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KMPX Aircheck 1967
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
Wow, I'm liking this aircheck so far (even though the songs themselves seem to be modern-quality overdubs onto the original tape), as I'm a big Simon & Garfunkel fan (and a fan of that era of folk music in general). It has some other good music too.
I bet if I were alive then, I would've really enjoyed listening to this station!
c
I bet if I were alive then, I would've really enjoyed listening to this station!
c
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Okay, so this aircheck has been around on the interwebs for a good 15-20 years (It's also dated May 5 rather than May 2 in some collections).
Norman Davis (KYA, KMPX, KSFO, KSAN) included it on the audio page of this KSAN tribute site when it first launched, and it's still up there.
But---the reel-to-reel machine on which it was recorded was faster than the (presumably more modern) deck on which the tape was played back for digitizing, so what's up on the Jive95-dot-com site is longer because it's slower and because there's more to it.
As for the fidelity cc333 mentions, nope. Those aren't modern-quality overdubs. KMPX had either a broken mic or one wired out of phase that particular evening. If I remember this tape correctly, Tom does reference the audio trouble they're having (might be on the longer version, if it's not on the one posted above). The music is that way on the original tape.
There's actually a fair amount of early KMPX out there, including April 24, 1967, where Tom is interviewing Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, and one from May 26, and in both cases the mic is fine (the studio's acoustics weren't great though---KMPX was broke when Tom pitched them and it was very much a work in progress.
You'll find quite a few more early KMPX and KSAN airchecks on the Jive 95 site:
...and quite a bit more here, including bootleg recordings of concerts originally broadcast live on or recorded for playback by KMPX:
You'll also find recordings from KMPX's Big Band format (1974-1982) there as well.
One note, though---a lot of them---in fact, anything recorded before about 1972 or '73 by the late Mike Schweizer---has the same speed problem (recorded on one deck, digitized on another) and needs to be sped up by 5-7%.
Norman Davis (KYA, KMPX, KSFO, KSAN) included it on the audio page of this KSAN tribute site when it first launched, and it's still up there.
But---the reel-to-reel machine on which it was recorded was faster than the (presumably more modern) deck on which the tape was played back for digitizing, so what's up on the Jive95-dot-com site is longer because it's slower and because there's more to it.
As for the fidelity cc333 mentions, nope. Those aren't modern-quality overdubs. KMPX had either a broken mic or one wired out of phase that particular evening. If I remember this tape correctly, Tom does reference the audio trouble they're having (might be on the longer version, if it's not on the one posted above). The music is that way on the original tape.
There's actually a fair amount of early KMPX out there, including April 24, 1967, where Tom is interviewing Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, and one from May 26, and in both cases the mic is fine (the studio's acoustics weren't great though---KMPX was broke when Tom pitched them and it was very much a work in progress.
You'll find quite a few more early KMPX and KSAN airchecks on the Jive 95 site:
...and quite a bit more here, including bootleg recordings of concerts originally broadcast live on or recorded for playback by KMPX:
You'll also find recordings from KMPX's Big Band format (1974-1982) there as well.
One note, though---a lot of them---in fact, anything recorded before about 1972 or '73 by the late Mike Schweizer---has the same speed problem (recorded on one deck, digitized on another) and needs to be sped up by 5-7%.
Really! Whomever recorded it used very high quality equipment, then (that explains why the mixes seemed a bit different from the copies I've heard (from a CD box set that was evidently remastered and remixed).
c
The CDs of KMPX, KSAN and KMET have contemporary digital mixes of the music, and some substitutions of songs due to licensing issues.
Ah, I meant a CD box set of S&G albums, but good to know that those stations had CD releases also.
c
Sorry. Yes.
There were only two, as it turns out—The Golden Age of Underground Radio, Volume 1 and 2. Tom Donahue at KSAN (vol. 1) and B. Mitchell Reed at KMET (vol. 2), on the DCC label.
Vol. 1 was released in 1989, Vol. 2 in 1997.
They’re long out of print—-the B.Mitchel Reed KMET CD has one copy left on Amazon at $79.99.
They’re confusing to serious collectors because they get ripped and traded——they’re existing airchecks, often something already in a collector’s library, but altered because of licensing considerations.
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The original VHS videos of WKRP had most songs replaced by generics. I could not get through even one episode, and I did not have the choice of TV viewing as I was not in the continental US at the time.
We also see some movies that have expired music licenses and which use generic music as well. Can you imagine Wolfman Jack playing generics in American Graffiti?
