The Radio Kitchen

So, after a rainy, splashy, traffic-tangled drive out of the city and up the New York Thruway I set up camp on my friend’s porch by 10:30 Friday night and powered up the Degen. After noodling around a bit, I decided the 31 meter band sounded promising. So I switched on the recorder and started up from the bottom of the band. And there was PLENTY to hear. Although I scanned and recorded through the night and Saturday late as well, this was the best stretch of reception I ran into the whole weekend. Have a listen…

 This recording starts at 10:34 pm EDT (0234 UTC)

Segment 1-31 Meter Band (9345 to 9610 kHz) 06-02-06  31:19

(download)

9345 – KOL Israel

It seemed like a good omen hearing soulful old Albert King at the onset of this scan. A solid (though phasey) signal from Jerusalem. After Mr. King plays the blues, and then there’s a brief announcement in Hebrew (mentioning John Lee Hooker) which leads into a 70′s groove rock number.

9365 – (Not sure)

Very faint, and not in English. Sounds Chinese perhaps, certainly not English. China does broadcast on this frequency, but not at this time as far as I can tell. Another suspect might be a VOA in Kuwait, and other Middle Eastern countries have supposedly been found on at 9365 kHz as well. Any readers have a clue on this one?

This is difficult listening. Turn it up and drive somebody out of the room. As the announcer drones on, a distorted adjacent station is all over the signal. As I turn the dial, you hear the distortion become clear American hyperbole, just 5kHz up…

9370 – WTJC – Fundamental Broadcasting Network
(North Carolina, USA)

Wow. This is some heavily stylized preachin’ here. While it saddens me that shortwave in the U.S. is overrun with evangelical claptrap and Bible content, there is certainly some compelling content (like that Adam & Eve soap opera in my last post).

The first thought in my head when I hear this character’s bizarre phrasing and hyperbolic delivery is it sounds like some over-the-top parody or cartoon (and what a muscular larynx!). But it’s for real. It’s easy to miss the authenticity in this kind of thing when you’ve just heard the reverberations as dramitic and comedic cliches over the years. Like an auctioneer or carnival barker, this guy is practicing a long standing oral craft. But to be fair, the purpose is to scare the shit out of you and drive you to succumb to an alleged higher power (and not to lure you into taking a peek at the pig-boy in the booth).

9420 – Voice of Greece

Greek pop, I guess. Folky and funky. A nice signal beaming in from almost 5000 miles away. Then there’s an announcer for a minute or two, and I turn to…

9440 – Radio Slovakia

Sounds like a male and female team giving schedule information in an Eastern European language.

9505 – WFYR Family Radio

It’s Harold Camping, a co-founder of Family Radio, and the leader of the Christian radio network for nearly fifty years. Along with Gene Scott and Brother Stair, Mr. Camping’s voice is instantly familiar to anyone who spends a little time listening to shortwave radio in North America (and perhaps the Western Hemishpere). Without the histrionics of fire and brimstone  provided by the old coot we heard a few minutes before this, he’s still offering the same choice to the listener– you want Jesus or this lake of fire?

Although once popular with many Christian broadcasters and assorted church leaders and their flocks, Camping’s Family Radio doesn’t have so many friends in the broader Jesus community these days. Seems it all started when he started prognosticating the end of the world. When one particular predicted apocalypse didn’t occur (September 15, 1994), Camping put his own significance on the date anyway, claiming the “church age” was over, and right-thinking believers should get their preachin’ and prayin’ via the radio from now on (and now the internet as well). Well, this pissed off a LOT of believers. And since Camping has gotten progressively more goofy, Family Radio seems be suffering from a bit of financial trouble and has lost a few stations. Churches who used to broadcast on Family Radio are long gone now, and the stern lectures and reprisals of Harold Camping have filled the gaps. A few times I’ve heard at least two separate Camping broadcasts on simultaneous shortwave frequencies at the same time.

And he never sounds very happy.

9515 – WHRI (World Harvest Radio)

A loud clear boring contemporary Christian pop song (in English). The Jesus rock stuff tries hard to sound so MOVING. Barf, I say.

9520 – VOA (Voice of Ameica)

From a relay site in Hungary. Some European language.

