HI GUYS AND GALS! IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT DJs AND RADIO SHOWS, YOU KNOW THE NAME ALISON STEELE IS LEGENDARY AND AMONG THE WORLD'S BEST DJ's EVER. ALISON WAS ABLE TO ATTRACT ALL THE TOP MUSIC PERSONALITIES TO HER SHOW BECAUSE OF HER KNOWLEDGE OF MUSIC, ABILITY TO RELATE, AND HER STYLE.
WELCOME EVERYONE TO KEITH'S KOLLECTABLES, ONE OF EBAY'S PREMIERE BUYERS AND SELLERS OF PRISTINE RARE RADIO SHOWS OF ALL GENRES ALONG WITH OTHER GREAT VINTAGE AMERICANA.
PLEASE NOTE FELLOW COLLECTOR FRIENDS THAT WHEN YOU BUY FIVE OR MORE ITEMS FROM MY STORE AT ONE TIME THAT EBAY WILL IMMEDIATELY DISCOUNT YOUR INVOICE BY 20% IT IS THE LEAST I CAN DO FOR MY FELLOW COLLECTORS WHO LOOK FOR GREAT DEALS AS MUCH AS I DO!
AND, IF YOU COMBINE THE ABOVE DISCOUNT WITH ONE OR MORE SELECTIONS FROM KEITH'S KOLLECTABLES HALF PRICED AND REDUCED PRICE SPECIALS TO WHICH KEITH ADDS ALMOST DAILY, YOU WILL SAVE EVEN MORE....MUCH MORE! JUST GO TO KEITH'S KOLLECTABLES HOME PAGE TO THE DROP DOWN MENU AND CHOOSE THE TAB TO GET THERE.
FRIENDS, IF YOU ARE A FAN OF THE BEST OF ROCK WITH ONE FEATURED GUEST FOR THE WHOLE OF EACH HALF HOUR AND PRESENTED BY ONE OF THE ROCK ERA'S BEST DJ'S EVER, READ ON AND AFTERWARDS, IF YOU DO NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT RADIO SHOWS, STAY TUNED FOR RADIO SHOWS 101, MY OWN PERSONAL HISTORY OF RADIO SHOWS AND HOW I GOT INTO THIS CRAZY AND WONDERFUL HOBBY!
This show, for all you vinyl lovers, and there are a bunch out there judging by the number of you that have responded to my rare and old vinyl radio show sales, is a rare vinyl that you will not find on eBay ever.
It is called NIGHTBIRD & COMPANY: COSMIC CONNECTIONS, PRESENTED BY THE US ARMY RESERVE
IT IS A LEGENDARY SHOW AS ALISON STEELE HERSELF WAS LEGENDARY.
WNEW in New York City, one of the top radio stations in the country, strategically placed Alison Steele in the overnight 'graveyard shift' which granted her more creative freedom, leading her to develop her on-air personality and rapport with her listeners. "I thought there must be a lot of people that need someone to relate with in the middle of the night, and if I could create some kind of camaraderie, a relationship between myself and the rest of the night people, then it would be more than just music". She thought of a new air name, based on gender ("bird" being slang for a girl) and her night owl hours of work, and chose The Nightbird.
Steele would begin her night show by reciting poetry over music before introducing her show in her distinctive soft and sultry voice, aided by her preference of smoking small cigars She often hosted with her dog, a French poodle named Genya. Her show always began with a bit of Andean flute music and some variation of her regular introduction:
She then transitioned to recordings of some of the more exceptional and experimental music being recorded at the time, as well as featuring the best of the familiar favorites of her audience. As well as music, she recited texts and poetry over music much as another famous Boston and New York City dj, Dick Summer did. She favored mystical and romantic writing for her recitations, and sometimes offered up her own writing as well. Whether poetry or prose, her spoken segments were almost always gently optimistic: "I abhor negativism," she stated. "I want to convey a positive attitude so that people will reach out to other people." She would end her show with The Beatles instrumental song 'Flying' over which she would say her goodbye message: "Hello night bird. How was your day? Did you visit the gods in the valleys far away? What did you bring me, in your visit from the sea?"
