The Joys of Fall

The Joys of Fall

Finally after a long and torrid summer once again Fall is on the horizon. for those of you who are participants in the world of High Frequency communication that means one thing. the return to lower noise conditions across the radio spectrum. You see, Spring and Summer march hand in hand with the development of Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms of course breed lightning. 

One of the things we enjoy about the high frequency shortwave bands is propagation of long distance signals. There's a 'bummer' that goes along with that effect. Lightning is in simple terms broad spectrum impulse noise of tremendous power. That means when it's summer in the northern latitudes we are treated to the crash and static generated by thunderstorms thousands many thousands of miles away. this results in the ambient noise level a.k.a. noise floor having a much higher level which tends to mask signals normally heard. 

Over the last several months I've watch the noise floor gradually sink on average 8 to 10db a significant amount where signals are now beginning to peak above the weeds so to speak.

Thankfully as we head further into Fall signals that were buried under the noise are now returning which allows my fellow travelers the opportunity to visit with friends on either coast with ease.

I've always said the best radio time of the year is December 26th at 12am local time. If there's no snow static (yes that's a thing) we enjoy transcontinental communication with ease making for the oft sought after "Arm Chair Copy". So bring on Fall, we're ready in the northern hemisphere for sure..

Until next time, best DX and 73 from North Texas.

He's Back....

One thing is for sure, if I keep posing at the rate I've been going no one can say I'm wearing out my welcome. This 'blog' thing requires a lot more discipline than I ever thought it would. Taking the time to organized my always scattered thoughts into something coherent is more work than I'm used to doing. Part of the problem I suppose is due to my background as a broadcaster I'm more use to expressing my thoughts by auditory means. This typing stuff takes more talent than I probably have. however, not wishing to avoid that which is difficult I'm doing my best to keep the notion alive.

On Radio...

I've always been enchanted by radio. radio in all forms, as a listener, and as a broadcaster. The 'Golden Days' of radio for those in my age group is the period between 1964 - 1976 that slice of magic smack dab in the rock and roll era. Radio in that period was geared to teenage and young adults roughly between the age of 12 - 34. Musically it was one of THE best periods in 'pop' music.  Every type of 'pop' from sappy love songs through hard rock. Artist wise, from 'The Teddy Bears' through 'Led Zeppelin'. Radio was a dynamic medium during that period all because of the personalities presenting the music. Personalities were topical, funny, informative and timely all in the space of time allocated by the musical intro of the songs they presented. In a :20 second intro they were able to create the setup, deliver the punch line, and toss in the call letters of a station nailing the vocal. Personalities also acted as a 'bridge' between musical elements, and by changing their delivery were able to help make the transition from a slow ballad to a smoking hot rock tempo with ease.

There aren't many stations these days who are as well programmed as stations in the 60's and 70's. Part of the reason is changes on the business side. Stations always existed to turn a profit. But these days programming is considered an item where corners can be cut. That's why it's rare to hear a truly 'LIVE and LOCAL' disc jockey on radio these days. Too many are hundreds of miles away from the station they broadcast from, and most couldn't tell you much about a town other than basic location and sports team names. There are a few stations that do carry on with local talent and when you hear one, you immediately sense the difference in presentation. That's the story for now, and it wasn't much however maybe I'll return in the future with addition thoughts..

 

 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

My my, it has been a while since I posted any of my worthless drivel..
You know, I need to make this a "Top of the mind thing".. Once I get into a regular swing I think I'll improve. Until then If you are one of the readers, forgive my momentary apathy and know your page views are appreciated.

I don't recall if I mention a recent change in the DFW Radio landscape. I'm sad to report that one of my favorite stations 1400 KGVL has change format for some STUPID reason to Classic County with the usual idiotic cutesy branding cartoon moniker of  "Freindlee" a miner looking idiot character riding on a cartton jackass...
Since Texas is not known for mining of any kind the cartoon jackass sums up the mindset of the format shift.

You may ask, "Jay why are you so upset" well let me tell you bucko, since there are numerous Classic Country stations all over this area on FM it seems to me this attempt is at best dumb. KVGL's reason for the change according to the Facebook page, "was lack of sales" with the oldies format.

Now if you can't sell a popular oldies format in an area that has NO other oldies station on AM or FM, how in the heck do you think you can sell a Country format already on numerous AM and stronger FM outlets. I'm thinking a wiser move would have been changing the sales staff rather than blowing up the ONLY OLDIES STATION in the area. But it's their train-set so what ever.