9535 – Radio Exterior de Espana (Spain)

Classical music, then the ID in Spanish. Quite clear and snappy from across the Atlantic.

9550 – Radio Habana Cuba

A lousy signal here in upstate New York. In Spanish.

9560 – (Not sure, CRI?)

Cute music box.. an interval sound perhaps, but for what station? As you hear, it suddenly died. Probably the end of a broadcast. I suspect this was China, or some other country relaying their signal from Sackville, Canada. While it lasted, it was VERY clear.

9570 – China Radio International

From Albania, or Cuba this time, in a Chinese language.

9590 – Radio Netherlands

In Spanish.

9600 – RNV (Radio Nacional de Venezuela)?

Either that or Radio Rebelde, either way it’s Spanish, and probably originating from Cuba.

9610 – (Not sure)

Don’t know what this is, and it’s an English language broadcast with narrative content and a station in another language is munching on the signal. From what I can ascertain, it may be the BBC coming from the Republic of Seychelles, an island Nation in the Indian Ocean. Or maybe something else. Anyone have a clue?

There you go, that was one side of a sixty minute cassette. This scan goes much longer, and I’ll continue it next week.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

While the 1103 seems to be both a groundbreaking and relatively inexpensive (less than $100) SW portable, Degen has a higher end receiver in the pipeline that’s got a lot of radio geeks twitching in anticipation. It’s the Degen 1108, a larger and more substantial portable offering SW/AM/FM/LW (and air band) with two four inch speakers AND the ability to record radio as MP3 files! (Now THAT sounds like a good idea.) And, of course it plays MP3′s as well. There’s plenty more bells and whistles being integrated into this thing, and it seems like the designers are actively considering the desires of shortwave radio listeners. It sounds like it could be quite a rig. You can read more details here. The Degen 1108 (Chinese model) is supposed to be available by the end of this year, and an International/American (probably branded as “Kaito”) version should follow shortly. I have not been able to find any pictures of a DE1108 prototype online yet. If you’re really interested in this radio, there’s already a Yahoo group established with ongoing discussions about the possibilities and potentials of this new receiver.

In the meantime, here’s an early evening band scan from Easter Sunday 2006 traversing the dial with my BCL-2000. I had jumped around on different bands trying to figure out where to listen, balancing out trying to find a busy spread as well as figuring out where I had the best chance of getting over the inherent RF noise of my Brooklyn apartment. 31 meters seemed to offer a decent scan and not as much noise, so at around 6:43 EDT (or 2243 UTC) I hit record and jumped in around 9200 kHz and started up the dial. And here’s what happened.

Segment 1-31 Meter Band (9355 to 9555 kHz) 04-16-06  19:03

(download)

9355 – EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network

In Spanish. Sounds rather holy, but it’s Easter for Christ’s sake.

9400 – KOL Israel

In Hebrew, I believe. Two men, one interviewing another on the phone. Sounds like serious business. Probably a political discussion.

9420 – Voice of Greece

Lots of loose RF stepping on this signal, with a gentleman speaking at a rapid pace, all which makes this broadcast sound even more Greek to my ears.

All the noise at this frequency is just awful. What’s broadcasting this mess? My refrigerator? The fuse box? Some power tools down the street? Whatever it is it’s got me looking forward to sitting on the porch of my friend’s house upstate listening to low volume signals like this accompanied by silence.

9505 – RDP Internacional Portugal

Quite a bit of noise here too, however the man and woman speaking here sound much more relaxed than the announcers on the last two frequencies.

9545 – Deutsche Welle

A steady stream of German speech. It doesn’t sound like news.

9550 – Radio Habana Cuba or Radio Rebelde, Cuba (?)

A fairly clear signal, male and female tag team announcers. At first I thought that this might be China or Vietnam broadcasting in Spanish. But it’s just a little too late for the Spanish broadcast from Vietnam and the Chinese transmissions on this frequency emanate from China and would be unlikely to come in this strong on my setup in Brooklyn. It sounds to me like the announcers may be giving out program schedule information. And from the clarity, I’m betting it’s Cuba. Both of these networks are said to broadcast at this frequency. Any enlightenment on this one would be appreciated.

