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FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
Forget the CDs and the music on computer. A station in Philadelphia has spent the day cueing up records with DJs playing nothing but vinyl on the air, some from their own personal collections.
WXPN is a public radio station run by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and everything from 6 AM Thursday to midnight is being spun off a 45 or 33 RPM record - complete with cracks, pops and whatever other noise comes off the old discs. If you missed it on Thursday, there will be a brief extension from 10AM-2PM on Saturday.
It's to celebrate Record Store Day on April 12th. I have to say some of the stuff they've played has been pretty good, especially if you're an oldies fan. One of the jocks I heard when I was listening commented he'd forgotten how much work it was running a show off of discs only, with removing the record from the sleeve, putting it on the turntable, ensuring the pot is down, and cueing it up to get it ready for broadcast, then starting the turntable and hoping for no "wow's".
"All I normally have to do is press a button!" he notes. And he says it's hard to know when the record is ending because there's no countdown or timer.
Even the IDs get into the spirit of the thing, with a female voice saying, "We're talking slower than normal so the disc jockey can cue up the next record."
But my favourite part of this is the Vinyl Cam, in which a static camera is focused solely on the two turntables in the studio and you can watch the jock cueing up the next song. You can see it - and hear it - here.
Now this is what they meant by throwback radio!
- paterson1
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
Hasn't BOOM 97.3 been doing the same thing for years on Turntable Tuesday? 
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
It's the static camera focused on the turntables as you watch them try to relearn the lost art of cueing up records that made it special for me.
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Thread Starter- Evuguy
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
Sweet. They just played the 12" of Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic. Where's Marsden?
Interesting, their turntable is embedded in the console with a pop up lid. Looks to be a Technics. I'm guessing they added the outboard Stanton to do the segways. The lady I'm watching is doing a fine job.
How many stations would even have a turntable in their studio these days?
- RadioAaron
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
WXPN is always doing great stuff like this. Their massive 885 song countdowns included.
There's a Toronto connection too - Former CBC Radio 2, Indie88, and Edge host Raina Douris helms the nationally syndicated "World Cafe" from XPN's studios, where she interviews countless A-List guests.
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
Evuguy wrote:
Sweet. They just played the 12" of Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic. Where's Marsden?
Interesting, their turntable is embedded in the console with a pop up lid. Looks to be a Technics. I'm guessing they added the outboard Stanton to do the segways. The lady I'm watching is doing a fine job.
How many stations would even have a turntable in their studio these days?
My guess, like yours, is they were brought in just for the occasion. Watching her and the guy before her, you forget how much extra work it was to get everything ready for the next tune - not to mention making sure there were no skips or sudden moves that might bump a needle. It brings back a ton of memories and I'm really enjoying watching it.
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Thread Starter- DOPEfm
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
I have a few all vinyl mix programs over the past year from my disco & funk themed show on AM.
I also occasionally still drop all vinyl on my FM overnight hip-hop show (usually more 80's, 90's, some 2000's along with currents that I've bought and received as promos for airplay).
Guess I should announce the next shows of all vinyl ahead here as they come up.
We're deep over here along the Niagara Escarpment, both in elevation and underground sounds)
Keep vinyl alive!
- Fitz
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Re: FM Station Goes All Vinyl For One Day Only - & It's On Webcam
WXPN is always doing great stuff like this. Their massive 885 song countdowns included.
There's a Toronto connection too - Former CBC Radio 2, Indie88, and Edge host Raina Douris helms the nationally syndicated "World Cafe" from XPN's studios, where she interviews countless A-List guests.
The person that Raina Douris replaced on World Cafe was the great Philly DJ David Dye, He was also on WMMR FM during their free form prime. We are lucky that someone saved hours of air checks from the station from that era. You can hear him on the third air check at the site below. That's his first on the site but he has more. I caught him a few times on World Cafe and that was a natural fit for him.
WMMR FM 1971/72
David Dye Tom Rush - Tin Angel The Insect Trust - Eyes of a New York WomanAl Kooper - New York City (You're a Woman)Ken Nordine - Windshield WipersMother Earth - Tonight, The Sky's About to CryLed Zeppelin - Dazed and ConfusedJohn Entwistle - Heaven and HellJimi Hendrix - All Along the WatchtowerFaces - Stay With MeBonnie Raitt - Blender Blues (live)Fraser & Debolt - Pure Spring WaterThe Beach Boys - Cool, Cool WaterBuffalo Springfield - Nowadays Clancy Can't Even SingJesse Colin Young - Together Jackson Browne - Rock Me on the WaterCream - SWLABRRoger Tilison - Down in the FloodTom Rush - Galveston FloodChris Smither - Statesboro BluesWillie McTell - Dying Crapshooter BluesDerek & the Dominos - I Looked AwayDave Mason - World in ChangesFlamin' Groovies - Bam BalamFiresign Theatre - Doctor WhiplashThe Rolling Stones - Dear DoctorJefferson Airplane - We Can Be TogetherBuzzy Linhart - ReputationKing Biscuit Boy with Crowbar - Hoy Hoy HoyDavid Bowie - Changes
Last edited by Fitz (April 12, 2025 8:44 pm)
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