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radiomichaels
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| Posted: 09 July 2023 at 7:04pm | IP Logged
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I recently came in connection with a lot of hundreds of
"New Gold on CD" radio programs from Westwood One. The
CD contains 5 short feature programs about an individual
song BUT it also includes the songs self-contained on
their own on separate tracks. From what I can tell this
show was produced from around 1990 to 1997 or so. From
my understanding these were the 1st time oldies hits
(50s-70s) were put on compact disc for radio. (Thus the
name "new gold on CD".)
Does anyone know the source of this audio? The mastering
seems to be normalized about the same as TM Century
Gold/Hit discs. I'm currently ripping these hundreds of
discs as fast as I can!
Edited by radiomichaels on 09 July 2023 at 7:06pm
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Hykker
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| Posted: 10 July 2023 at 5:54am | IP Logged
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I worked at an oldies station in '90-91, and we ran the show as a weekday lunchtime feature. For the first couple years Dick Bartley
was the host (we also carried his Saturday night show), but after '93 or so there seemed to be a revolving door of hosts on NGoCD.
I don't recall any specific mention of any of the featured songs being on CD, it was more of a teaser, commercial, then the song
preceded by a short story related to it. Each featured song was also in the clear on the disc for affiliates to add to their library.
Some of the weekly discs had "hidden" bonus tracks (ie-they were not referenced on the cue sheet, or anywhere else). I don't know the
source for these bonus tracks, they might have been from Bartley's personal collection. Many were vinyl dubs, ISTR one containing a
skip, but were generally good quality with a lot of stereo. Quite a few low-to-non charters among those bonus tracks.
The show was distributed by Westwood One. I have a couple dozen of these discs.
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VWestlife
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| Posted: 10 July 2023 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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During the Dick Bartley era, many of the tracks were transferred from vinyl, with a preference for the stereo album versions rather than the mono 45 versions. There are some custom edits and early fades -- for example, they cut "Hey Jude" down to less than 4 minutes.
Also they used some kind of processing to shift single-channel passages to the center of the stereo image. For example, "I've Been Lonely Too Long" by the Young Rascals starts out as mono and then gradually widens out to full stereo when the vocals come in.
And they dug up an unusual wide stereo version of CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" with double-tracked vocals:
CCR - Bad Moon Rising wide stereo w/ double tracked vocals
Edited by VWestlife on 10 July 2023 at 3:32pm
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Hykker
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| Posted: 10 July 2023 at 4:42pm | IP Logged
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Not sure where that version came from, but it's also on TM GoldDisc 236 (differently-EQ'ed [kind of muddy], L&R reversed). Interestingly, the
other GoldDiscs that have this song use the more common mono version.
When we got our first Scott Studios system in 1993 for a soon-to-be classic rock station, it had this 2 track version loaded. We quickly
replaced it with the common version so it didn't sound like John was singing in a barrel.
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radiomichaels
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| Posted: 10 July 2023 at 8:18pm | IP Logged
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I just found probably 300-500 of these program discs.
Each one has about 10 songs in the clear on them in
addition to the 5 programs for a given week. Some look
like they were used quite a bit for airplay but I've only
run into a couple songs that have errors when ripping so
far.
There seems to be a variety of everything top 40 from the
50's through 70s and even a rare early 80s song. (a
couple billy joel 80s tracks) This will be a nice mostly
complete oldies library when I'm done ripping all these
to .wav files. It's almost as good and finding a stash of
gold discs that have been sitting away collecting dust
for years.
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LunarLaugh
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| Posted: 10 July 2023 at 8:35pm | IP Logged
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Artificial double-tracking, at that. Just a delay/pan effect on the vocal track.
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ChicagoBill
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| Posted: 11 July 2023 at 4:17pm | IP Logged
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Back in 1979, my good friend (and part-time employee/helper in my store), Mike, & I would be doing inventory work in the record store, and we
would have on in the background, "The Original Saturday Night Oldies" show on WFYR-FM 103.5 hosted by Dick Bartley. Mike would ask, "Why
doesn't he play more of the stereo recordings of the hits of late 50's through the 60's?" "He probably isn't aware", I answered. "Can we call
him up?" "They won't patch us through, let's plan to ambush him at his next personal appearance!". We went to some place in downtown Chicago,
where Bartley was hosting some event on a weeknight. I remember walking up to him and asking, "If you're so enthused about the quality of the
sound on your WFYR show, why do you still play the MONO version of Bobby Darin's 'Mack The Knife'"? "There's a STEREO version?" Mike had made
up a list of oldies that he had in stereo and better-quality sound than the ones Dick had. They exchanged phone numbers and that started a
friendship that lasted to the current day, even though I think Dick is now retired.
So, to answer 'RadioMichaels' initial question, "What was the source of the audio..." Sure, a lot may have come from Dick's personal
collection, but I would say most of the early Westwood One 'New Gold On CD' were sourced from Mike. -Bill.
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ChicagoBill
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| Posted: 11 July 2023 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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And just in case someone needed to know, I think the Stereo version of 'Bad Moon Rising' came from the 'Creedence
Gold' L.P.. -Bill.
