95.9FM in Dallas

[dfwrunner]

Ya know, I'm wondering what ever became of the original 95.9 thread?

...Only problem is it works only at night. But here's what we can do: convert WOAI in San Antionio and KRLD in Dallas into 50,000 daytime translators for XEG. KRLD's daytime signal goes into East Texas. A quick look at radio-locator.com shows that XEG's, WOAI's and KRLD's daytime signals don't quite overlap - so one could get a smaller translator in McAllen for a bit of a boost and then convert the two daytime stations in Texas on 1050, one in Killeen and the other in suburban Houston to 50,000 watts daytime coverage as well.

nobody ain't a messin with my favorite radio station KRLD...git a rope...

 

[MN Maniac]

The book "Border Blasters" by Gene Fowler & Bill Crawford has a chapter about XERF & Wolfman Jack. I believe it mentions that XERF was heard regularly all the way into parts of the USSR & that it sounded local in Kansas & even parts of New York.

XERF was loud and clear into Minnesota at night. We had a local station with 1,000 watts on 1570 (KUXL) which would get completely stomped down less than 10 miles from their transmitter as the sun began to go down.

Here's a tape I recorded of XERF in October, 1982:

http://drewdurigan.com/radiogeekhea...udad-acuna-coahuila-mx-johnny-night-oct-1982/

 

[grantchester]

Skip is an inconsistent thing. The altitude of the reflective level of the ionosphere varies from night to night. That means the angle of reflectance also varies.
Usually the ground wave of a WOAI or WBAP goes out about 200 miles. The sky wave skips over the areas within a few hundred miles, then comes down further out. Example: WOAI doesn't come in well at all after dark from north of Waco to the Oklahoma border. WBAP faded out north of Ardmore on a recent trip, then came in clearly once I got into Missouri.
Another interesting effect is the bounce up and down from the ionosphere to the ocean and back. WOAI has listener reports from Japan, France and Sweden. A listener posted one of my newscasts on 820 that was received in Scotland. On a good night, XEG goes into Canada. It's possible for it to bounce into Russia. Here's the rub: distant listening doesn't count in the ratings. There's no incentive at all for a station to promote or support listening outside of the market area.
FM skip is a whole 'nuther matter. It usually is caused by a charged layer of atmosphere created in a boundary between varying wind directions and/or humidity. It occurs at a much lower altitude.

 

[317C50KW]

The "Border Blasters" book explains the reason there's a 50KW daytimer on 1030 in Corpus Christi and why it's religious. The name Carr Collins figures prominently in the scenario and so do "Crazy Water Crystals." There's a Salvation Army building in Dallas named after Mr. Collins.

Oh and to get back to the original thread, Radio Avenger and I have had a couple of interesting discussions about K240DS.

 

[dismuke]

Here's the rub: distant listening doesn't count in the ratings. There's no incentive at all for a station to promote or support listening outside of the market area.

There was one exception to that I was able to tune in during my lifetime. During the mid 1980s KOA in Denver had an overnight program that started at midnight Mountain Time Saturday evening/Sunday morning called "The National Recovery Act." It was a very unique call-in program hosted by a fellow called Larry Cox. The premise of the program was people calling in from all over the many states that KOA's massive signal reached sharing memories of what they had seen in their lifetimes - and how things had changed for the better or worse. At that the time, there were still people alive who had vivid memories dating back to the late 1890s and very early 1900s. I remember one evening an elderly lady called in to share her memory of her family seeing an airplane for the first time just a very few years after the Wright Brothers' flight. Listeners called in from all over the place - and the whole program was fascinating and very addictive. It was one of the most unique radio programs I have listened to. And a few times every program Cox would spin 78 rpm records - the really good kind from the late '20s and early '30s. That was a particularly nice treat for me as, back in those days, my own record collection was still quite tiny. It was a perfect example of a station making intentional use of its clear channel - and I remember him one saying that it was also the highest rated program in Denver for its time slot.

Unfortunately, like you mention, listening to drift has its challenges. If there were storms nearby you had almost no chance of picking it up. And the reception could vary quite a bit during the same evening. The show would come in loud and clear one moment and then it would fade away for several minutes and then come back. Sometimes moving the radio helped a bit. Sometimes not. And, of course, it seemed like it would always fade out right when they were talking about something especially interesting or when he would start to play a particularly nice 78 rpm. Listening in could be frustrating - but it was something that you simply could not get anyplace else so it was worth it. Staying up all night Saturday nights sure didn't help my sleep schedule for the rest of the week, either.

And my understanding is that WBAP actually had quite a following back in the 1970s via distance drift with the predecessor to its current overnight trucking show. It explicitly programmed to that audience with Harold Taft staying up late to give nationwide weather forecasts. And if you go WAY far back, the station certainly had a big nighttime following, at least during the winter when it got dark early. A couple of years ago, I picked up a 78 rpm record of "The Sunflower Girl of WBAP" from 1927. Her real name was Bessie Coldiron and she performed on the station more or less regularly between 1925 and 1929. While doing research through online newspaper archives to learn more about her, I came across a number of local radio columns circa 1928 from newspapers as far away as Ohio which regularly gave recaps of what was heard the previous evening on WBAP and other stations all over the country. One in Decatur, Illinois described Coldiron singing 55 songs in just over 9 minutes as WBAP's announcer "The Hired Hand" called out song titles. And this was a few years before WBAP's increase in power to 50,000 watts. And in the 1920s, there were quite a few strictly regional bandleaders in cities such as Chicago who suddenly became nationally prominent as a result of landing regular live remote gigs on powerful clear channel stations at a time when local nighttime stations were still a rarity in many parts of the country.

Probably not a whole lot of incentive to even bother with listening to drift these days. If you are on the road you can still pick up far away stations. But, anymore, most play nothing more than the same syndicated programs you can find in any city. And if you are at home - well, with the Internet you have stations all over the world and any type of programming imaginable only a few clicks away.

 

[dismuke]

The name Carr Collins figures prominently in the scenario and so do "Crazy Water Crystals."

The Crazy Water Hotel where many of the broadcasts were recorded still stands in Mineral Wells. Carr Collins, who owned the hotel, the water and the crystal operation, was on many of those broadcasts describing in a very folksy way the wonders of Crazy Water, Crazy Water Crystals and Crazy Water Fizz. Collins also had a very successful insurance business based in Dallas and even operated one of the border blaster stations which, of course, carried his Crazy Water broadcasts.

Quite a lot of broadcasts were cut and they were aired on stations throughout the country. Many featured Jack Amlung and His Orchestra, a local jazz/dance band that was a regular feature at the Crazy Water Hotel and the rival Baker Hotel a few blocks away. Others featured country music - or, as it was known at the time, "hillbilly music." And, for a while, NBC actually carried programs live from the hotel.

If you go to Whole Foods or Central Market, you can now buy Crazy Water again - though the trademark is now owned by its former rival the Famous Water Company which still operates out of its old mineral water pavilion in Mineral Wells. A few blocks from the Famous water pavilion is the old factory - now home to a box company - where the mineral water was evaporated down to make the crystals. Once in awhile, old Crazy Water Crystals boxes turn up on ebay. I was able to get one that still has its original contents and wax paper lining. For those who have not been, Mineral Wells makes a fascinating day trip.

A while back, I dropped quite a lot (for me, at least) of money purchasing several hours worth of very fragile 16 inch radio transcription discs from the mid 1930s of Crazy Water Crystals broadcasts. Unfortunately, I have yet to listen to them as I do not own a 16 inch turntable - but I have a pretty decent idea of what is on them from based on the description provided by the former owner. Once I am able to borrow a 16 inch turntable, I plan to transfer and digitize them and devote an entire weekend on Radio Dismuke to playing them in a continuous loop. If the logistics permit, I might try and coordinate the timing with the annual Crazy Water Festival in Mineral Wells. At any rate, since the broadcasts are very much a part of local radio history, I will definitely post an announcement thread on this board whenever I do get around to airing them.

 

[dfaulkner]

FM skip is a whole 'nuther matter. It usually is caused by a charged layer of atmosphere created in a boundary between varying wind directions and/or humidity. It occurs at a much lower altitude.

One stormy night in the mid 1980's I drove from Oak Cliff to Plano (Where I worked at the time.) listening to a Jazz FM in Houston. Once in Plano, I listened to it off & on through a good bit of the overnight. It was gone by morning & I haven't heard it again. (At the moment, I don't remember the ferequency it was on.) But they were promoting an upcoming Nancy Wilson concert & playing some of her stuff (I didn't know who she was before that night ! I've been a fan of hers since then !) I think this was the first time that I experienced FM skip. (Troposheric Ducting, I think, is the technical term.)

 

[93-3TheSurge]

While the Border Blasters out of Mexico may be a thing of the past (with the exception of XEG), there are still some really powerful stations here in the US. Here are two powerful AM stations with coverage maps:

WWL may not get you to the border, but it will get you to Chicago:

http://www.thetalkofneworleans.com/coveragemap.html

The daytime coverage is off the charts, as it can be heard 473 miles away in St. Petersburg, FL.

KCKN is a border blaster, just on this side of the border. Its nighttime coverage goes all the way to Canada:

http://kckn1020.com/coverage.htm


When it comes to pulling in AM "blowtorches" here in Austin, I have picked up KOA out of Denver, WTAM out of Cleveland, and KMOX out of St Louis. I have also picked up WLW out of Cincinnatti and WHO out of Des Moines, and WLS out of Chicago. I checked their websites, but these stations did not include coverage maps for nighttime operations.

 

[93-3TheSurge]

Speaking of the border blasters, I was able to pull in XEWA 540AM out of San Luis Potosi, XEW 900AM out of D.F., XEX 730AM out of D.F., from Austin last night.

I was not able to get XEROK 800AM out of Juarez, however. I'm pretty sure XEROK has reduced its power recently; I doubt they are still pumping out 150kW. I bet it's more like 5kW for nighttime ops.