Looking for full audio of 70s pop radio broadcasts

April 25, 2009 1:44 PM

Im sort of a 70's nostalgia head, and as such would love to find some audio (format not important) of 70s radio broadcasts, commericals and all.

Now Ideally I would like to find files from the mid to late 70s of just raw radio broadcasts. I would love to get the songs, the dj/announcer, even the commercials if at all possible. I want to get as close as possible to being able to pretend Im just listening to the radio.

Of course Im not even sure how possible or likely any of this stuff is to track down, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

As far as genre goes, Im pretty wide open. AM? Disco? AOR rock? All of these would do just fine. I'd even be interested in popular country/western station recordings.

What say ye, MeFiHive?
Is this a futile search?

posted by Senor Cardgage to media & arts (6 comments total)

If you have not already discovered the search term "aircheck", allow me to introduce it to you.

An aircheck is (was?) essentially an audition tape or a demo reel. Though it generally doesn't include the songs that a DJ played, it will have him talking and introducing them.

The sort of places that collect digital copies of old aircheck tapes are likely to lead you down the path towards finding full recordings from the 70s.
posted by toxic at 2:03 PM on April 25

KFRC San Francisco airchecks, 1966-2005. Lots of great stuff from the 70s. The Dr. Don Rose stuff from 1973 and 1974 is pure, solid gold. All of the songs, announcements and commercials are intact as I recall. Sadly, you will need Real Player.
posted by drinkcoffee at 2:21 PM on April 25

More airchecks from New York station WABC.
posted by shinybeast at 2:56 PM on April 25

Some goodness from Chicago
posted by timsteil at 3:09 PM on April 25

Archive.org has a ridiculous amount of every conceivable type of thing.

Here are 50 different pieces of audio tagged with 'radio' from between 1970 and 1980. They all look like radio programs, but lots look like weird and/or odd radio things - not stereotypical radio, if that's what you're looking for. Nonetheless interesting. There's a rhododendron who communicates through a synthesizer, an interview with John Cage, and a performance by Steve Reich.

And here are a few dozen air checks from the seventies.
posted by koeselitz at 8:23 PM on April 25

Thanks everybody!
This is definitely a wealth of relevancenesses.

:)
posted by Senor Cardgage at 1:38 PM on April 26