9555 – The Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A half million watts from all way from the Arabian Peninsula. I’ve never heard any English broadcasts from Saudi Arabia on shortwave. As I was writing this I started listening to this webstream– their European service broadcasting in English. I heard an editorial about how Western style “democracy” doesn’t work in Islamic countries and how it sets free the “animal appetites.” Unfortunately, once I realized it was pretty interesting stuff I wasn’t able to get a recording setup together before his calm and deliberate diatribe gave way to some rather pedestrian techno rock. 

Listening to this anti-Western editorial make me think of two things. For one, there really are still a lot of interesting radio broadcasts to be found on the internet (IF you’re willing to suffer through some dodgy sounding digital compression). This site has been a good portal for “scanning” international radio on the internet for ten years now.

Secondly, the editorial I heard further illuminates the paradoxical relationship between the Bush Regime and their good friends in the Saudi government. The state-sponsored broadcast I heard was the antithesis of support for the supposed “democracy” that Bush seems to think we’re fostering in Iraq. Anyway, back to the band-scan.

Here in phase-ridden (and occasionally fading) lo-fi is an extended 12 and a half minutes of vintage Egyptian pop music. I took the tape to a couple of my Yemeni friends down at the local bodega and they recognized one of the songs immediately. And they were both quite effusive about the greatness and beauty of the number. And I had to agree. I understand I’ll now be getting a dub of the guy’s greatest hits next weekend. Nice.

As you can hear, the broadcast from Saudi Arabia ends abruptly without notice right at the top of the hour. It’s seven p.m. local (EDT) time here, 2300 UTC

In the next chapter– either more of this recording, or I’ll jump to a band scan of the 25 meter band from the same evening which might have been more interesting. Or maybe that little Degen will arrive from China, and I’ll hop on that little horsey and go for a ride. We’ll see..

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

As far as content, what you’ll get in this bandscan is (in most ways) less than compelling. It’s more about radio reception itself, and what the lonely end of the AM band sounds like from New York City at night. If you’re tickled by the sound of a dozen or more distant radio stations buzzing together at once then you’re going to enjoy this audio sampling.

There is nothing amazing or profound here and it’s not easy listening. Some DXers love to dig into these less popular AM frequencies and seek out the teeny transmissions out in the noise. This can take plenty of skill and patience, and good equipment and antennas can make all the difference.

The reception in this recording is accomplished with my trusty Panasonic RF-2200. Since it’s an analog rig I verified a number of these frequencies with a nearby digital receiver– a Sangean ATS-505. And unless there was loud local bleed over from another frequency, the old Panasonic had a much better grasp on the reception. The RF-2200 (even in Brooklyn) is a hearty performer on medium wave.

More than any other band scan I’ve offered in this series, this is a real noisefest. While I do hope that many readers download and check out the audio provided in these posts, I should admit that this particular scan may only be of interest to those who ears are attuned to dodgy AM reception. And while I think I’ve offered some pretty compelling and unusual broadcasting in this series, the content here isn’t really the point. It’s the lonesome sound of the forgotten end of a nearly forgotten broadcast band in the middle of the night.

However, for a strange guy like me there’s still a musicality in barely making out a voice in a sea of unintelligible signals, as well as just being awash in a multitude of extremely faint radio stations all at once. And this experience is unique to AM radio. No where on the FM or shortwave dial can you hear so many stations simultaneously. And for me personally, there’s something promising in the electronic hubbub. It means I’m listening to a sensitive AM radio, and that I may hear a station or program I’ve never heard before.

I assure you, if digital broadcasting one day usurps analog amplitude modulation on medium wave the sound of multitudes of stations offering incomplete digital data on frequencies like these is going to offer something much more raw and much less human. That said, I’m not convinced this will ever happen, but if it does DXing will never be the same.

Brooklyn Late Night Medium Wave Scan 04-10-06 (1220 to 1450kHz)  23:04

(download)

1220  – WHKW Cleveland, OH

Just to the right of WHPT in Philadelphia I found this. Something about Jesus and school. Maybe some information about the ongoing sadistic war on Christianity. In this mess I also hear reference to Pat Robertson’s evil “American Center for Law & Justice,” sort of like the anti-ACLU which basically works to protect the rights of theocrats and their kind, not human beings in general. I believe this is a rebroadcast of the ACLJ’s “Jay Sekulow Live!”

