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First song(s) you ever played on air?

J

johnbasalla

I'm posting this here as I suspect that most who look over the programming board are or have been in radio. At three of the station's I've worked at, I made note of the very first song I played on-air, or the the very first unique-to-that-station song. Does anybody else remember your starting points?

In College, the very first record I played on my very first on-air shift was "A MAN SIZED JOB" by Denise LaSalle (1972, Westbound Records).
This was an upbeat R&B piece with an attitude. It was pretty big on "The Big 8", CKLW.

In 1979, I began a few years stint at WBKC-AM, a 1,000 watt daytimer in Chardon, Ohio. I wanted my first record... or at least the one I made note of, to be a record that was exclusive to them. They had a Top 40 format going. Within the first 15 minutes or so I played "BABY I WANT YOU" by Funky Communication Committee, later FCC for short. This was on the short-lived Free Flight record label of 1978-1979, a subsidiary of RCA Records. The song was a run-of-the-mill, typical sounding (see Michael McDonald era Doobie Brothers, Pablo Cruise), leisurely paced pop/R&B tune. Pleasant, but unexceptional. This station is now dark.

Then in 1985, I began work at WQLS-AM in Painesville, Ohio. Most of their music was automated on reel-to-reel tapes. The first one I played was "Time Don't Run Out On Me" by Anne Murray,(Capitol Records). They had an Adult Contemporary format which occasionally incorporated Country hits when they mixed well. This was more of a pop/rock tune then a country piece anyway, but was a hit on Country radio, leading Anne to comment, "They'd play anything on Country radio at that time". She said that because she was specifically trying to make a soft rock album, and was surprised when Country radio jumped on it.

I immediately went out and bought each of these records as mementos of my time at those stations.

How about you?
 
Let's say I've slept since 1975, and I don't remember the very first song (I was probably too nervous) but chances are it was either "That's the Way I Like It" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, "My Eyes Adored You" by Frankie Valli, or "Sky High" by Jigsaw. At that station we played a mix of A/C and country, but I don't remember the country we were playing on the first day
 
College Radio: Penny Lane-Beatles
Professional: Daughter of Darkness-Tom Jones

Why British? No reason. Just what happened to come up next in the rotation.
 
I'd have to say it was Lady Madonna - The Beatles or it could have been People Got To Be Free - The Rascals on WPAC. I also board operated the Mets games on WPAC FM (now WBLI) and got reprimanded for playing Alice's Restaurant in between a double header. Not only that, I got caught playing 'dive bomber' sound effects especially when the Mets were losing. That was back in the days of all the way live radio and just a year before the 1969 miracle Mets...
 
Mine was "In Her Eyes" by the Dirt Band around 5:30 a.m. on October 12, 1979 on WTAL-AM 1450, Tallahassee, Fla. It was on a 45=rpm record, as was most of the music at that time.

And, yes, I have a copy of that record, mostly because it was the first song I ever played on-air.

I miss the WTAL of that era.
 
So, they didn't have the music on carts? The cart option was always nice because the carts would cue themselves up, and there was no risk of cue-burn.
 
November 1996...No Doubt "Don't Speak" at WBDG, Ben Davis High School, Indianapolis.
 
John,

At WTAL, the commercials, station IDs and jingles were on carts.

The music was all on 45s and a handful of LPs. We sure went through packs of styli.

We received at least 2 copies of the records used on-air.
 
Alan McCall said:
John,

At WTAL, the commercials, station IDs and jingles were on carts.

The music was all on 45s and a handful of LPs. We sure went through packs of styli.

We received at least 2 copies of the records used on-air.
Click to expand...

were you using Russco Turntables with the 3 speed , rubber Idler arms (in lieu of belt driven) and the aluminum turntable with the 8-10'" motor driven shaft, ,Russco were the TT of choice, they required 3/4 turn cue ...tilll the modern day, direct driveTechniqics 1200, showed up, these monsters only required 1/4 turn and the true pitch was a godsend.
 
hornet61,

I believe they were made by QRK.

We put a lot of work on those TTs with 18 hours a day of music!
 
Alan McCall said:
hornet61,

I believe they were made by QRK.

We put a lot of work on those TTs with 18 hours a day of music!
Click to expand...

Yep ....probably QRK 12C -three speed "Idler Drive Turntables" ..same type as the Russco Cue Master we had. Both units claimed about 1/16 - 1/2 revolution start, I don't remember them being that fast.
The QRK custom II was a two speed as was the Russco Studio-Pro....
 
"Baby I'm A Want You" by Bread off of a 45 RPM Elektra single on a Gates CB-77 connected to a Gates Yard and using a RCA 44BX ribbon microphone. June, 1973 and I was a 9 year old short, gimpy kid, who doubled as an engineering assistant.
 
Carts? The firsy REAL radio station where I worked (and eventually owned) had 1 Gates cart recorder/player. You had to talk whle you changed carts.

1st song in the college station=Mame by Herb Alpert (45rpm)
1st song on real radio=It's All in the Game - Tommy Edwards (reel to reel tape)
1st song on a station I owned= It's All in the Game - Tommy Edwards (cassette)

Last song I ever played on the radio=We May Never Pass this Way Again by Seals and Crofts (45rpm)

Note; I also worked at a real radio station where the commercials were on 3 in reels of tape.
 
Thank you, Prais. Yours was amongst the coolest to read. The one on reel-to-reel tape was on an automation system? What was with the cassette? They could be a pain to cue up, unless you had a special unit of some sort that I'm not aware of.
 
Sherman, set the "Wayback Machine" for 1964."

There were 3 reel to reels within arms reach and all 3 were used for
ads on individual 3 inch reels of tape. This was WAYYYYYYYYYYY before automation, and prior to carts. PS: I also worked at a classical station in Chicago where ALL the ads were "live."

The music was on cassette on an am station so that the format was followed.

The station (a mix of standards and oldies) played about 3000 songs -and it was a way to keep "your own music collection" out of play (no tt's in the studio - even American Top 40 ran from the production room) and the station could not afford all those music carts.

The cassettes worked VERY well - and lasted about 5 years. Cueing was just a learned art - and the dj spoke over the out of the last song and the in to the next song, anyway. Sound quality did deteriorate, but it was on am - and still, the tambourines were quite audible in songs like "Make Me Smile" as was the Bass in "Forever in Blue Jeans."

The casettes were eventually replaced by satellite.
 
Prais,

That sounds like an interesting system using cassettes.

I had a cassette deck for many years that would auto-cue to the audio at the beginning of each track. So you didn't have to manually search, as this deck did that. It worked like a charm.

While we're in the wayback machine, I had a radio colleague (now deceased) who began his radio career in Texas. He once told me his first station used Magnecord tape recorders, for those who remember those.

And I did dig out "In Her Eyes" and played it this past Tuesday - my 31st anniversary in this thing known as radio.
 
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