WLS DX in 1969

[jon]

In honour of WLS Chicago's 85th birthday today, we have an off-air recording from Vancouver from December 1969.

Here is the best reception of WLS-890 I was ever able to record from Burnaby. This was a Monday morning, so CJVI-900 Victoria had not signed on yet after weekly transmitter maintenance, so you don't hear the usual co-channel interference.

Unfortunately, my tape recorder added a fair bit of background noise, and skywave signals have some high end audio artifacts added. So I've left the equalization just as my Lafayette HA-230 receiver modified it, with a 6dB boost at 250Hz, to improve the clarity. You'll also hear some remnants of a few lightning strikes somewhere between Vancouver and Chicago.

This is one of the few existing recordings of Bill Bailey on WLS. He was a legend in Louisville, Kentucky, but did not like Chicago, so only stayed for about 6 months at WLS. Not to be confused with another Bill Bailey at WLS, who later joined the station as the first Afro-American announcer at the station.

Although Sears had sold the station to The Prairie Farmer on October 1, 1928, they were still the largest buyer of ads on the station in 1969. Listen carefully to the tones used in the portion of the Sears ad that ends this quick clip. They are the closest thing to subliminal advertising that I've heard used on Radio. They are the same "chimes" used within each Sears store, including those in Canada, to page staff. So, anyone who had ever been in a Sears store at the time would immediately recognize them. Smart!

http://www.radiowest.ca/sound/wlsbb.mp3

[BossRadio]

What a classic character voice. Sounds like his second job should be tending bar, wheeling a hack,or working as a corner cut-man for Rocky Balboa...nice grab! Reminds me just a little of the Greaseman's delivery.
Would like to hear this guy taking it out of low gear, because it sounds like he might have a wicked sense of humor in an extended bit.

[jon]

Reelradio has a few Bill Bailey airchecks from this era of his career:

• http://www.reelradio.com/bj/index.html#bbwls080169 (WLS August 1, 1969, scoped 28:09) - from the first few days of Bill on WLS; holds the honour of being aircheck #1000 on reelradio, and is the only (other than my one break clip) WLS Bill Bailey aircheck I've ever heard of
• http://www.reelradio.com/ab/index.html#bbwklo69 (WKLO Louisville July 25, 1969, scoped 4:35) - Bill's last show on WKLO before moving to WLS
• http://www.reelradio.com/gb/index.html#bbwaky080972 (WAKY Louisville August 9, 1972, scoped 22:39)

Some Bill Bailey articles from his WAKY days, including his 5 year $300,000 deal with WLS:
http://79waky.com/billbailey.htm