I received my first cassette tape recorder for Christmas in 1970. Its purpose was for me to record lectures when I went off to UNC. I think I may have used it for that one time. The rest of the time, I was using it to record my father playing and singing, family gatherings, and many hours of local radio and TV.
That first tape recorder had very poor sound fidelity, so when I got to Chapel Hill in 1971, I went to Foister’s Camera Store and bought a Sony portable cassette recorder with a leather case, and a handful of Sony C-120 cassettes. The below recordings were made on that machine. I used that tape recorder from Fall 1971 until Fall 1974. As the Sony cassettes were expensive, I soon switched to cheaper Capitol cassettes from the Record Bar. I also used some Memorex and TDK tapes when I needed the better quality.
This page has some selections from the many tapes I made during those three years.
This is a sample of WRNB, 1490 AM in New Bern, NC, recorded on December 31, 1971. The song was the #29 song of 1971 from the Silver Dollar Survey, “Here Comes That Rainy Day Feelin’ Again” by The Fortunes. The DJ was Rick Rhodes.
This is a sample of WRNS, 95.1 FM in Kinston, NC, recorded on December 31, 1971. The song was a “WRNS Country Classic” titled “One Kiss Away From Loneliness” by The Osborne Brothers. The beginning of the electric guitar bugle call was cut off.
This is a K-Tel album advertisement for “20 Power Hits.” I recorded this from WKIX, 850 AM in Raleigh, NC on November 21, 1971.
This is a 15-minute clip of Rick Dees when he was a DJ at WKIX in Raleigh, NC. I recorded this on Sunday night, March 5, 1972.
On Sunday, September 23, 1973, WKIX in Raleigh, NC broadcast for the first time their original production, “The History of Southern Beach Music.” It was on from 2PM to 7PM. I recorded it on five sides of three Capitol 120-minute cassette tapes. Here is the first few minutes of that historic radio show. It has been rebroadcast since, but this is from the first broadcast.
© Copyright 2016 Michael T. Slaughter
