What Is This?

[cc333]

I post this here because I recently bought a used reel of tape with the following typed on a label on an otherwise plain white box, implying that it's an aircheck of some sort:

KFOG airckeck: Stan Dunn, Joe Stamper, Larry Ickes, KFOG Music, KFOG News

There's no dates anywhere as far as I can tell, but when I play it on my ancient stereo Ampex player (a 960 from 1959 or 1960), I hear, so far, on the right a talk about radio spots and advertising (apparently recorded in June of some year), and on the left what seems like TV audio from somewhere (there was a promo/ID thing for TV 40, apparently out of Sacramento). Earlier it was some sort of western, now it seems to be a sitcom or something.

I'm attempting to digitize it, so perhaps I can share it and you all can see what you think of it.

c

 

[michael hagerty]

I post this here because I recently bought a used reel of tape with the following typed on a label on an otherwise plain white box, implying that it's an aircheck of some sort:


There's no dates anywhere as far as I can tell, but when I play it on my ancient stereo Ampex player (a 960 from 1959 or 1960), I hear, so far, on the right a talk about radio spots and advertising (apparently recorded in June of some year), and on the left what seems like TV audio from somewhere (there was a promo/ID thing for TV 40, apparently out of Sacramento). Earlier it was some sort of western, now it seems to be a sitcom or something.

I'm attempting to digitize it, so perhaps I can share it and you all can see what you think of it.

c

Please do. Sounds like someone decided to maximize tape capacity by recording separate things on the left and right channels.

If there are any airchecks on it, I'm gonna guess the timeline as being sometime in 1966 or 1967, as Larry Ickes was in Pittsburg at KKIS in '66 and Stan Dunn moved to KJAZ in '67 (no exact dates for either---and it's a miracle I could find that much information online).

PS: The TV40 thing would be Sacramento. They didn't sign on until October 26, 1968. For a long time, the independent stations in Sacramento could be seen on Bay Area cable and Bay Area independents on Sacramento cable. In fact, when I lived in Reno (1977-84), the independents from both metros were seen on Reno cable.

 

[cc333]

I played through the whole thing, and sadly, it seems that somebody bulk erased it and recorded over with the stuff I described earlier.

If it did indeed date back that far, it would've been a fascinating listen, but alas, it apparently isn't meant to be.

I can still post the material I did find, if it would be of interest to anyone?

Also, my Ampex is quarter track, and if I play back a tape recorded on a half track machine, this will happen (on a consumer deck, I'll hear one channel (the "flip side") play in reverse, which is quite amusing). My guess is someone recorded this with a half track stereo machine (with two mono sources – one on the right, one on the left – recorded simultaneously in one pass, or perhaps, one source recorded in stereo, and then another recorded in mono mode on top, replacing one channel), as I got the same two channels backwards when I flipped the tape over.

c

 

[michael hagerty]

I played through the whole thing, and sadly, it seems that somebody bulk erased it and recorded over with the stuff I described earlier.

If it did indeed date back that far, it would've been a fascinating listen, but alas, it apparently isn't meant to be.

I can still post the material I did find, if it would be of interest to anyone?

Also, my Ampex is quarter track, and if I play back a tape recorded on a half track machine, this will happen (on a consumer deck, I'll hear one channel (the "flip side") play in reverse, which is quite amusing). My guess is someone recorded this with a half track stereo machine (with two mono sources – one on the right, one on the left – recorded simultaneously in one pass, or perhaps, one source recorded in stereo, and then another recorded in mono mode on top, replacing one channel), as I got the same two channels backwards when I flipped the tape over.

c

It’s also possible that the tape just got put in the wrong box and the KFOG airchecks are out there somewhere.

 

[radiofan2023]

I played through the whole thing, and sadly, it seems that somebody bulk erased it and recorded over with the stuff I described earlier.

If it did indeed date back that far, it would've been a fascinating listen, but alas, it apparently isn't meant to be.

I can still post the material I did find, if it would be of interest to anyone?

Also, my Ampex is quarter track, and if I play back a tape recorded on a half track machine, this will happen (on a consumer deck, I'll hear one channel (the "flip side") play in reverse, which is quite amusing). My guess is someone recorded this with a half track stereo machine (with two mono sources – one on the right, one on the left – recorded simultaneously in one pass, or perhaps, one source recorded in stereo, and then another recorded in mono mode on top, replacing one channel), as I got the same two channels backwards when I flipped the tape over.

c

I’d be interested in hearing it. If you get it professionally transferred, they can probably use a half track machine.

 

[cc333]

It’s also possible that the tape just got put in the wrong box and the KFOG airchecks are out there somewhere.

Hopefully so! Perhaps I should go back to the place I got this one to see if there are any others of interest.

I’d be interested in hearing it. If you get it professionally transferred, they can probably use a half track machine.

I just gave my machine a major tune up, so it should work well enough for a good quality transfer (I do know someone who has an Otari MX5050 I can use, in case not).

c

 

[radiofan2023]

I’d go with the Otari option just because it’s newer. The MX5050 is an awesome machine. I almost bought one that a station was getting rid of when I was going to do some transfers, but I didn’t want to deal with getting it serviced since it hadn’t been used in who knows how long.

 

[cc333]

I’d go with the Otari option just because it’s newer.

OK, but it'll probably be awhile, as it's up in Ukiah, and as I'm attempting to move house, I probably won't have much time to get there until summer at the earliest.

I've gone over this Ampex with a fine-tooth comb, and it's in pretty decent shape; I just installed brand new belts, re greased the rewind/fast forward mechanisms, and adjusted and tightened down the motor, so it's mechanically sound and the transport works smoothly. The heads don't seem too worn, and it sounds reasonably good when I play pre-recorded tapes, so I'll use it for a scratch transfer for now at the very least, so we can at least hear the tape.

The MX5050 is an awesome machine. I almost bought one that a station was getting rid of when I was going to do some transfers, but I didn’t want to deal with getting it serviced since it hadn’t been used in who knows how long.

I've been tempted to get one myself, but they're not cheap, and I can't justify the cost for something that I'll probably only use once in awhile (this Ampex, on the other hand, cost me about $30 back in 2008 when I bought it, it's mostly identical half-track cousin, and a Sony four track (TC-277-4) at a thrift store in Healdsburg. I got another one in... 2014?... as a part unit for maybe $60 shipped from eBay, and combined the best parts of it and my original to create the one I'm using now, so I've sunk maybe $100 at most into this rather old, but decent and sturdy machine.

This is probably best saved for another thread, but I do also have a Teac A-3340S that I'd like to restore at some point (some dead record channels, playback wonky on channels 3 and 4, bad erase head and iffy record and playback heads), which would be a considerable upgrade from the Ampex if/when I ever get the time and/or energy (I bought a replacement headstack, a belt kit and a replacement pinch roller tire, so I'm slowly assembling the needed bits).

c