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AM Only/America's Best Music airchecks

P

publisher

This may have been shared previously, but there is a Transtar Westwood One Dial Global Radio Refugees group on Facebook I keep a periodic eye on. There is a post on the page (which is very sleepy) that links to a Google Drive containing over 50 lengthy airchecks from the format from the 90s-2010s. There are many, many clips from the 90s and 00s that include the classic jocks like Ed Brand, Chick Watkins, Jeff Rollins, Jim Bain, Jim Heatherton, Bill Jones and more.

I downloaded them earlier this week and have been listening to them in my music player for the past couple of days. Absolute pot of gold for those of you who enjoy the classic days/sounds of the AM Only/ABM format.

Just search Transtar Westwood One Refugees on Facebook and it's the second post down on the page.
 
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Neat!

I will definitely take a look at this!

Are there any similar archives of vintage MOYL airchecks, I wonder? I wouldn't mind taking a listen to MOYL as it sounded about 20 years ago.

c
 
I just did a quick check and there are several airchecks from MOYL from the 80s and 90s on YouTube. There is also a Sharing Airchecks Facebook group with some there. Again, these seem mostly 30+ years or older. But, yeah, this stuff is floating around out there!
 
publisher said:
I just did a quick check and there are several airchecks from MOYL from the 80s and 90s on YouTube. There is also a Sharing Airchecks Facebook group with some there. Again, these seem mostly 30+ years or older. But, yeah, this stuff is floating around out there!
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I was listening to the WGUL airchecks on YouTube and I don't recall MOYL playing that much obscure music. I didn't see any others from the Al Hamm days of MOYL. But then are probably other aircheck sites that I'm not aware of
 
vchimpanzee said:
I went too far but saw some good looking trucks.
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Ahh, trucks....

I did something really boneheaded with my truck the other day, and now it needs some expensive repairs.

Since this is a radio forum and not a truck forum, I won't go on, except to say this:

NEVER, under __ANY__ circumstances, shift into reverse while driving forward at 60 miles per hour, unless you want a good scare and don't mind ruining your tires and transmission.... 😵‍💫

c
 
cc333 said:
Ahh, trucks....

I did something really boneheaded with my truck the other day, and now it needs some expensive repairs.

Since this is a radio forum and not a truck forum, I won't go on, except to say this:

NEVER, under __ANY__ circumstances, shift into reverse while driving forward at 60 miles per hour, unless you want a good scare and don't mind ruining your tires and transmission.... 😵‍💫

c
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IMG_1827.gif
 
I'm surprised at how AC-leaning the format was already in 1993. I was listening back then but I was thinking it was more of a standards format.

There was still a liner saying 40s, 50s and 60s. Half of what I've heard so far is from the 80s.

Edit: Okay, that changed quickly. But those first four songs could have been the format just a few years ago.
 
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I was just listening to a You Tube aircheck of 1230 WJOI Norfolk VA from 2015, while ABM still had DJs. It was nice to hear, I think Jeff Rollins, commenting on the music and some pop culture things between the songs.

The playlist included "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones, "Fly Me to The Moon" from Sinatra and "Moonlighting" by Al Jarreau. Ha! The playlist 10 years later is almost the same!
 
Gregg. said:
I was just listening to a You Tube aircheck of 1230 WJOI Norfolk VA from 2015, while ABM still had DJs. It was nice to hear, I think Jeff Rollins, commenting on the music and some pop culture things between the songs.

The playlist included "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones, "Fly Me to The Moon" from Sinatra and "Moonlighting" by Al Jarreau. Ha! The playlist 10 years later is almost the same!
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I haven't heard Sinatra on the station in years other than "Theme from 'New York, New York'".
 
vchimpanzee said:
I haven't heard Sinatra on the station in years other than "Theme from 'New York, New York'".
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Or actual 'Standards' for that matter. I think it might be interesting to dissect an hour or two of the current ABM playlist to see where it's at musically. The number of songs from each decade, oldest, newest songs, etc
 
KilowattKat said:
Or actual 'Standards' for that matter. I think it might be interesting to dissect an hour or two of the current ABM playlist to see where it's at musically. The number of songs from each decade, oldest, newest songs, etc
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On the way home from the beach several years ago I did hear "Perfidia" by Linda Ronstadt but that was during one of those commercial breaks.

