Looking for old recordings of my grandfather: Cleveland disc jockey Howie Lund.
July 6, 2010 2:08 PM Subscribe
Looking for old recordings of my grandfather: Cleveland disc jockey Howie Lund.
My grandfather, Howie Lund, was a popular disc jockey in the Cleveland, Ohio area from the 1940's through the early 1970's. I've located some resources in a preliminary search but I haven't come up with much yet in terms of recorded material of him on the air. I'll be contacting radio stations and former colleagues next.
I was wondering if anyone hear on metafilter might have some ideas about other places I could look that might prove fruitful.
My grandfather, Howie Lund, was a popular disc jockey in the Cleveland, Ohio area from the 1940's through the early 1970's. I've located some resources in a preliminary search but I haven't come up with much yet in terms of recorded material of him on the air. I'll be contacting radio stations and former colleagues next.
I was wondering if anyone hear on metafilter might have some ideas about other places I could look that might prove fruitful.
Suggestion: when searching online, use the term "airchecks", as that's the term the industry and fans use. Looks like some sites have an aircheck for trade circa Christmas 1959 that has your grandfather as announcer introducing the network feed of an orchestra, but I haven't found any that have posted this to listen to.
posted by inturnaround at 2:54 PM on July 6, 2010
posted by inturnaround at 2:54 PM on July 6, 2010
Best answer: Well, according to this link (http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~gulino/aircheck/oh_cleveland.html), your grand dad shows up in the excerpt below:
WDOK-FM (102.1)
1959/12/24 19:49 Howie Lund is the announcer. Features Christmas music from the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. Station is ID'd as "WDOK AM & FM." 7 Unscoped CD1500/HD2
1997/07/04 19:15 Carolyn After Dark/AC 47 Unscoped 641/HD
1997/07/05 06:35 AC 46 Unscoped 641/HD
For the record, I just googled "cleveland radio air checks", which, as mentioned above, is the industry term for the on-air spots when the DJ talks. As you'll see on google, there are a number of sites (both free and subscription) that archive air checks, although the general rule with broadcast radio is that's whatever was on air in the past is now pretty much gone. Unless it was a special occasion, a big-name announcer, an accident of some listener leaving their recorder on, or some combination thereof, almost the entire history of radio disappeared after the initial broadcast. (Despite what some people assume, basically no one - not the government, the station, the network - had reason/responsibility to save this stuff.) It's truly a shame.
posted by 5Q7 at 3:59 PM on July 6, 2010
WDOK-FM (102.1)
1959/12/24 19:49 Howie Lund is the announcer. Features Christmas music from the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. Station is ID'd as "WDOK AM & FM." 7 Unscoped CD1500/HD2
1997/07/04 19:15 Carolyn After Dark/AC 47 Unscoped 641/HD
1997/07/05 06:35 AC 46 Unscoped 641/HD
For the record, I just googled "cleveland radio air checks", which, as mentioned above, is the industry term for the on-air spots when the DJ talks. As you'll see on google, there are a number of sites (both free and subscription) that archive air checks, although the general rule with broadcast radio is that's whatever was on air in the past is now pretty much gone. Unless it was a special occasion, a big-name announcer, an accident of some listener leaving their recorder on, or some combination thereof, almost the entire history of radio disappeared after the initial broadcast. (Despite what some people assume, basically no one - not the government, the station, the network - had reason/responsibility to save this stuff.) It's truly a shame.
posted by 5Q7 at 3:59 PM on July 6, 2010
Have you searched the archives of the Museum of Broadcast Communications? The archives are fairly extensive.
posted by davejay at 11:04 PM on July 6, 2010
posted by davejay at 11:04 PM on July 6, 2010
Response by poster: thanks everyone for your suggestions. you've given me some good new avenues to try. The guy who runs the site that unmark suggested emailed me the aircheck. it's brief, but it was the first time i've heard my grandfather's voice since i was four years old. I got a chill up my spine. I can't wait to share it with my family.
posted by pahool at 3:41 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by pahool at 3:41 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 2:18 PM on July 6, 2010