Twin Cities Radio Airchecks.Com Presents The Al Arneson Collection WLOL - WWTC Al Arneson, grew up in Edina Minnesota and got an early start in radio. In Jr. high school, Al got his first chance to be on the air at his friend's, Kim Cummings, basement Pirate FM station. When that station went of the air, he started his own station. Al operated his station out of his basement during the early 1970's while attending Edina High School. You can hear those early Pirate recording of him on this web site's Pirate Radio Page.
Al later took a job at an Appleton Wisconsin station and later took a job on KSTP-AM near the beginning of KSTP's Music Radio days. He also worked at U-100. He currently owns and operates his own business, Entertainment Plus. An aircheck from 1973 of Al Arneson on KSTP-AM is posted below (Scroll Down)
Thanks Al, for recording and contributing these airchecks. Keep cleaning out that storage locker!!
Late 1970's photo of a young Al Arneson
WLOL-FM "Easy Rockin" A Day in the Life...
The whole day is here. Marcia Huey - 5 AM - 10 AM Steve Shannon - 10 AM - 3 PM Buddy Hollis - 3 - 6 PM Karen Wong - 6-11 PM Brian Acker - 11 {M - 5 AM
Contributed by Al Arneson, formerly of KSTP-AM and U-100 as Big Al Davis
The October 1973 airchecks on this page, provide a good look at the daily programming of WWTC that year. Spectrum had a "Women's' Issues" slant. A few of the TC guys when on to WCCO-FM (wish I had some of those airchecks) in the Mid-'70's. There is a rare early aircheck of John Hines doing evenings. John went on to bigger things.
There are additional WWTC airchecks on the WWTC Page on this site.
I would like to thank Al Arneson for his submission of the tapes on this page. You can hear a tape of Al on his Pirate radio station on the Pirate Radio Page on this site, and an aircheck of him as Big Al Davis on U-100 on the Radio Tapes site.
WWTC Joel Larson Does The Early AM Shift on October 23rd, 1973
On this tape you will hear Joel keeping the Twin Cities awake in the wee hours on The Larson Affair; starting around 1:11 AM. After playing "Ain't No Sunshine," he mentions there is never any sunshine when he is on the air. This tape also has a promo spot describing the WWTC Spectrum format, which includes news every 20 minutes and a "Woman Viewpoint" during the day with Linda Morgan. Larson does a little adlib during a saving bond PSA. WWTC Jim Stewart Does Afternoons, as a Substituting for the Ailing Greg Gears on October 21st, 1973
Richard Wagner leads off with "TC Happenings." He play the score for the upcoming movie Johnnathan Livingston Seagul. Jim predicts that if the movie is done right it might break all box office records. Jim also passes along new about a spectator ramp collapsing at London's airport injuring Osmond fans trying to greet the group. Note the great fanfare on the correct time at 2:00. I do not remember Jim or Joel. They did not make the migration to WCCO-FM with Some of the others, like Dick Driscoll.
WWTC Jim Teeson on a Monday Afternoon, October 22nd, 1973
It 2:00 PM as you will hear by the fanfare of the exact time. Tom Wayne starts with news and offers a $25 Twin City Federal (TCF) saving account to those that provide a winning news tip to WWTC. More of the spectrum format. Teeson does a live Levit's Furniture spot. On this day, Jim has a little trouble with a PSA announcement.
Tapes on all of the above courtsey of Al Arneson, of Edina MN. a/k/a Big Al Davis on U-100
WWTC Dick Driscoll, August 16th, 1971 - "Radio Twelve Eight Oh" Lot of testosterone on this aircheck. I am not sure if Dick is still alive. Let me know. Dick starts off with a discussion on song titles, group names and record label names being similar and confusion to tell which is which. There is a classic Weather ball Weather (provided by the man with a big set), sponsored by Northwestern National Bank. He reads a spot on Northwestern State Bank of Osseo and then closes with the Jingle "May we help you today." You will hear the "WWTC Radio Twelve Eight Oh" jingle also.
WWTC Dick Driscoll, October 21st, 1973 Spectrum Radio - Sunday Night Version This aircheck starts in the middle of a PSA. He starts by playing The World is a Getto and then we are told We Will Never Pass This Way Again. Dick Has Only Just Begun and has many, many tunes to play for us at radio Twelve Eighty. Dick informs us the Beach Boys will be at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter on Nonmember 7. Big Daddy Glenn Olson is on deck. This is Spectrum for a Sunday Night
Tapes courtesy of Al Arneson of Edina, a/k/a/ Big Al Davis on U-100
The airchecks on this not for profit web site were recorded off the air. The recordings on this site provide historical examples of Twin Cities radio and are intended for purposes of archival preservation and for research. Additionally, the recordings can be used by vision impaired visitors to get an audio perspective of radio history. These recordings are not intended to by used by others for commercial purposes.
Some of the airchecks are off reel to reel tapes that were recorded off the air by the web site creator. In May 2006 the recordings started to be converted to MP3 and shared here. In addition to this web site creator's recorded aircheck collection, there are also many airchecks that were recorded and submitted by friends and acquaintances, or contributed by other collectors. Sources are cited, if known. The contributed recordings from friends and contributors of both airchecks and other material are greatly appreciated. Without their help, the site would have many less pages of radio history. The recordings of the contributors to this web site who recorded them off the air may show up on other sites. This site does not charge any fees to listen to the posted recordings. The purpose of this site is to provide radio history and intended for purposes of archival preservation and research.
Windows Media Player works well to play these MP3 files, and depending on your internet settings, will start streaming the file once the link is clicked, Some files are large and may take time to open. Should you have any aircheck of Twin Cities radio stations, let me know and I may be able to include them at this site. Contact me at Rick(at)HotMail.com --- NOTE Replace "(at)" with @ when typing email address