Flush had a series of tapes recorded in the mid-80s labeled simply with a number (in this case, it was also labeled “Breakin’ Stuff, Boogaloo Stuff”). This one is number 15 in that set and features electro and mid-80s hip-hop and was recorded on a Memorex MRX₃Oxide tape.

Most of these recordings likely came from Power 99 or WDAS in Philly and feature early hip-hop and electro.

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(See more in the DJ Flush Collection.)

As is common on college radio, we occasionally ran a skimmer at WMWC. A skimmer would record airbreaks anytime the DJs would turn their mics on. The idea was that station management would listen for profanity, extraneous talking, etc. Truth is, we never really did. And annoyingly, DJs (including me) would sometimes leave their mic on while playing music, filling up the tape way too quickly with music.

A few years ago I posted what I thought was the only skimmer tape from WMWC, but I was surprised to find a second unlabeled one a few months ago and now… a third. Only side A had anything. Side B was blank.

This tape is from Family Weekend 1997, Friday September 26 and Saturday September 27.

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Guess what happened while digitizing this tape?

This is a recording off of WRTI in Philly (aka “Jazz FM,” at the time). Back when I was making beats, I heard a song come on the radio that I wanted to sample a bit off, so I hit record and just let the tape roll. This is that tape. A few years later, a much more talented producer and emcee heard my track and wanted to make his own beat using the same track. And after getting in touch with me, he did. It was super dope.

Musicwise, this is a show with a little bit of everything: funk-jazz, traditional, contemporary, and experimental. The tape is from the summer of 1995.

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This tape appears to be a late-90s conference call recorded and released as an advertisement for Tristar’s “Intrasound” naturopathic healing technology. Intrasound gel and powder are discussed.

Intrasound products appear to still be around, though there’s not a heck of lot on the web about them. I’m guessing this was from the late 1990s, as the web site advertised on the cassette was gone by ’99.

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From an era when third-parties seemed like they might actually make a difference in the political discourse comes this radio interview with three-time (then, two-time) Natural Law Party presidential candidate and quantum physicist Dr. John Hagelin. The interview aired on The Evening Talk Show on 90.1 FM, KERA (North Texas Public Broadcasting), hosted by Glenn Mitchell. It’s an interesting listen as it captures a period in time where post-Perot there was some belief that third parties had a shot at the big stage and not just local offices. Sure, no candidate has garnered so much as a single electoral vote, but Perot was able to snag nearly 20% of the popular vote in 1992, so hopes were high.^*

I wasn’t terribly political in high school and college until the ’96 election when I got on board with Hagelin’s message. I liked what he had to say and appreciated his outsider nature. In 2000, I got more directly involved by maintaining my state’s Natural Law Party web site and acting as an elector for the party (which garnered me “guy walking by the camera” status on CSPAN-2 when the party’s convention aired there).

As time passed, the Natural Law Party disbanded and Hagelin generally got out of politics. My own views shifted and times changed. Nevertheless, listening back to things like this remind us where politics were almost 25 years ago and what one “outsider” candidate’s view was at the time.

(Plus, the caller that asks Hagelin about bonemeal and magnesium is just classic.)

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^* There were a few electoral votes that went to candidates from outside the two major parties when some “faithless electors” broke ranks in the 2016 election and votes were cast for Libertarian Ron Paul and Yankton Sioux Nation independent Faith Spotted Eagle.

Tracklist after the jump.

(As a reminder to explain my goofy show titling/dating convention: the episode number of 049703 can be translated pretty simply: April 1997, fourth mix of the month. The “star date” was just my stupid way of designating specifically when the mix was done by writing the date backwards (so 79.42.40 is April 24, 1997). The 9th through 12th episodes weren’t stardated, but the estimate I’ve made should be accurate. The flipside of this tape has my final reggae show of the year which was 4/24, which makes it safe to assume the first side is from the same date.)

