Here’s a brief aircheck of “The Big Ape”, a station which also used the “Power 95” moniker during this time. As many of you know, WAPE is a legendary Top 40/CHR outlet, going back to it’s days on 690 AM. This is the station where Doug Tracht aka “The Greaseman” achived notoriety with his morning antics. When the audience for music radio on AM began to fade, WAPE migrated to 95.1 FM. It remains there today. In late 1991, Lara Carlson aka “Miss Lara” held down the overnight shift.
The original recording was made from my residence, approximately 6 miles south of Ocala on SR 475, using a Realistic AM/FM/CD/Cassette portable stereo “boombox” and Sony LN90 tape. The mobile home I was renting included a medium-sized outdoor TV antenna. Since I’m much more a radio listener than a TV watcher, I climbed up and cut the VHF-LO elements down to resonance for FM frequencies. Considering that I was about 75 miles straight line from WAPE’s transmitter, I’d say my idea worked pretty well!
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