Radio of Christmas Past!

[Scanman55]

I am a former radio broadcaster of several small market stations back in the late 70's and mid 80's . I remember working the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day shifts that were always filled with "Live" readings of Christmas greetings from local merchants . For example : "Merry Christmas from Ray, Gene and the staff of your local Western Auto store on main street in ......" I always enjoyed Christmas time at the stations, it was always filled with the usual holiday goodies and cheer!!!

 

[Scanman55]

.....and before any of you get on a rant about "tired of reading about the old days", I realize this is all a thing of the past that will NEVER come back. I understand that time marches on and broadcasting has made many changes since 1980 ....doesn't mean I like or agree with all of them . Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my radio friends!!!

 

[jboyd]

Hey, this is still a free? society...I appreciate your memories, and have a Merry Christmas...JBI

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Yes, Scanman, I remember those days fondly.

Working across the river from you on the Arkansas side, I remember we would gather two or three people in the studio a day ahead of time and let the tape machine roll. We would take turns doing those "live reads". Minimized the number of people on duty on the holiday while having quite a festive sound.

And let's be honest about it. Part of the fond memories would include a gentle amount of horseplay as someone would step to the mic and throw in an ad-lib that forced us to stop the recorder, back up the tape and continue the process.

 

[flytrap]

I remember listening to Farmer Jim on WSLI Christmas morning giving Christmas greetings and playing Christmas music. Miss 103 used to do a good job by playing more traditional orchestras and choirs plus playing some sacred music instead of the usual country. WLIN was great for hearing easy listening christmas music without all the over-singing and embellishments on most of the Mariah Carey style music heard these days. I wish a station would switch to a traditional or easy listening christmas format even if it were just for a day or two. Todays newer pop and R&B radio Christmas music is downright nausiating

 

[Dr. Bob]

Running 18 minutes an hour of spots and bunches of ten second Christmas greetings on a 7" reel of tape at WSAO in Senatobia. If I recall the rules at the time, you could do up to 22 minutes per hour but the average was no more than 18 minutes. The commercial load didn't allow many songs and we signed off in December at 4:45 PM. Just after New Year's day, the log got pretty sparse for a month or two.

Bob