If you were coming age in flyover country during the early
1970s you probably heard BEAKER STREET
on KAAY AM 1090. From 11:00pm to 2:00am KAAY departed from its usual Top 40
format for a one-of-kind progressive rock program hosted by Clyde
Clifford. Clyde played the best tracks of “underground”
music plus lengthy stoner tunes like In a
Gadda da Vida by Iron Butterfly and Legend
of the USS Titanic by Jamie Brockett.
Break out the munchies!
Here is a sample of BEAKER
STREET from June 1, 1972:
A woman I worked with at Transtar
Radio Network in the 1980s was the Traffic Director at KAAY, Little Rock
during the BEAKER STREET era. She told me that the station started using
the far-out “space noise” to mask the sound from huge fans that blew through the
building. KAAY was required to broadcast from the transmitter site during the
night because of it’s giant coverage area.
KAAY AM 1090 was heard in all of the US east of
the Rockies and west of the Appalachians plus parts of Canada, Mexico & the
Caribbean.
I listened in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Beaker Street was one of my inspirations for getting into the radio game back in '78. Loved the weird background sounds!
ReplyDeleteSame here. Listening in late at night to KAAY opened a whole new world of music to me back in the late 60's and early 70's. To this day, KAAY provides a reference for how alternative radio should sound. The true art of radio is all too rare these days with automation and static playlists.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. I'm the one who originally captured this aircheck on tape, receiving KAAY on the skywave from Evanston, IL near Chicago. There are more memories of Beaker Street and KAAY at the Mighty 1090 KAAY blog: http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/ - G.Barman
ReplyDeleteWe listened Beaker Street from Havana (Cuba) during the 70´s defying the Cuban government prohibition of listening rock - the "music of the enemy". We loved that program. The soothing and mysterious voice of Clifford added even more charm to the whole ensemble. Even today, 45 years later, and from the exile where many of us live now, we still remember that show. Thanks for the good old times.
ReplyDelete