Been looking over all 6 pages here (great stuff!) but couldn't help noticing what started out as a thread about LPS and 45's changed over to being mostly about cart machines. Maybe I can help tie them back together.
Back around 1974, two local stations in Duluth, same ownership, but different programming, sort of merged. WAKX-AM was daytime only playing "grease" oldies. (They were re-using their station breaks from 10 years earlier despite a frequency change from 1320 to 970, a scissors tape edit removed the old frequency.) KPIR-FM was "elevator music" ("The view is always beautiful from 'Pier 99'...in stereo!") They combined into WAKX-AM/FM, with a drastic format change for both.
The new format was sort of heavy/classic rock hits; Led Zep, Foghat, Stones, Aerosmith, etc. and the slogan was "More Music Per Hour." They took this VERY literally. Maybe I have an over-critical sense of pitch, but they were definitely speeding up everything! I used to complain about it to them; they always denied it.
I'm not exactly sure, but they may have been playing 33's at 35 or so and 45's close to 50 rpm. Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" was big then, and he was sped up dangerously close to David Seville territory.
All the speedups were put on carts, and they all sounded mushy on air, sibilants whooshed almost like a phase reversal (remember those?) This went on for years; I'm not sure when/if the practice ended. The stations have changed hands a number of times since then; the AM side is now a Music Of Your Life station, the FM is country.
Back around 1974, two local stations in Duluth, same ownership, but different programming, sort of merged. WAKX-AM was daytime only playing "grease" oldies. (They were re-using their station breaks from 10 years earlier despite a frequency change from 1320 to 970, a scissors tape edit removed the old frequency.) KPIR-FM was "elevator music" ("The view is always beautiful from 'Pier 99'...in stereo!") They combined into WAKX-AM/FM, with a drastic format change for both.
The new format was sort of heavy/classic rock hits; Led Zep, Foghat, Stones, Aerosmith, etc. and the slogan was "More Music Per Hour." They took this VERY literally. Maybe I have an over-critical sense of pitch, but they were definitely speeding up everything! I used to complain about it to them; they always denied it.
I'm not exactly sure, but they may have been playing 33's at 35 or so and 45's close to 50 rpm. Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" was big then, and he was sped up dangerously close to David Seville territory.
All the speedups were put on carts, and they all sounded mushy on air, sibilants whooshed almost like a phase reversal (remember those?) This went on for years; I'm not sure when/if the practice ended. The stations have changed hands a number of times since then; the AM side is now a Music Of Your Life station, the FM is country.
