for the best in stereo listening pleasure, stay tuned to WEZK

my dad has always been something of an audio nerd, though as an electrical engineer I think his love was more towards the equipment than the actual music. He bought his first CD player in the mid-80s when the selection of CDs was extremely thin and I heard his Pointer Sisters CD far more than any 9-year-old child should. But his love stretched much earlier than that, and in the early '70s he was the proud owner of a reel-to-reel recorder. At the time, these were the shit for home recording. I mean--you couldn't record onto vinyl and cassette tapes were still junk.

Honestly I never saw it used very often, so just after college I decided to claim the reel-to-reel for myself, along with the various reels he'd recorded over the years. Sucker weighed about fifty pounds and came with dozens of boxes with 5-inch audio reels labeled "Christmas 1983" and "Jim Croce". I planned to use it as an ad-hoc two-track recorder for writing songs, but I found the true value was in discovering the contents of the recordings he'd made over twenty years prior.

Among the gems were an interview with Ted Nugent on the former Detroit rock station WLLZ ("The Wheelz!") and instructions on financial management and investing. But the best find by far were recordings of the local easy listening station in Knoxville, Tennessee circa 1980. There was one whole reel (about two hours) of muzak versions of "Leavin' on a Jet Plane", "The Girl From Ipanema" and other favorites, along with the soothing voice of the announcer.

"your FM dial is set at 97 FM, WEZK. Easy. The home of relaxing music. Knoxville's first stereo station."

There were also commercials for the local White Store (who came up with that horrible name?):

"Pepperidge Farm frozen layer cakes; just $1.57 each!"

Another interesting bit was a news report on the fighting in Lebanon and the socialist achievements in Poland.

I listened to this over and over. It was especially delicious late at night in my apartment in Detroit with the streetlights flooding the front windows. It felt like a David Lynch movie with a wry sense of humor.

I later sold the reel-to-reel on ebay for $120. I know! Apparently there's still a market for outdated hi-fi equipment. People like my dad, out there with busted reel-to-reel players, wistfully holding treasured reels in their hands. But before I sold it I recorded the Knoxville Muzak into MP3s.

Are you having a hard day? Click on this link and be transported away to the home of relaxing music. Easy.