Although this is a 50,000 watt station it’s a very directional signal aiming north and south and not easy to hear out on the east coast. When I was a kid this was WGAR, a normal radio station. Actually, this frequency in Cleveland has gone through quite a few changes in the last couple decades, which you can read about here.

1230 & 1240 – Nothing But Noise

Quickly skipped over. Really couldn’t hear anything over the background roar.  In fact these two frequencies (along with 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490 kHz) are known as “graveyard frequencies.” Originally known as “local channels,” these frequencies were allotted to very low power stations to serve local communities. Before 1960 a station broadcasting at these spots on the dial could only put out 250 watts. These days they’re allowed to play with up to 1000 watts.

1250 – WMTR Morristown, NJ

With a crowd of distant stations pulsing in the background, you hear a lo-fi rendering of the beginning of an insurgent 60′s hit by the Spencer Davis Group. Back in the 70′s and 80′s the AM dial was teeming with oldies stations like this. No longer. The ones that are left are mostly on FM these days, and often try to skew their programming too a slightly younger crowd by dumping MTV-era pop into the mix. While I don’t tune in WMTR very often, I don’t believe they’ve done that yet.

It’s only thirty some miles away, but their nighttime 7000 watts isn’t all that impressive here in Brooklyn. It’s a little better during the day, and once you get across the Hudson and into New Jersey reception improves pretty quickly. Considering that New York City no longer has an “oldies” radio station or ANY English language music formats on the AM dial, I’ll bet there’s probably a few diehard folks in the city who remember the heyday of AM Top 40 stations like WABC and WMCA and keep a little radio near the window tuned to hear Fats Domino and the Dave Clark Five on WMTR.

1260 – Nothing Intelligible

1270 – Nothing Intelligible (plus WADO bleeding into the frequency)

1280 – WADO New York, NY

This has been a Spanish language news and talk station in New York City for over forty years. It’s coming in strong, and you get the ID with a little music.

1290 – Nothing Intelligible (WADO bleeds into this frequency as well)

1300 – A Jumble of Stations

This is typical of frequency stops where there’s no local station. Just how many layers of distant radio signals are piled on top of one another here in this throng of sound? What’s interesting to me is that it seems that it seems to be a dozen or more male voices talking at once. Which shouldn’t be surprising, since that’s what most of AM radio is these days– the sound of so many men talking. Years ago, this type of accidental collage would have been mostly music with a few voices all pulsating together.

1310 – A Jumble of Stations

Another mass of voices, not as loud as the mob at 1300 kHz.

1320 – Nothing Intelligible (WADO bleeds into this frequency as well)

1330 – WWRV New York, NY (Radio Vision Cristiana)

Christian propaganda in Español coming in strong with a reverb sheen and soothing music. Strangely enough, this station is rebroadcast with a monster transmitter from the Carribean and can be received locally in New York at 540 kHz as well (which I had mentioned in this post). Christian broadcasting, it’s relentless.

1340 – Another Jumble of Distant Stations

This is another one of those “graveyard frequencies.”

1350 – Another Jumble

Another mess of stations, but with a sappy adult contemporary ballad faintly leading the pack.

1360 – Another Jumble of Stations

1370 – Jumble

However, there seems to be two stations in front on this frequency. One or both seem to be playing commercials. And it’s just a few minutes after 3 am at this point, a typical time for spots after or during the news. I think I hear a violin in there somewhere.

1380 – WKDM New York, NY

A mambo! This frequency in New York has been broadcasting in a number of languages (mostly Spanish) since the 1960′s and has a few call letter changes as well. It’s currently a “ brokered” ethnic station, meaning people who speak languages than English buy blocks of programming to do their thing. Obviously, it’s Spanish here and a bit nostalgic as well.

1390 – Another Jumble of Stations

Many stations here again. Could that be CCR ever so slightly sticking out atop this pulsating audio slop?

1400 – Unknown Talk Station

Coming in very poorly on this graveyard frequency, it’s a right-wing female talk host spouting off about the immigration bill in the Senate. Not much to go on here, but a little detective work leads me to think this might be WSTC in Stamford, CT or WWGE in Loretto, PA, or maybe something else.