For clarity, these releases used other recognizable album tracks that these stations would have played in (roughly) that era.
Really picky guys like me can spot the song that wasn’t released until six months later.
Thanks for this site info, when my wife & I lived in the SF area I heard so much about KMPX, but they were no longer KMPX when we were there, again thanks for the Jive 95 site info.
I suppose we'd have to call that version Generic American, and Wolfman Jack would need to be renamed Generic Jack.
I don't much enjoy living in an increasingly generic, standardized world, and listening to this old music (and watching TV series or movies that contain it) is a large part of the fun for me. If, for example, all the original music in, say, American Graffiti gets replaced with generic music, the whole movie becomes a waste of time, because the music is integral to the movies' plot.
c
Apropos of nearly nothing, but – since you invoked the late (and truly great) Mike Schweizer – I was over in the bowels of CHRS' Radio Central in Alameda yesterday and came across cartons and cartons of Mike's original VHS tapes and regular audio cassettes on which he recorded all those airchecks.
I'm not certain if any of them have anything other than what has already been available from Mike's collection (seemingly forever) on the interwebs, but eventually we'll get around to digging through all of them. (Always a tip of the cap to Tim Požar for helping propagate Mike's recordings out into the world.)
And, in honor of not only his legendary expertise as an engineer but for his contributions to the preservation of Bay Area radio history, Mike Schweizer is being inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oct. 14. Mike had several storage spaces in which he collected the dross of local radio stations – any time one regime departed and threw out their "junk" (signage, documents, stickers, equipment) it was Mike who gathered it up and put it in one of his storage lockers-.
(You know how it works: the new regime comes in and gets rid of everybody ... except the engineers. And they're the ones who get to dispose of the leftover stuff – or stow it away.)
Mike was kind and thoughtful enough to allow me to dig through it all and take what I wanted for the museum – much of it adorns the walls of Radio Central now – before he lost his battle with cancer.
By the way, if you're interested in attending the BARHOF 2023 luncheon, here's the skinny:
The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2023 Legends Lunch - Broadcast Legends
BARHOF 2023 INDUCTION LUNCHEON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14th BASQUE CULTURAL CENTER, SOUTH SF The Broadcast Legends are proud to invite you to our celebration of the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame‘s Class of 2023 on Saturday, October 14, at the beautiful Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco...
broadcastlegends.org
I can’t give a firm commitment yet, David, but I’m leaning very hard toward attending. I’ll figure it out when I get home next week.Apropos of nearly nothing, but – since you invoked the late (and truly great) Mike Schweizer – I was over in the bowels of CHRS' Radio Central in Alameda yesterday and came across cartons and cartons of Mike's original VHS tapes and regular audio cassettes on which he recorded all those airchecks.
I'm not certain if any of them have anything other than what has already been available from Mike's collection (seemingly forever) on the interwebs, but eventually we'll get around to digging through all of them. (Always a tip of the cap to Tim Požar for helping propagate Mike's recordings out into the world.)
And, in honor of not only his legendary expertise as an engineer but for his contributions to the preservation of Bay Area radio history, Mike Schweizer is being inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oct. 14. Mike had several storage spaces in which he collected the dross of local radio stations – any time one regime departed and threw out their "junk" (signage, documents, stickers, equipment) it was Mike who gathered it up and put it in one of his storage lockers-.
(You know how it works: the new regime comes in and gets rid of everybody ... except the engineers. And they're the ones who get to dispose of the leftover stuff – or stow it away.)
Mike was kind and thoughtful enough to allow me to dig through it all and take what I wanted for the museum – much of it adorns the walls of Radio Central now – before he lost his battle with cancer.
By the way, if you're interested in attending the BARHOF 2023 luncheon, here's the skinny:
The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2023 Legends Lunch - Broadcast Legends
BARHOF 2023 INDUCTION LUNCHEON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14th BASQUE CULTURAL CENTER, SOUTH SF The Broadcast Legends are proud to invite you to our celebration of the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame‘s Class of 2023 on Saturday, October 14, at the beautiful Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco...
The Shout Factory WKRP DVD set managed to get around 85% of the original music re-licensed, and when they had to use generic music, they made better choices. Most people weren't interested in buying the earlier Season One DVD for that reason.
Well, since I still owe you lunch and a T-shirt... 😁
And an autographed map of Banta?
Ouch! I was alive in 1967 and quite possibly now. Although people say I look like death warmed over. Now let me go climb into my coffin, close the lid and sulk.
And he chooses a thread about an underground station from 56 years ago to make that announcement.
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