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Thank you for visiting RadioTapes.com - featuring hundreds of hours of recordings of Minneapolis/St. Paul radio stations dating back to 1924 with many from the 1950s to 1980s. You'll find 1,000+ recordings from station jingles to show broadcasts.

Recent postings are listed below. Popular airchecks can be found on the SPECIAL POSTINGS page including major news events such as local tornado coverage, JFK and RFK shooting/assassination coverage, 35W bridge collapse, Apollo 11, 12 & 13 coverage, Jay Philpott's Montage Mania and more!

View 150+ videos of Twin Cities radio station (local television news coverage)  on the VIDEOS 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. 

 

 

 

Date Posted

1/21/12 

 

WCCO-AM (830) Morning after coverage (6/14/1968) of the deadly tornado in Tracy, MN with Franklyn Hobbs, Roger Erickson, news director Jim Bormann (reporting from Tracy), Jergen Nash and Howard Viken.  The tornado was an F5 that killed nine people and injured 150 others. #1 12 MB  #2 12 MB (provided by Mark Durenberger)

 

FORMAT/STATION SWITCHES

  • 1972: WPBC-AM to start of WYOO-AM
  • 1976: WYOO-FM (U100) to start of KDWB-FM
  • 1977: WDGY-AM Top 40 to country #1  -  #2
  • 1984: KTCR-FM/KTCZ-FM Country music to Cities 97
  • 1984: WWTC-AM The Golden Rock to Metro Radio
  • 1991: WLOL-FM Final hour - #1 - #2
  • 1992: KJJO-FM - End of KJ104 modern rock - #1 - #2
  • 2011: KFAN-AM/FM - Switch from 1130 AM to 100.3 FM
  • 2011: WLTE-FM (102.9) Lite rock to country

1/21/12 

WDGY (1130) - Seven music surveys from 1964-1965 - PDF Files

1/21/12  Sign-off announcements from approximately 1970 (provided by Jeff Paletz)

1/15/12  WCCO-FM (102.9) 

The following WCCO-FM airchecks from 1975-1978 provided by Curt Lundgren:

  • Paul Stagg (3/31/1975) - 7 MB - Includes a commercial for K-Mart. Includes a WCCO-FM newscast.
  • Greg Gears (3/31/1975) - 5 MB - Includes commercials for Music of the Big Bands promo with Tom Ambrose and Arts and Science Fund. Starts with newscast.
  • Carl Lensgraf (9/18/1976) - 23 MB - Includes commercials for Kline Oldsmobile in Roseville, Spaghetti Emporium, Schaak Electronics, Sears Men’s Store, Leon & Mary Russell and Firefall at St. Paul Civic Center, Shirt Shack, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings (movie) with Richard Pryor, Apache Plaza Craft Show, Jennie-O Brand Turkey Roast, Iten Chevrolet, NSP, Zantigo Mexican restaurant (name change from Zapata), Sure Footing, Dayton’s RCA and Zenith TV sale, Musicland and Turquoise Turtle in Richfield. Plus ABC Contemporary Newscast, Sven Skarnasdag and more.


  • Jerry Brooke (12/31/1977) - 13 MB - Includes commercials for Wally McCarthy Lyndale Oldsmobile, Schaak Electronics, Veterans Administration and K-Mart. Includes ABC Contemporary newscasts.
  • Peter May (1978) - 21 MB - Includes commercials for Sun In (hair lightener), US Navy, Contac, Rudy Boschwitz, New Horizon Townhomes, Musicland, Shivers (movie), Saint John's Preparatory School, Winwood Edina Condominiums, Grease (movie), Audio Warehouse, JC Penny’s Summer White Sale, North Central Florists and Super America. Also includes WCCO-FM newscast.

The following WCCO-FM airchecks from 1979 provided by Al Arneson:

1/12/12

COVERAGE OF THE ASSASSINATION OF

PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY (11/22/1963)

ABC Radio - An excellent quality recording starting with the breaking news of the shooting of President Kennedy to the announcement of his death. Part #1 22 MB - Part #2 22 MB (provided by Todd Kosovich)

1/8/12

The Big EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) Mistake of 1971

WCCO-AM (830) - EBS Error - A rare recording - as it sounded on WCCO during the Howard Viken Show on 2/20/1971 with follow-up reports and coverage on 'CCO Radio and CBS Radio. See below and to the side for more details. - 6 MB

On the morning of Saturday, February 20, 1971, Wayland S. Eberhardt, a civilian teletype operator, was going about his routine duties at the National Emergency Warning Center at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. One of the functions of “the Mountain” during this era was to send out the weekly Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) test directive to the nation’s radio and television stations. They were also responsible for sending out the real warning. When stations received these messages they compared it against a card to determine what action to take. At 7:33 a.m. local time on that fateful Saturday, Mr. Eberhardt, a fifteen-year veteran of his job, fed the wrong tape into the transmitter. He was later quoted by the New York Times as saying “I can’t imagine how the hell I did it.” Text source.

