Rock Radio Scrapbook: 1984 airchecks

Talent: SANDY BEACH
Station: WKBW Buffalo, N.Y.
Date: February 15, 1984
Time: 8:04

For years, Sandy Beach signed off his show with those words, a nod to his hometown in north-central Massachusetts. Many of his early radio jobs weren't too far from there, including WFBF Great Barrington, Mass., WSPR Springfield, Mass., and WFEA Manchester, N.H. (he also worked at WRAD Norfolk, Va., in the early days.)

It was at WSPR - as Jack Diamond - that Beach got his first big break. WDRC program director Charlie Parker took notice of his work, and hired him for the 10 a.m.-1 p.m. shift at the Hartford station. From middays Beach went to the 1-4 p.m. slot and then, in October, 1967, he succeeded Don Wade in mornings.

Beach went from one legendary Top 40 station to another when Jeff Kaye hired him for the evening shift at Buffalo's WKBW in 1968. Beach spent six memorable years at 'KB, the last four in afternoon drive where he was part of a superb air staff that included Dan Neaverth, Fred Klestine, Don Berns, Jack Armstrong and Bob MacRae.

After leaving 'KB in 1974, Beach moved just down the freeway to WJET Erie, Pa., and then cross-country to KYUU San Francisco, where he was also program director. In 1984, Beach returned his old stomping grounds in afternoon drive at 'KB. He moved to mornings at Buffalo's WNYS in 1986, then to WMJQ by 1989 and to WGR as a talk show host from 1992 to 1993.

After a four-year stint (1993-97) at WZTR Milwaukee, Beach came back to Buffalo in '97 for an afternoon drive talk show at WBEN. In addition to his WBEN duties, he also did a third tour at 'KB in late mornings during the station's short-lived return to oldies that ended in 2006.

A three-time nominee for Billboard Magazine Personality of the Year, and a 2003 inductee into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Beach is one of radio's true personalities easily identified by his infectious laugh.

After a decade at CFUN Vancouver, Russ McCloud left for CHUM Toronto in 1984. He would spend 17 years at CHUM, leaving just before that station switched to a sports format in 2001. McCloud returned to the airwaves briefly in 2008 at AM 940, Montreal's Greatest Hits.

Be sure to visit radiowest.ca, a superb radio site hosted by Ted Wendland. Airchecks, jingles, photos, logos, history and forums - radiowest.ca has it all. Rock Radio Scrapbook says thanks Ted for sharing this aircheck.

(Picture courtesy John Christopher Sutton)

(Sutton, top, Majhor, below. Jay Nelson is at left)

"I first met John Majhor in 1977. I was 15 years old and John was 24. I was blown away by John's style and personality on the air. I called him on the request line and asked him many questions, thus my love for radio was born. A couple of months went by when I called him again and he remembered me and asked me why it took me so long to call him, then he invited me down to the radio station to see what it was all about. We became instant friends and he showed me the ropes.

I began doing my stint as Brother Christopher in 1982. That came about when an opportunity was at hand for a job at CFMX-FM. I asked John if at some point we could get together and do a demo and John said let's just go on the air together and use that as the demo. The name Brother Christopher was given to me by John and he would use the name and ask people to call the request line and talk with me. I took the top 7 at 7 votes and we did the feature for the History of Rock Film.

I did get the other job but turned it down after realizing it just wasn't for me, went back to John and he told me the response was so good that we'll keep it up here and see what happens. I did that feature with John until 1984. I never did get my own shift at CHUM but I was offered by management an hour's pay everyday to answer the request line on John's show but of course I couldn't do that - I was working full time in telemarketing making pretty good money.

I would have to say that meeting John, knowing him and the time I spent at CHUM will be one of the most memorable times in my entire life. It was his influence and God's guidance that brought me to my career in radio. Up until September 2009 I was doing afternoon drive and Saturday nights at 2 UCB Canada radio stations, CKJJ Belleville and CKGW in Chatham Kent as Jay Christy."

Of all the stations he worked at, Tom Rivers is probably most associated with Toronto's CHUM. But the station he enjoyed his longest continuous stay at was that station's long-time rival, CFTR.

Rivers arrived at CFTR for weekends on January 8, 1983 and later that year moved to the morning show, replacing John Landecker. Rivers held the morning shift for about eight years before moving to afternoon drive in the summer of 1991 (Jesse and Gene took over mornings then.) Rivers stayed at 'TR in the PM drive slot until August, 1992, when he departed for CKFM.

