In high school in Lander WY in the 50's we cruised around at night with a case of Coors listening to KOMA. There was another one in Del Rio TX , cant remember the call letters, I think their transmitter was in Mexico and really boomed out there.
In high school in Lander WY in the 50's we cruised around at night with a case of Coors listening to KOMA. There was another one in Del Rio TX , cant remember the call letters, I think their transmitter was in Mexico and really boomed out there.
stories told of off-shore pirates popping up all the time, and the FCC working overtime to identify their location and then shut them down.
our local ATL stations used the playlists developed and maintained by WLS chicago, especially Art Robert's stuff.
Gus, I recognize those - surely listened to all at one time or another. Am thinking you might ad KSL in Salt Lake City - heard it all over the place out here after dark and think it was CC.
Gus, I recognize those - surely listened to all at one time or another. Am thinking you might ad KSL in Salt Lake City - heard it all over the place out here after dark and think it was CC.
seems we received very little stuff that crossed the big muddy coming east. the little rock CC was one.
that was a time that the 55 & 57 chevies ruled the roost. i think they were 265 & 283 engines depending.
the 348's showed up for a spell.
and surely some remember the "reverberators" attached to the am radio.
Dad listened to WCKY for a good part of his adult life. Easy listening music, news, weather, and stock reports. What's wasn't there to like? After dark, he often switched to WLS, just so he could he could hear something coming from that far away. He built and managed apartments and got a reputation among the local radio and TV crowd. As a result, I grew up with all sorts of characters in Dad's apartments: Gene Sheppard, Rod Serling, and good part of the cast of Midwestern Hayride.
WLW was and is the voice of the Reds. You could be anywhere in the country and pick up a Red's game. There was a time when you could hear WLW in your fillings if you were around the transmitter in Mason. Powell Crosley had thing boosted to 500 KW and the transmitter needed a cooling pond. The removable printed circuit card was invented for that operation. I've been in it, Lou Crosley was my best friend when I was a wee one. I was also friends with Bill Eggerding, the chief engineer at Voice of America.
most of us "cruisers" would listen to WLS in chicago, the art roberts show, rather that quixie in dixie, WQXI. at least at night. during the day, quixie was the go-to.
for the pure country folks who walked amongst us, it was WPLO, radio 59, and the John Gray show. those were the days.
and then there was Honest John Fox, also a really big supporter of pure country music.
In high school in Lander WY in the 50's we cruised around at night with a case of Coors listening to KOMA. There was another one in Del Rio TX , cant remember the call letters, I think their transmitter was in Mexico and really boomed out there.
That was probably John R Brinkley's border blaster.
The Mexican government, eager to get even with its northern neighbors for dividing up North America's radio frequencies without giving any to Mexico, granted Brinkley a 50,000-watt radio license and construction began on XER-AM, his new "border blaster" across the bridge from Del Rio in Villa Acuña, Coahuila (since renamed Ciudad Acuña).[14] As construction got underway, Fishbein and the U.S. State Department desperately searched for a way to shut Brinkley down. Under heavy pressure from the State Department, the Mexican government halted construction on XER-AM, but it was only temporary. Within weeks, construction resumed and soon two 300-foot (91 m) towers reached into the sky.[45] XER, at 840 kilohertz on the AM dial, radiated by a sky wave antenna, made its first broadcast in October 1931. Brinkley called it the "Sunshine Station Between the Nations".
Brinkley used his new border blaster to resume his campaign for governor by using the telephone to call in his broadcasts to the transmitter. This approach did not work, and he lost yet another political campaign; he would lose again in 1934. Though Brinkley's American radio license had been revoked, XER's signal was so strong that it could still be heard in Kansas.[46] In 1932, the Mexican government allowed Brinkley to increase his wattage to 150,000 watts. Several months later, Brinkley was allowed to increase to one million watts, "making XER far and away the most powerful radio station on the planet" that, on a clear night, could be heard as far away as Canada. According to accounts of the time, the signal was so strong that it turned on car headlights, made bedsprings hum, and caused broadcasts to bleed into telephone conversations.[47] Local residents didn't even need a radio to hear Brinkley's station; ranchers reported that they received it through their metal fences and in their dental appliances.[48]
Wasn’t the one in Del Rio the one that had the preacher that if you sent him $5 he’d send you a plastic dashboard Jesus with “glowing eyes" that would follow you anywhere in the dark???