The teletype message that went over the wires:

MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR: HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION (EAN) DIRECTED BY THE PRESIDENT. NORMAL BROADCASTING WILL CEASE IMMEDIATELY. ALL STATIONS WILL BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE PRECEDED BY THE ATTENTION SIGNAL, PER FCC RULES. ONLY STATIONS HOLDING NDEA MAY STAY ON AIR IN ACCORD WITH THEIR STATE EBS PLAN.

BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE.

MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR: HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS
(previously posted)

WCCO-AM (830) - A very rare set of recordings of civil defense announcements from 1961 that would have aired on WCCO Radio in the event of a probable or actual enemy (nuclear) attack. These announcements were pre-recorded by WCCO announcers Howard Viken, Dick Chapman and Governor Elmer Andersen, and most likely would have aired from the station's transmitter facility in Anoka which included a fallout shelter.  8 MB (provided by Curt Lundgren)

1/1/12 KHTC-FM / KTWN-FM (96.3) Format switch from 96.3 Now rhythmic

contemporary hits format to K-TWIN adult Top 40 (12/31/11-1/1/12) 4 MB

  

12/30/11

WCCO-AM (830) - WCCO and CBS Radio breaking news coverage of the Apollo 1 tragedy (January 27-28, 1967). A cabin fire during a launch pad test at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. Includes a Winston cigarette commercial - 11 MB

 

12/30/11

 

WCCO-AM (830) - Ernie Martz with "Accent on Music " from 5/19/1956 includes 1:05 am sign-off - 14 MB (provided by Ernie Martz)

12/25/11  WLTE-FM (102.9) Format switch from lite rock to country music - 2 MB

                   

12/17/11

COVERAGE OF THE DEATH OF ELVIS PRESLEY

WCCO-AM (830) - Coverage of the death of Elvis Presley as the news broke on August 16, 1977 during the Cannon Mess with Steve Cannon including Dan Hertsgaard, Jergen Nash, Dick Chapman, Bill Diehl and CBS Radio. Recording also includes a CBS Radio newscast and "Newsbreak with Charles Osgood" feature that aired the following morning - 23 MB

12/7/11

REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR 12/7/1941

WCCO-AM (830) - Breaking news coverage of the attack on Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941) - 17 MB

11/27/11  

WLOL-FM (99.5)

  • John Hines, Bob Berglund, Paul Douglas & Sam (1984)

(provided by Paul Douglas)

    • 7/6/1984 (8 MB) Starts with Rocky Rococo commercial
    • 7/19/1984 (5 MB) Starts with KITN-TV channel 29 commercial
    • 7/26/1984 (6 MB) Starts with Amoco commercial
    • 8/24/1984 (7 MB) Starts with Herman's World of Sports commercial
    • 9/4/1984 (6 MB) Starts with The Gallery Restaurant commercial
    • 9/9/1984 (7 MB) Includes Twin Cities Oldsmobile Dealers spot
    • 9/14/1984 (4 MB)

11/8/11 

WCCO-AM (830) - Emergency Alert System National Test (11/9/2011) - 2 MB

11/7/11 

WCCO-AM (830) - "Point of Law" with Charlie Boone (1998) (Each file appriximately 3 MB)

 

11/7/11      WGVX-FM / WGVY-FM / WGVZ-FM (105.1 / 105.3 / 105.7) - V105 rhythmic oldies format (2001) 20 MB (provided by Mark Pfeifer)

Includes commercials for Hall & Oates and Todd Rundgren at the Xcel Energy Center, Maple Tan, ABC Radio Marketing, Augsburg College, AT&T, US Department of Health and Human Services, Brambilla’s RV Center, Turn Style Consignment Shops, Lookout Bar & Grill in Maple Grove, Color Tile and Floor to Ceilings Stores, Sharks, Airlake Ford Mercury in Lakeville, NyQuil, and Robitussin Flu.

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File sizes listed next to the airchecks are approximate and have been rounded.

 

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