The musical changes that had begun the year before were fully realized with the release of the Beatles' landmark work, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' in June of 1967. No longer would albums be merely a collection of singles and filler material. The notion of an LP as a creative piece of art akin to a book forever changed the audio landscape in popular music.

The influence of the album was profound; other artists followed suit with wild experimentation and soon the Psychedelic Era was in full swing. Jefferson Airplane, the Strawberry Alarm Clock and others pushed the envelope of what was a Top 40 hit and enjoyed significant airplay, much of it on FM.

Pure Pop pleasure was hardly forgotten by the record buying public though. The Monkees, Turtles, Rascals and so forth pumped out two and a half minute gems at a rapid fire pace. DC's own, the British Walkers made the survey at #74 with, 'Shake'. The group was led by Bobby Howard (no relation to WPGC GM, Bob Howard) and was managed by the Poe Cat, Bobby Poe until they broke up in 1968.

Another American group with a British sounding name, the Buckinghams placed three hits in the survey while acts that were actually from the UK such as the Stones, Herman's Hermits and the Hollies charted multiple times throughout the year, the year of the Summer of Love. Scott McKenzie's ode to San Francisco and the Monterey Pop Festival confirmed undeniably that change (among other things) was in the air (what's that strange smell?).

WPGC Tribute Site contributor, Walt Bailey had grown up as a Teen in Arlington and recorded this tape from his home. At that age, it was clear he was more interested in capturing the songs than the DJ. For that reason this aircheck is a bit on the choppy side. But the historical significance of it outweighs that concern. He graciously donated this tape many years ago.

'Bob Peyton' was a house name used at WPGC. This was the third one (Bob Burian) who was hired by Program Director, 'Cousin Duffy' and took the name from TV's "Peyton Place". In this brief excerpt, he counts down #10 - #6 of the Top 100 hits of 1967 on January 1st, 1968.The Top 100 list Bob refers to that listeners could mail away for is seen above.

That's morning man, Harv Moore & someone else on the promo for the 'Lucky Birthday Game' on the 'Big PG'. Harv is also heard on the spot for a local car dealership. The 'Ken Dixon riddle time' was obscure trivia in a question & answer format which opened and closed the commercial.

Jingles are from from PAMS of Dallas. Speaking of which, you'll hear repeated '68's gonna be great' liners and jingles through the countdown. Little could they have known the ensuing year would be filled with unparalleled turmoil & upheaval.

The 'more music' battles typifying the era are evident in Bob's pledge of great things to come from the station in the coming year with 'more minutes of what you listen for' but was largely a perceptual thing as almost all stations were pretty much playing the same amount of music during the day and night (except for certain AM Daytimers that had to Sign-Off at dusk!).

And speaking of AM Sign-Off, listen for Bob's obvious attempt to wrap up the countdown by 5:15 PM, the sign off time in January for the AM (which was 100% simulcast with the FM that this aircheck originates from).

Bob is followed by 'J-A, the D-J', Jack Alix who had previously worked elsewhere in the market at WEEL, WEAM, and WYRE before being hired by WPGC Program Director, 'Cousin' Warren Duffy for nights on the FM. Jack's high energy performances were to be reckoned with, perfectly suited for his predominantly Teen audience.