Post Free Form Z98 & WBUF FM Buffalo

***A note to air check traders. Please do not record these air checks and try and trade. I have the original tapes many of which I recorded myself and thus the authenticity can not be in doubt and can be easily traced.

WZIR FM ( Wizard Radio) was one of the best free form stations in the area but it only lasted for one year. The first clip is from the station that succeeded Wizard and is  from 1981. They had changed to a classic rock format and were previewing the new Neil Young album, Re-ac-tor. You can hear a station ID at 2:54 and a unidentified female announcer at the end.

WBUF FM was the longest lasting free form station in Buffalo and also a fantastic station in their prime. This clip is from 1979 and the station had changed to a regular AOR format. The clip features them playing 60’s music on a weekend special.  There’s two announcers on the clip but their identity is also unknown. This was the 60’s weekend but a few cuts from the 70’s are featured.

Note at the end the announcer promotes a show called Anything That’s Rock’n Roll hosted by Paul Hines. I used to listen that as it featured alternative music and still have a tape of music recorded off the show.  Sadly, like WCMF’s Import/Export show,  alternative  and non mainstream rock was relegated to special segments. I commend the station for playing oldies as I doubt that many current rock or classic rock stations would play some of the songs featured on the clip. I have maybe 90 more minutes of this broadcast that I will upload in the future.

Please let me know if you know the names of the announcers featured on these clips. Regarding the WBUF segment, the first name of each DJ is mentioned by the other. I have an idea about the first announcer, a Jock from the top 40 era, but I’m not certain as it does not jive with the first name that is mentioned.

6 thoughts on “Post Free Form Z98 & WBUF FM Buffalo”

  1. I was thinking about Wizard Radio the other day. I thought I would make another attempt to see if there is any information on the ”Leave It To Teddy” radio segments that used to run on WZIR. I recorded all of them and took them with me to college in Santa Fe. My friends in the dorm loved the show! This was back in 1982. Later while moving my mother offered to store things for me. When I returned a few months later to get them she had taken it upon herself to appraise my belongings and had thrown away my tapes. I am hoping that recordings still exist somewhere? Radiation Theater was the name of the group who were involved in making those clips. A guy who called himself ”Justin Case” was the announcer on the station. There were also Mighty Taco ads that featured Teddy.

    1. I taped other WZIR content and many of the characters you mentioned can be heard, at least briefly, on three or four different clips. I will try and update the links for you when I have time but you should be able to find them using the search function on the site.

    1. Yes Dave did host it and I think that might have been on WGRQ but if you listen at the very end of the BUF clip you will hear the DJ mention Paul Hines hosting it.

  2. Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. I am caught in a vicious cycle of work and thinking about my time off and sleeping when I get off of work only to remember all the things I didn’t do once I am back on Monday working. It brings back memories for sure. Radio is nothing like that today. If we listen to 97 Rock at work it is the same few songs in rotation. Thanks for posting. Once things return to normal I will seek out the Dave Edmunds stuff on vinyl.

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