1410 – KQV Pittsburgh, PA

Some patient dial manipulation and antenna tweaking pulled this one up out of another frequency pile up. In fact, in a moment of DX happenstance the station seems to come in at it’s strongest right when they give the ID. This was a successful top 40 station for many years, and now it’s all news all the time. Oh, and El Rushbo was a hotshot rock jock here years ago too.

1420 – Jumble

More messy reception with a nice heterodyne whine for your pleasure.

1430 – WNSW Newark, NJ

Not coming in as well as usual, this is another brokered (mainly ethnic) station at this end of the dial in NYC. And they’re playing some sweet Spanish ballads. Sounds Mexican to me, but what do I know.

Earlier in the evening you can hear big band/standards stalwart Danny Stiles on this frequency playing old and moldy classics and rarities. And via the miracle of minidisc recording he also broadcasts late in the night on a stronger frequency in the city on sister station WPAT at 930 AM.

1440 – Unknown Christian Station

Not coming in very well. A creepy preacher carrying on. Something about a human conspiracy (is there any other kind?) in ancient Rome. Don’t really know what this is. I suppose it could be WNYG out on Long Island, but offering only 38 watts after sunset that seems unlikely.

1450 – One More Messy Jumble of Stations

One more stop in the graveyard. Absolutely nothing to hear at this frequency except that fact that somewhere out there a whole bunch of stations are using up electricity.

That’s it for my impromptu scan of the upper end of the AM band. Considering the fact that my apartment is less than five miles from 50,000 watt WQEW at 1560 kHz the next few frequencies are polluted by the Radio Disney garbage they spew into the atmosphere. The signal is so strong that it bleeds into my stereo system if there’s bad connection and you can hear the station by just picking up the pay phone down the street.

During the 1990′s, WQEW was the home of damn good standards/nostalgia station, but in 1998 the owners of the license (The New York Times) saw fit to rent out this wide-coverage clear channel frequency to the freaks at Disney/ABC for their automated kiddie format. Those guys at the Times are such visionaries.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

That said, a large plurality, if not a majority, of AM radio and shortwave programming in America is pure propaganda– mostly Christian and/or pro-Republican. But like I said, it’s not just about commercials and "prayer offerings." It’s about the power of broadcasting “the word.” And even if the result is repulsive, at times it’s also fascinating. In the end, FM is “background” radio, and AM and shortwave is typically “foreground.” Either you listen, or you don’t hear it. You’re not just being entertained, you’re being engaged.

For the most part, I interact with the radio like normal people. At least when the sun is up. I tune in to specific stations and programs I like, listen, and go about my day. However, some evenings I turn on a radio to go exploring. Unlike FM (and TV for that matter), transmissions on the AM band (also known as “medium wave”) and the shortwave radio bands bounce off the upper layers of the atmosphere, and stations can be received from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. And as far as reception, the night time really is the right time.

While I’m not going to get into a lot of technobabble about things I barely understand myself (you can follow links I’m providing to learn more), I can explain the basic experience of listening to distant signals on medium and shortwave bands. For one thing, the ionosphere (the layers of the atmosphere the radio signals bounce off of) is a big strange and constantly changing thing. But it’s during the hours of darkness that the ionosphere has maximum reflectivity, and it’s the very best time to hear broadcasts from afar.

While there are a number of influences on what increases or decreases the reflectivity of radio waves on the ionosphere, the most significant factor is space weather. And the main force behind that is what’s happening on the sun, most specifically sunspots (and the 11-year sunspot cycle). Like I said, read up if you like, but the main affect a casual listener to these bands will notice is that the propagation of the broadcast stations varies quite a bit. In other words, on any given night you may find a station you’ve never heard before at that frequency, or you may not be able to find one you’ve found there before. It’s kind of a sport that way.

In fact, this “sport” has a name. It’s called DXing– the art of seeking and receiving far off broadcasts. While it’s not as popular as it once was, those who DX seriously spend A LOT of time and money on equipment to bag those distant transmissions. I’m way out of their league. I just play with a few portables when I get a chance and see what comes my way. If you want to get an idea of how serious DXing can really get, check out this guy’s log of AM stations he’s picked up over the years from San Diego.

