Twin Cities Radio Airchecks.Com Presents The Al Arneson Collection KSTP Al Arneson, grew up in Edina Minnesota and got an early start in radio. In Jr. high school, Al got his first chance to be on the air at his friend's, Kim Cummings, basement Pirate FM station. When that station went of the air, he started his own station. Al operated his station out of his basement during the early 1970's while attending Edina High School. You can hear those early Pirate recording of him on this web site's Pirate Radio Page.
Al later took a job at an Appleton Wisconsin station and later took a job on KSTP-AM near the beginning of KSTP's Music Radio days. He also worked at U-100. He currently owns and operates his own business, Entertainment Plus. An aircheck from 1973 of Al Arneson on KSTP-AM is posted below (Scroll Down)
Thanks Al, for recording and contributing these airchecks. Keep cleaning out that storage locker!!
Late 1970's photo of a young Al Arneson
A Day in the Life of a Twin Cities Radio Station; Composites February-March 1979
KSTP-AM Al has apparently cleaned out his storage locker and just sent me a number of station composites he recorded off the air and compiled from 1979 and a few airchecks from 1977. I will post more at time allows, so check back. Anyone who has an interest in 1970 radio, has to appreciate the forethought Al Arneson had to record and save these tapes.
15/KSTP-AM John Hines/Charlie Bush 5-9 AM Len Russell 9-12 Noon Mike McNeill 12-3 PM Doug Silver 3-7 PM Greg Austin 7-12 Midnight Jim Summers 12-5 AM
Recorded and contributed by Al Arneson, formerly at KSTP-AM and U-100. (Posted 11-17-07)
5 AM - 9 AM John Hines & Charlie Bush 9 AM - 12 N Doctor Don Michaels 12 N - 3 PM Jeff Pigeon 3 PM - 7 PM Dan Walker 7 PM - 12 M Steve Shannon 12 M - 5 AM Big Al Davis Wkend Greg Austin Wkend Denny Carpenter
Recorded and contributed by Al Arneson, formerly of KSTP-AM and U-100
This composite provide a good feel of this era at the station. Jim Wise/Michael Douglas - Mornings Doug McClellon - 10 AM-3 PM Jim Brunette - 3 - 7 PM Kim Jeffries - 7 PM - 12 M Johnny Lundquist - 12 M - 6 AM Pat Trinko - Weekends/Swing
Contibuted by Al Arneson, Formerly of KSTP-AM and U-100 as Big Al Kelly
This Mahine Gun Kelly aircheck was record by Al Arneson. Machine Gun Kelly is woring on the top 150 countdown on this Newsyears recording
Contribued by Al Arneson, Minneapolis. Formerley of KSTP-AM and U-100
KSTP-AM 15 KSTP "Big" Al Arneson December 21st, 1973
This is another Tape I recently found and converted to MP3. I originally recorded this of the air after I got home from my evening shift at KTCR-FM. Unfortunately, the AM radio quality was lacking. You can hear this tape fine, but there is a faint AM squeal in the background.
This is typical Al. What is not typical is the use of his real name. He later went by the name "Big" Al Davis here and at U-100. There are additional aircheck of him both at KSTP as Davis and at U-100 at RadioTapes. Com
Al had his own unlicensed pirate FM station in Edina when he was in high school. An aircheck of him at this station is on this site on the Pirate Radio Page
Recorded off the air by Rick Burnett and posted 8-8-12-07
The airchecks on this not for profit web site were recorded off the air. The recordings on this site provide historical examples of Twin Cities radio and are intended for purposes of archival preservation and for research. Additionally, the recordings can be used by vision impaired visitors to get an audio perspective of radio history. These recordings are not intended to by used by others for commercial purposes.
Some of the airchecks are off reel to reel tapes that were recorded off the air by the web site creator. In May 2006 the recordings started to be converted to MP3 and shared here. In addition to this web site creator's recorded aircheck collection, there are also many airchecks that were recorded and submitted by friends and acquaintances, or contributed by other collectors. Sources are cited, if known. The contributed recordings from friends and contributors of both airchecks and other material are greatly appreciated. Without their help, the site would have many less pages of radio history. The recordings of the contributors to this web site who recorded them off the air may show up on other sites. This site does not charge any fees to listen to the posted recordings. The purpose of this site is to provide radio history and intended for purposes of archival preservation and research.
Windows Media Player works well to play these MP3 files, and depending on your internet settings, will start streaming the file once the link is clicked, Some files are large and may take time to open. Should you have any aircheck of Twin Cities radio stations, let me know and I may be able to include them at this site. Contact me at Rick(at)HotMail.com --- NOTE Replace "(at)" with @ when typing email address
