• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WLAC SPIDER HARRISON aircheck

Thanks for posting that. I always loved hearing Spider in the late 70's as I traveled back and forth from Tennessee to Florida. Spider always connected well with his audience and hearing some of the old radio ads in the air check takes me back to when radio was really FUN!
 
Thanks for the link. Based on the music, this aircheck is right before the switch to News/Talk which took place on October 31, 1980.

I wonder if Spider knew the end of WLAC as a top 40 station was just days away.
 
After listening to that, this time period is very definitely at or near the end of the 15LAC rock period. About six minutes from the end, Spider thanks Mort and Valarie Nassiter (Mort was manager) for all they have done for him and announces that the station will be leaving the air for technical maintenance. Where I can’t be sure, this could be the last moments of the music era on WLAC. If not, it is VERY near the end. We signed off at midnight and signed back on later that morning November 1, 1980 News Talk. Also in that segment, he talked about it being cold out that night and I remember that very well. There is a segment after the sign off, but I think it was from an earlier time. Was a very tumultuous time at the radio station obviously and if I remember, there were no goodbyes on the air, it was a cold cut as far as the listeners were to believe. Spi’ or anyone else, please feel free to correct me, almost 29 years ago.

And yes, Spider knew what was coming.

Memories…

w/
 
Tibbs2 said:
All I get is that Spider's site is down. Would love to listen to it.
Click to expand...
Tibbs2 you must have some ISP issue, it comes right up.
I also rememberd right at the end they had only two spots running and they played almost every break.

w/
 
i can't access it either..no isp problems here..get a page not found error message..i'd love to hear it and rip those vintage spots..
 
The file is almost 1.8 meg, PM me you email address and i'll email it to you if you can handle that size. Act soon, near bedtime for me.

w/
 
UPDATE!

Just communicated with Spider Harrison via email. He is doing well and says that segment was indeed the END as I thought. So that is one of those historic airchecks.

w/
 
radiorob2.0 said:
The link is on the landing page, it's from the fall of 1980. http://www.spidorecords.com/


Mine also says the link could not be found. I'm using comcast. Did it change occur on November first or earlier. The reason I ask the question is because in 1980 November 1st was on a Saturday. I remember that time very well for other reasons than radio.

I remember that he did a talk show on the Sunday evening after the format flip. I think he was still working at WLAC for a few months after that.
Click to expand...
 
I used to listen from time to time as a kid in Toledo and would enjoy hearing Spider's last night on WLAC - but the provided link is not working for me either. Can some one repost it, in case there's a typo or punctuation error making it not go thru to the right place? WLAC had a strong skywave that came in like a local station up there, even tho' we had a local station on 1520, too. It was particularly good to hear driving out in the boonies where the R&B stations of the bigger cities didn't reach.

Wish there had been a few more clear channels near the top of the dial. The fade outs were much shorter at those frequencies, so a directional signal was easy to listen to at night.
 
I tried typing it in manually and that didn't work either.

Maybe www.spiderrecords.com (?)

But anyhoo Spider was a great DJ ...remembered him saying "innaminuite" as his sign-off line before The Hossman came on afterward with his pre-recorded graveyard shift soul gospel program.

Heard that Spider previously worked at WTLC-FM in Indy before his move to 15 'LAC

With John R and the rest of the 50kw quartet gone, Spider and The Hossman kept 'LAC's skywave signal hot in the evenings.
 
kirkiefan said:
I tried typing it in manually and that didn't work either.

Maybe www.spiderrecords.com (?)

But anyhoo Spider was a great DJ ...remembered him saying "innaminuite" as his sign-off line before The Hossman came on afterward with his pre-recorded graveyard shift soul gospel program.

Heard that Spider previously worked at WTLC-FM in Indy before his move to 15 'LAC

With John R and the rest of the 50kw quartet gone, Spider and The Hossman kept 'LAC's skywave signal hot in the evenings.


In the last coupple of years WLAC did become a 24 hour rocker. A guy named Shadow Bayley (I think ) came on after Spider Harrison.

The link is corect. Spider Harison owns Spido Records. I looked at the Wikapedia page on him. For some the link along withe link to his other site doesn't work for me. Wonder if its a comcast thing? We could take a poll...Or maybe not.
Click to expand...
 
WLAC was 24 hour top 40 in the late 1970s, but I think sometime in 1980 before the Talk switch Hoss started doing a 2 am to 5 am gospel show.
 
briancraig said:
WLAC was 24 hour top 40 in the late 1970s, but I think sometime in 1980 before the Talk switch Hoss started doing a 2 am to 5 am gospel show.

I had a friend in AL download it and send it to me through MSN. This was an aircheck of several nights including the end on October 300th. He said something on the first night on the aircheck about throwing every one a curve at 2:AM. That apparently is when the gosple came back.

Listen to the weather forcast for the final night and get your 1980 calendar out if you have one and you will see when it ended.
Click to expand...
 
Does anyone out there have any WMAK and WKDA airchecks? The great days of Nashville Top 40 radio were when those two were going head to head.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom