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Calling Station - Talking to DJ

kfbkfb

kfbkfb

(ordinary listeners) How recently did you call a radio station and talk (probably briefly) with the DJ?

The only time I called a radio station was when I lived in Iowa City IA.

In ~1983, WLS AM began announcing that they were broadcasting in AM stereo after about every 3 to 4 songs.

I called WLS AM (at night) in the Fall of 1983 and asked the DJ which AM stereo system WLS was using - she said she thought they were using the Harris system but that they had recently changed systems.


Kirk Bayne
 
At least where I live, people don't call radio stations any more. Most music stations don't even give out a voice phone number - the stations that do are talk radio. Text and social media contributions to music radio are encouraged, and if the presenter or producer wants an on-air contribution, they'll get in touch with the listener (either through a call to their cell phone or a message back to their social media account) and arrange for an on-air call.

I've texted contributions to radio stations quite recently and received calls back - but wasn't interested in going on air (I tend to be listening while working) so didn't answer.
 
Miss Tuned said:
At least where I live, people don't call radio stations any more.
Click to expand...
Of course, that doesn't exist anymore, but I thought kfbkfb wanted us to take a trip down memory lane to simpler, happier times when a kid could call a radio station to make a request or dedication or get concert information from the announcer. Having said that, it's been so long ago for me that I can't remember LOL!
 
Cordelia Chase said:
Of course, that doesn't exist anymore, but I thought kfbkfb wanted us to take a trip down memory lane to simpler, happier times when a kid could call a radio station to make a request or dedication or get concert information from the announcer. Having said that, it's been so long ago for me that I can't remember LOL!
Click to expand...
Kirk was trying to lead the handful of nerds down revisionist-memory-lane about stupid AM stereo-again. Could you imagine taking that call; Yes hello, I don't want to request a song, I'd like to know what brand of AM stereo exciter your station is using.
'click' Hello? Hellooo??
Even if I knew an answer to the question, I'd still hang up on him.
 
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Kelly A said:
Kirk was trying to lead the handful of nerds down memory lane about stupid AM stereo.
Click to expand...
AM stereo? Wow, I didn't catch that! IIRC, one Hampton Roads, VA station briefly had AM stereo but dropped it because it was unnecessary after it flipped to news/talk. I, however, never had the opportunity to hear AM stereo. On that note, I never heard quadrophonic sound either, LOL.
 
Cordelia Chase said:
AM stereo? Wow, I didn't catch that! IIRC, one Hampton Roads, VA station briefly had AM stereo but dropped it because it was unnecessary after it flipped to news/talk. I, however, never had the opportunity to hear AM stereo. On that note, I never heard quadrophonic sound either, LOL.
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Yeah, Kirk's into that too. AM stereo was a complete and total failure for many reasons. Some technical, some legal, mostly because music listening had long moved on from AM. There's a handful of remaining radio geeks stuck in the late 70's that lurk here, who feel AM stereo was so much more than it actually was. They use every opportunity to try and debate the topic.
 
As I think about that AM stereo station in Hampton Roads, I believe they started playing oldies before flipping to news/talk. Maybe they dropped the stereo then because most oldies were recorded in mono, right? Therefore, it would have been unnecessary to continue with the stereo, correct?
 
I used to call and talk to DJs a lot during my high school and college years. A couple, on the overnight shifts, came to welcome my calls and we'd chat about all sorts of stuff while long sets of songs were playing. I was harmless and (patting my own back here) smart and funny, but there were other kinds of callers as well, the kind portrayed in "Play Misty for Me." I'd imagine it was that sort of caller (in real life) that led to studio phone use being restricted to calls to and from the boss rather than plain old folks with nothing better to do in the wee hours of the morning but talk to a DJ.
 
Cordelia Chase said:
As I think about that AM stereo station in Hampton Roads, I believe they started playing oldies before flipping to news/talk. Maybe they dropped the stereo then because most oldies were recorded in mono, right? Therefore, it would have been unnecessary to continue with the stereo, correct?
Click to expand...
Likely because news/talk is mono, there was no need to pursue stereo at the time. Even many modern FM stations who have moved to N/T or sports, have chosen to drop their stereo because there are perceived benefits in not running in stereo mode.
In a nutshell; AM stereo was a method out of time. As you pointed out; the majority of music listeners had already fled AM to FM, AM stereo was technically inferior mainly because it was on AM, and there was a bunch of legal wrangling about who's system should be the de-facto one chosen. Some folks around this site feel stereo on AM could rise like the phoenix, getting modern consumers to shed their smartphones and apps for music on AM again.
The whole concept is just weird and delusional. It's hard to imagine there are Luddites like this still walking around.
 
Calling radio stations to talk to the dj was once a thing, but is rare today due to automation and voice tracking. I am not talking about stations that run news talk formats, obviously. I worked Seattle radio in the 80’s and we were encouraged to get “phoner’s” on the air. That art is mostly non existent today.
 
