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.