EDIT: This comment from Jonathan F. King is worth more than my post, so I've added it here (thanks, Jonathan!):
"I was there then, taped stuff off the radio all the time with my little reel-to-reel ... and it all sounded exactly like this. This seems to be a spliced-together set of aircheck chunks from two of L.A.'s top AM stations in that day: KHJ and KRLA. First up is the KHJ short-timer Tommy Vance, brought over from London shortly after the launch of their pioneering Top 30 format in early 1965. Vance's first I.D. comes at marker 8:43. He's back at 11:44 to promote upcoming appearances by the Byrds (!) at two suburban department stores. (Their rise to fame with "Mr. Tambourne Man" was so sudden that they still had to honor a bunch of crappy commitments they'd made beforehand -- including a show at my high school around the time of this tape. They looked pissed) More music for a long spell, then at 43:15 we find ourselves on KRLA-AM instead, a short way up the dial from KHJ, for a newscast in their inimitable style -- lots of timpani and bellowing choristers. The newscaster is Thom Beck, a founding member (later) of the satirical performance group The Credibility Gap. The selection of news stories is distinctive for a rock and roll station in a giant metro market in 1965, though you can't tell from Beck's melodramatic basso narrative what his, or the station's, editorial sentiment might be. At 45:45, sports news. At 49:35, Bob Eubanks signs on, then spins a Bob Dylan track, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," about which there's another story altogether, but I'd hate to digress. It keeps on like that until it runs out, soundig exactly like my 10th-grade bedroom after dinner."
[I think Ed Fray may have some Credibility Gap recordings - check link at right - Ed.]
ReplyDeleteHonk!
I was there then, taped stuff off the radio all the time with my little reel-to-reel ... and it all sounded exactly like this. This seems to be a spliced-together set of aircheck chunks from two of L.A.'s top AM stations in that day: KHJ and KRLA. First up is the KHJ short-timer Tommy Vance, brought over from London shortly after the launch of their pioneering Top 30 format in early 1965. Vance's first I.D. comes at marker 8:43. He's back at 11:44 to promote upcoming appearances by the Byrds (!) at two suburban department stores. (Their rise to fame with "Mr. Tambourne Man" was so sudden that they still had to honor a bunch of crappy commitments they'd made beforehand -- including a show at my high school around the time of this tape. They looked pissed) More music for a long spell, then at 43:15 we find ourselves on KRLA-AM instead, a short way up the dial from KHJ, for a newscast in their inimitable style -- lots of timpani and bellowing choristers. The newscaster is Thom Beck, a founding member (later) of the satirical performance group The Credibility Gap. The selection of news stories is distinctive for a rock and roll station in a giant metro market in 1965, though you can't tell from Beck's melodramatic basso narrative what his, or the station's, editorial sentiment might be. At 45:45, sports news. At 49:35, Bob Eubanks signs on, then spins a Bob Dylan track, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," about which there's another story altogether, but I'd hate to digress. It keeps on like that until it runs out, soundig exactly like my 10th-grade bedroom after dinner.
ReplyDeleteJonathan, your comment is an absolute jewel, and exactly the kind of input I've been hoping for. I've added it to my rather skimpy piece so it shows up better. If you have time to write a piece for the blog - anything you want - please let me know.
ReplyDeleteThanks, FT3 ... this exhausts my intimate knowledge of almost anything, but as a new reader I'll be checking in regularly. Sure like what I've seen so far!
ReplyDeleteJFK, 'atsa fine! I'm always impressed when somebody remembers the sixties. But then I can't remember what I came in the room for.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. In '65 I was six years old and living in Old South Wales. We didn't have radio with the new 'pop' music...
ReplyDelete