From the time Bob Maslen was very young, he always wanted to be a TV cameraman. He graduated from high school in 1965, already a radio junkie, and took Radio and TV at Los Angeles City College and Cal State University, Northridge.

Bob started collecting radio station record surveys in 1958, but in 1966, a friend played some airchecks he had made of KHJ from a year earlier, and it blew his mind. From that moment on, he became an aircheck freak, making his own airchecks, and trying to obtain anything he could from the late fifties and early sixties.

In 1969, he contacted every jock in L.A. who had been around in the earlier sixties, hoping to trade with them. Except for Casey Kasem, everyone said that they had nothing and that it had never occurred to them to save old airchecks. Of course, they were sorry.

Several years ago, Bob had an aircheck mail-order business called Aircheck Archives.

He started working at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles in 1973 while in school, first in the mail room and later in Engineering, where he still works.

Dave Hull, KRLA Los Angeles, January 26, 1968 (31:16)

. . . I need a vacation . . .

By early 1968, KRLA, a long-time L.A. rocker, had lost much ground to KHJ.

Dave Hull, who had been one of the station's strongest jocks, was moved to morning drive to compete with Robert W. Morgan on KHJ.

Jay Stevens, KFRC San Francisco, December 2, 1968 (01:00:37)

. . . Son of a gun! That's Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme . . .

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (18:38)

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

Jay Stevens is hosting late morning on San Francisco's KFRC from Monday, December 2, 1968. The venerable Christmas Wish is underway. Classic spots include Borden Dairy (with milk so fresh the cows ain't even missed it yet) and Mission Pack Gift Baskets (from the land of fruits and nuts, of course..) Also, nice to remember that St. Joseph's cough syrup is better than coedine because "it's not narcotic".

This recording suffers from unfortunate technical problems, the most noticeable being high-frequency distortion (splatter). There's also a fair amount of drop-out, and varying high-frequency response caused by poor tape-to-head contact somewhere along the dubbing trail. One song was restored to replace a serious tape squeal. Two songs were incomplete and not replaced. Unexplained is the leakage from a cue channel which is heard twice. Technical disappointments aside, this IS classic KFRC from 1968.

Joe Conrad, KFRC San Francisco, November 8, 1969 (01:00:37)

. . . Thank you, so much, for turning me on . . .

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (18:36)

UNSCOPED

'SCOPED

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

The mellifluous Joe Conrad is our host, filling in for Dave Diamond on 610 KFRC. The Rolling Stones are appearing in concert Sunday night and KFRC has your tickets!

It's a Solid Gold Weekend, and even though it's Saturday night, we're treated to a full ten-minute newscast from Ken Marvin. The Vietnam War, protests and changes proposed for the Draft are up front. Ripple wine is looking for love from beer drinkers, and who would have thought you could make money buying real estate in Bay Area California? J. Paul Huddleston brings up the rear with a report from Los Angeles regarding nude dancing.

This exhibit has a few blips, edits, drop-outs, and heavy hiss (despite reduction) in a few places. Two songs were restored, but altogether it's a very enjoyable aircheck with outstanding voices on a classic radio station. 1969 rules!

Brother John Rydgren, KRLA Los Angeles, February 11, 1972 (10:08)

. . . Laura Nyro, Save The Country - please . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

Brother John Rydgren graduated with a divinity degree from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington state, and is remembered as one of the first to use rock music in religious radio programs. He was the voice of ABC's Love Format in 1968, and moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1972 where he worked at KRLA during their "progressive rock" phase.

This short, 'scoped and noisy aircheck showcases mostly John, but there's a bit of news, reminding us of a time when left-leaning politics were so unpopular they kept Charlie Chaplin off the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Otherwise, period spots and small snips of music help to re-create the era.

Rydgren suffered a stroke in 1982, requiring him to re-learn how to speak. He died of a heart attack on December 26, 1988, and was 56 years of age.

Cat Simon, KHJ Los Angeles, June 21, 1972 (14:23)

. . . yeah, just grab another song and we'll get it on as quickly as possible because this frightens the heck out of me . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

Bill Todd, aka Cat Simon was known as Johnny Williams at WRKO, Boston, in 1970. Because there was already a Johnny Williams at KHJ when he moved to Los Angeles in 1972, he was briefly dubbed C. C. Simon, but settled on Cat. Prior to WRKO, he was with Philadelphia's WIBG, and after KHJ, he worked at KMET in L.A. and San Diego's KPRI, among others.

In this short, 'scoped aircheck from June 21, 1972, Cat says "it's been his night all along", and you'll hear a couple of technical snafus. Keep in mind that KHJ had board ops, so all the air talent could do is sound like it was something they could fix, even though they were completely at the mercy of their engineers (and their machines).

Bill Todd died May 13th, 2007 of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease.) Since 2004, he had operated a very successful web design and marketing business in Phoenix. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Eric Chase, KFRC San Francisco May 21 1973 (21:12)

. . . Kennedy's next, and I'm gonna leave him stuck with Sylvia. . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

As previously noted, the original 610 KFRC was an awesome radio station, and young Eric Chase is our host for this 'scoped sample.

Also notable is the newscast (most of which is included) featuring Barry Ellis, which opens with horrid worst-case early reality reporting. The gore and gag factor in this one rivals CKLW standards, and it is amazing we all didn't die. Ellis is exceptional, but the rest of the newscast is not as exciting as the opening. And there's one set from Tom Kennedy at the end.