The DXing hobby can get as exotic or quixotic as you can imagine. However anybody with a fairly sensitive AM radio can hear a fair number of “clear channel” AM stations broadcasting across the country. Traditionally, the FCC let these stations broadcast their full 50,000 (the maximum in the U.S. & Canada) of medium wave carrier on one frequency all to themselves. In the 80's, the FCC opened the rules up a bit and most clear channel stations now share their allotted frequency. Other stations at their point on the dial either use directional (and often lower power) broadcasting at night, or they're just far enough away to not interfere with the the multi-state coverage of the original clear channel outlet. There’s a list of these clear channel AM stations here and here. New York City, the nation’s largest radio market, also has more of these high power AM stations than any other city in the country (WFAN, WOR, WABC, WCBS, WBBR and WQEW).

While you can hear a lot of stations on the AM dial on any given night in New York City, it is NOT an ideal locale for DXing. For one, there’s too many locals, especially those six clear channel stations which splatter into adjoining frequencies. For example, WCBS blasting at 880 Khtz makes it nearly impossible to hear WLS at 890 (another clear channel station in Chicago), or to be able to pull in another powerful station on the other side of the frequency (WWL New Orleans, LA at 870 AM).

I live so close to clear channel WQEW (now “Radio Disney”) that their inane programming occasionally comes in over the phone line. And if I have a bad cord coming out of my mixer goddamn Radio Disney weasels its garbage programming right into my sound system. Tuning across the AM & shortwave dial, “images” of mouse-eared WQEW show up all over the place. In general, it's torture.

Also, there's RF everywhere. What does that mean? Anywhere human beings setup camp, especially a city, there’s all sorts of infrastructure and gadgets broadcasting noise at various frequences, all the time. Ever notice that “FCC” sticker on your electronic toys? It's because on some level the thing broadcasts. Even wiring in general can make noise on your radio. And dimmer switches blast crackles and pops every which way. And your monitor, computer, printer and power supplies all emit static, buzzes and whines into the airwaves. You get the idea. And your neighbors have the same kind of stuff running too. It's radio spectrum pollution.

So if you’re going to try your luck with AM reception in the city, get away from your gadgets. Near a window is a good idea, and outside is even better. Often car radios have very good AM reception. Boomboxes often have sensitive radios, and most receivers with shortwave bands have decent AM reception too. In general (but not always), the older and bigger the radio the better. An don't forget that old tube radios can sound MUCH much better on the AM band. And unless you have a fancy digital radio, stay away from digital tuning. They're often less sensitive, and not nearly as much fun to tune. But a lot of radios can surprise you with their reception. Just try spinning slowly through the AM dial in the mid to late evening, and if you hear a number of faint stations in between the clear ones, and if you find spots where you hear 2 or 3 stations fading in on top of each other, you’ve got a sensitive receiver in your hands.

Oh, and one other important factor in tuning in distant AM and shortwave stations is the antenna itself. Just like tuning in FM, focusing in on problematic shortwave signals requires adjusting the antenna by pulling up the attached aerial and moving it around until the signal comes in the best. But AM is different. The antenna for that band is actually a ferrite bar inside the radio itself, usually right underneath the top of the unit. Adjusting the antenna for AM reception is accomplished by physically turning the radio around. Some DXing geeks actually utilize a lazy susan for this purpose. Now and then you can get a readable signal on two or even three stations at one frequency by moving the radio gradually around in a circle.

As far as serious listening, it’s when I’m able to get out of the city that I really spend some time sampling the medium and short wave spectrum. I’ve specifically taken some camping vacations in the north woods under dark skies where the radio reception is clear and I get a sky full of stars as a bonus. It’s really a big change when I tune to a shortwave band and there’s near dead silence between stations. In the city, I usually have to hope the signal will overcome the inherent noise floor. Many of the weaker stations don’t make it over that hump.

During the Thanksgiving holiday I spent a couple of days in the Hudson Valley with relatives, and on Friday night I turned on the radio and noticed the reception on AM seemed pretty good. I picked up WWL in New Orleans more easily than usual. So later, after everyone was in bed I plugged in my headphones, hooked up a cassette deck and slowly scanned the AM dial to hear what was out there.

