Any town of size here, about 35 miles apart had one FM station, usually with call letters identical to the original AM station.
My formative years learning electronics and general workshop practices under the tutelage of my or my friends' 40-something Dads were all set to those "nice" and "easy" FM soundtracks. It was actually strange to hear the original song with vocals later. I especially remember what they did with the Beatles' tunes.
Imagine noise of a welder, grinder, drillpress, planer, saw, hammering, banging, cursing etc drowning out all other sound which stops suddenly, punctuated by instrumentals "raindrops keep falling on my head" or "El Paso" instead of silence.
The aroma of cigar and/or pipe smoke accompanied these sessions as usual.
Just like the Blues Brothers getting into the elevator after the huge chase scene into Chicago, sappy instrumental music playing....
When we finally got wise and connected a good tuner to a big antenna on the roof, it was all classic rock and blues from then on, meanwhile the easy listening music faded away in the early 80's in favor of "light adult contemporary" format.
Now, I actually miss elevator music......where did I put that LP of the Longines Symphonette
