And Kayley Harris too (I think), she did breakfast with Hans Torv.
1 Like
Indeed Kayley did together for some years with Hans on brekky. The original version of Jonesy and Amanda?!
3 Likes
Hans and Kayley were still going into the 90s, after the FM conversion. I can still remember them from that time.
1 Like
Indeed. In fact, they remained together on breakfast until the end of 2002, when Hans left WS to start up Hot Tomato on the Gold Coast with his brother Jaan & sister Anna.
Funnily enough, nearly 20 years later, Hot Tomato is now under the same ownership as WS! 
5 Likes
On the subject of Casey Kasemās American Top 40 (as per āGreat Songsā¦ā) thread, which Australian stations aired that program back in the 70s/80s?
I think I recall 2UW and 2WS airing it in Sydney in the early/mid 80s, not about any others around the country?
2 Likes
A stack of them. I recall 2XL getting a mention on one programme.
2 Likes
3KZ was an early adopter in Melbourne and 4BK later in Brisbane IIRC.
5 Likes
In Melbourne it was 3DB in the mid to late 1970s up until about 1980 and then later on Fox FM.
5 Likes
Thanks, I envied Melbournians for being able to listen to countdowns like Take 40 Australia in FM stereo back then (the only city that did up until about 1988).
3 Likes
I have shared this before. I worked at a few radio stations in the 80s and 90s. One day one of the stations was throwing out itās stash of American Top 40 record collections so I grabbed a few of them. Sadly, I have not owned a record player for a few decades, but one day I would love to listen to them again.
In the days before the internet, these AT40 records were often the first time a new US single would be able to be heard in Australia.
9 Likes
Great find!
So did those records contain the whole show, voice tracks and all?
It must have needed about 3 or 4 LPs per program?
3 Likes
There are three records for the weekly show. It has everything but the advertisements!
4 Likes
And that paper you see are the running sheets. Gives you segment times, intro and outro info, plus all the song details.
3 Likes
Yes - with timing down to the second. Next time I am at my mumās place, I will get a photo of the running sheets.
I was hoping that these AT40 records would be worth a fortune, alas a set is only valises at between $200 - $400.
3 Likes
Take 40 Australia used to be on Fox FM on Saturday evenings IIRC, though if I missed it I could catch it on 3UL (now 3GG) which played it on Sunday afternoons.
American Top 40 used to be on Sunday nights, when it was on 3DB and then on Fox.
2 Likes
Including the music or do you have to provide that seperately?
In Sydney we had AT40 on 2UW in the 80s on Sunday mornings. Then later on Sunday evenings we had Ward Austin hosting our own Australian top 40 countdown. Top 40 at both ends of the day, very cool ! Ward was followed by Father Jim McLaren 9pm-12md with his āSounds of Silenceā program that helped so many young people with their problems. Father Jim was such an institution on Sydney radio. Jim started at 2UW Nov 1969 the same month as John Laws also began at UW. Jim spent the best part of two decades hosting Sunday nights on the station.
1 Like
The music is included. It was the first time most of this music was ever available in Australia. I would tape the songs that were not yet released in Australia and share it with friends, especially with the big artists like Madonna. My friends loved me!
6 Likes
I miss those days of buying blank cassette tapes just to record stuff off the radio!
7 Likes
If any of you guys have old airchecks on tape, it would be worth digitising and archiving them somewhere. This stuff is likely to be lost forever otherwise (as much is, already). You could try archive.org or there is a certain website that specialises in that sort of thingā¦donāt want to share it publicly though. You could PM me for the details if you donāt already know about it.
I never got to experience the glory days in the 70s and 80s so hearing whatever has survived is pretty awesome.
8 Likes