The WBCN broadcast

Tapes of the January acetate were broadcast by more than one US radio show in the
late-summer of 1969. Boston-based WBCN played the whole of the acetate�s contents
(for some reason starting with the second half) on Monday 22 September, their stereo
broadcast in turn being recorded in decent fidelity, tapes of which survive.
Almost the entire radio show has been made available on bootleg in more recent
years, and is a pleasing listen. The DJ sets up the show by introducing, �the Beatles�
next, next album called Get Back�. Although referencing a tape reel from an untitled
acetate, he nonetheless identifies the working title of the album, which would have
been common knowledge by then. The show commences with an audio mess-up, the
broadcast marred by some unwanted noise over �Let It Be�, which has to be re-cued
while adverts are read out.
By and large, as the show progresses, the presenters take a low profile, not
interrupting the music, and not speaking over the intros/outros. Consequently very
little from the acetate is missing, with even the between-song silence broadcast intact
� all of which was perfect for the subsequent bootleggers! The show aired roughly
between 6:30 pm and 9:00 pm, with an hour-long break from the Beatles during
proceedings (not on tape). Most of the Get Back album was broadcast in the first part,
but a couple of tracks were held back for the second.
What�s doubly fascinating with hindsight is that this radio show unveiled to the wider
audience not just Get Back but also most of side 2 of Abbey Road (though not in
sequence), an album not due for release in the States for a further nine days. (The
radio station will have had an advance promo copy.) One can only imagine how
marvellous it must have been to the lucky listeners tuned in that night � imagine
hearing for the first time, �She Came In Through The Bathroom Window�, �I�ve Got
A Feeing�, �The Long and Winding Road�, �Here Comes The Sun�, one after another.
The radio presenters are aware that another broadcast was made a couple of days
earlier by a station in Buffalo, New York, though don�t seem to realise this was a
different set of recordings (WKBW had aired the actual Get Back acetate, rather than
this January prototype). In joking about the naughtiness of putting out as-yet
unreleased material, the DJ warns listeners: �If you�re taping this off the radio,
someone�s going to come to your house and say, �listen, I�m sorry, you can�t play that
album in your house.�.�
Nevertheless, from the tapes of the broadcast, the first-ever Beatles bootleg was
derived (or, to be precise, it was the first containing previously unissued songs), Kum
Back emerging in the autumn of 1969.

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