I will say when I drive through the area where I can hear that station, it's good soft AC.
 
It looks like the playlist is pretty firmly rooted in the early 1970s. I listened to WNAM for a little over an hour and catalogued the songs as they played. 6 of 18 songs were from 1970-1973. Oldest was 1956, newest was 1986.


01:04 PM Diana Ross / Supremes -- Comes See About Me 1964
01:06 PM ABBA -- Fernando 1976
01:10 PM Kenny Rogers -- She Believes in Me 1979
01:14 PM Commercials --
01:19 PM Ray Conniff w/ Johnny Mathis -- When Sunny Gets Blue 1956
01:23 PM Olivia Newton-John -- Please Mr. Please 1971
01:26 PM Tom Jones -- Green Green Grass of Home 1966
01:29 PM Christopher Cross -- Arthur’s Theme 1981
01:33 PM Engelbert Humperdinck -- Release Me 1965
01:36 PM Commercials --
01:41 PM Gladys Knight & the Pips -- Midnight Train to Georgia 1973
01:44 PM Neil Diamond -- Love on the Rocks 1980
01:48 PM Bob Welch -- Sentimental Lady 1972
01:52 PM Roberta Flack -- Will You Still Love Me Tmw 1972
01:56 PM Ambrosia -- Biggest Part of Me 1980
02:00 PM Jeannie C. Riley -- Harper Valley PTA 1968
02:03 PM Otis Redding -- Stand By Me 1964
02:06 PM Carpenters -- We’ve Only Just Begun 1970
02:10 PM Lionel Richie -- Love Will Conquer All 1986
02:14 PM Noel Paul Stookey -- There Is Love 1971

Edited to add separation between artist and title for readability
 
There seems to be one standard on that list, which is better than what I was expecting. I'm not sure how Humperdinck is categorized, since he was on AC radio. I would be willing to call that a standard.

Good looking list if you're content with an AC sound.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
It looks like the playlist is pretty firmly rooted in the early 1970s. I listened to WNAM for a little over an hour and catalogued the songs as they played. 6 of 18 songs were from 1970-1973. Oldest was 1956, newest was 1986.


01:04 PM Diana Ross / Supremes -- Comes See About Me 1964
01:06 PM ABBA -- Fernando 1976
01:10 PM Kenny Rogers -- She Believes in Me 1979
01:14 PM Commercials --
01:19 PM Ray Conniff w/ Johnny Mathis -- When Sunny Gets Blue 1956
01:23 PM Olivia Newton-John -- Please Mr. Please 1971
01:26 PM Tom Jones -- Green Green Grass of Home 1966
01:29 PM Christopher Cross -- Arthur’s Theme 1981
01:33 PM Engelbert Humperdinck -- Release Me 1965
01:36 PM Commercials --
01:41 PM Gladys Knight & the Pips -- Midnight Train to Georgia 1973
01:44 PM Neil Diamond -- Love on the Rocks 1980
01:48 PM Bob Welch -- Sentimental Lady 1972
01:52 PM Roberta Flack -- Will You Still Love Me Tmw 1972
01:56 PM Ambrosia -- Biggest Part of Me 1980
02:00 PM Jeannie C. Riley -- Harper Valley PTA 1968
02:03 PM Otis Redding -- Stand By Me 1964
02:06 PM Carpenters -- We’ve Only Just Begun 1970
02:10 PM Lionel Richie -- Love Will Conquer All 1986
02:14 PM Noel Paul Stookey -- There Is Love Br 1971

Edited to add separation between artist and title for readability
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I don't see any shocking, out of place songs like Another One Bites The Dust.

Breaking it down by decade, out of 18 songs:

1- A solitary nod to the 50's
5- from the 60's
8- from the 70's
4- from the 80's
And nothing from the 90's to now.

Hey, thanks for providing the song list.
 
KilowattKat said:
I don't see any shocking, out of place songs like Another One Bites The Dust.
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The 2 pm kickoff song strikes me as a bit strange for that kind of a format:
PTBoardOp93 said:
02:00 PM Jeannie C. Riley -- Harper Valley PTA 1968
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That was a novelty song when it came out, and after disappearing from the charts it didn't make too many recurrent appearances. It was a one-hit wonder that occasionally showed up on oldies stations, but not very frequently. (Maybe it got more frequent spins on C&W stations that weren't "hit heavy".)
 


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