Are We On The Air?

My involvement in the local college radio scene goes back to late 80’s. Somehow I convinced Ma Dukes to schlep my pre-pubescent behind to WPTS, at 1am mind you, and she did it all for my sincere love of the medium. Prior to working as a self imposed intern at the station, I would hunker down in my bedroom and create pseudo radio programs with dual tape decks (aka-the poor mans track recorder), hoping to bless the airwaves one day with my rhetoric. Guess one could say I was creating what we now call podcasts, albeit without the instant global distribution that the Internet has opened up. Years of listening to local heroes such as Melle “Mel” Plowden (WPTS) and Sly Jock (WAMO) paid off immensely. I was inspired by the best. These cats were pioneers on two completely different fronts, commercial and college radio respectively, but they were able to dually run the city, a feat that college radio hasn’t performed in many years. Hip-Hop was still a fairly new genre, it was exciting to watch it grow before my eyes (and ears).

With that said, One can come surmise what this blog is all about. I have amassed a large collection of cassettes over the span of the last twenty years, and this is my way of sharing them with those that have fond memories of the halcyon days of our beloved art-form. Coming from a single parent household, our family was quite nomadic, moving every 2-3 years. During those many moves, I’ve lost most of the archives from the early days of WPTS, unfortunately. Feel free to e-mail me (selecta@areweontheair.com) if you have any Pittsburgh radio tapes from 1980-1990. I will gladly rip them, burn them on a disc for you +post them on the site. Stay tuned for daily site updates and anecdotes from WPTS and WRCT jocks throughout time. And now, on to the program….