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AndrewChouffi
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| Posted: 12 July 2023 at 5:43am | IP Logged
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ChicagoBill wrote:
And just in case someone needed to
know, I think the Stereo version of 'Bad Moon Rising' came
from the 'Creedence
Gold' L.P.. -Bill. |
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Yes, some later 'Creedence Gold' vinyl pressings were
accidentally the Quad mix pressings.
Andy
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Kerry Jackson
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| Posted: 13 July 2023 at 1:21pm | IP Logged
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I was happy to see this thread. Our station aired the
premier of New Gold On CD with Dick Bartley the week of
Jan.1, 1990. We continued to broadcast the daily 5
minute program thru the week of Dec. 21, 1998. We still
have all but about a dozen of the shows in our station
library. As Radiomichaels mentioned in the post above,
the program included several extra songs. Back in those
days, it was very helpful to have the "bonus" tracks in
the clear. Often, Dick would include 10 or more tracks
on each disc. And, the songs that were featured in the
daily program were generally the very best oldies with an
interesting story about each song or artist delivered in
Dick Bartley's friendly style. And, of course, the same
song was repeated on the cd in the clear for airplay if
needed.
The program actually provided a library of good oldies to
a small radio station with limited resources.
It's a personal coincidence for me to see this thread
because lately I've been listening to the programs and
learning from the stories that Bartley included about
each song. This, in my opinion was the best of the
syndicated oldies shows from back in the day.
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AndrewChouffi
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| Posted: 14 July 2023 at 4:50am | IP Logged
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Kerry Jackson wrote:
This, in my opinion was the best of
the syndicated oldies shows from back in the day. |
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Yes, this was great.
However, my personal favorite of Bartley's was "Solid
Gold Saturday Night".
The show was so good I would tape all 5 hours of it on
HiFi VHS while I was working in a dance club (sometimes I
would actually listen to part of the program on
headphones WHILE I was working in said dance club...)
I thought Bartley's delivery was outstanding; you could
tell he really enjoyed the music. But mainly, I enjoyed
hearing what cuts he had in stereo. I'll never forget
hearing things like "Rag Doll" in stereo for the first
time or nuggets like "Go Back (Crabby Appleton) in stereo
'cos I didn't own the album and I only remembered it from
AM radio.
Andy
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TallPaulInKy
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| Posted: 28 July 2023 at 6:38am | IP Logged
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I knew a guy who worked at a radio station that aired the
show. Back in those days, stations used banks of CD players
to play music off, before putting everything on a hard
drive. I borrowed some of the disks and dubbed me a couple
disks of favorites and rare stereo oldies.
Dick Bartley is still alive, just retired. There just isn't
much need for syndicated radio shows anymore.
I have purchased quite a few of his "Sold Gold Scrapbook"
shows on eBay. Excellent programs.
https://www.dickbartley.com/
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LunarLaugh
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| Posted: 29 July 2024 at 7:10pm | IP Logged
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I have a number of Bartley shows I recorded onto minidisc back in the early 2000s off-air (American Gold and Rock 'N' Roll's Greatest Hits). These days, I'm
tracking more of the actual discs sent out for syndication down to add to my collection.
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OldiesLover
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| Posted: 30 July 2024 at 9:56am | IP Logged
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I was friends with Dick Bartley also from his time in
Chicago. He was PD of WFYR and I was doing record promotion
for RCA. We developed a friendship that lasts still. When
Dick decided to put bonus tracks on his shows I was
involved from the beginning. A lot of the stereo came from
my collection and Dick and I would talk about what each of
us had of had access to. That's where our friend Mike, who
Chicago Bill mentions, had many special things that Dick or
I didn't have and contributed to those bonus tracks. I
think basically all of them were from vinyl. Some I
transferred and sent to Dick and a lot he had in his
collection.
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LunarLaugh
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| Posted: 30 July 2024 at 10:09am | IP Logged
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I think I remember reading a long time ago that the stereo mix of Aaron Neville's "Tell It Like It Is" that surfaced on a few CDs stemmed from one of Dick's old tape carts.
Edited by LunarLaugh on 30 July 2024 at 10:10am
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VWestlife
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| Posted: 30 July 2024 at 4:35pm | IP Logged
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One quirk about "New Gold on CD" is that the "in the clear"
music tracks weren't always the same as what was featured
on the show. Sometimes they'd play a live version or
alternate take on the show, but the music track would be
the normal album or 45 version of the song.
p.s. I was in a Wawa convenience store recently and I heard
them play that double-tracked/echoey version of CCR's "Bad
Moon Rising".
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OldiesLover
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| Posted: 31 July 2024 at 8:16am | IP Logged
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Dick's stereo "Tell It Like It Is" came from me. I had the
stereo album so I transferred the song from vinyl for Dick
so that's where the version he played came from. And that
was what was used on Dick's Varese CD. By the way I had a
professional reel to reel so I dubbed things, including
"Tell It Like It Is" at 15 ips.
Edited by OldiesLover on 01 August 2024 at 5:09am
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Topic: New Gold on CD Radio Program
