Normal Bias

The Q102 Hip-Hop Review and American Dance Traxx (1992)

Side A of this tape is from Philadelphia’s Q102. Q102 was Power 99’s main competition during the early 90s in the urban contemporary market. While Power 99 tried to distance itself from hip-hop during that time with their infamous “No Rap Workday,” Q102 embraced hip-hop a little more fully. Don’t get me wrong - they still played their fair share of crappy R&B, but at least they had a show featuring Zulu the One Man Gang (now known as Zxulu) and Jay-Ski, the Maestro of Funk. The show was titled “The Q102 Hip-Hop Review” and aired on Sunday nights from 6-8pm.

A quick personal interjection here. Jay-Ski was actually one of the first people I ever talked to online about hip-hop. Back in 1988, when I was in 7th grade, I remember talking with him via an old school BBS. Crazy. I eventually met him in person a number of years later at Sound Express in Willingboro. Zulu, on the other hand, I have a slightly different connection to. On Easter Sunday of 1994, I went to a teen club in Marlton, New Jersey to see Doug E. Fresh perform. Thing is, Doug E. never showed up. Zulu was the MC of the show and was talking up an open mic competition that was going on when all of a sudden, the crowd erupted into a riot. I remember Zulu trying to calm everyone down, but the place went nuts. I got clocked in the head with a chair and the two or three security people working that night were completely bloodied. Easily the most insane night of my life. The club never opened back up after that.

Though the show doesn’t feature any really spectacular rarities, there is a goofy Zulu skit worth checking (12 minutes in) and a short dis aimed at Power 99 (19:13 in):

Well chiggedy checks it, Q102 wrecks it, yes, every hour,
You didn’t pay the bills so we’re shutting down your power,
…
You down with hip-hop? Check what you sayin’.
You’ve got a “No Rap Workday,” stop perpetratin’.

At 26:24 is the “Street Sound Showdown,” a one-on-one battle of songs from local artists. This time around: “Blow My Mind” by Lady Fresh (kind of wack) versus “Keep It Goin’” by Tucannon (sp?), who sounds an awful lot like Shä-Key (now going by Hanifah Walidah). Same person, perhaps?

Side B is a forgettable set from “Downtown” Julie Brown’s pretty terrible mainstream “American Dance Traxx” show. The only things really worth hearing are the ads, including a great one nine minutes in for Zulu/Jay-Ski’s show.

 

 Zulu and Jay-Ski: "The Q102 Hip-Hop Review" (1992) [47:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Downtown Julie Brown: "American Dance Traxx" (1992) [47:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1992, Hip-Hop, Q102, Radio | 1 Comment »

WCAU, Terry “Motormouth” Young, and some home recordings

I believe I made my first recording from the radio in 1984, so this 1985 tape labeled “Terry Young” is probably one of the first four or five tapes I made. Terry “Motormouth” Young was a DJ on WCAU 98.1 FM in Philadelphia in the early-to-mid 1980s (he’s now on XM). He was the first big influence I had in terms of radio. Not only was he an awesome DJ, he was also my first big interview. It meant a lot to a nine-year-old kid that a radio DJ would take the time to do a phone interview for a silly little elementary school newspaper.

So, the tape… it starts off with (I think) Billy Burke, another WCAU DJ at the time, doing a short, live aircheck. Then is a lengthy set with Terry Young that I’m thinking is from late-summer 1985. To quote myself:

[Terry Young] managed to come out of Dead Or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” give a full weather report for the area, and do an intro to the next song all during the opening bars of DeBarge’s “Who’s Holding Donna Now?”

Also funny is his suggestive squeal as he leads into the sappy “I Miss You” by Klymaxx.

Side two is interesting for different reasons. It starts off with a recording I made during Mrs. White’s (fourth grade?) music class. The class, as a whole, wrote a poem. Then, we broke into groups and were supposed to perform musical interpretations of the poem using (mostly percussion) instruments that none of us knew how to play. The poem?:

Loud atomic blast,
[something] has a heartbeat,
Far out middle space.

My group even named itself (”The Educated 5″ - gee, could that be showing my UTFO influence?) and I did a couple of cocky-sounding intros. I remember instructing everyone in the class to ham it up and break into wild applause when my group’s third performance was done. I also remember everyone looking confused at the one group that went off and wrote their own poem, not realizing they were supposed to use the same poem as the rest of us.

The rest of side two is music from WCAU (includes the awful “Honeymooner’s Rap,” Madonna, Huey Lewis, and The Hooters). Unfortunately, I cut off most of the DJ chatter between songs. I think this was a recorded during a weekly countdown hosted by Bill O’Brien.

Side two ends with an odd little home recording I had no recollection of. It’s me (~10 years old) and my sister (~6 years old) watching “TV 29,” which would later become the local FOX affiliate. Some 976 ads are heard as my sister says, “I’m getting hungry!” and I respond, like a loving brother should, “Oh, come ON, Stace!” Then, an ad for Bela Lugosi’s “My Son the Vampire” comes on and my sister says, “I’m going to get nightmares from this.” It ends with a bit of an episode of Batman.