Kelly A said:
Could you imagine taking that call; Yes hello, I don't want to request a song, I'd like to know what brand of AM stereo exciter your station is using.
Click to expand...
I actually did this ~40 years ago :)


I had read about AM stereo in Popular Electronics mag, I decided to call (312) 591-8900 when I heard WLS announcing AM stereo, but without mentioning the system - maybe the WLS promotions dept. wanted the DJs to answer the question (as best they could).

Online research revealed that WLS AM used the Kahn system, then the Harris system ~1982, then the Motorola C-QUAM system.


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
I actually did this ~40 years ago :)


I had read about AM stereo in Popular Electronics mag, I decided to call (312) 591-8900 when I heard WLS announcing AM stereo, but without mentioning the system - maybe the WLS promotions dept. wanted the DJs to answer the question (as best they could).

Online research revealed that WLS AM used the Kahn system, then the Harris system ~1982, then the Motorola C-QUAM system.


Kirk Bayne
Click to expand...
The problem with systems other than C-QUAM ... there were few, if any, receivers that could decode the formats.
 
kfbkfb said:
I actually did this ~40 years ago :)
Click to expand...
Of course you did.. 40+ years ago.
kfbkfb said:
I had read about AM stereo in Popular Electronics mag, I decided to call (312) 591-8900 when I heard WLS announcing AM stereo, but without mentioning the system - maybe the WLS promotions dept. wanted the DJs to answer the question (as best they could).
Click to expand...
I still would have hung up on you anyway.
 
I remember touring a radio station in Indianapolis when I was in high school. The DJ announced he was taking requests. Then he took the phone off the hook and made up fake requests. That phone can be a pain in the ass when you're doing a show, he told me.
 
Not a DJ, but when KSHB TV 41 (then a Fox affiliate) converted to (MTS) stereo sound in the early 1990s, my guess is whoever set it up used the FM deviation of +/- 75kHz rather then the TV deviation of +/- 25kHz because their audio was much louder than the other TV stations.

I called the KSHB main switchboard and asked to talk to someone in engineering, they transferred me and the person answered "engineering/lunchroom", I couldn't convince them that there was a problem with their audio.

When KSHB became an NBC affiliate in the Fall of 1994, the audio volume problem was fixed.


Kirk Bayne
 
Weekdays, 7am to 6pm or so.... the phone is ALWAYS answered here. ALWAYS.

I dont answer the phone too much nights or weekends here. Though If I'm downstairs.. or up in my apartment, have the studio cordless phone with me and im not busy, I'll answer it.

The state trooper, medical clinic staff, mayor, city administrator all have my cell phone and know to call it late night/weekends/early mornings in case of emergency. they even know they might have to call multiple times to rouse me from a deep sleep and I might be a little grumpy from grumpy from waking up, but I'll get to what I have to do

and this was proven to work when the trooper and city administrator both called me the night flooding started this spring.
 
I've done it many times, but not lately.

I was actually on the air, or at least I was told I was. The DJ sounded bored when he answered the phone and then I told him how far away I was and hearing his station. Then he answered the phone with an excited voice and I told him it was still me. He explained he wanted to play my call on the air. So I repeated everything I had said, after he pretended to answer again.

Ironically, it was an urban station. I was trying to adjust my radio because when going up and down hills, I was losing my beautiful music station, and I overcorrected.

So when he asked "Have you switched mine to Foxy 99?" or whatever he said, I said, "When I can pick it up."

That may be the only time I have ever been on the radio. Oh, wait, there was high school when I gave a speech and the radio station was broadcasting the event.
 
The old WDXN of Clarksville, TN, briefly tried AM stereo, somewhat belatedly, in 1993. As far as I know, no one around there (electronics stores, etc.) sold equipment that was compatible with picking up AM stereo. There was just simply no market for it. (And WDXN went talk about a year later, anyway.)
 
kfbkfb said:
I called WLS AM (at night) in the Fall of 1983 and asked the DJ which AM stereo system WLS was using - she said she thought they were using the Harris system but that they had recently changed systems.
Click to expand...
WLS initially used the Kahn system, and then later switched to the Harris system. According to the list below, as of June 1985 WLS was still using the Harris system, although probably not for long, as in December 1984 Harris gave up on their own AM Stereo system and put their support behind Motorola's C-Quam, and in July 1985 they began distributing modification kits to convert their AM Stereo exciters to the C-Quam system.


All of this mess because Reagan got rid of the real engineers at the FCC and staffed it with political appointees who didn't know how to actually test the AM Stereo systems being proposed, initially picked the worst one (Magnavox) based on "engineering estimates" (i.e. rock-paper-scissors), and then gave in to Leonard Kahn browbeating them with "let the marketplace decide!"
 
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