They just sounded better

[Max]

Back at work off my Reserve hitch, I'm at my desk listening to oldies on satellite radio , I'm hearing some songs that just sounded better on AM and WAKY. Songs I'm hearing this morning like "I've Got a Name" by Jim Croce, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John, ANYTHING by the Carpenters...even Frankenstein (Edgar Winter Group) seemed to sound better (to me, anyway) on AM. And obviously everything John Denver ever did sounded better on AM and especially WAKY!

Maybe it was just the time in my life. FM obviously has more clarity and fidelity, but AM just seemed to have more intensity, if your signal was strong enough. Living in E'town, I remember the signal(s) always got weaker after sundown (Sundown...now THERE was another good song!) due in part to AM stations being required to decrease their power after dark. But who doesn't remember having to strain to hear WAKY or WKLO (because you WANTED TO) or turning your radio (or yourself) in circles just to try to hear better? I always did this without complaining (much) because I just couldn't get enough of it. But when reception was at its best, AM almost had that Phil Spector 'wall of sound' quality!

The AM Top 40 Days. Yes, they just sounded BETTER.

[Travis]

Max, we have to be careful or we'll be labeled as old dogs that can't be taught new tricks.

While stereo has certainly enhanced a lot of the tunes we grew up with it's also been a curse for others. Some groups, such as the Beatles and the Mamas & Poppas, recorded a great deal of their lead vocals all in one channel (either left or right) and it drives me crazy to this day to hear those tunes in stereo. I believe the idea at the time was to have the vocals blend with the music in the air, between the speakers and the listener, rather than together in the speakers (I hope that makes sense) but it doesn't work very well and with headphones there's no blending at all.

WAKY was not only monaural, but also highly compressed (as much as 30 dB at times). Growing up with the station I became accustomed to how the compression kept all the instruments at the same level and the vocals were always up front and well defined. Tommy Edwards' vocals on 'All In The Game' were very clear on WAKY, but today when I hear the song in stereo, and uncompressed, he sounds more like a background singer and the reverb on his voice is so noticeable it's annoying. I've been critical of WAKY's compression levels, but in the case of Edwards, his 'All In The Game' has never sounded better since WAKY.

I should point out that I only have problems with vocals when it comes to hearing the oldies in stereo, and uncompressed, and not all oldies (with vocals) have this problem. Musically, stereo can't be beat; especially, when it comes to instrumentals that we grew up with on the big 79. The first time I heard Booker T & The MGs in FM stereo (on Hi95) it was mesmerizing. I loved hearing 'Time is Tight' and other instrumentals on WAKY, but they never sounded like that.

By the way. When producer, George Martin, remixed the Beatles for CD from the original master tapes, he was tempted to remix the vocals into both channels, but decided that for the sake of history the CDs should mirror the original vinyl LPs. As much as I hate to admit it, I believe he made the right decision.

[Max]

Good point, Travis. The song that is mixed that way that drives me the craziest is California Dreaming. That and Daydream Believer. Why? Because both 103.5 and this one satellite station I listen to never get it right. You always hear the music out of both speakers, but the vocals are either faint (the slight portion that comes out of the right channel) or are absent altogether. I can't say anything for the satellite station, as I only heard the Monkees once, so far, but EVERYONE at 103.5, from the manager (BW) to Renee to every jock (especially Mike Marvin) I KNOW has had to have noticed this, since they only play the same songs over and over (oops...that's another thread ).

(Sigh) I'll go back to my supper .

[bruiser]

I recall reading an article several years ago that some records were recorded to sound their best on AM, through the poor speakers that were in most cars during the fifties and sixties. That's right, some studios recorded records to meet the standards of AM car radios/speakers of the era. The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean recordings were given as two examples. The studios figured their target audience would most likely be listening to the radio in the car, rather than at home. I'd guess they were right.

