Top 40 Comes to FM

Springfield's first taste of Top 40 radio came by way of KICK-AM 1340 in the 1950s. By the early 1970s KWTO-FM brought competition to the twenty-year heritage Top 40. An automated Top 40 format with music supplied by Drake-Chenault. This particular aircheck highlights this era from 1974.

Listen for a newscast at the beginning with former KOLR 10 news anchor Mike Peters. This aircheck was taken from an 8-track tape that Jeff Boggs and I found at a yard sale in Lebanon when we were younger. The person who recorded it hadn't bulked the 8-track prior to recording, therefore you will notice some double audio.

My favorite line: This weeks 8-track specials include the new Daredevils and Elton John tapes for just $5.99.


Thanks to Adam West for the bumper sticker.

Springfield Radio History on eBay

Take a look at these auctions. They won't last long!
On the auction block are some vintage items from your favorite Springfield stations: KGBX, KTTS, and KWTO.

In year's past on eBay I've seen the KWTO belt buckle, hopefully not the one the ranch hands kept in the toilet, and countless copies of the KWTO Dial, which I will post one day. As recent as last week eBay had a KTTS-AM-FM-TV newsletter from G. Pearson Ward. And, yes, I am kicking myself hard.

A New Blog Coming Soon

To any radio people in the ozarks: Springfield, Lebanon, Waynesville, Osage Beach, and beyond, anywhere in the show-me state for that matter, I am creating a blog. This blog will feature sound, history, jock interviews, manager interviews, pictures, stickers, playlists (if we can find them), anything to help us celebrate this crazy business we all love so much!

You can contact me if you have anything you would like to contribute or if you want to be subjected to an interview. Let me know!