This Site Primarily Contains a Collection of Airchecks of Numerous Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Radio Stations, Some Recorded Off The Air by Rick Burnett and Many Others Recorded or Provided by Other Contributors to This Site (see footnote at bottom). The Contribution of Recordings and Materials are Greatly Appreciated and Have Made this Site a Bookmark for Those Interested in Radio From this Era. Explore the many recordings on this site by using the menu at the left side of the screen. Should you have material to contribute, Please Email: Rick1031(at)HotMail.com Note: Substitute @ for the "(at)" when typing email address
KDWB Newroom 1962
WDGY Interview of Arnold Palmer 1965
Photos contributed by Steve Moravec and posted 9-16-07
KDWB News Room in 1962 with News Reporter Steve Moravec on the phone. Steve would later work for WDGY
Steve Moravec interviews Arnold Palmer for WDGY in 1965
Curtis J Johnson, formerly of WDGY. This a recnet PR photo.
WDGY Curtis J. Johnson News - January 1974
Curtis started his radio career at WLBK DeKalb, Illinois and moved to KLWW in Cedar Rapids as morning drive newscaster. Curt was, by accident, filling in for the Saturday morning newscaster who was out ill. Rich Holter of WDGY and his wife just happened to be driving through town on their way south for a vacation and Rich heard Curtis doing the news. Holter called Curtis when he got back from vacation and hired him for the WDGY news team. The Curtis J. Johnson tape to the left is from a cold January in 1968 and is representative of WDGY's 20/20 News.
Since 1999 Curtis has worked for Explore Minnesota Tourism as the Outdoor Media Relations Specialist. A radio spot he recorded as part of this job is posted to the left. After leaving WDGY, Curtis worked at WTCN-TV as the News Unit Manager, and the Minnesota News Network as News Director/Anchor.
In July 2007, Curtis was very gracious to meet with me for a couple of hours and shared some old radio stories.
Although this station does not fit the Twin Cities profile of this site, I thought you my want to see the video on the creator of this format used locally by WDGY in the mid to late 60's. The WDGY version was not as hard hitting.
Click on the YouTube link to see an interesting story on This CKLW news format that was copied.
These clips were recorded off the air by Mike Cunningham (former KTCR-FM Operations Manager) using a Webcor reel to reel and a microphone, rather than a direct input.
This will bring back memories of Vietnam and you will hear Paul's commentary on the lack of respect for the USA (even in 1966). I guess we seem to have the same news stories on war and the USA's problem today.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of Lacrosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. See his other contributions on the Cunningham page
Don't get concerned when you start this clip. There is a short segment the beginning with a news story recorded off of KSTP-AM with Steve Moravec reporting on the winner of the 1967 Miss Minnesota contest. After a short fade the TV portion of the recording begins. This one has the TV news opening theme and Bob Ryan's full newscast segment, with commercials. Not quite News Radio, but still interesting to listen to for the memories.
Contributed by Jim du Bois, CEO and President of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association
KDWB-AM News with Ryan in 1968 and Tres Goddard 1963
Those of you old enough to remember T Eugene Thompson will like the 1963 newscast.
Contributed by Jim du Bois, CEO and President of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association
KTCR's Mike Cunningham Fills in at Mutual Broadcasting Network in 1977.
The photo at the right shows the Mutual Broadcasting Network's studio in 1977. The sound file has some of the ABC Radio Network news sounds/Logos followed by some from the Mutual Broadcasting Network 1960's
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of Lacrosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. See his other contributions on the Cunningham page
Mutual Broadcasting Network Studios 1977 - Mike Cunningham delivering a nationwide news broadcast.. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
The Old Mutual Radio Network Studios/Office in Washington DC 1977
The Mutual Broadcasting system was heard on KTCR in the Twin Cities in 1977. These photos were taken by Mick Cunningham.
ON the first photo to the left, notice the prehistoric word processors (typewriters) in the news room at the desks. This is 1977 and the typewriters still look ancient.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham, LaCrosse Wisconsin, formerly KTCR-FM Operations Manager
CLICK ON IMAGETO ENLARGE
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
