Aircheck
July 17, 2021
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"Airchecks" are highlight / sizzle reels for radio personalities.
Some airchecks of older radio programs are highly prized by collectors due to their nostalgia value.
The oldest known surviving aircheck is a 1931 broadcast by Bing Crosby -- who was like The Rock + Beyonce of his era.
He led record sales, radio ratings, and movie grosses from 1930 to 1954 and has a whole THREE stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame ⭐️
His life was literally a movie:
Co-owned beaucoup businesses including the Pittsburgh Pirates
Dated Playboy bunnies after his wife died
Casually made a fortune from the Minute Maid Corporation -- in which he was a principal stockholder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute_Maid
In 1945 Minute Maid won a government contract worth $750,000 for 500,000 lbs of powdered orange juice for the war.
The war ended before the factory could be built so they used the investment to make, that's right:
concentrated orange juice 🤮
Sales floundered for years until Crosby was brought on to do a daily radio show to promote the company.
Now it's owned by Cola Cola and worth $2+ billion 💰
