Twin Cities Radio Airchecks.Com Presents The Al Arneson Collection KUXL - WAYL - WDGY 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
Recorded and contributed by Al Arneson, formerly of KSTP-AM and U-100
Al sent me a note on 4-2-08 says he was sorry to hear of Scott Burton's passing and he remembered how he liked him a lot. Al enclosed an aircheck he had of Scott at WWDC (not to be confused with WWTC) that was recorded in the spring of 1972
When Scott Burton left WDGY, he went to Washington DC to do afternoon drive on WWDC, a MOR station at the time. Although you will still hear "The Sound of Scott" and "The Burton Extravaganza"), this is a slightly different Scott Burton, as he is able to do a little more talking than he was able to do at WDGY.
Johnny Dollar/Bob Moomey and the Robert W. Morgan Connection Al read about the passing of Bob Moomey (Johnny Dollar on WDGY) and also enclosed an aircheck of Robert W. Morgan on WIND in Chicago recorded in the Fall of 1971. Al visited Bob Moomey during Spring Break 1972 and when Bob was the program director at WIND. Bob told Al how proud he was to have hired Robert W. Morgan for awhile as WIND's morning man. Al mentions that Bob had placed color photos in the WIND studio. Listen to the aircheck to get Morganized. Contributed by Al Arneson, Edina MN, Formerly "Big" Al Davis on U-100.
This is a rare recording of Jim Dandy's brief return on air visit to WDGY sometime in 1976 (Based on the music - August/September). He mentions this is a Tuesday and the time is 9:21 AM.
Jim is still irreverent with his insults. He calls the Richfield High School girls, "Skaggs." He later throws insults at Petula Clark, calling her a "Skagg" and stating that there are more fingerprints on her than on the front door of Duff's.
At the beginning of the tape you can hear there is a small audience in the background, later referred to as the WDGY staff. Dandy mentions this is his last 36 minutes on the air. He announces Gary Bridges is up at 10 AM. Both Jim and Johnny are looking for a hangover remedy and Jerry Brooke's bartender. Jerry will be on tomorrow morning.
I am not sure how far ahead of the format change to Country this recording is, but I think it was close.
This rare tape was sent to me by Al Arneson, of Edina (Big Al Davis on U100 - aircheck at www.radiotapes.com/U100Radio.html).
1969 photo of Jim Dandy at the control board in the Bloomington studios
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
