When I was a kid (in Connecticut) I
listened to WOWO, 1190, in Fort Wayne, IN.
It was 50 kW omni, day and night. I loved that
station. It was fun "DX" and I liked the Top 40
music. (It was about 1970.)
Also on 1190 at that time was WLIB in New York City -
50 kW daytime only, I think. I used the WLIB daytime
signal to test AM radios in my West Hartford "listening post."
If the radio heard WLIB in the daytime, it was a good radio.
I tested a lot of "Äll American Fives" that way.
Anyway, time passed. A broadcast company bought both
WOWO and WLIB. They wanted WLIB to have a nighttime
signal. So they took WOWO and squashed it's nighttime pattern
such that - WOWO NEVER gets to Connecticut at night any more.
I haven't heard WOWO in 10 or 20 years. It's not audible here at
night. Not a trace of it.
This morning I was waiting for something else to
happen, and I decided to try to hear WOWO on
their day pattern. And YES there they were. It
was after my local sunrise. I knew WOWO was still
in darkness, and that they were in omni 50 kW daytime
authorization because of critical hours and the presunrise
power antenna regs. That made it work. Also, WLIB was
now mostly groundwave, I guess - not skywave.
WLIB, 1190, NY dropped in strength and I was able to null them
out. WOWO was just there, out in the open. Good signal for
about 15 minutes. And sometime before that, there was another
1190 coming in. This was about 1/2 hour after my local sunrise.
I was not able to ID that one.
Anyway, it was great to hear WOWO again. (A thrill for me, hopefully
this account isn't too boring.)
And after all of this time they still call WOWO: "WO WO." Just to clarify -
it rhymes with "GO GO."
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Yep, me too...mid 60s-70s listened to WOWO, WABC, WLS, WBT, from Toronto. Also another New York station, forgot call letters, but in 70s was playing all do-wop oldies every evening.
Back then the interference on AM was non existant. You could listen on a nice sounding tube radio with clean sound.
Can't now.
Except in power outage...no hydro, great AM(with a portable of course)
Mark
We have an 1190 station here with 10kW day and 22W night.
KQQZ is Killer Kountry, with transmitters in Illinois aimed across the Mississippi River into Missouri toward the south and slightly west.
It's a machine that plays music with no one on duty to say anything on the air.
This is the Center of North America.
Wow! 5 towers for a class D
that is basically a daytimer!
5 towers is expensive! I wonder if
they are making any money?
Are there any commercials?
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Carl, I just remembered that you
are a classical music fan.
You probably wouldn't be able to listen to
KQQZ for any length of time to answer
my above question.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
The word "genre" might have seemed sort of fancy years ago, but now the internet has made it a mainstream word for all the "kinds" of music and other programming.
I like most kinds of music, and in fact have cut back on classical because the world is serious enough without being reminded of it by serious music.
KQQZ is one of four AM stations owned by a wild and amazing man who lives in Illinois. Everyday he simulcasts on two of his stations for one hour telling local politicians to go to hell and calling them names.
Besides the country station, he has the only 60s oldies station in town, a station that was rythym & blues but lately went with a sports network, and finally a community type station that seems to be going Hispanic. I'm not sure how the sales are going on his stations. I would listen more, but I listen to KDX most of the time (which only has a small amount of classical and mostly talk).
I've just added a country-rock show on Saturday night called "Line Dancing With Pets On Leash."
What is your genre?
So Carl, it looks like you live in a pretty
interesting place for rado.
I understand what you mean about
listening to KDX mostly. When DOGRADIO 1690
was on, and when it was covering a large
area of this part of town, I was listening to it
almost all the time. I mainly listened to see
how my homemade automation system was
working. Because I had no computer, and
was using a lot of timers, cassette decks,
relays, power suppies and other pieces to
make it work - I was facinated by what it
would do. When things went wrong - it was
just as much fun as when everything worked
out OK.
Well - anyhow - it's good that there is a cool
guy running all of those AM stations. It
can't be easy. It must be a tremendous
amount of work.
And to Mark - I am trying to figure out
what other NY AM station you heard back
in those days. I'll start with one guess -
hows about WMCA on 570? The "WMCA Good Guys"
were a real big deal. I'll have to keep looking
at New York AM stations from that time period.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Did I spell it right?
In answer to your other question Carl -
my son is a wonderful musician who
attends the Berklee school of music
in Boston.
How does this tie in to your question?
Well years ago, I only listened to jazz
and the Top 40 hits of my youth. I
got them all on ITunes. Zillions of
them.
However, as my son grew up and showed
me his love for music - I found that there
is so so much to putting ANY song together.
Especially if it is to be recorded.
Now, because of my son, I listen to all
kinds of music. Also, my daughter was a
fantastic flute player. I am still very very sad
that she stopped playing the flute. She was
an incredible talent herself - but she just went
on to other things. My feelings for classical
music increased when I heard her play, and
I now have some knowlege of classical
music - and although I don't know much -
there is quite a bit that I like - especially
Coplin. (Although I know he is a comparatively
recent entry in the timeline.)
Carl, I'll have to try to hear your new show.
I tried to listen to KDX and several other
Part 15ers here that stream - on my wife's
Smartphone. We are missing something.
It didn't work. It would be wonderful to
listen to all of the Part 15 streaming stations
from this group - out in the car. We seem
to spend a lot of time in the car! Too much
time. It sure would be better than "KC-101,"
my wife's favorite station. How much Robin
Thick (sp?) can you hear until you want to
jump off of a cliff without a hang glider?
Or perhaps a rocket pack pointed straight
down? I actually think he's sort of OK. But the station
plays his one song about 3 times an hour!
I guess that's why Part 15 and other alternative
radio is here. Our local University of Hartford
WWUH 91.3 is very good. I did "Morning Jazz"
on that stationn 30 years ago. 30 years?
Oh no...
Bruce, DOGRADIO