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RadioTapes.com featuring more than 2,000 recordings of Minneapolis/St. Paul radio
stations dating back to 1924 with many from the 1950s to 1980s including WCCO, KSTP, WDGY, KDWB, KQRS and others.
Recent postings
are listed below. Popular news related airchecks can be found on the SPECIAL POSTINGS page including coverage of major events as heard locally including tornado and severe weather, JFK and RFK assassinations, 35W bridge collapse, Apollo 11, 12 & 13 flights, Watergate, Twins World Series celebrations and more!
View 175+ videos of Twin Cities radio station
(local television news
coverage) on
the VIDEOS page.
Find more than 1,200 music surveys from KDWB, WDGY and more on the MUSIC SURVEYS page.
We are always looking for
good quality historic recordings (audio and video) of Twin Cities radio
stations. We accept CDs, cassettes,
reel-to-reels, transcription records, etc. Original tapes are carefully
digitized and promptly returned with a
CD copy. If you have recordings you can share, please CONTACT US. Thank you to more than 100 contributors who have provided airchecks and materials to this website
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DATE POSTED
6/18/2017
It is with sadness that we report the death of former
WDGY, KDWB and KRSI personality, Jimmy Reed.
Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and WCCO-AM featured on NBC's Sunday Today Show broadcast on March 5, 2017 (click on photo to play video)
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WCCO-TV Mark Rosen and WCCO-AM Sid Hartman commercial broadcast during Super Bowl programming on WCCO-TV on February 7, 2016 (click on photo to play video)
Including commercials: Super America, K-Tel 20 Dynamic Hits, Coke (Quincy Jones & Orchestra), Cycle Rama at the St. Paul Armory, Kawasaki Motorcycles, Clairol, Ford (Pintos, Mavericks and Mustangs), Earl Brown Farm Apartments (remote with Michael J. Douglas), Milk, Certs, and Purple Barn.
2/6/2017
REMEMBERING RAY CHRISTENSEN
It is with sadness that we report that Ray Christensen, the longtime voice of Gopher football and basketball, has passed away.
It is with sadness that we report that Johnny Canton has passed away, apparently after suffering a stroke.
From The Pavek Museum of Broadcasting website: When Johnny Canton visited a Warrensburg, Missouri, radio station as a teenager, it inspired him to begin a broadcasting career that has lasted nearly fifty years and has made him an important figure in Twin Cities radio and television. He got his first on-air job at age 16 at KLEX AM in Lexington, Missouri, and for the next several years worked in radio at stations in Colorado, Kansas City, Pennsylvania, Rochester, and Cleveland. In 1966 he joined the staff of WDGY as music director and became a much-loved and widely popular rock ‘n’ roll disc jockey and concert emcee. After 11 years at WDGY, he moved to WCCO FM (WLTE 102.9 Lite FM). The former host of Bowling for Dollars on KSTP TV and Bowlerama! on KMSP TV, he has appeared in numerous national and regional television and radio commercials, as well as such films as Airport and Mad Dogs and Englishmen. He has participated in many charity golf tournaments and other community events, and has been president of the advertising and production firm Canton Communications. One of his many claims to fame is that he was the first DJ to play John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
A video and photos of Johnny Canton, who was inducted into the MN Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006, can be found on the Pavek Museum website.
1959: KCMO-AM (Kansas City, MO) - Johnny Canton with actor Eddie Bracken, singer/actor Johnny Desmond - 3 MB
1962/1963: WRAW-AM (Reading, PA) - Production elements voiced/produced by Johnny Canton - 3 MB
1963: KUDL-AM (Kansas City, MO) - Johnny Canton - 1 MB
1964: WHAM-AM (Rochester, NY) - Johnny Canton - 1 MB
1965 : WHAM-AM (Rochester, NY) - Johnny Canton interview on Dick Clark's American Bandstand - 2 MB
1966: WIXY-AM (Cleveland, OH) - Johnny Canton - 1 MB
File sizes range from 22 to 27 MB(provided by Jacob Hammond)
12/3/2016
Broadcasts from the openers of Minnesota Twins Baseball at the Metrodome (1982) and Target Field (2010)
WCCO-AM (830) - Steve Cannon (Cannon Mess) live from the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome
before the first Twins game including an interview with Muriel Humphrey Brown. This is followed by the Twins Pre-Game show and start of the game with Herb Carneal and Frank Quilici - April 6, 1982 - 7 MN [Note: Audio quality is a bit rough]
Includes commercials for Northwestern National Bank and Le Sueur mushrooms and ends with the start of a newscast with Dick Chapman. - 10 MB
11/26/2016
WWTC-AM (1280) - News Radio format from Oct. 5, 1978 with newscast by Ray Valdovinos. 11 MB (provided by Ray Valdovinos)
WWTC-AM (1280) - News Radio format from Dec. 1, 1978 with newscast by Ray Valdovinos during the Bob Allard Show . 4 MB
(provided by Ray Valdovinos)
11/26/2016
WLOL-FM (99.5) John Hines and Bob Berglund with two contestants playing Happy Birthday on their music instruments
from 1981 - 5 MB (provided by Mike Bares)
11/12/2016
KTCR-FM (97.1) - Before "The Cities 97" (KTCZ-FM), this frequency programmed country music for many years as KTCR-FM.