Use to travel up and down the east coast, from Boston as far south as Georgia on a regular basis when I was in college...
VW Squareback with an AM Radio and an 8 track under the dash...
Would run that route at night...could listen to the radio just like I was in town...
WKBW out of Buffalo NY...
WOWO out of Ft Wayne Ind...
WLS out of Chicago...
and far enough south, or going into Florida... A Station out of New Orleans... can't remember those call letters...
The first three stations could cover me from the Canadian border all the way down to Atlanta GA...with no reception issues..
as I recall they were not 50,000 watt stations, they were 100,000 watt stations..
use to live in MN and WCCO out of Mpls sure had a long range coverage out in the Dakotas Saskatchewan and Manitoba, even parts of Alberta, and eastern Montana...
My travels in college also took me up to the Maritime Provinces in eastern Canada...two stations out of Boston could be picked up along the eastern coast of Maine, and then all thru New Brunswick Nova Scota, PEI...Newfoundland...Both WRKO and WMEX out of Boston would instead turn their signal out to sea and up the coast... so you couldn't get it 30 miles west of Boston, but you could pick it up 800 miles up in Nova Scotia... and Newfoundland...
Girlfriend of mine went to Ireland to spend the summer with her grandmother on year, and she said she picked up the Boston Stations on the coast of Ireland at night, when the single was turned out to sea...
Most of Ontario and Quebec, I could pick up WBZ out of Boston at night...
When I was traveling long distances with a car that had an AM Radio, that is why I use to do my travels at night....the long distance radio stations you could pick up at night, and they were clear as a bell....
I've been up in the Coastal Mountains here in Oregon during Elk hunting season...staying over night for several days.
I'm up on mountain tops, camping out with my 4 Runner... at 4,000 feet plus, and close to to the coast...
Turn on the AM radio at night, at that elevation...I can not move the dial from one spot to another without picking up another radio station from up and down the entire Pacific Coast...
From way up in Alaska, to down to Mexico... stations out of Canada and then stuff out of Salt Lake, plenty of California, Arizona, Nevada Idaho, Washington...Hawaii
at night and up at that altitude, with no interference for the signal.. there is no dead spot from one end of the AM dial to the other....
Same thing with the CB radio.. picked up guys who claim they were located in the Philippines, besides much of the western USA and Canada...Mexico also, but I don't Habla, so can't talk to them...
In high school in Lander WY in the 50's we cruised around at night with a case of Coors listening to KOMA. There was another one in Del Rio TX , cant remember the call letters, I think their transmitter was in Mexico and really boomed out there.
That was probably John R Brinkley's border blaster.
The Mexican government, eager to get even with its northern neighbors for dividing up North America's radio frequencies without giving any to Mexico, granted Brinkley a 50,000-watt radio license and construction began on XER-AM, his new "border blaster" across the bridge from Del Rio in Villa Acuña, Coahuila (since renamed Ciudad Acuña).[14] As construction got underway, Fishbein and the U.S. State Department desperately searched for a way to shut Brinkley down. Under heavy pressure from the State Department, the Mexican government halted construction on XER-AM, but it was only temporary. Within weeks, construction resumed and soon two 300-foot (91 m) towers reached into the sky.[45] XER, at 840 kilohertz on the AM dial, radiated by a sky wave antenna, made its first broadcast in October 1931. Brinkley called it the "Sunshine Station Between the Nations".
Brinkley used his new border blaster to resume his campaign for governor by using the telephone to call in his broadcasts to the transmitter. This approach did not work, and he lost yet another political campaign; he would lose again in 1934. Though Brinkley's American radio license had been revoked, XER's signal was so strong that it could still be heard in Kansas.[46] In 1932, the Mexican government allowed Brinkley to increase his wattage to 150,000 watts. Several months later, Brinkley was allowed to increase to one million watts, "making XER far and away the most powerful radio station on the planet" that, on a clear night, could be heard as far away as Canada. According to accounts of the time, the signal was so strong that it turned on car headlights, made bedsprings hum, and caused broadcasts to bleed into telephone conversations.[47] Local residents didn't even need a radio to hear Brinkley's station; ranchers reported that they received it through their metal fences and in their dental appliances.[48]
have heard of more than one pirate ship located just outside the 12 mile boundary, aiming their broadcast antenna at a certain market area. if the coast guard wasn't in the solution, then the navy would engage the discussion.
back in those days, the FCC did dictate what was and what wasn't in the way of legitimate transmissions.
