellow rock (Dead, Jackson Browne, etc.). Both sorely missed.

 

Hehh... Dad may not have known it ('cause after all, all he ever listened to was traffic and weather on WTOP (and commuting in DC who can blame him?) but soon as I was driving I had WHFS on one of the buttons on the radio. I figure it was my fee for putting the stereo in there for him in th' first place.

It's all YOUR fault I got so bored listening to the radio!

Other than that one shining light, it did then too, for the most part.

 

This was my all-night-long addiction. This station did more to influence my music tastes than anybody or anything. Those jocks were my friends, my refuge, my joy. Damn I miss them.