By the mid-1980s, many of North America's legendary Top 40 stations were either gone or going. WKBW was in the latter category. An early crack in the music armour came in 1983, when 'KB hired talk show legend John Otto away from WGR and later added syndicated talk show programming in evenings. Local music programming on 'KB (now known as WWKB) ended in 1988 with the introduction of a satellite oldies service. By 1989, 'KB had a 24-hour business news format. 'KB's music era was gone, but not forgotten. On Jan. 27, 2003, 'KB literally came back from the dead as a new oldies format debuted there featuring 'KB mainstays Dan Neaverth, Tom Donahue, Hank Nevins and Jackson Armstrong. But that revival ended suddenly in February, 2006, when WWKB switched to talk programming.

Even in its last years, 'KB was still a great music station with personalities like Dan Neaverth, Tom Shannon, Tom Donahue and Craig Matthews. They did not go quietly into the night. Long-time 'KB mainstay Bob MacRae was still playing the day's top tunes when this aircheck was made, in 1984.

Talent: RED ROBINSON with TEEN CANTEEN 54-84
Station: CKNX Vancouver
Date: November 8, 1984
Time: 25:36

Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around the Clock." Elvis Presley got radio airplay for the first time. It was 1954, rock 'n' roll had arrived and so had Red Robinson.

Born Robert Gordon Robinson in Comox, B.C., March 30, 1937, the person we know as Red Robinson got the radio bug early. In 1952, he phoned CJOR deejay Al Jordan on the air with a Jimmy Stewart impression, then followed that a week later with a Humphrey Bogart imitation. Impressed by his enthusiasm, Jordan invited the young Robinson to write scripts and do some production for his show. One day, CJOR program director Vic Waters asked Robinson if he wanted to go on the air. Waters says the young deejay-to-be "leaped across the control room, sat down and ... never looked back." On November 12, 1954, Robinson opened his first CJOR air shift with "Marie" by the Four Tunes.

Before long Robinson was commanding killer ratings at CJOR - a 52 share at one point - as the first deejay to play rock 'n' roll on a regular basis in Canada. He did three shows a day for the princely sum of $35 a week. In 1957 - lured by a $22,000 a year offer - he moved to Vancouver Top 40 giant CKWX. Robinson then went stateside in 1959 to KGW Portland, Ore., where he also did TV for the first time at KGW-TV. Robinson did a six-month stint in the U.S. Army before returning to Vancouver in 1961 at CKWX. From 1962 to 1967, he was program director at CFUN, which he turned it into one of Canada's leading Top 40 stations.

While at CFUN, Robinson got to introduce the Beatles in 1964 on the very Empire Stadium stage where he had MC'ed Elvis Presley's Vancouver appearance seven years earlier. From 1963 to 1966, he also hosted CBC-TV's "Let's Go", which featured some of Canada's best popular music acts.

Robinson returned to CJOR in 1968 as operations manager and in 1969 founded Trend Advertising (later Palmer Jarvis Advertising.) He made another return, to CKWX, where he did mornings until 1983 and also did an oldies show called "Teen Diner 54-84" in 1984. Returning to the small screen, he hosted the CBC program "Trivia" in 1979-80.

From 1985 to 1993, Robinson was heard across Canada via the syndicated oldies show "Reunion." He returned to television again in 1989, hosting "Red's Classic Theatre" on KVOS-TV Bellingham, Wash., until 2001.

Robinson's final weekday radio gig was morning drive at Vancouver's CISL from 1993 until his "retirement" in 2000. From 2001 to 2007, he hosted the weekly oldies show "Red Rock Diner" on CISL. In 2007, he moved "Red Rock Diner" to CKCL Vancouver where for the first time in his 50-year-plus career he was on the FM dial.

Robinson's many honours include being named to the CAB Hall of Fame in 1997 and also being included in the deejay section of the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. He was the second inductee to the Record Magazine's Broadcaster Hall of Fame in 1991. In 2000, Robinson was named to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Robinson wrapped his third, and last, stint at CKWX in November, 1984 with his oldies show Teen Canteen 54-84. In fact, he did his last Teen Canteen show on November 12, 1984 - the 30th anniversary of his first-ever show at CJOR. This aircheck is from four days before.