“Happy New Year, Twin Cities!” KDWB had just counted down 100 of the Top 101 songs of 1976. #1 was next, followed by the entire crew bringing in 1977! This was likely pre-recorded (note the crowd and telephone sounds in the background) but regardless, it’s a great piece of Twin Cities radio history. Dave Thompson, Brian “The Cosmic” Phoenix, Chuck Britton, “Bullet” Bob Lange, John Sebastian, Bill Hartman, “Smokin’ Joe” Hager, and Tim Kelly were all in attendance.
I was 12 years old when I recorded this. The source tape is an Amperex 60 minute 8-track cartridge. Yes, this was originally recorded on good ‘ol 8-track! Amperex was a knockoff of Ampex, but the quality was surprisingly good. I swiped one of my dad’s blank cartridges and used his Miida system to record this. Even at 12, I knew to use ‘the good stuff’ because I wanted this to last for many years. The audio quality is excellent.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only recording still in existence of the KDWB New Year’s “pass the mic around” broadcast. It is very rare. Especially since it’s taken from the FM signal and in stereo. KDWB had just began their 101.3 simulcast on September 16, 1976. Most people were still listening to 630 AM at this time.