Wow! Quite a find. I didn't know thrift stores carried cassettes in this day and age. 

Yeah - like all thrift store media it's mostly rubbish, but you occasionally find fun stuff.

Good to know. I haven't been in a thrift store in decades. Maybe I should visit the one near me. Although I have a fair number of unopened cassettes still in their original packaging that I never got around to using. I think they're BASFs.

RadioActive wrote:

Good to know. I haven't been in a thrift store in decades. Maybe I should visit the one near me. Although I have a fair number of unopened cassettes still in their original packaging that I never got around to using. I think they're BASFs.

I too have some unopened ones. I can't even remember why I bought them.

I also have an unopened vynil album by the Doobie Bros. I don't even like the Doobie Bros. I don't know whatever posessed my to buy it. It was in a discount bin at the now defunct Towers dept store. The unopened album is still in the old Towers bag.
 

Fitz wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Good to know. I haven't been in a thrift store in decades. Maybe I should visit the one near me. Although I have a fair number of unopened cassettes still in their original packaging that I never got around to using. I think they're BASFs.

I too have some unopened ones. I can't even remember why I bought them.

I also have an unopened vynil album by the Doobie Bros. I don't even like the Doobie Bros. I don't know whatever posessed my to buy it. It was in a discount bin at the now defunct Towers dept store. The unopened album is still in the old Towers bag.
 

I keep blank cassette tape around as I record my DX on those or reel to reel.

I would guess the  discount Doobies album is post Michael McDonald and not one of these four great early to mid 70's sets. I got this Quad Blu ray audio for a steal, way way cheaper than it's value. Not from a thrift but I could not believe my luck. The 70's quad mix - sounds great.

Of those Doobie Brothers albums, I have 1, 3 and 5.

Mace - you have 3 out of four of those great Doobie albums. I think you are missing Stampede. The 5th piece in my pic is the case for the audio Blu ray set. A lot of the tracks get a new life with the quad mix and it is 4 channel. The center channel is not used.

Saul - my main digital set up is in the basement and not great for DX and that's why I use tapes. I do have a small digital recorder that I could use upstairs but tape seems to serve my purpose fine as I don't have the elaborate set up that you do. You are a pro and I'm an amature DX'r.

 I noticed that the pressure pads on those CHUM cassettes were worn and so I have swapped out the cassette shells. The quality is still not great but better than before. Below is another snip. John Rode and some more Kori Skinner. I think this was a Saturday morning/overnight . They were promoting a weekend special and do stations still run those broadcast council announcements. 

More 1050 CHUM Oldies AM Stereo

Last edited by Fitz (September 9, 2026 10:13 am)

Saul wrote:

Fitz wrote:

Saul - my main digital set up is in the basement and not great for DX and that's why I use tapes. I do have a small digital recorder that I could use upstairs but tape seems to serve my purpose fine as I don't have the elaborate set up that you do. You are a pro and I'm an amature DX'r.

Pro, amateur, whatever, I hope you don't ruin your cassette recorders like I did...

I don't record except when I know of a strong tropo or e-skip. I have my demag and cleaning alcohol at the ready but I use those more on the reel to reel rather than the cassette decks. Actually I hardly use the demag on anything.  Right now my playback deck is the one pictured below. Playing one of the CHUM tapes with the shell replaced. I think the recording volume was set too high.

I lucked out buying the deck. Got it at the Courtice flea market on the day a dealer was closing shop. He gave it to me for $6.00  including the original box. Don't think it was used before. My recording decks are Akai cassette deck and reel to reel with analog VU meters.


 

Chrisphen wrote:

I remember those crappy tire-branded tapes.

Good eyes. I actually did not know what you were talking about until I looked at the cassette shell I had chosen to replace the"Datapoint" tape. Does sound better so I know at least the pressure pad is better. This snip comes from the same tape as my first recording yesterday. The tape was ok on first play but then completely swooshed in the old case.

