Aircheck: WBBO-FM "The Breeze" Forest City, NC 1989, 1990

Several years ago, I posted several hours of "The Breeze," one of the early NAC/Smooth Jazz networks. The Minneapolis based network operated from 1987 to 1991, and had between 20 and 30 affiliates. My airchecks were primarily recorded through the St. Louis affiliate, KLTH. Even at the time, this network had a more eclectic playlist than most commercial stations had.

Recently I received several airchecks of The Breeze through affiliate WBBO-FM Forest City, NC. These recordings were made in May 1989, November 1989, and August 1990, and were provided by "Richard," who was also a fan of the format.

For those who enjoyed the early years of Smooth Jazz radio, I think you'll want to hear these. These files are 128/44.1, and can be found here:

http://www.4shared.com/folder/I7IPizkq/WBBO_Breeze_Files.html

I've been a fan of smooth jazz ever since George Benson's "Breezin'" album came out in 1976 and listened to "The Breeze" all the time when I lived in Greenville, SC. I really hated to see the station drop the format; somehow I think it does better in the big cities (in Dallas I was fortunate to have two stations that mixed r&b and smooth jazz). Seems nothing works in these parts except rock and country.

I thought I hated smooth jazz but this station did sound good. And "Breezin'" is one fo the best songs in the format. It's just certain people in smooth jazz that I didn't like. Such as Kenny G. And yet I once found a video of him in concert and his backup musicians were real jazz. It sounded good! I never did hear HIM play, which is just as well.

That's a lot to listen to. And the music is not all good. The first song wasn't. But all the talk between the songs including commercials could be interesting. I just don't have the time when I am on a computer with sound and the ability to handle that much data.

Bpatrick, It may not have been WBBO's choice to end the format. The Breeze network itself folded in early 1991 leaving its affiliates scrambling for programming.

As for Vchimpanzee, you are correct--there is a lot to listen to. While you may not like the first song (or other songs) on these airchecks, someone else might. And maybe you don't have the time or a computer that handles the kind of data required to hear these airchecks, there are others who might.

spiritof67 said:

And maybe you don't have the time or a computer that handles the kind of data required to hear these airchecks, there are others who might.

Click to expand...

I was just pointing out that I'd like to listen to more, but it just isn't going to happen. That has nothing to do with what anyone else wants to do.

These files are not going anywhere. The WBBO files were uploaded in 2011, and the earlier KLTH St. Louis files were uploaded a few years before that. In fact, I added them to an archive.org site, and it can be found here: https://archive.org/details/TheBreezeNetworkKLTHSt.LouisMO

When I aircheck a station I like, I record as much of it as I can. The stations I enjoy tend to flip formats or tweak them in a direction I don't enjoy. It is the nature of the business. But for me, while that station may no longer be on the air, it isn't "gone."

Thank you for pointing out these air checks, they're great! I really miss this format. This and Soft A/C are dead.