AM Radio Broadcast WKBW Buffalo, January 23, 1966

AM radio mostly stinks, but that wasn’t always so. Settle back and pretend it’s a stormy winter day in 1966. You’ve got your cocoa, and Buffalo’s WKBW is keeping you informed and entertained.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The original version of this video was removed from YouTube due to music copyright violations. This version has no music except for what was used for station jingles and ads.

These are the songs played during the broadcast which were edited out:

• A Well Respected Man, by Petula Clark
• At the Scene, by The Dave Clark Five
• Waitin’ In Your Welfare LIne, by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
• You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice, by The Lovin’ Spoonful
• Elusive Butterfly, by Bob Lind
• You Tell Me Why, by The Beau Brummels
• Tijuana Taxi, by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
• It Was A Very Good Year, by Frank Sinatra
• I See The Light, by The Five Americans
• We Can Work It Out, by The Beatles
• Andrea, by The Sunrays

#radio #recordings #sixties

[mini]

I remember laying in bed after lights out with my earphone and my trusty Sears AM-FM pocket radio, scanning for midwestern and eastern stations drifting in and out of reception. My favorite thing was listening to obscure high school football games and their ads for local businesses on Friday nights. Halftime newscasts... I was a romantic at a young age - never grew out of it either....

[roncaruso]

I grew up in the 70's. I lived in NYC, so I listened to WABC, WMCA, WOR, WINS. You can not beat old AM radio. Simple technology. No computers, no digital garbage, no internet! Just great talent on the radio.

[Mancada]

Oddily I have found listening to old radio broadcasts at bedtime relaxes me and allows me to sleep soundly.

[d.annmargaret]

Thank you for this. I was most likely listening to this live at the time. If I remember correctly, our school was closed for a week. We lived south of Rochester (boring DJs) so we listened to KB all the time. Especially at night while doing homework. Remember listening in probably 1967 to Bud Baloo. It was his birthday and my friends and I sent him a card and included letters to him and he actually read it on the air. At 13 it was exciting. All the DJ were like personal friends and we enjoyed listening as much as possible. Hope you have more clips, great memories of a bygone era.
If anyone is interested in listening to lots of oldies there is a station you can get online from Knoxville, TN that I found recently - WKCE 105.1 FM. Thanks again!

[jeffjr]

I miss the simplicity of radio news.. when it was rote narration of the local events/events of the day/cold war developments... we don't need talking head conjecture, we just need to know, "everything is fine" "this is what to look out for" "this is what's going on" there is an eloquent simplicity in that that i miss.. even as an 80s baby.. thank you so much for posting this.. it's nice to be grounded in the past for a minute sometimes..

[TJET]

I grew up in Buffalo, WKBW 1520AM was the greatest back in those days! Listened to them all the time

[ArthurMorgan-pqtr]

And I’m from Rochester NY so none of what he’s talking about is totally unheard of for me!

[genefogarty]

Even though I was a kid in the '80's, I've always loved AM radio, the first sounds I heard besides humans were from a Victrola and a tube radio my grandad had that we liked to listen to when I stayed over his house on the weekends. I remember him telling me to be patient while it warmed up at the same time trying to explain why and how as best he could to a rambunctious eight year old. At home I always found weird stuff scanning the dial randomly on a transistor that my dad had given me, it was the first place I heard Dr. Demento, lol. And I loved listening to Art Bell with my dad later on in life. Thanks to the internet, I was able to relive that time as an adult as I cared for him after he got cancer four years ago, listening to AB was the one thing that took his mind off things and mine too. The happiness we get from such simple things is what really counts. Thanks from NYS, not NYC or L.I., lol.

[jc-pjnh]

WKBW was the greatest radio station ever to be on the air. Most awesome announcers ever. Grew up in Connecticut, went to school in Philadelphia WKBW came in strong at sunset till sun up. Almost went to college in Buffalo but glad I didn't as Philadelphia never got snow but Whew did Buffalo ever get snow. For Buffalo a foot of snow was a flurry. Jackson Armstrong was my favorite as he was world famous for how fast he could speak and you would understand every word clearly. Those were the good old days. Kids these days listen to junk. How sad

[LimitlessThinker]

I was 11. We grew up with snow. Those plows were out ASAP cleaning every side street too! They were very efficient.
I lived listening to this channel on my transistor radio. I miss that area so much. I live in Virginia but think about the Southerntier of NY often.
I lived in Buffalo before going in the Navy and Buffalo was a friendly town with great restaurants.

[j.jester]

If I could travel back in time I would do it in a heartbeat. The world has decayed badly in my lifetime.

[Arial]

All Radiola Song Samples:

Official Way
14:04 Intro Bit
14:22 Secret Lyrics/Main Chorus
15:02 Secret Lyrics/Post-Radiola Motif

Better Way
1:42 Intro Bit
1:11 Midway Bit (Plays x2 in song, 2nd time pitched up)

Which Way...?
14:34 Beneficial Way Reprise

Get That Big Ol' Pay
11:23 "W... K... B... W...!"
2:49 "I'm Miss KB!"
13:56
17:30 Gum Commercial (The highly autotuned singing voice)
18:18 "Two and a half minutes" + "WOOH!"
7:55 "The Dodge Boys"
14:22 Secret Lyrics Reprise
3:35 "You Will Recieve A Penalty" (At the end of the lyrics reprise)

And as a final note, the Radiola-inspiration ad also plays at 32:45.

Let me know if I missed any and I'll edit the comment!

[charliebrown]

My favorite station. Joey Reynolds was my favorite.

[jc-pjnh]

WKBW got me thru pharmacy school in Philly. Grew up in Connecticut and Philly was quite a shock. Philly was the city of brotherly love only if you were a brother. Studied after the sun went down and loved listening to Jackson Armstrong. Probably the fastest talker ever and you could understand every word. Even back in the late 60's I had a friend home on leave from Viet Nam and he said he felt safer over there than in Philly. WKBW was the best radio station ever and had Announcers that had no equal even to this day.

[notrombones]

I remember WKBW's Sunday Night Spectacular oldies show.
Loved it back in the 60s and 70s.
Then I moved to another part of the country, far away, and never heard it again.

Not sure when it ended.

Still miss it.

[jonsandoval]

Nothing like driving late at night and scrolling through the AM dial to see what was happening out there. Not like that anymore. Sad.

[LimitlessThinker]

I am from an hour south of Buffalo. I grew up listening to this station.
I remember the blizzard of 77. I was caught driving through Buffalo on my way home, which was about an hour's drive south. Had to stop at a small restaurant and wait. Others had to do the same.

[malcolmmarshall]

I remember in 1976, when I was 15, listening to my transistor on a crystal clear starry night in Texas, I picked up WLS in Chicago clear as a bell. Listened for an hour before it suddenly faded out.

[ksoltv]

In former times, these stations provided a public service, even saved lives. 56 years ago this week, I was trapped in my family's farmhouse in the heaviest hit area. Power was out for hundreds of miles. Nothing moved for about ten days. AM radio was the lifeline. Stations that normally signed off at sunset, would shut down for about 20 minutes, fire up their generators and get right back on. For several years, local advertisements for home and commercial building repair and fallen/damaged tree removal mentioned the "recent ice storm" like today they mention covid for health related ads.

[mojodo]

pulse beat news, dada dadadAA. brought back memories. kb radio, tommy shannon show. my how time flies.