Jon-Mark Arkives brings together recordings I’ve collected and made over the years—from family voices and wedding vows to music, radio, and everyday moments worth remembering. These audio files form part of the Historic Pillar of Topography, preserving the sounds and stories that give my history a voice. Some recordings reach back more than half a century; where possible, I’ve gently restored them to reduce noise while preserving their original character. Each recording offers a chance to listen again—to the people, places, and moments that shaped my life. Just like music audio files have “Album Covers” like we had for LP records and CDs. Electronic audio files have similar album covers. These are the ones I’ve been using with my audio tracks. One of these will pop up when you click on a downloaded or streamed audio file. Love the technology..
I use this album cover for music I’ve transferred from
R to R tape. Most of this music is over 60 years old and does not exist elsewhere.
Brass Menagerie from R to R
Ear on Arkansas from KAAY in the 60’s
When I worked at Channel 9 in the early 1970s, we prerecorded a daily children’s show called Bozo’s Big Top. One of its features was the gerbil race: Bozo picked a child from the audience, had them choose one of three gerbils, and at the sound of a start gun sent the little racers down a four-foot track with separate lanes. If the gerbil they chose crossed the finish line first, the child won a prize. My contribution was “gerbil music”—lively race music to crank up the excitement. It was great fun—until the day Bozo dropped the starting panel onto all three gerbils necks just as they took off, severing their heads in front of an audience of children. We were recording for air for the next day, but there was no editing what those kids had just seen. I’ll share several of those audio tracks with you, especially the Christmas ones.
“Deck The Halls”- With The Kentucky Gerbils
Gerbil Christmas Songs
Gerbil Gingle Bells
