History Tidbit: Ed Sherlock on KQV-FM
March 11, 2015
Recently our friend, Bob Kristof, sent PBRTV a CD chock full of audio memories from his archives. It’s going to take a significant amount of time to listen to it all, but at the top of the files is a folder marked “KQV-FM”. Here is some scoped material from the Ed Sherlock Show in 1967. Mr. Kristof also included a 30-45 minute clip of an unscoped aircheck from which this is taken. The file is too large for our servers to use here.
That’s great, I’ve always liked the old stereo FMs, and how they were a kind of new birth for radio and trying out different music formats that were suited to the stereo sound. Cool to hear pre-DVE, and it even sounds like they are using audio compression, when I thought originally FMs didn’t use it to accent the dynamics and fidelity of the stereo music.
As for the full aircheck file, you possibly could try a lower bit-rate such as 32 k mp3 to get it 1/4 the size of 128, or try a newer format, like Opus to stream, and get it even smaller. Some amazing things can be done with file size these days. Lower bit-rates can sound thin, but it might help to get it on the server. I do podcasting and deal with this all the time.
Boomer
I will not be posting the complete file because I don’t want to pay for music rights.
This is a real gem! ABC were adhering to the FCC mandate in 1967 that a certain percentage of a broadcaster’s FM programming be independent from it’s AM programming. What they were doing wasn’t as radical as what followed when ABC came up with the “underground” format that KQV-FM is best remembered for. Ironically, it was an automated format, so no need for a live personality
KQV-FM used the CBS Audimax compressor and Volumax limiter, as did many FM and AM stations at that time. The result, on KQV-FM at least, was a more or less steady drone with very little dynamics or definition to the sound, especially in the low end.
It nice to see how much the business has changed since those primitive times.
I wonder if at the time, listeners even knew that it was automated. People might not have expected automation, and probably thought KQVs format was being run by some mysterious DJ who was just so into cool music. The underground DJ I’d like to hear on aircheck would be Brother Love, WAMO, late 1960s. I’ve heard a little bit on someone’s tape long ago, and it sounded really groovy, talking about marijuana and everything.
I’ll have to look for some Audimax/Volumax airchecks to hear what it really sounded like. I know that’s what WZUM 1590 had been using, but I think they had it set at extreme levels when I heard it, with fade-outs and turntable rumble coming up to full volume.
I don’t know if stations sound good today, though they probably have the potential to. After I listen to my own music collection, then switch to FM radio, it’s shocking to my ears. The distortion is high and I have to turn it down to low volumes, and not listen for too long. Maybe my radio is broken, but Jazz 88 and FM 103.9 sounds good.
Boomer
Thanks for posting. A tip of the cap to the man who was the first disc jockey I ever met on my first visit to a radio station: WESA circa summer 1969. This spurred me on to my radio career and even working for Ed at Q94 in Cresson in the early 80s.