Les Cummings is the Dean of Aberdeen Radio! How long has Les been on the local airwaves, anyway? I first discovered him at the age of 18 as I scanned the dial in search of new stations. My current age is 54, so that means Les has been behind the microphone for quite some time!
This exhibit actually contains two airchecks, recorded approximately 3 months apart. The first is from November, 1982. The second dates back to February, 1983. I used Scotch Dynarange tape (normal bias) for #1 and TDK SA90 (chrome bias) tape for #2. Listen closely and you can hear the difference in audio quality. My Dynarange was actually “eaten” by a tape player at some point. This explains the audio dropouts near the end of the first recording.
I received this from Apple Valley, MN, using a Pioneer SX-3900 receiver, Winegard 10 element FM yagi antenna, Alliance rotor, and Belden ultra low loss RG59 coaxial cable. Despite being about 300 miles from Aberdeen, I was able to hear KQ95 on a regular basis. Long distance FM reception was much easier before all the “drop-in” stations and translators popped up on every supposedly “open” frequency. A Technics stereo cassette deck was used to make the recording.
KQAA_FM_Les_Cummings_November_1982_February_1983