[Travis]

The 45-RPM records used in radio during the early '70s (which is as far back as I go) were promotional copies. The labels clearly stated 'promotional copy - not for sale' and both sides featured the same song. If one side became scratched, the other side could be used as a backup. Jocks were notorious for scratching the very beginning of the intros through the act of cueing and the intro would eventually become "cue-burned."

Eventually, one side of the 45 featured a stereo version and the other side a mono version. Some of the records would feature a colored label for the stereo side and a black & white label for the mono side for quick & easy identification. Perhaps the mono version sounded better on an AM station. I really don't know.

Later, different versions would start appearing on the "B" side. For example, the promotional copy of 'Signs' by the 5 Man Electrical Band featured the tune with a short intro on one side and an extended intro on the other side. Charlie Daniels' 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' featured one side with the line, "I done told you once you son-of-a #%&$" while the other side had the line, "I done told you once you son-of-a-gun." The history of radio promotional copies is an interesting one.

It's possible that promotional copies were recorded to enhance the tunes in some ways when played on radio, but again I really don't know. WAKY had a huge Grundy plate reverb system which was clearly cranked up on some of the airchecks. It made the jocks sound as if they were broadcasting from a basement and it surely had an effect on the music as well.

[John Quincy]

I've heard Motown Records in the 60s would spend hours and hours getting the right mono mix for their singles. After they'd do a "good" mix, they'd cut a vinyl copy and play it on their own in-house low-power AM radio station and go out in the parking lot and listen to it. If it didn't cut through, they'd remix it, repress it and rebroadcast it until it was "right." Then the stereo mix would be done in just a fraction of the time, sort of like an afterthought.

Making a mono mix of songs usually wasn't as simple as as summing both channels of a stereo mix together. The instruments and vocals were mixed differently.

Also, keep in mind that through much of the 60s, stereo was still mostly a novelty to most Americans -- and to a lot of recording engineers. If people bought a stereo album (usually for a dollar more than a mono version of the same material) they wanted to hear S T E R E O...with vocals coming out of one speaker and the instruments coming out of the other.

[Travis]

When I first began paying attention to radio I was baffled by the audio processing. At the time, I had not yet set foot inside a radio station and didn't know anything about audio compression and peak limiting. All I knew was that I could set the volume on my radio just once and every song would have the same volume. But when it came to playing records at home; especially, on a turntable with an automatic changer, no two records generally had the same volume and it drove me crazy adjusting the knob with each change. This was especially true with 45-RPM records.

Why was the volume the same for every record on the radio? I got to where I would listen for songs to start off too loud or too soft, but it never happened; especially on WAKY, where the audio was compressed as much as 30 dB at times. I even thought that the records may have been labeled so that the jock would know where to set the volume when setting the record up for play. Maybe one record had a label showing a "7" while another showed a "5" as the volume setting. If you're in radio, or have been in radio, you know this is all crazy. But I was trying to figure this all out at 15 or 16 years of age. I still smile when I think of those days.

[Mike Griffin]

About the records.... You only got so many promotional copies. Randolph replaced much of the playlist every week next door at Vine Records. Most of what you heard on the air was the same mix you got at the record store because they were the same records. As Travis mentioned the records, particulary the top hits, got really scratchy at the beginning from being cued up so many times. The top 10 repeated about every 1 1/2 to two hours, so they played 12 or more times a day, probably more than 100 times a week. This doesn't count when some jocks would play the intro several times in the cue channel to practice the talk up. Then of course, the turntable had to be rocked back and forth at the beginning to get it cued properly to the first note. This was hard on records and the needles when done repeatedly...but it was fun....if whe had only known that cueing and scratching records was art...

After 1975 WAKY got more cart machines in the main studio and 45's were seldem played again, all the music came off carts (by 1971 the oldies were already on cart). The cart actually offered more opportunity to play something different than what you could buy in stores. WAKY began to selectivly speed up certain songs. Maxine Nightengale's "Right Back Where You Started From" is an example of one of the few song that sound better when speeded up a little. There were also custom cuts of long songs. But for the most part, what you heard on the air is what you could buy at Vine Records or elsewhere it was just that it passed through a ton of compression. It was a joke that the 40 second electronically sustained cord at the end of The Beatles "A Day In The Life" lasted 50 seconds on WAKY because of all the compression.