Wasn’t the one in Del Rio the one that had the preacher that if you sent him $5 he’d send you a plastic dashboard Jesus with “glowing eyes" that would follow you anywhere in the dark???
I don't care if it rains or freezes, as long as I got my plastic Jesus.
Living in eastern MT. and would get OK city and Del Rio TX after sundown or some hour of the night. At that time they turned the antenna to the north and you could listen all night.
Back in the 60's & 70's you could usually get stuff like WLS Chicago, and WABC New York City, in western NY state up along Lake Ontario. Once in a while when conditions were just right I could pick up that New Orleans station and stuff like WHO from Iowa. Also occasionally WOWO Ft. Wayne, Ind.. plus a few more that I can't recall at the moment.
In bed too late at night with a toy crystal set, marveling at the distant stations I could get after adding extra wire that I found someplace to the antenna.
Not necessarily during the 60's but I lived in Chicago from 1978 to 1981 and every day I had to listen to WLS with Larry Lujack and his "Animal Stories" . Always good for a laugh. I went to High School in Northeast Nebraska during the mid 60's. We listened to KOMA and if the atmosphere was correct, we could pick up the Little Rock station. Porsche73
"WBAP, News Talk 820, serves the Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas area with news, sports, traffic and weather. The radio station signed on the air in 1922 with 10 watts of power, which amounted to the 1920's version of electronic string and coffee-can communication. WBAP soon became a more powerful station, becoming one of the few 50,000 watt, clear-channel stations in the United States. Today, according to an independent study, WBAP has the greatest daytime coverage of any radio station in America and as much coverage at night as any other U.S. radio station. In early 1923 the station became the first ever to broadcast a rodeo, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Other WBAP firsts include: the first radio station in the southwest to broadcast a baseball game and a football game, the first radio station in America with regularly scheduled newscasts, the first station to remote broadcasts by shortwave radio and the first individual station to send a war correspondent to Europe in the early days of World War II. Music was a major part of WBAP's programming from the beginning. Live, in-studio broadcasts were scheduled which featured musicians on WBAP such as The Light Crust Doughboys, The Sunshine Boys and Bewley's Chuck Wagon Gang. News has been a major WBAP commitment from the early years, and WBAP has been home to some of the best newsmen in America including regionally and nationally known journalists."
Not related to the OP, but in the early 70s an AM station in Juarez, Mexico was broadcasting with a tremendous amount of power at night. They billed themselves as "XEROK, X Rock 80." They'd crank it up at night and play the best underground rock of the day. Those were the days.
WAPE out of Jax. Directional north/south. The Grease Man.
Are you sure that was not WBAP?
Never mind, I think. It's been many years, but now that I think about it, I believe WBAP was an FM station. I do remember the Grease Man always talking about "high steppers," and WAPE is beginning to ring a very faint bell.
WBAP gets here sometimes. Cinci, Louisville, Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Nashville, Richmond, Atlanta Can listen to those at night maybe more.
Pittsburgh and Philly, don't work real well? They are 100 and 200miles away.
Used to listen all the time at night, especially to WLW, in the truck. Still do when driving late at night.
I like to find the old radio comedy (honeymooners type) shows.
WKBW in Buffalo, NY, was one of the few radio stations that could send AM top-40 music into the valleys of west-central NH when I was a kid. Most of the radio dial was filled with static, as the background radiation from the granite pretty much wrecked every AM signal that passed.
Hell yes! I was a kid in Atlanta in 1966, I had a transistor radio, I used to listen to AM 700 in Cincinnatti, came in clear as a bell. I thought that was fascinating listening to a station from a state so far away, on the banks of the Ohio.