She was a supporter and promoter of bands like Yes, Genesis and The Moody Blues as well as Santana and The Grateful Dead Her show was a major success for its timeslot. By 1974, she had more than 100,000 listeners at any given quarter hour of her show, and hosted a syndicated rock radio show to 600 stations nationwide, a radio show for women, and a cable television talk show According to Jimi Hendrix's s manager Michael Jeffery, the song "Night Bird Flying", recorded by Hendrix and released posthumously , was inspired by Steele's show. Steele became known as "The Grande Dame of New York Night".
At one point, she served as the station's music director. She was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1976, Steele became the first woman to receive a Billboard award for FM Personality of the Year, and the magazine also named an award in her honor, The Alison Steele Award for Lifetime Achievement, which was first awarded to Casey Kasem
She sadly passed away at the young age of 58 from stomach cancer. She kept active on her overnight show on New York's WXRK until just two months before her death. Every morning she handed over the reigns to the then morning dj, Howard Stern with whom she had a close relationship.
This super rare special show was provided to affiliate radio stations by the U.S. Army Reserve and later The National Guard as a weekly half hour show, each show featuring a specific artist or group. There were two half hour shows on each lp.
The series, as others sponsored by the military during the late 60's to mid 70's was formulated for radio stations to play on weekends, usually Sundays to promote the military branch sponsoring the show. There were no commercials on any show - just a few promotional words about the sponsoring military service. They aired to partially fulfill the public service programming that every licensed radio station had to document in order to receive their license renewal from the FCC.
By the mid 70's, the armed services decided their advertising dollars could better be spent by buying regular advertising on established syndicated shows like Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, and many others.
BUT, the one and only show that continued for a few more years was this one - Nightbird & Company with sponsorship shifting to The National Guard. It was seen as a testament to the popularity of the show.
Each half hour show contained multiple conversations between Alison and the featured band or artist and music.
It was produced by Narwood Productions for The National Guard. Each monthly shipment of four shows, two to each lp, one to each side, came in an attractive Cosmic Connections tri fold album.
Albums with all four shows are relatively rare because stations often destroyed the shows after airing since they were never to be broadcast again and those that did save them, often threw away the album and just kept the lps to conserve space.
Most often, including in Keith's Kollectables, you will see one lp with two shows offered as opposed to the tri album with both lps for this reason. However, I also have some one lp shows without the other BUT in the tri fold album. How that happened, I have no clue; however, it will be an added bonus over just the single lp when available!
THIS OFFERING COMES ON ONE LP IN A SPECIAL TRI FOLD ALBUM, IN BEAUTIFUL VIRGIN VINYL, PLAYED ONLY ONCE ON THE DAY OF BROADCAST AND THEN CAREFULLY STORED SINCE. THERE ARE NO CUE SHEETS IN THIS SERIES - THE FEATURED ARTIST OR GROUP IS PRINTED ON THE LABEL AS SEEN IN THE LISTING PICTURE AND ON THE BACK OF THE TRI FOLD ALBUM.
THIS WEEK'S FEATURED ARTISTS WERE
Dr JOHN AIRING ON JUNE 30, 1974, SHOW #165
JANIS IAN AIRING ON JULY 7, 1974, SHOW #166
You will love this UNIQUE ONE OF A KIND show and it belongs in your collection. It is a great variety of music along with intimate interviews and facts about each featured artist. You will enjoy great music and the best part is that you can hear them again and again, over and over, whenever you want.
SO HERE ARE THE BIG QUESTIONS IF YOU DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT RADIO SHOWS:
FIRST OF ALL, WHAT IS A RADIO SHOW?
WHY COLLECT THEM?
WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?
Well, those are good questions, especially if you have never known of them.
First allow me tell you my own personal story of discovering the wonder of radio shows.
I discovered radio shows quite by accident while reading one of my favorite (long since departed) magazines called "Discoveries" (It was later bought by the same company that publishes "Goldmine" which I personally always considered a lesser publication, but that is another story.
This was before ebay became the driving force in radio show sales (and everything else) in the later 1990's.
I was especially attracted in "Discoveries" to a two page (or more) spread in each issue by a guy called "The Old Hippie".