The quality on this recording is terrible and full of hiss. But enjoy it anyway.

(Terry Young fans should be sure to also check this excellent 1982 aircheck.)

 

 WCAU, Terry "Motormouth" Young - 1985 [46:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Home recordings, WCAU - 1985 [46:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1980s, 1985, Home Recording, Radio, WCAU | 1 Comment »

WMWC Carts, Station IDs, etc., part 2

I came across another partial-tape of station IDs and carts from WMWC earlier this week. Most of the content is the same as the stuff that was on this tape, but there are few other items from the Instant Replay that I couldn’t fit on the other tape. I’ve cut the file down to just the new content.

Here’s a rundown. Again, parts featuring me are marked with a *:

1. * Sometimes We Actually Play Hip-Hop station ID (1997)
2. * April Fools’ Day News (1998)
3. * April Fools’ Day show segment (1998)
   I’d totally forgotten about this goofy segment from one of my last shows. The caller is Liza Eagles.

 

 WMWC Carts and more - Side C (excerpts) [3:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1997, 1998, Carts, News, Radio, WMWC | No Comments »

News Broadcasts 1994

This tape is a series of news broadcasts from January 17-19, 1994, recorded from two radio stations in Philadelphia, PA. First was WRTI 90.1 FM, Temple Public Radio (known also then as “Jazz FM” since they played jazz 24 hours a day), and the second was the famous KYW 1060 AM (it’s still hard for me to listen to news without the AM buzz in the background).

These were recorded during the second half of my senior year of high school during a major ice storm that gripped the Philly metro area for several days. Below is an archive of news about the storm and other news of the time, including the attack on Nancy Kerrigan and a massive earthquake in Los Angeles.

Here’s what’s on this short tape:

• Ice Storm (1/17/94) - 90.1 FM
• Earthquake (1/17/94) - 1060 AM
• School Closings (1/18/94) - 1060 AM
• Cold Weather (1/19/94) - 90.1 FM
• State of Emergency, etc. (1/19/94) - 1060 AM

 

 News Broadcasts 1994 [17:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1994, KYW, News, WRTI | No Comments »

Raw Deal: January 17, 1992

Here’s the next in line in the WPRB Club Crush/Raw Deal collection - 2 1/4 hours from January 17, 1992. A lot of the music was cut off (meaning that these were songs I already had multiple times on tape), which kind of sucks, but there’s still a bunch there worth checking. Plus, there are some really great air breaks on this episode.

Something I noticed here, and in several other episodes: a lot of the drops that people did for the station had been very obviously editted. Usually it’s something like “I’m listening to Raw Deal with Easy-M (awkward cut) and my man G,” which means that Tony D’s name may have been cut out. I was thinking it was some sort of dis, but they shout to him on this episode, so I really don’t know.

Stuff to listen for:

• Biz Markie’s cover of “They’re Coming to Take Me Away.” I totally forgot he had done this track back in ‘86.
• Lots of talk about violence at movie openings. Juice was opening that day, but they didn’t want to give away any tickets because of shooting incidents at a lot of recent “urban” movie openings.
• Radio drops from Gang Starr, UMCs, Black Sheep, Treach, and and the Ultramagnetic MCs.
• Side 1, from 25:02 through 25:11, my shout-out/friendly dis to the DJ I was working with at the time… always thought this one was kind of funny.
• A nice track from Jaz, “Hypocritters.”
• Easy-M relating how he showed a guy at Armand’s (a legendary record spot in Philly) his belly button ring (?!).
• A kind of baffling sore-throat losenge ad for Cepacol and Cepastat.
• Kicking off side 2, an underground track from some of Marc’s friends, Groovy Productions. It’s titled “Up to the Top” and I’m willing to bet this one never made it to vinyl. Sounds like it’s played off of cassette. Dope cut.
• The “Hip-Hop Concert Calendar.”
• G and Easy talking about the PM Dawn/KRS-One incident (2nd paragraph).
• Black Poets’ “Clockwork.”
• Studio guests include Clay Money and the Black Poets.
• Tung Twista’s “Hocus Pocus,” which was the B-side to the “Mr. Tung Twista” 12″, but didn’t make it onto the album (a stupid move because the album was pretty short, IIRC).
• A radio drop freestyle by DJ Kam and Zulu the One Man Gang (”Turn off your TV and tune into 103 / Because the radio doesn’t suck on PRB.”).
• A public service announcement from the Lifers Group.

Side 3 ends with some house music from Easy-M’s “Sounds of the Underground.” It kicks off with a pretty jazzy little track.

 

 Raw Deal: January 17, 1992 - Side 1 [45:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Raw Deal: January 17, 1992 - Side 2 [43:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Raw Deal: January 17, 1992 - Side 3 [46:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1992, Hip-Hop, Radio, WPRB | No Comments »