Happy 25th QR 77

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Happy 25th QR 77

Postby radiofan » Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:53 pm

Happy 25th Birthday to Calgary's QR-77! It was on this day (June 26) 1986 that CHQR made the move from 810
to 770 on the dial.

Here's the final hour of CHQR 810 ... The Norm Edwards and Dave Rutherford Morning show along with Vern Koop
and Angela Kokott in the newsroom, sports guy Keith Terry, Commander Brad Neale in the Eye In The Sky and of
course, Government worker "Theo" .. The frequency switch occured at 7:00 AM with then Mayor Ralph Klein reading
a QR 77 Day proclamation followed Norm and Dave and Company kicking off the all new QR 77.

Final Hour Of CHQR 810 [17:32]

Launch of QR 77 [17:09]

Image

Front page of the four page QR 77 Top 770 Of Our Time survey Calgary Sun insert June 26, 1986
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: Happy 25th QR 77

Postby albertaboy4life » Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:34 am

I remember that frequency switch quite well. So good to hear the voice of the late Norm Edwards again.

In the weeks leading up to the launch at 770, it was pretty cool to listen to the on air testing the QR engineering staff were undertaking. Don't think I will ever be able to listen to Jan Hammer again. :)

Radiofan how long did it take you to compile that countdown, assemble the playlist and then record the songs on cassettes for the give away?
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .
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Re: Happy 25th QR 77

Postby radiofan » Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:25 am

albertaboy4life wrote:
Radiofan how long did it take you to compile that countdown, assemble the playlist and then record the songs on cassettes for the give away?


Compiling the countdown took several weeks. It was the first stab at using a PC and Lotus 1-2-3. A Billboard or Whitburn top 1,000 list was used with points awarded to each
song based on it's position etc. Songs that didn't fit an A/C - Hot A/C format were deleted and of course, Canadians were added. Using Lotus was great, you could sort by
Artist, Title, Year, points, whatever. This was a good way of making sure there was no repeats.

Once the list was done, there was a couple of hundred songs that needed to be carted because they weren't part of the regular on air library. The station had no physical vinyl
library, so I had to bring all the needed songs from home and record them.

As for the cassette project, that filled 27 or 28 90 minute cassettes, so another 40 - 45 hours ...
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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