This Site Primarily Contains a Collection of Airchecks of Numerous Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Radio Stations, Some Recorded Off The Air by Rick Burnett and Many Others Recorded or Provided by Other Contributors to This Site (see footnote at bottom). The Contribution of Recordings and Materials are Greatly Appreciated and Have Made this Site a Bookmark for Those Interested in Radio From this Era. Explore the many recordings on this site by using the menu at the left side of the screen. Should you have material to contribute, Please Email: Rick1031(at)HotMail.com Note: Substitute @ for the "(at)" when typing email address
WLTE-FM 102.9
Scroll down for Photos of the studio and DJ's Beth Kidd, Glen Olson and Johnny Canton.
If you look up WLTE on the Wikipedia web page, you get the following narrative history and info:
History
The station began as WCCO-FM, the FM broadcast of local powerhouse WCCO 830 AM, but was hampered by its limited signal and never carried 'CCO's signal very far.
Until 1973, the station only operated for the minimum amount of time required to keep the license. However, when the transmitter was upgraded full-power full-time, a broad-based adult contemporary format was launched, lasting throughout the 1970s. Personalities included Paul Stagg, Carl Lensgraf, Terri Davis, Tom Ambrose, Curt Lundgren, Johnny Canton, Peter May and Pat O'Neill. Tim Russell, currently a cast member of "A Prairie Home Companion," hosted middays and created memorable characters like traffic reporter "Captain Buzz Studley.
WCCO-FM was a successful station until new IDS Center transmitters for competing stations were built in 1979, causing damaging interference to the station's broadcast signal. In 1983, Top 40 became a massively popular format across the country. WLOL, which picked up the format in 1981, was one of the most successful stations in the market, and KDWB was just returning to the FM band. WCCO-FM switched to Top 40 under Program Director John Long that year. Results were dismal, and both the format and Long lasted just a few months. The "lite" format was introduced later that year, along with new call letters WLTE.
Welcome to the inside of WLTE-FM and JACK FM. You will see photos of some nice people who have had long creers in Twin Cities Radio. I appreciate the time they spect with me and for allowing me to take these photos. I also whant to thank Program Director John Lassmen for his courtesy and time.
WCCO-FM - Sven Skarnasdaag Stories Number 1-3
This is the first of six files that contain Sven stories from when he was reporting from outstade Minnesot for Morries Inports (now Morries Automotive Group). Sven's jokes always made you smurk. WCCO's Carl Lensgrad was the voice of Sven
WCCO- FM Sven Skarnasdaag Smorgasbord of Stories 4-6
Just when you thought you had enough, there is more. Carl Lensgraf did the voice of Sven and other characters included Stella Sagwell. Sven traveled the backroads of Minnesota offering his daily humor.
WLTE-FM Beth Kidd at the contols on July 21st 2007
WLTE-FM's Beth Kidd has been at the station since 1985 and in Twin Cities ratio since 1975.There is an aircheck of Beth with Paul Geiger doing a morning show in March 2004 on WLTE-FM (scroll down to listen). There is also an aircheck of Beth's last show on WAYL-FM in 1985 on the WALY-FM Page on this site.
WLTE-FM Beth Kidd with Jack, the FM 104.1 mascott
WLTE-FM 102.9 - Beth Kidd & Paul Geiger March 2004
Beth and Paul are filling in for Lori Grande and Orly Knutson, the regular morning show hosts, on this snowy March day. The music is scoped out and this recording is about 50 minutes long. As a result, the file is about 46 MB and depending on your computer speed, will take a little bit to load, unless you have the ability to stream and download at the same time.
Tape provided by Beth Kidd
WLTE-FM 102.9 photo of studion when it was located in the Centrury Plaza Building. WLTE-FM is now located in the WCCO Radio Building in Downtown Minneapolis along with WCCO-AM and JACK 104.1 FM. In this photo, Beth Kidd is at the control board in the summe 1992.
There are old airchecks of WCCO further down this page. For an aircheck of Glen Olson, go to the WWTC Page on this site
WLTE-FM "Big Daddy" Glen Olson in control at the control board on 7-19-07
WLTE-FM Glen Olson at the conrol board at 12:30 AM on 7-19-07
WLTE-FM Photos of control board on July 19, 2007
There are some older airchecks of Johnny Canton on the WDGY 1130 Tapes Page on this site.
WLTE-FM 102.9 - Photo of Johnny Cantonn behind the controld board on 7-18-07
WLTE-FM Photos of Glenolson (left) and Rick Burnett (Mason) taken in the studio on July 19, 2007 Glen has worked for the station for over 20 years and currently does over nights from 12 midnite to 5 AM.
WLTE-FM 102.9 - This is me, Rick Burnett, at the mic. Fortunately for the Twin Cities, I did not get on the air. For contrast, to see less wrinkles, compare this shot with a 1969 photo of me at the mic in the old WDGY control room.
Compare this July 2007 photo with the one of me at the old WDGY control board taken in 1969. They always told me I had the perfect face for radio.
WDGY 1969 Shot of Rick Burnett at the mic in the old 'DGY conctrol room. Much less wrinkles than the 2007 photo just above, but still ugly. Where did he get those glasses?
WLTE-FM
Vince Rebholtz, from 01/11/1987
Vince Rebholtz is on in this aircheck from January of 1987. Some commercials left in. Remember water beds.
JACK FM 104.1 studio photo taken from the entrance door on 7-18-07
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