More suburban than rural, the area I was in is about halfway between Albany and New York City. The RF noise was tolerable. I brought one of my favorite radios, a small early 80's Sony 9 band analog portable (ICF-7600A). By the end of the 80's most of the better portable receivers went to digital tuning, which has many advantages, but when it comes to scanning the dial nothing beats the ability to finely tune signals with an analog knob. They don’t make analog portables like this anymore. This radio is a little heavy and feels like a finely tuned instrument in your hands, and can be found with some regularity on ebay for 25 to 70 bucks, depending on condition.

I started listening around midnight. But this recording is not completely in real time, as I stopped the tape a couple of times, and made a few edits. But the MP3 segment I’m posting here is a recording of the beginning of a journey through the AM dial that night, starting at the bottom at 530 kilohertz and working my way to 750 kilohertz. If I stay longer on a station I’m either trying to tune it in better or just identify it. Or maybe I found the broadcast interesting, or was grabbing a cold beer.

So, I’m not going to link the audio to every frequency, but if you stream this MP3 and follow along, it should all be pretty self-explanatory. You can also download it with the link provided.

Segment 1 – Hudson Valley AM Radio 11-25-05 (530 to 750 AM)  15:15

(download)

530 – Radio Vision Cristiana, Turks & Caicos (W.Indies)

I hear this all the time in the city, and I didn’t think it was from so far away until I looked it up. The signal itself may be coming from the Carribean, but the content is from the Bronx. It’s Jesus-type broadcasting, in Spanish. Sometimes the preaching on this station gets a bit hysterical and interesting. I suppose I might find it less intriguing if I actually understood Spanish.

540 – The News… from somewhere

I’m not sure what station this is, but some more distant sounding Spanish station is eating at it. I’d guess it might be WLIE out on Long Island, but they run directionally toward the ocean at very low power at night. A better guess might be KNOE in Monroe, Louisiana. I think I heard some reference to the Louisiana capitol, Baton Rouge, right before I turned the station.

550 – (Nothing Intelligible)

560 – (Nothing Intelligible)

570 – WMCA, NYC

A Christian call-in show, probably a rerun from daytime programming. It’s coming in poorly with a bad whine with some operatic singing from another station bleeding in. This used to be one of the biggest top 40 stations in the city years ago. Now it’s the home of Jesus and brokered programming. It’s now owned by the super conservative "family" style corporation,  Salem Communications, who also bought up WWDJ 970 AM in Hackensack, NJ.

580 – (Nothing Intelligible)

590 – WARM Scranton, PA

CBS News– A fatal ice skating accident in Wisconsin. Faint, but readable. Nice call-letters.

600 – (Probably) CICQ Montreal, QC

Some inspired classical music. Usually when you hear jazz, classical or something out of the pop music mainstream on AM radio at night, it’s probably coming from Canada.

(This is a correction. An outdated listing at Radio Locator said this station was CFCF, which hasn't been true since 1991.)

610 – Spanish Music

Sounds like 60's Spanish music, possibly Cuban. Don’t know where this is coming from. It could be WEXS in Puerto Rico, but I have no idea.

620 – WSNR, Jersey City, NJ

Yankees information. Barely coming in. Whatever.

630 – (Nothing Clear)

There’s something in English with old Spanish music on top of it. It might be the same song as on 610. Some Cuban stations broadcast the same network at nearby frequency intervals.

640 – WHLO Akron, OH

It’s CBS News and a story about a Cleveland area Sunni cleric who’s being deported because he’s suspected of terrorist ties. Broadcasting at only 500 watts from Ohio, as far as DXing goes this is a decent catch. The Kinks song is probably a bumper music lead-in to a talk show.

650 – WSM Nashville, TN

It’s heartening to hear George Jones on an AM station these days. Classic country used to be a mainstay of the band. Not anymore. WSM still broadcasts the Grand Old Opry every Saturday night, and it’s one of the last (if not the last) clear channel AM station that plays real country music. Four years ago they ALMOST switched to an all-sports format. It’s a legendary station that has so far kept their music heritage and bucked the trend turn over their 50,000 watts to knuckleheads talking about running backs or cheerleading Republican talking points. It’s a minor miracle.

660 – WFAN, NYC

Sounds like a Nets game.