KTCR-FM aircheck from April 1, 1979 with Jim du Bois - 19 MB (provided by the family of Raymond and Muriel Harrington)
Includes Mutual network newscast and local newscast plus commercials for Southview Chevrolet, Plywood Minnesota, Anderson Dodge, Orrin Thompson Homes, Avis and Elk River Ford.
KTCR-FM sign on and sign off from Dec. 30, 1979 - 1 MB each (provided by the family of Raymond and Muriel Harrington)
10/30/2016
WCCO-AM (830) - More than six hours of coverage the day after the deadly and devastating Twin Cities tornadoes that aired on
May 7, 1965 including Roger Erickson (helicopter reports), Chuck Lilligren, Maynard Speece, Howard Viken, Bob DeHaven, Jerry Brennan, Joyce Lamont, Dick Chapman, Dick Enroth, Jergan Nash, Bob West, Randy Merriman. MP3 ile sizes range from 7 to 18 MB. (provided by Bill Lund, Digital on Location, Woodbury, MN)
6:30-7:00 am: Includes commercials for Geigy Atrazine Seeds, Pall Mall Cigarettes, Standard Oil Dealers, Peterson Mercury, Northwestern National
Bank, Farmers & Mechanics Bank, Dexol Bleach, Camel Cigarettes.
7:00-7:45 am: Includes CBS News Roundup with Neil Strawser and commercials for Northwest Orient Airlines, Milk Foundation, Old Gold Cigarettes,
Twin Cities Area Rambler Dealers, Standard Oil, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Kent Cigarettes, Apache Office Park, Ozark Airlines, First National Bank of Minneapolis.
7:45-8:15 am: Includes First Bank Notes and commercials for Peters Hot Dogs, Pennzoil Motor Oil, Federated Insurance, Bill Boyer Ford,
O’Brien Paint.
8:15-9:20 am:Includes commercials for Crystal Sugar, Beep Drink from Cloverleaf, Cloverleaf Milk, Twin City Federal, Schweigert, Shell Heating
Oil, Upper Midwest Council for Better Vision, Old Gold Cigarettes, Pronto Golf Brand Lawn Seeds, Standard Oil Dealers.
11:45 am-12:20 pm:Includes commercials for Eggsquist Pastries, Coke, Old Dutch Potato Chips, Underwood Chicken Spread, Dekalb, Nash
Instant Coffee, Smith-Douglass Fertilizer, Dow Chemical Company, Travelers Insurance.
WCCO-AM (830) - Charlie Boone and Roger Erickson interview Jimmy Hoffa on Dec. 4, 1972. Hoffa was an American labor union leader who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union from 1958 until 1971. He vanished in late July 1975. Also included in the interview is Hennepin Country District Court Judge, Neil Riley. 23 MB
The Following Airchecks are Featured on the Special Postings Page. Check them out!
WCCO-AM Severe Weather Coverage (1939 to 1991)
Hubert H. Humphrey Recordings/Airchecks (1946-1978)
WCCO Radio Civil Defense Announcements (1961)
Coverage of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1963)
Coverage of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King (1968)
Coverage of the Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1968)
Coverage of the Apollo 1 Tragedy (1967)
Coverage of the Flights of Apollo 11, 12 & 13 (1969-1970)
Coverage of Watergate and the Fall of President Nixon (1973-1974)
Coverage of the Vietnam War (1964-(1975)
Coverage of the Death of John Lennon (1980)
Coverage of the Shooting of President Ronald Reagan (1981)
Coverage of the Falklands War (1982)
Coverage of the Challenger Shuttle Disaster (1986)
Coverage of the Twins World Series Celebrations and Victory Parades (1987 & 1991)
Coverage of the Start of Operation Desert Storm (1991)
Coverage of 9/11 Attacks (2001) and Death of Osama bin Laden (2011)
Coverage of 35W Bridge Collapse (2007)
Coverage of the Death of Michael Jackson (2009)
Coverage of the Tucson Shootings (2011)
Coverage of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (2011)
Boston Marathon Bombings (2013)
Coverage of the Death of Prince (2016)
Election Coverage (2016)
File sizes listed next to the airchecks are approximate and have been rounded.
All of us involved with RadioTapes.com are pleased to have the opportunity to highlight so many great Twin Cities radio stations and personalities, past and present. We are occasionally contacted about donations to this website. As mentioned above, we are always looking for more airchecks. As for monetary donations, we prefer that they be given to the the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Located in St. Louis Park, MN, the Museum houses one of the world's finest collections of antique radio, television, and broadcast equipment and also provides educational seminars and workshops for children and adults. We encourage
you to visit their website, or better yet, stop by and tour this magnificant
museum. This website is not operated by the
Museum of Broadcasting – we are just fans of the museum.
Ownership/copyright
of airchecks, videos and printed materials posted on this website remain
with the radio and television stations that produced them. The purpose of
RadioTapes.com is educational and is intended only for private,
non-commercial use.
RadioTapes.com is a part of RadioTapes Inc., a non-profit company registered with the State of Minnesota.
