06/11/2026
A little DJ/club culture history 🎶 📖
From the personal collection of Abigail Adams , this slipmat with the FCC call letters “WRKS KISS FM” inscribed at the top was used on the Technics 1200 turntable at Movin’ Records in East Orange, NJ from roughly the mid-1980s until the store closed in 1994.
As Abbie tells it, this mat belonged to Wang Smith (far right in the second photo), a Movin’ employee who assisted the great Tony Humphries in making sure his KISS FM mixes made it on air. Wang’s name is faded out at the bottom. The turntable at Movin’ needed a mat, so he left it there.
Tony and Shep Pettibone, who I’ll be paying tribute to at Lovesick on Saturday, made their names on the airwaves of 98.7 KISS FM. Together, they soundtracked New York City in the early 1980s before they became two of the most influential DJs, remixers, and producers of all-time. To use a mat that Tony used is an honor and I’m excited to bring the magic of KISS FM to Asbury on Saturday 🪩 💋 🍷
asburypark