670 – Radio Rebelde, Cuba

Cuban music coming in loud and clear from the Carribean. Unlike the states, Cuba doesn’t restrict their AM stations to 50,000 watts of power. Most likely there’s a lot more oomph blasting the salsa here. I remember when I worked at a small station in Louisiana and there was a Cuban station killing our signal when we went to low power at night. One day the FCC had us briefly shut down our transmitter so they could attempt to measure the power of the Cuban station. They estimated there were booming a half-million watts our way.

680 – (Probably) CFTR Toronto, ON

Weak signal with other stations bleeding in. An American is talking to somebody (w-British accent) about how the U.S. needs to establish a leadership role in stopping worldwide epidemics and poverty. Jeez. Freedom is on the march. You’d think that would be enough.

690 – CINF Montreal, QC

French language talk radio. And is “okay” the only word that is the same in every language?

This is a correction as well. Online, a number of online sources still list this station as CBF. When it was a CBC outlet, those call letters stood for "Canadian Broadcasting French."

700 – WLW Cincinnati, OH

It’s “America’s Trucking Network, with Steve Sommers.” Trucker shows have been a staple of late night AM radio since the 70's, but they used to play old country music, and give lots of traffic and trucker info. Now you have something like this, a HACK talk host in the tradition of Matt Drudge– chattering about hot-button non-issues which typically make fun of the underprivileged and underpowered. Here ol’ Steve is on his “soapbox” ridiculing “black Friday” shoppers who get up early to snag a sale item on the biggest shopping day of the year, and then ultimately stampede over kids and grannies to get thier booty. In his wisdom, he postulates that these shopping-crazed masses go through this absurd dance simply because they're just too lazy to get up early and get a real job. Oh. Now I understand.

While the "Black Friday" shoppers are kinda stupid, it’s a bit presuming to think they went shopping that morning BECAUSE they didn't have a good job. I had turned in to him before this and he was pointing out the (ever popular) evils of liberalism. Not only is this guy a wimp, but he’s obviously a radio amateur with a thin grating voice. This time slot on WLW used to be occupied by a guy who called himself the “Truckin’ Bozo.’ I think he was a bit of redneck too, but at least he was a professional who had more to say about truck driving than reading talking points about the evils of liberalism. He’s gone to XM, one of those satellite networks. Speaking of that, apparently Dave Nemo’s gone to XM as well. He did a wonderful trucking show for years that you could hear across the country on the AM band, featuring old country music and homespun humor. It's kinda sad. Now truckers without a satellite hookup are subject to blabbering hacks, like Steve Sommers.

710 – WOR, NYC

It’s Lionel, again taking on the bumper-sticker-playbook right wing morons, as he does so well. Notice the old Spanish music heavily intruding on this relatively nearby clear channel station. It’s probably the same “Radio Rebelde” I picked up at 670, with PLENTY of power. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get WOR to come in clearly.

720 – (Probably WGN Chicago, IL)

This usually comes in pretty good out this way. But tonight it was a muddle, with what seemed to be WGN easily overcome by at least two other stations.

730 – CKAC Montreal, QC

It’s a French talk show. Faint reception. I know. Where are my language skills?

740 – CHWO Toronto, ON

Also known as “AM 740.” It’s Dusty Springfield I believe, coming in HORRIBLY. I try valiantly to pull the signal together, but no go. I listen to this station a lot in the city, and it usually comes in quite strong. Since CHWO took over this legacy frequency from the CBC a few years ago, their format has been slowly morphing from a general big band/standards sound to more of a “music of your life”-middle-of-the-road oldies format. In the car, it’s a good stop on the dial, reminds me of what music on AM used to sound like, especially from the back seat of my parents car. They’ve got a fat strong signal that covers a huge swath of the U.S. & Canada. However, the propagation of AM varies quite a bit. And as you hear, sometimes the ionosphere doesn’t do the job and the trying to listen from a few hundred miles away just yields a static-ridden mess.

750 – WSB Atlanta, GA

Apparently snuffed out this night by a far off Spanish station. Like CHWO, WSB usually comes in easily after dark in New York City. In fact, WSB usually comes in strong up in the Hudson Valley too. But not every night…

Okay, that’s about a quarter of the AM dial. I’ll offer you up another chunk of this episode of broadcast listening next week, starting with WJR in Detroit.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)