DesMoinesBroadcasting.com was recently loaned a number of KIOA station recorded acetate discs, all from 1958. KIOA switched to it's Top-40 (KIOA was Top-50) format on May 1, 1957. Although these discs are all from 1958, there seemed to be a lot of changes throughout the year as the format was evolving.
There were many staff changes, several jingle packages and changes in news intros, etc. Although we haven't been able to come up with a flow chart of the staff changes, at this point, let's just say that the lineup was very fluid.
Allen Johnson has stored these discs for many years and found that they had developed sort of a white residue. He was able to remove most of by carefully applying solvents. Most of the discs were able to be played and converted to digital media.
Allen told me that back in the late 50's, his aunt dated KIOA newsman Ray Carney and that Ray brought the discs from the station and gave them to her children to play with. Several discs were destroyed, but she gave Allen the surviving discs a number of years ago.
Acetate discs were a temporary audio medium and were recorded right in the radio station, used much like cart machines at a later date. Commercials, jingles, stations promos, drop-ins and virtually everything that the DJ used in the control room was cut on these discs. They were cut at 33 1/3 RPM from the outside-in, although the equipment was capable of recording from the inside-out. The advantage of cutting from the inside-out was that the "chip" or part that the stylus cut out of the disc wouldn't pile up in the middle and interfere with the cutting process, which sometimes did happen when cutting from the outside-in. The operator had to constantly be manually removing the chip by hand and brush. Acetate discs had a unique odor and these 1958 disc still have that distinctive smell today.
We have provided a number of cuts from the discs plus scans of some of the labels.
The station slogan seemed to change a lot, but "Wonderful KIOA" and "Color Radio" were most prominent. Color Radio jingles were found on the discs, but DesMoinesBroadcasting.com has a dub directly from the master tapes which we are presenting here.
All Jocks Promo
Acetate discs courtesy of Allen Johnson
Also, special thanks to Peter McLane Bob Ogburn and Bill Shannon
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Des Moines Radio Stations page
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KIOA acetate disc
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