Let me tell you, the Old Hippie had it all. He was a real pioneer. Way before anyone knew what radio shows even were let alone that they could be bought as rarities, he had the market cornered.
Most shows that he advertised were way beyond my budget but I drooled over those pages every issue and once in awhile I could afford one or two.
Now, I have attempted in my own humble way to take on the mantle of "The Old Hippie". I have listed over 11,000 unique radio shows of all genres for you all to drool over, and most at prices, hopefully, that collectors can better afford! I want to make available to collectors what I could not afford and especially in these days of higher prices and lesser availability.
Radio shows are harder and harder to find in quantity and the prices for the ones still out there just go higher and higher as they disappear from the market. However, because of my large presence on eBay, I am always being contacted with selling offers, some of which I take advantage of and some I have to pass on because of the prices. I have found that by buying in bulk, even when many or most of the shows are lesser known but still amazing shows, I can offer the best prices on all titles.
So, again, what is a radio show?
Well, those are good questions, especially if you have never known of them.
Radio Shows are syndicated productions by one of several large and small distributors who supply broadcast product to radio stations normally during weekends when the usual air personalities have a break.
Many air on Saturday or Sunday mornings, afternoons or less often during overnight segments. They often feature some of the best known voices for their genre from across the country thus the Dick Clark's and Casey Kasem's and Rick Dees and Dick Bartley and so many others.
People collect them for various reasons.
Some just collect the series because they like it and want them all.
Some collect their favorite artists or genre of music. Rather than an album by the artist or a compilation downloaded through iTunes or wherever, they have a unique presentation of their favorite artist or music not available anywhere else and always with dj presentations which were very entertaining.
Some collect interviews with their favorite artists as most shows had interview segments.
Some collect commercials especially old car commercials but certainly not limited to only those.
AND, these shows are in limited quantity.
They were pressed just for affiliate stations in the United States. Many have just a few still in circulation. Some of the more popular shows may have as many as a hundred of each week's show that survived but think about it. A hundred for some 350 million Americans and millions of overseas collectors who look for unique presentations of their favorite artists or form of music is about as rare as rare can be.
This being the case, they are increasingly hard to find and more and more expensive all the time.
They were first distributed on reel to reel tape and lp, later on CD and even later (after 2000 for most shows) on CDR. Now they are not available at all to collectors since they are distributed by digital download much like you get your music from iTunes.
These shows become rarer and rarer every day because the people who buy them hold on to them.
The shows that you get now and hold on to will never decrease in value and only increase. I have prided myself since the start to provide the best and fairest cost with a no holds barred guarantee that you will be happy or I refund your money.
I sell them for near what I bought them for. I give volume discounts and discount postage always. As the postal service increases their rates, my shipping rates over the years has decreased.
And, I have one of the biggest radio show libraries in the world consisting of over fifteen thousand shows, so many that I don't even know all that I have and am sometimes amazed when I go to look for one show and find another that I did not realize I had.
Finally, it is Americana at its best. Whether the show be from the 60's or 2000's, rock, countdown, oldies, country, classical, religious, jazz or big band, it is unique and home grown.
And you just can't find them anywhere. Even record stores that still exist will rarely have any. Radio shows are wonderful representations of the real golden age of radio at least music wise. And every one you buy is an original, not a copy, not a remake - all are limited editions in the hundreds at most and most much less. Once you get hooked, like me, it is a love affair for life! Welcome to the Club!
Remember, when you buy this show, not only will you own the tune but also interspersed between songs is fascinating commentary on the artists and songs.
Also, keep in mind that this and all shows are not just about the music - the music can be found anywhere. It is the mixture of great music and great announcing that makes it so entertaining.
As well, it is a piece of radio history. IT IS AMERICANA!
MOST PEOPLE DON'T EVEN KNOW THESE SHOWS EXIST AND SO DON'T KNOW WHAT TREASURES THEY ARE. THE ARTIST CONVERSATIONS WITH ALISON ARE PRICELESS. THEY ARE A PART OF HISTORY You just aren't going to find these shows anymore. Think of what they will be worth in a few years! (IF you wanted to sell.) I am selling to share with other music lovers what I was able to get at a reasonable price
Good Luck and God Bless You.