I am really tired of getting screwed over.  Effective immediately, if you have not traded with me before, I will not send you airchecks until you FIRST send them to me.  I just don't have the time or the money to waste on people who do not come through. For reliable traders, I apologize for the inconvenience.

I always follow through on my trades.  If you have any concerns, feel free to contact any of my regular trading partners.  (see my links page)

Guidelines and rules for trading:

My primary interest in trading is airchecks that bring back my past.  For me, that is recordings of New York City area stations from 1971-1990.  But, I'm very interested in any aircheck that you have prior to 1990.  Lately, I've become fascinated with old time radio broadcasts from the 1930's and 1940's, so tell me what you have, it may very well interest me!

For present day airchecks, I prefer out-of-the ordinary stations.  If you go on vacation to Hawaii, I want!  I want! some airchecks!  Especially the Hawaiian music stations.  This is not to say that I'm not interested in other domestic markets, it's just not my first choice.

I endeavor to make the best quality recordings that I can.  To that extent, I have put a FM yagi antenna on my roof to point at the station to get the best reception I can.  Please check my "FM tapeables" list for reception quality.  Note that signal strength can vary from day to day and from month to month.  If your station shows as sub par, contact me anyway, as I travel often.

Old aircheck quality varies.  Some of the tapes I've traded for sound excellent, while others have lost quality over the years (or from too many dubs).  My own personal collection was just fair prior to 1980.   I will do my best to get you the best quality copy that I can (without trying to remaster the tapes).

Please don't use high-speed dubbing for tape transfers unless you use a very high end commercial quality tape dubbing machine.  There is too much loss in tape quality when using high-speed dub features on most home stereo systems.

For tapes, I always use standard, name brand tapes, my preference is Maxell's or TDK's.  I prefer Maxell's because they are held together with screws and not bonded together.  Other name brands are acceptable as long as they are quality cassettes.

I like to get my tapes with a label on them indicating the station, city, frequency, DJ if known, and date.  If you know the time, throw that on too. 

Generally, I don't send tape cases.  I've done that in the past and found that the cases tend to get cracked.  If you really want them, then let me know, but it's easier if you just hold on to your cases for the return tapes.

I try to trade minute for minute.   Oh, that doesn't mean exactly, but roughly.   That could mean that I send you 2 x 90minute tapes for 3 x 60 minute tapes.

I am very flexible with all of the above, and should you wish to do something differently, let's talk about it.  But, in lieu of us mentioning this, this is what I will expect from you.

Finally, I will guarantee what I send you.  Should something be screwed up with the tape or CD I send, let me know and I'll get it fixed.

---  Now for the ugly part:

As my collection has grown, I've been hearing from many people.  That's great, I'm thrilled that you'd like to trade with me, and I'm happy to do so with you.  Unfortunately, this has increased the number of deadbeats that I've come across.

So, I need to put some rules in place.  I hate rules, and I really hate to do this.  But, I've wasted way too much of my own time, energy, and money all too often.

Please don't suggest a trade if you're not ready to.  We all have life situations that pull us in all directions.  Be realistic.  When things slow down for you, then suggest a trade.  I plan to be around, and will be happy to trade with you then.  If you want to send me a heads-up hello message, that's fine.  But, please, let me know what's going on, and set expectations correctly.  I appreciate this.

If you haven't traded with me, I will limit the number of tapes that I will trade with you and will not send any tapes until I receive yours.  We can always trade more in the future.

You know the statement... a little respect goes a long way.   Thanks .