1989-Final Vinyl

By late 1989 it became very difficult to find new music on vinyl records. The companies were pushing compact discs and if you wanted the vinyl copy of an album, you had to order it from your record club. Many of the records from the late 80’s and early 90’s are collectable for that reason. At the radio station, we were also going through changes. We had played strictly from vinyl records and tape cartridges until that time and new music was difficult for us to get. Promoters would send a cd single or a cassette single and, in some instances, you might still find a 45 record. In November of 1989, WRCO signed up for a music service that mailed us one reel to reel tape every couple of weeks with new songs. The tapes were set up with an inaudible tone that would stop the machine after each song. There were 4 tape decks that would switch from a current song to a recent hit on the second deck, the third was recent gold, and the 4th was an oldie reel with instrumentals. I was in mourning because I felt like this took away DJ input into the show. The music was all chosen for you. It was a sign of the times. The consultant the put the tapes together chose the music. A couple of times we were not playing a song that was popular. When I called the consultant at the tape company to ask why, the response was that the song did not test well in our area. What? In my opinion this is when radio started to slip and venture away from local creative talent. Luckily the tape format only lasted a few years and we than were able to set up a cd jukebox format of our own choosing and we could get back to picking our own music.

Saturday night on Those Were the Days, I will be spotlighting the November of 1989 survey. Popular songs from that era include, Poison-Alice Cooper, Love Shack-B-52s, Bust A Move-Young M.C., Love Song-Tesla, Just Like Jesse James-Cher, Swing the Mood-Jive Bunny, Dr. Feelgood-Motley Crue, Downtown Train-Rod Stewart, and Free Fallin’-Tom Petty. I hope you will check in to the program between six and midnight and request a favorite tune. You can call or text 608 647-4155. Get ready for trivia and family fun this Saturday night during Those Were the Days on WRCO FM 100.9, WRCO.com or on the Civic Media app. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you rock n’ rollers! I will be another year older Saturday night and should sound much more mature (manure)?

Phil