1050 CHUM AM Stereo Again


 

Last edited by Fitz (September 9, 2026 6:55 pm)

I have about 60 BASF cassette tapes of obscure music I recorded through out the 70's and early 80's at various radio stations I worked at. As we all know, radio stations would receive a lot of 45's and LP's that never made it to air. I would take them home, record what I liked, then return them. I recently gave my high end stereo system to my son, including a Denon cassette machine. I kept a small Sony cassette and CD unit. I plan to listen to all the cassettes over the next year or so, then pass them on to him. 

Fitz wrote:

I went to pick up some chinese food and stepped into the thrift store in the same plaza and saw about 10 cassettes. I usually pick these up hoping for radio recordings. I did not notice any markings on the tapes but when I got home I saw that  three of them had a notation for 1050 CHUM. Sure enough there is about 2 hours of a intact air check with Kori Skinner  from 1992 I think.  There's also a bit of John Rode. I looked at the blank side of the tapes without any writing at the store.

The air check is on a tape brand I have never run across before and is in stereo. Not sure if the person recorded off am stereo receiver or cable FM. I made some recordings during the same era and not entirely sure which of the two sources I used as I used both.

Anyway here is a snip and a pic of the tapes.:

1050 CHUM All Oldies

.
 

I recognized the Datapoint logo because I have a coffee cup from the 1980s sporting it.   They were into a lot of things (according to Google, the cassettes were for data storage, not audio) and in my case it was a call centre management system my company Xerox bought in 1986.      

markow202 wrote:

LOL I remember the "Pulser" Canadian Tire brand.  

At $1.99 for a 3-pack, they were a real treat for a teenager on a budget!  

As far as budget brands went, they weren't the worst on the market (IMO), so as long as you kept your expectations low, they served their purpose.

They were bad for shedding ferric oxide particles though, so you'd have to swab your decks with isopropyl alcohol fairly often if they were your tape of choice. But at the time, I had a YORX all-in-one system from Zellers (tuner, dual cassette deck and 8-track player, plus a separate BSR ceramic cartridge turntable), so I wasn't exactly dealing with high-end equipment, either.


PJ


 

I was able to bring another old cassette back to life by exchanging the shell. This one was a bit of a pain as the tape broke and I had to splice but it is working now. This is one way to restore old cassettes  that are wobbly or stop mid-play but one must be careful.

The tape was part of the Cruisin re-created air check series. The commercials and jingles were original but the DJ's re-created their part in the studio sometime in the 1970's.

Below is a clip and Pic:

Cruisin 1967 Tape Clip








 

ok I am overdoing this but a chance to play an eclectic music mix. by way of 10 snips. Continuing my experiments with thrift store bought cassettes and equipment. This time both the cassette tape and tape player were bought in a thrift. Got the player maybe ten years ago and the tape is Chrome

Recorded snips of 10 vinyl tracks. Some  top 40, 70's era FM music and alternative. Including:
Various Vinyl recorded to cassette 
Electricity by OMD- Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
Tell That Girl to Shut Up- Holly and The Italians
This Old Cowboy - Marshall Tucker Band - I enjoy the country swing vibe of the song
Games - Redeye - was top 40 in Toronto
Mau Mau- Earle Mankey - I think I only heard this song once on WZIR and bought the record. Earl was an original member of Sparks and engenered for the Beach Boys
Tidal Wave - another OMD this time Ozark Mountain Daredevils, 
Alex Chilton- The Replacements - their tribute to the Box Tops and Big Star legend.
Motorcycle Mama - Sailcat was top 40 in North America.
Sentimental Lady - Fleetwood Mac pre super fame and featuring Bob Welsh
Pretty Ballerina - Left Banke - Their follow up to Walk Away Rene and also made the top 40.
Edit - have to check out the belt on my turntable. Running a bit slow.

Last edited by Fitz (September 19, 2026 1:17 pm)

Fitz wrote:

ok I am overdoing this but a chance to play an eclectic music mix. by way of 10 snips. Continuing my experiments with thrift store bought cassettes and equipment. This time both the cassette tape and tape player were bought in a thrift.

 
What I liked about these type of cassette decks is that they had separate channel record level controls. Not all decks featured this so I always made sure the ones I picked up did, as there were times when one channel was not matched level wise, plus it’s nice to have the option.