[Max]

As far as cueing records, most of the records at Quicksie and WKMO were not very scratchy, because there was always a method for 'cueing' 45's and LP's. You put the stylus on the record and, while in cue, slowly rotate the platter until you heard the first hint of sound. Then you would back the turntable one full turn if it was a 45 and half a turn if you were playing an album cut. In this way, by the time the needle met the music the turntable was up to the correct rpm, avoiding the 'sliding' sound.

As far as the talkup over the intro, I don't know how anyone else does it, but I leave the records alone and, based on the intro printed on the record or from the PD's sticker, I would time myself while the current record was playing (song, if you were playing a CD or playing off the hard drive). Works every time.

[Travis]

Yo, Max! ONE FULL TURN??? What kind of turntables did you work with? Even the old Gates turntables at WAKY in '71 could go from 0 to 45 RPM in one-quarter turn without "wowing" (as we called it). The same could be said of Quicksie's turntables in 1974. Let me know what brand of turntables you were referring to so that I can check them out when next I'm in Washington D.C. and visiting the Smithsonian. (just kidding)

Some jocks would not even rotate the turntables. They would rotate the record with their index finger, causing the record to literally slide on the felt that covered the turntable, and cue it in that way. Eventually, you could see the outline of a 45 in the felt. I tried to do that, but it wouldn't work for me. I just disengaged the turntable so that I could spin it freely and this method actually helped to insure that I would put the lever into the right slot (for the right speed) depending on whether I had cued a 45 or an LP.

Standing in front of the WAKY showcase studios you could not really see what the jock was doing, but if you hung-out at the receptionist's desk you had a clear view of the two turntables in the control room. The first time I saw them I saw Gary Burbank place a 45 on the front turntable, set the stylus on it and give it such a spin that I thought the entire turntable was going to come up from its base and fly around the room. Garish Poo-Poo was evidently quite hard on records.

Jason O'Brien was notorious for rehearsing his intros on the cue speaker and I did this on occasion as well; especially, if the intro contained an "Oh Yeah" or "Uh-Huh" and I wanted to fit what I was saying around them. It did no harm to pre-play the intros (unlike cueing) and the results were oh so rewarding.

When I think about it, why couldn't we all have just done like they did in the TV show, 'WKRP in Cincinnati' and just set the stylus on the record and have it play right when you wanted it to. Wasn't that something? They never cued a record and never needed headphones, either. Without headphones, Gary Sandy's character of PD, Andy Travis could have been a jock and still would have had a great hair-day. Oh, and Howard Hessemann's portrayal of DJ, Doctor Johnny Fever was based on WAKY's own Skinny Bobby Harper. Really?? What am I missing here?

Well. I can see that I'm going off on a tangent and need to get off here. Later.

[Mike Griffin]

Max,

Sounds like you worked with the old Gates turntables with 16" platters. WAKY had those in production until about '75. They did take quite a while to make speed. Or maybe you had something like the high end Techniques turntables that were sort of "Prosumer" models. WAKY eventually put those in production replacing the Gates. They were great turntables but not made for a quick start. I remember cranking those back a full turn when putting music on cart.

WAKY had the smaller platter Gates turntables on air and as Travis points out, they only had to wind back a very short way and they started very fast. In essence, an instant start.

Two points about talking records in, in the pre-1975 era...

Every record had a sticker with it's intro time on it, but the jocks who were most into it (not me) didn't just fill the intro but tried to interact with it. As Travis points out Jay O'Brien is a prime example here, Jay was an artitst. The second point is prior to 1975 there were no digital timers. There was a digital clock but no timers. The best method jocks had of talking up a record using the intro time was by setting the Graylab photo timer that you see by the cart machines in some of the pictures. Then when he started the record the jock could also start the timer with a foot pedel. Sometimes it was just easier to get a feel for the record and do it that way rather than all the mechanics of the timer or even trying to watch a regular clock -- hence playing the intro several times in cue to rehearse.

