NOTE: Things having to do with Tri-Cities radio have been taken from this page to the new "Tri-Cities Radio Tribute Page"
Here are radio commercials from my collection of reel-to-reel tapes and records.
BankAmericard
Download(3.5MB)
This reel, I'm guessing from the 60's, consisted of 15
tracks. The first one-and-a-half commercials were erased, and
part of the 3rd was apparently recorded-over with blank space,
which I have cut out of the file here.
"Consumer
Information on Health Spas" with Heather Thomas
("... and boy did I ask questions
questions questions.")
Download(1MB)
This reel is of a series of PSA's featuring Heather Thomas for
the Association of Physical Fitness Centers and an info booklet
they were distributing, "Joining a Health Club".
Apparently this flew in through the breeze of the aerobic
movement in the early-mid 80's. There are about 3 messages
repeated in some of the 9 tracks, with different music
backgrounds that were supposed to fit in different formats:
"MOR", "country", and for gosh sake,
"news". The music fit the messages, and aerobics, like
star-shaped pieces in round holes. Click on the reel box for a
larger image.
Putt-Putt, 1971
Download(223KB)
Quaker Rice Cakes -
ABC commercial feed, Jan. 23, 1995
Download(185KB)
From 1993-2000, I had a big-dish satellite system, and there was
a great period of time during 1995 when you could hear the
Arkansas Radio Network on one of the audio subcarriers of the
Shepherd's Chapel station. When ARN didn't have Arkansas
programming - which was most of the time - they carried the ABC
Radio Network. At the time, ABC played a separate feed at 12
minutes after each hour with just a commercial. I'm guessing that
this was so stations not carrying the newscast on the network
could record the commercial and run it on the local station
during the hour.
Resolve
stop-smoking kit - NBC commercial feed, 1992
Download(360KB)
I recorded this in the production room of then-country station
WUSJ in Elizabethton, Tenn. while my brother DJ'ed there in 1992.
(What has happened to that station before-and-since is another
story entirely, but I'll spare you.) About one-and-a-half minutes
before the NBC Radio Network's hourly newscast, they put the
first one-minute commercial block of the newscast on a separate
feed. This is a piece of history because it shows how, and what
kinds of, stop-smoking products were advertised before the
nicotine patches and gums went on the market. When NBC didn't
have anything on, it had continuous beeps every second. This clip
begins 5 seconds before the signals preceding the commercial
feed, and continues to the beginning of the NBC newscast.
Selecto
Download(770KB)
Here's a complete reel of 3 commercials for
Selecto Franks, from 1971. These consist of funny
"interviews" of famous figures in history: Beethoven,
Napoleon, and Thomas Edison. I don't know who the guys who did
these commercials are, but I hope and trust they went on to
bigger & better things.
On the left is the reel box. On the right is a sheet of paper
enclosed in the box. Click on each image to get a larger image.
Here are other Selecto commercials dubbed from other reels.
Download(243KB)
Download(212KB)
Wintermint Chewing
Tobacco, 1973
Download(903KB)
This includes the audio "slate" before each commercial.
Click on the reel box for a larger image. That sure is one heck
of a typographical error with the 2nd one on the list!
E-Mail: sr@sammyreed.com