Hopefully after this falls flat they will return to the much better professionally executed Oldies format with Chuck Brinkmen as the Program Director and more importantly retain the services of an aggressive motivated sales staff..
In the meantime while not strictly oldies stations I'm thankful for KGAF, KPYK, who continue to carry the AM music radio torch and who are live and local focused on their respective markets...

Ham radio is wonderful this time of year. With the thunderstorms primarily located in the southern hemisphere, the noise levels are extremely low and listening conditions are excellent on both 75 meters and 160 meters.

Let me know what you'd like to read here. Listening posts, DX...SW, AM or FM loggings, Scanner Radio logging's, Radio History for the area, station Gossip, or you tell me!!!

Comments and suggestions are always welcome in the comment box that follows each post.

Until next time 73 and Good DX...

People Watching People Watching Techo

Time for a "You kids get off my lawn post" also known as a grumpy old dude post.

One of the things I enjoy these days during my many trips to the "outside world" is People Watching. People are fun to observe these days especially those GLUED to the cell phone screen.

While I expected to see the usual number of young people immersed in "The Gadget", These days, I see huge numbers of people ranging in age from Great Grandmothers/fathers down through pre-teens vast numbers of people who wander Zombie-like gazing into the screen of an iPhone/Pad or whatever. The crowds include everyone, those who bathe once a week whether they need it or not, to those who live and breath the pages of Vogue.

What are they looking at? What is displayed that is so enchanting that they bump into walls, cross streets into traffic, or fall down stairs oblivious to surroundings all because of the laser like focus devoted to several inches of plastic...

What are they looking at?

Those of you who know me know I am a "Gadget" guy, I had a cellphone since the days of bag phones, and was thrilled when the Motorola "Brick" was marketed as it weighed less than 10lbs. When I was medically retired my decades free cell service was discontinued and frankly after being chained to a phone for 20 years 24 hours a day 7 days a week, the loss of that perk was a relief. My last phone was the iPhone 4G with all the toys yet I never spent my time gazing "Lovingly" into the screen, other than when I was looking for specific information. Now it seems 90% of the population is totally wrapped up into tweets or maybe "Angry Birds" is that still hot?... As you can tell from my FB activity I am not a heavy user of so called social media so I don't "Get it".. Now if there was "Anti-Social Media" that would be a different story...

Maybe I'm just too old, or too jaded to understand the attraction.

 In a lot of respects, I see the fixation with cellphones as an extension of the old CB Radio craze of the 70's. Then as now the primary reason to own one was communication and it devolved into a social expression of empowerment. In the beginning the only users of cellphones were those in business such as doctors and others in an "appointment" based profession such as Realtors. Now possession of these devices has devolved to the "People of Wal-Mart" strata who really have no immediate need for contact and who view them as items of social empowerment. What the heck, watching people stumble through life glued to one is a fun activity, but my "amusement" threshold is pretty low these days

That's the story for now, until next time....

CHA-CHA-CHANGES ON THE FM DIAL IN DFW

My my... Things have been popping since my last post. First in the swinging swirling twirling world of commercial radio there are a number of changes of note. First after many years we see the return of KVIL. No it's not that KVIL ever left, the, what consultants and marketers now call "Branding" has changed from the totally light "Lite Rock 103.7" back to the legacy "branding" of 103.7 KVIL.

Allegedly the so-called "branding" was initially changed to distance KVIL from it previous heritage (of winning) market leadership during the Ron Chapman era. To get away from this perceived negative(?) the branding was changed to "103.7 Lite Rock" which to my radio ears has all the appeal of a cold mash potato sandwich. After several years of slow but steady audience erosion, the decision was recently made to return to the legacy branding of "103.7 KVIL". Whether this can curtail the audience erosion or not remains to be seen. Recent ratings in the 25-54 range do not look that promising however it is early in the game as they say. I wish them the best of luck.

In other broadcast related news coming later this month we will see sports leader "The Ticket" get it's first REAL shot of FM with the addition of the former Platinum 96.7/WBAP-FM FM transmitting facility. While 96.7 is considered a "rim-shot" in the Dallas Ft.Worth market it is one of the finest of the bunch and will provide "The Ticket" with the ability to capture more of the available audience that may have issues receiving the AM night time signal. With the addition to the cluster of the LMA of the number two sports outlet in DFW, that being ESPN, It would appear that the screws are indeed tightening on CBS Radio's 105.3 The Fan. While The Fan at 105.3 has one of the best FM signals in the metroplex, since it's inception they have struggled to find traction in the sports market.

So things are looking interesting in the metroplex sports radio arena as well...
Until next time, so long...

