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WLUM Milwaukee aircheck

S

Scholarm1111

Here is my first posted aircheck of WLUM Milwaukee from the mid-80s.

I apologize that the sound quality isn't that great. Don't expect digital stereo!

WLUM had what at the time might be called an "Urban Crossover" format.

This aircheck includes a few of the overplayed songs of 1985 including songs by Kool and the Gang, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston but there are some more interesting selections as well including Kurtis Blow, Osborne and Giles and Stanley Clarke's rap version of Born in the USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74SsaOkpNhY
 
Alright folks, I found a vastly improved audio file editing software, I am just learning the ropes of this business. I have now reloaded this 1985 aircheck in crystal clear stereo! WLUM was a pretty neat station back then. This new version starts with an ad for a Kurtis Blow-UTFO-Real Roxanne-Lisa Lisa etc. concert at the Mecca Arena in Milwaukee.

Much improved aircheck, take a listen if you are interested.

Now that I know a little bit more about what I am doing, I have alot more WLUM airchecks from the mid 80s and even a few of KMJM St. Louis and WBMX as well as WGCI-AM Chicago from the late 80s, and early 90s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ol0Oppoq4
 
I enjoyed those airchecks. I loved WLUM in the 80s. I have a WLUM aircheck from 1984 in my storage. Maybe I could dig it up and post it. I remember one of the songs they played was "Egyptian Lover" which sounded so hot. I also have great memories of the Fall of 1985 when they played Doug E Fresh-The Show every night.

Of course they also played a lot of pop crossovers. I remember a segue from a rap song into Dan Hartman-I can dream about you. They had that formula for a LONG time too. There is a 1966 aircheck floating around the internet of when they were WAWA-FM, they played mostly R&B but also played some pop like the Beatles. They could have been America's first rhythmic Top 40 FM station.
 
Thanks for the comments on WLUM in the 1980s. I was also a huge fan! And yes, I remember that incredible extended remix of the Egyptian Hour repeated every few hours back in 1984 I believe! Your memories of WLUM/WAWA go back much further than mine. Would love to hear your aircheck.

I have just posted another one. Here is the overnight DJ named Misty in the 2 and 3 AM hours in the summer of 1985. Yes, she was live at that hour and not voicetracked. There are some interesting songs on this aircheck, relatively minor hits from Natalie Cole and Stephanie Mills. In my view the real standout tracks are Send for Me by Atlantic Starr (still played on Urban AC radio) and Take your Heart Away by Kleer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1upvdZykpY

By the way, if anyone is interested here is a YouTube clip of the full-length lost lost song by Kleer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3hdyCR-T8Q
 
If you want to hear the 1966 aircheck do a google search on WAWA FM 1966. It will come up first...the Dr. Bop show. It's a real treat!
 
Just posted another one of WLUM "Hot 102" in 1987. I think by about a year later most of the urban cuts were gone and the format was Dance top 40. But urban contemporary chart hits by Michael Cooper, Stevie Wonder and Angela Winbush are on this aircheck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKiHmNvzHs
 
Scholarm1111 said:
I have just posted another one. Here is the overnight DJ named Misty in the 2 and 3 AM hours in the summer of 1985. Yes, she was live at that hour and not voicetracked. There are some interesting songs on this aircheck, relatively minor hits from Natalie Cole and Stephanie Mills. In my view the real standout tracks are Send for Me by Atlantic Starr (still played on Urban AC radio) and Take your Heart Away by Kleer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1upvdZykpY
Click to expand...

I even heard Joni Mitchell's song Help Me in that aircheck, I thought my ears were deceving me :D I know they were an Urban/Crossover station but I never thought they would go back that far with that song.
 
Yes, Misty did play that one. I think at 3 AM Misty may have thrown in a few things that normally were not on the playlist :)
 
Scholarm1111 said:
Just posted another one of WLUM "Hot 102" in 1987. I think by about a year later most of the urban cuts were gone and the format was Dance top 40. But urban contemporary chart hits by Michael Cooper, Stevie Wonder and Angela Winbush are on this aircheck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKiHmNvzHs
Click to expand...


I think WLUM went full blown Dance Top 40 around 88 or 89, back in 87 they reported to R&R as an Urban reporter depsite mixing in some Top 40 tunes. When Rick Thomas took over as PD for LUM around 88-89 they moved from Urban to Dance CHR.
 
Here is another aircheck of WLUM Milwaukee from 1986. WLUM takes the "Urban Crossover" format to a whole new level in the music selection heard here, there are urban contemporary chart hits from Mikki Howard, Bobby Brown and George Benson but there are some other pop/rock selections that probably many other top 40/crossover stations at the time would not touch.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjoSILJ3G90
 
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