My buddy and I were up in Canada in the fall of 1992, we couldn't believe it but our Braves were in the playoffs. We drove through Minnesota at night, listening to the baseball on AM 750 out of Atlanta, great reception.
Used to do something called DX'ing...I believe. After midnight and into the wee early morning hours would slow dial my tube AM radio and pick up little iddy biddy station from across the US. Mostly the Southwest...Texas...Oklahoma ...talking bout mostly nothing or Jesus. You picked up the bounce of the radio signal and it was pretty hard to stay tuned for any length of time. Not many stations broadcast in those early morning hours. The powerhouse 50k stations had a pretty wide band and pretty much blocked any other station from coming thru. WLS 890 was my home station . Mebbe somebody in Havre Montana got a kick out of listening to a Chicago station but it was boring to me
I was born in Oklahoma City but moved to Wyoming when I was young and we were shocked to be able to listen to KOMA at night. We'd also get KFI out of Los Angeles, KOA out of Denver and KTWO out of Casper.
NO ONE listening to XERF Del Rio TX and 250,000 watt transmitter located in a town across the Rio Grande? Google earth does not show any town in Mexico by the name where they claimed the transmitter was located.
Where I first heard the song about" I don't care if it rains or freezes long as . . ."
Yes, sorry kinda hijacked away from the 50,000 watters.
WSM made it to ABQ with the grand ol Opry.
KOB was 50,000, but "we" listened to KOMA . . . Oklahoma City.
Some nights KOMA faded in and out.
WLS made it in to vegas when I was there (Las Vegas NM that is)
1040 and 750 come in here evenings to early morning.
Heck LAPD could be found up around 170 some nights
in the 1980s I could get KOA Denver sometimes as far south as tucson, used to hear Alan Bird or Berg? He was a funny guy, long time radio guy. people would get on there and rant about the jews and he would give it right back to them . I think some guys waited for him at his house and shot him.
in the 1980s I could get KOA Denver sometimes as far south as tucson, used to hear Alan Bird or Berg? He was a funny guy, long time radio guy. people would get on there and rant about the jews and he would give it right back to them . I think some guys waited for him at his house and shot him.
Alan Berg. Yeah he was assassinated by a group of neo-nazis that waited at his home and killed him in his driveway. He was a bit of a shock jock and let them Nazi bastards have it on air. And they killed him for it.
[quote=kaywoodie]Wasn’t the one in Del Rio the one that had the preacher that if you sent him $5 he’d send you a plastic dashboard Jesus with “glowing eyes" that would follow you anywhere in the dark???
I can still recall this after all these years......
“ This is your good neighbor along the way, Paul Kallinger , coming to you on station XERF in Del Rio Texas with transmitters in Ciudad Acuna, State of Coahuila, Republic of Mehico.”
George Gober did a hilarious skit about XERF and it’s sponsors.
in the 1980s I could get KOA Denver sometimes as far south as tucson, used to hear Alan Bird or Berg? He was a funny guy, long time radio guy. people would get on there and rant about the jews and he would give it right back to them . I think some guys waited for him at his house and shot him.
Alan Berg. Yeah he was assassinated by a group of neo-nazis that waited at his home and killed him in his driveway. He was a bit of a shock jock and let them Nazi bastards have it on air. And they killed him for it.
that was him. and there was a black guy who sounded white on the air, ken hamilton. there was restaurant show on sunday nights. a place that served wild game was always advertising.
They also sold something guaranteed to kill cockroaches. A bud of my brother's at NMSU had a spare $4.95 and sent for the kit. The sent two of those slats from the old vegetable/fruit crates. Instructions were to get the cockroach on one slat and smack with the other. I'm thinkin they may have sold some of the "dancin girls" that went on the dash/sundeck also.
Those were the days my friends!
Anyone know how to spell the name of the town where they claimed the transmitter was located.
I just started typing the name in my original post and none of the ways I tried seemed to fit, and did not find anything on google earth that looked right!
kyno "boss radio" in fresno ca. started with 1000 watts, up to 5000 watts now. used to get Wolfman Jack on clear nights if you held your radio just right and stood on one foot!
The days when we could hear the AM radio baseball playoffs in hunt camp are gone. Now a few high power stations are NFL or Basketball. No baseball anymore. Down Right Anti American I say.
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