IS THERE ANYTHING WORTH HEARING ON AM RADIO THESE DAYS?

Sadly AM Radio has turned into a vast wasteland of political ranting and raving or on some stations non-stop info-commercials for Gold, Get Rich Real Estate Shows, Mortgage Sharks, so called Heath Supplements, or any other 21st Century form of medicine show snake oil peddlers you can think of. Having been in the broadcast industry for all of my adult life I do understand the need for commercials but I also understand the need for quality information and entertainment.

One of the reasons I got into radio many years ago was the "MAGIC"....
The magic, of hearing stations from hundreds and in some cases thousands of miles away. The magic, of the different dialects, local styles, local announcers, local commercials, and yes...local musical tastes.

Growing up in dead center of the United States in Wichita Kansas I was never really exposed to Rhythm and Blues. Kansas as the old Blues Brothers quote went had two types of music "Country" and "Western" and any combination of "Country and Western", so imagine my amazement the first time I dialed up WOKJ in Jackson Mississippi. I discovered a whole new genre of music I'd never heard! Or the first time I spun the dial to KOMA, and heard the polished sound of a well programmed top-40 station. Then there were the "X" stations. XERF, XEG, XELO and others where I heard the Fire and Brimstone Preachers who for a small donation would send you an autographed photo of one "J Christ" or vials of water from the River Jordan. As a real special treat on the "X" stations, I'd even hear Wolfman Jack.

There was the big city sounds of WLS, WMAQ, WBBM, WGN from Chicago, and WWWE Cleveland, WHO Des Moines, WLW Cincinnati and WWVA Wheeling West Virginia. To the west it was KFI in sunny southern California, Salt Lake City's KSL, Albuquerque's KOB, and The Mile High City's KOA. South I listened to Oklahoma City's "Big 1520" KOMA,  San Antonio was well represented by 1200 WOAI, New Orleans had WWL, there was WSB Atlanta, WSM Nashville, and KRLD in Dallas to name a few. Occasionally even the Canadians would get into the act with CKLW Windsor or CKRM in Regina, Saskatchewan .

Since I lived in Kansas, "hard" rock stations were close to non-existent, then I discovered a great program hosted by Clyde Clifford called "Becker Street" from of all places, KAAY in Little Rock Arkansas. Now Arkansas is not what one would consider the bastion of "underground" rock and roll, but yet, there it was, Fog Hat, Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly, and the incredible creativity of the Firesign Theatre all coming from my trusty tabletop "All American, Five Tube Radio".

The picture I've tried to paint in the preceding paragraph were examples of the rich amount of variety in programs one use to hear on the radio. Today with consolidation running roughshod over the broadcast industry, those locally originated programs have long since been replaced by the Satellite rants of the conservative right or to a far lesser degree the leftist leanings of the liberal left.
In the process civility was left far, far behind...

Radio came full circle in some respects, back to the days of the early radio Networks, when programs were originated from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles and then distributed nation wide. Unfortunately today's current offerings, to my ear, are nowhere close to the quality entertainment and information of radio programming from the so called "Golden Age" of radio before Television.

All is not lost. With a little searching you can still find bright spots of light in the darkness of the ether even now on your trusty radio dial. Locally programmed Mom and Pop stations who have not succumbed to the mentality of the "save a buck" ease of full-time Satellite delivered national pablum. These little stations still seem to believe in the concept on which their license was granted, "To Serve and Protect The Public Interest." You'll immediately know when you come across one of these stations, usually on the AM dial. For one, they are playing MUSIC, usually a so called niche format that "major" group owners won't touch. Choices are wide and range from Big Bands, Standards, Oldies Country and the real Golden Oldies, music from the 50's, and 60's that sadly like the previous formats listed, are almost never heard on radio today.

In my area, with a little searching I've discovered several stations like those mentioned in the previous paragraph. Terrell Texas is represented by 1570 KPYK which plays music from the early 30's through the the vocal standards of the 50's and 60's. Greenville Texas is represented by 1400 KGVL who plays all of your favorite good time oldies from the 50's and 60's with a few from the 70's. Sherman Texas is represented in the daytime only by 1500 KJIM, which plays a Potpourri of easy listening music from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. The other jewel in the crown of live, local, wonderfully programed stations here in North Texas is 1580 KGAF Gainesville, Texas, featuring a full service Adult Contemporary format with local announcers, local weather, local news, and local high school sports. All of these stations are a true credit to their communities and deserve as much "ear time" as you can devote to them.

Until next time....

And Away We Go...

Here's the first of my efforts at "Blogging".
I've always wanted to create an online journal. So here we go....