I've always liked instrumental pop and have been listening to it since I was a teenager. In those days, we had at least half a dozen such radio stations in the New York metropolitan area, including WHLI-FM, WCTO, WRFM, WTFM, WVNJ, WNBC-FM, WEZN, and of course, perhaps the dean of the group, so to speak, WPAT AM and FM. Of course, one by one, these "easy listening" stations started dropping off the dial until they eventually became extinct in what is now known as "terrestrial radio."
I loved listening to WEZN from Bridgeport, Connecticut, with Bill Buckner (not the infamous Boston Red Sox player), Paulette Bolen, and the announcer with a voice almost as deep as James Earl Jones, Edward Zell. He just sounded great coming out of a pair of booming stereo speakers, along with the great orchestral music that always cheered me up when I was feeling down. I left it on all night while I slept in the late 1970's and 1980's. But eventually, that good thing came to an end.
I don't recall when I started listening to WPAT, or even if I listened regularly, but I listened often enough to remember Ken Lamb and Ken MacKenzie. They were the weekday disk jockeys, but one weekend I was listening and they were on both Saturday and Sunday, introducing the next hour's records just as if they were there-- every single day. While I knew that no one would likely work seven days a week, the giveaway was that someone else read the news and the weather on weekends. This is how I was introduced to the concept of voice tracking. It's a concept that we'll be using extensively on Audio 4, though perhaps not quite the way that they did it. I still have a full-time job, so I'm not likely to record new voice tracks every day or even every week. The other thing that has stuck in my mind all these years is the tagline at the top of the hour: "WPAT-AM and -FM, Paterson, a Park Communications Station." You'll hear an echo of that on Audio 4, every hour.
After WPAT, I went many years without hearing much of the kind of music I love, until I found Jones College Radio on Internet some time around 2009-2013. For a long time, it broadcast over the air on WKTZ, not that I was ever around Jacksonville, Florida, but eventually the broadcast station was sold, and the stream continued over Internet for a few years. In September of 2022, the Internet stream of what had become known as Riverton Tower Radio abruptly terminated. This time, I decided I wasn't going to be without the music I love. With many more years and some grey hairs behind me, as well as with the savings that a single guy who is in the second half of life can accumulate, I set out to build my own Internet radio station. Starting with the handful of CD's that I had, I spent four months gathering the necessary licenses, quickly assembled a collection of thousands of tracks, and dumped them into a radio automation program. I have finally fulfilled a kid's dream of having my own radio station.
Speaking of children, I've kept them in mind as I created this audio service. One advantage of instrumental music is that I don't have to vet lyrics to keep it suitable for all ages. AMSJR Audio 4 is a service that even the youngest children can enjoy, and cautious parents don't have to cover their children's ears while our great music is playing. I like to think that this is something even the most conservative homeschooling families can allow in their homes. While I have not yet listened to every single track, I believe that the methods I used to select the music are reasonably reliable-- and I intend to listen to the service myself, so if I hear something that doesn't quite fit, rest assured that I'll be doing something about it.
And kind of like what Herbert's father said in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "That's what you're going to get, lad." It's the best music played on the best radio station. It will be free of subscription fees and commercials as long as I can afford to provide it that way. If this is the kind of music you like, go click on "Listen Now," and enjoy what you've found-- the great sound of AMSJR Audio 4.