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1. Planet Humanity… Manessah Meets the Equalizer
2. Da Funk… Daft Punk
3. Blue Flowers Revisited… Dr. Octagon
4. Mirror… Paint
5. Beta One/Assyrian Dub… Automaton
6. Tum Bin Jiya (Strobe’s Drum & Bass Mix)… Bally Sagoo
7. Spy Kiss (10:00pm Whr. r. your children Mix)… Medeski Martin & Wood, We/DJ Olive, Loop, and Once 11
8. At the Blowhole… Banyan

Tracklist after the jump.

(As a reminder to explain my goofy show titling/dating convention: the episode number of 049703 can be translated pretty simply: April 1997, third mix of the month. The “star date” was just my stupid way of designating specifically when the mix was done by writing the date backwards (so 79.71.40 is April 17, 1997). The 9th through 12th episodes weren’t stardated, but the estimate I’ve made should be accurate.)

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1. Silence… Delerium
2. Considerando… Shantel
3. Final Approach… J. Malik
4. Reverence (Tamsin’s Drum & Bass Mix)… Faithless
5. Soundboy Killing (Megawatt Terminator)… Mega Banton/The Sensei Crew
6. Nev 12… Jah Wobble/Jaki Liebezeit/Neville Murray
7. Doggie Dog… Michael Brook
8. Shrouded Wraithlike Rain… Prince Charming

Tracklist after the jump. I didn’t write down the last couple of tracks and unfortunately, Shazam doesn’t do well with dub.

(As a reminder to explain my goofy show titling/dating convention: the episode number of 049702 can be translated pretty simply: April 1997, second mix of the month. The “star date” was just my stupid way of designating specifically when the mix was done by writing the date backwards (so 79.01.40 is April 10, 1997). The 9th through 12th episodes weren’t stardated, but the estimate I’ve made should be accurate.)

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1. Mr. Dubfire… Lee Perry/Mad Professor
2. Stoned Again… Culture
3. Freedom Fighters (Dub)… Half Pint
4. Quarter Mile… Xterminator
5. The Greatest… Scientist
6. Dub It In the Dancehall Dub… King Tubby
7. Rock Me Tonight… King Tubby
8. Alla La Dreadlocks Soldier… Singer & Players
9. Johnny Man… Dub Specialist
10. Hair Trigger… Michael Rose
11. ?
12. Freedom Now… Boom Shaka

A few years ago I posted what I thought was the only skimmer tape from WMWC, but I was surprised to find a second unlabeled one.

I kick off the first side by saying, “Hey, Natalie… BOO!” presumably referring to my assistant GM Natalie, whom I suspect I asked to listen to the skimmer tape. During Danielle’s show, Danielle reads the day’s news a number of times. I start off side B but then there’s a bunch of the Kit Kat Acoustic Break CD that aired overnight until about 16 minutes in. Overall, the tape is just a nice time capsule of some college kids doing radio shows for fun, talking to almost no one, in a pre-streaming era.

The show line-up for that semester is available on the Wayback Machine. The recordings captured late Wednesday night through Thursday on each side. This tape is post-fall break, dating from October 1997, due to a reference to Hurricane Pauline during a news reading, a news item about a still-standing land supersonic speed record being set, and referenecs to Halloween. Side A seems to be Oct 15-16 and side B, October 29-30.

The skimmer always added a nice, annoying buzz to the recording which has not been filtered out. The end of side B seems to be the ghostly remains of previous skimmer recordings, perhaps so because of demagnetization between uses.

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This is a nice, dark episode.

Tracklist after the jump.

(As a reminder to explain my goofy show titling/dating convention: the episode number of 049701 can be translated pretty simply: April 1997, first mix of the month. The “star date” was just my stupid way of designating specifically when the mix was done by writing the date backwards (so 79.30.40 is April 3, 1997). The 9th through 12th episodes weren’t stardated, but the estimate I’ve made should be accurate.)

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1. 1. Dubbin’ Wizer… Laze
   2. Juke Joint Pipe Dreams… Prince Charming
   3. In Between Times… Invisible Hands
   4. Masai Movements… Manessah Meets the Equalizer
   5. Cool Monsoon… Mad Professor/Massive Attack
   6. Feel Me… kHz
   7. Hologrammic Dub… DJ Spooky
   8. Asian Rebel… Souls of Aqua