In '75, a new Chief Engineer, John Timm, brought the era of digital electronic timers to WAKY. Timers that started counting automatically when the record or cart started. This made it a lot easier to use time for talking in the music (and for knowing how far you were into it). Actually John sold his timers to stations all over the country. I don't know if John was the first engineer who made these but he was certainly one of the first. The timers were great they made the stations sound even tighter.

Randolph let each jock work the way he wanted. There would have been a mutiny if he had put out a memo on proper record cue up. It was a small enough expense to swap the records out often enough that worn records were never played on the air.

So there it is too much information about too little. When what everyone really wants to hear is the story about a certain DJ's pet monkey and the recreational smoke that when blown into a box which held the monkey would in short order make for great entertainment when the monkey, who became almost as stoned as the smoke blowers, was let out. And which DJs celebrated when the age of consent in Kentucky dropped to 16? Which DJs had blue boxes and how much did the phone company loose.

[John Quincy]

To me, one of the coolest things about the WAKY Gates control board in the 70s was the way it was set to start the turntables. Instead of using separate remote starts, you started the turntable by throwing the switch above the turntable pot to the right (the "Program" side). You stopped the turntable by throwing the switch to the middle (off) position. This let the DJ cue up the record and turn the pot up without having to worry about the tone arm picking up any noise when you banged on the desk -- or accidentally tried to cue up a record or pick up the tone arm with the pot up. (Or am I the only person who ever did that?)

The Kentucky stations I had worked at before seeing WAKY's setup either had no remote starts on the turntables or used regular "silent" light switches (like you see on the wall) to start the platters turning.

It was a lot easier doing a DJ show when working with all music on carts. The first station I was at that had that setup was WBLG in Lexington in 1978...although when I first started there, only the currents were carted. Of course, in order to make the music sound good with carts you had to make sure you didn't record over the tape splice, keep the heads clean on both the record and playback units, and be prepared in case the cart machine ate the tape.

In the 21st century, I don't miss playing vinyl or tape...but I'd rather play CDs instead of pulling the music off a hard drive...except when I have to take a potty break!

[Max]

I'm not sure who made the turntables at Quicksie when I was there '79-'81. Since I was 16-18 then, I don't remember or if I even cared to look. All I know is Rich Upton told me what to do and I did it. I carried the technique with me to WKMO and to WODC. Not sure what turntables WODC had, but I DO know the ones at WKMO and WIEL were Gates...I know-I have one of them. Like Mike suggests, I think the ones at Quicksie WERE 16" platters and I think WIEL/WKMO had the same, as the turns were always just enough. When the two stations decided to 'get with the times' and went to CD's and either digital or satellite, they took out the turntables. In fact, the only one left was in a production room that we converted to studios for WTHX. The turntable is still in there off to the side, but has been disconnected. WIEL is now ESPN. WKMO is a mixture of live jocks playing off the hard drive, voice tracking, and syndicated programming (satellite).

[Max]

John, the turntables we used didn't have remote starts, I guess we were just a tad behind everyone else. I'm thinking the power was always on and if you didn't have the clutch disengaged, you were off to the races, so to speak. I believe there may have been a toggle switch at one of the stations. It all tends to blend together after 24-26 years!

[Travis]

What I thought was really neat about WAKY's control console was that the switch above the pots for the turntables (AUD-OFF-PGM) had been modified not only to start & stop the turntables but to automatically connect the turntables audio output to the cue speaker when the switch was in the OFF position. This allowed the jock to cue records without ever having to drop the pot into cue.

I'm now trying to remember if the cue speaker was 'muted' whenever the mic was ON because if a jock were to flip the switch to OFF before the extro had completely finished, there could have been a short blast of music from the cue speaker (which was generally turned all the way up) which could have been picked up by the microphone. Perhaps Mike Griffin will recall.

[Mike Griffin]

The cue was always muted when the mic was on.