I was all of 20 years old when I came to KWKR to take over the 7PM-1AM shift. This was recorded during my first week on the air at “The Fine Ninety-Nine Nine.” To be honest, I wasn’t that good. To this day, I’m not sure why Lee Barr (Program Director) chose to hire me over the other 100 or so more qualified applicants that he had for this job!
Thankfully, I’m not on this aircheck. Instead, I have taken this 25 year old tape and edited together a composite of the station’s imaging. This was what we called the “first generation” of KWKR’s jingles and recorded liners. It was used from the time the station first signed on in November, 1983 until we replaced it with our new “digiburp” package in June, 1985. I believe all the cuts we used are included here.
At the time this was recorded, KWKR did not yet have an aircheck skimmer. The only way to record ourselves was off the control board in the audition channel. So, this was recorded directly from the large standup Harris Micro Mac board onto an Onkyo stereo cassette deck. Since it’s a “board signal”, there is a bit of distortion on the peaks and no audio processing. A TDK SAX 60 cassette was used, which explains why this tape has held up so well over the years. In short, a fun look back to my first days at the station where I learned how to be a flamethrowin’ CHR night jock!
#1 by Dave on November 6, 2009 - 9:59 am
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I “programmed” that frequency when it was KSKZ. All satellite all the time.. Glad to see that the Ingstad guys brought back the KWKR calls.
#2 by Drew on November 6, 2009 - 11:18 am
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Hi Dave,
I was actually in Hays at that time. Ended my 16 year radio “tour of duty” by doing middays on Mix 103FM. I could hear you guys with my Sangean receiver and antenna on the roof. Can’t tell you how many times I shook my head and said “What a waste! Why do they have to run that thing on the bird 24/7?” We were live 6AM-1AM when I was there (signed off from 1-6AM.) Harris owned us and KIUL. Good pay, great benefits, great place to get started in radio.
Were you still in the 7th Street building, or had Ingstads moved 99.9 into their complex on Fulton?
Drew
PS: I redid the montage. Found 2 more cuts to add!
#3 by Mark on November 7, 2009 - 12:36 pm
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Nice job on the imaging…….I assume your music was on CD’s? That’s when western KS radio was still sparse…now there’s so many signals, it’s mundane to the max!
Recognized the good old CBS Radio “chirp” too…..was the RadioRadio news recorded at :45 for top of the hour playback or did you go into it live?
#4 by Drew on November 7, 2009 - 1:45 pm
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Hi Mark,
I just wish I would have thought to record our imaging off the master reel and save it. Oh, well…
Our currents were dubbed onto Scotch Carts, our oldies rotated on 4 Otari reel-to-reel playback machines, and we had a brand new CD player. We traded out with New Concept Audio in Garden City for the player (about $700 back then!) and a few new discs each month. If we had it on CD, we’d play it in place of cart or reel in the rotation. With a plug for New Concept Audio, of course!
As for Radio Radio, we ran it live at :50. Most of us were pretty good at timing into it. Just hit the Legal ID sweeper and let it trail off or pot down, as needed.
#5 by Radiofan 10 on July 24, 2010 - 6:06 pm
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I love the IDs but what were the songs that were played after the Ids because they sure do sound good.
#6 by Drew on July 24, 2010 - 8:28 pm
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#1 – “Pride in the Name of Love” by U2
#2 – “Venus” by the Shocking Blue
#3 – “Understanding” by Bob Seger
#4 – “Rock Me Tonight” by Billy Squier
#5 – “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen
#6 – “You’re the Inspiration” by Chicago
#7 – “The Gap” by the Thompson Twins
#8 – “Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol (outro)
#9 – “Crimson & Clover” by Tommy James & the Shondells
#10 – “Shake it Up” by the Cars
#7 by Radiofan10 on August 16, 2010 - 12:11 pm
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Thanks Drew but what about the with the upbeat news theme. Is that a song?
#8 by Drew on August 17, 2010 - 8:14 am
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We used that as a bumper into news. CBS Radio Radio news ran live at :50 and began cold with no network news intro. So, we made a bed with the “KWKR, Leoti” Legal ID upfront, then trailing music to fill until the news started.
#9 by Radiofan10 on August 21, 2010 - 7:58 am
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Oh OK. Thanks!
#10 by Radiofan10 on November 21, 2010 - 5:32 pm
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Also, did you know any Geists when you were in Leoti, Kansas or Garden City, Kansas because I know a lot of Geists in the Scott City area.