DXING-Why?

[raydofan]

I am curious about all the people that are concerned about IBOC ruining DXing:

Why do you even DX on AM in this day and age at all?

Everything that is programmed elsewhere in the US on the AM band lacks any unique facet that would compel me to want to wade through sibilence and static to listen. The last interesting I heard was on WWVA AM years ago: Preachers on Sunday, and the coal mine closing announcements in the wee hours while driving home. That's it. The internet carries almost everything else that I would need or desire, including syndicated stuff out-of-market from Philly.

Unless you're listening to a shortwave broadcast that is out there (including propaganda), then methinks you're wasting your time.

 

[hammondo]

Obviously, you've never heard WGN, Chicago - ALL original programming (except for the Twilight Zone). The BEST radio on the planet.

In your naivete' you'v probably never heard CHWO, Toronto - with better oldies than anybody. Great presentation.

There are a dozen or so other great am blowtorches with original programming. That's why!

Methinks you should do what YOU do - and I'll happily continue to dx. I don't care what you do with YOUR time.

 

[raydofan]

Obviously, you've never heard WGN, Chicago - ALL original programming (except for the Twilight Zone). The BEST radio on the planet.

In your naivete' you'v probably never heard CHWO, Toronto - with better oldies than anybody. Great presentation.

There are a dozen or so other great am blowtorches with original programming. That's why!

Methinks you should do what YOU do - and I'll happily continue to dx. I don't care what you do with YOUR time.

I have heard oldies, and I have heard talk radio. WGN: Paul Harvey? The rest of the format looks like a snoozer. The stream is putting me to sleep right now.

So this is what it's all about?

Are you DXing from Michigan? Have you listened to the stream at all?

 

[BobOnTheJob]

IThe internet carries almost everything else that I would need or desire, including syndicated stuff out-of-market from Philly.

Your arguement will begin to make sense to me once I (and everyone else with an AM radio) can get the Internet in the car. Until then, let me have my AM reception without any more interference than there is now, thank you.

 

[vibe]

Yeah, I fiddle with the radio; sometimes it's to see what distant stations I can find, sometimes it's to find out about what is going on in a given locale, what there is to do, what to buy, where to eat etc.

 

[hammondo]

Raydo,
First of all, even someone as opinionated and with the lack of music knowledge YOU have could put OLDIES together. Someday, when you grow up, you'll realize that.

WGN happens to be among the top 3 LARGEST GROSSING RADIO STATIONS in the United States. It's always in the top 3 rated stations in Chicago, and been on those lists for a over 40 years, probably longer than you've been alive.

I suggest you rot your ears listening to what YOU want. Meanwhle, i want what I like I hope you realize THATS WHY radios come with a frequency dial. Maybe your nana can show you how to operate it.

The music on CHWO (40's til mid 60's) is MY music. If you are so immature and narrow-minded that you don't realize people have different TASTE - YOU are the problem, not what I listen to. The announcers, the news, the flow of the 740 CHWO, Toronto is superb.

I'm GLAD WGN is a SNOOZER to you. Us older folks don't want you kids to know what's happening. Personally, today, I LOVE WGN. I've been listening since about 1958 or 59, LONG before you (maybe even your daddy) was born. My child, WGN is what a RADIO STATION SHOULD BE.

Now, go knock your sisters BLOCKS over and pull her pig-tails again, so your mommy will yell at you.

 

[Grrrradio]

Raydo, I think part of the fascination is technical as well (at least for me)... trying to determine which areas of the country come in best, how weather conditions and time of day affect distant signal propagation, whether the 1960s-vintage appliances in my crappy apartment have any directional effect on reception, stuff like that. And believe me, I sympathize with your lament about the increasingly standardized programming on the dial (hearing Art Bell on six channels in a row sticks in my craw, too!)... but when there's less interesting stuff out there, it just means you have to dig all the deeper to find the real diamonds.

Plus... some of the programming is interesting precisely *because* it doesn't jive with what you (or your demographic) would ordinarily listen to. I'm 25, and I LOVE listening to CHWO... in a way, it's like a passport to another time. WSM is fun, too... even a city boy needs his Merle Haggard every once in a while.

Maybe you just need to give the hobby more of a chance... eventually you'll get that Big Catch (amazing distance, amazing programming, or both) that reminds you of what you used to find so compelling about radio...

 

[raydofan]

Raydo,
First of all, even someone as opinionated and with the lack of music knowledge YOU have could put OLDIES together. Someday, when you grow up, you'll realize that.

WGN happens to be among the top 3 LARGEST GROSSING RADIO STATIONS in the United States. It's always in the top 3 rated stations in Chicago, and been on those lists for a over 40 years, probably longer than you've been alive.

I suggest you rot your ears listening to what YOU want. Meanwhle, i want what I like I hope you realize THATS WHY radios come with a frequency dial. Maybe your nana can show you how to operate it.

The music on CHWO (40's til mid 60's) is MY music. If you are so immature and narrow-minded that you don't realize people have different TASTE - YOU are the problem, not what I listen to. The announcers, the news, the flow of the 740 CHWO, Toronto is superb.

I'm GLAD WGN is a SNOOZER to you. Us older folks don't want you kids to know what's happening. Personally, today, I LOVE WGN. I've been listening since about 1958 or 59, LONG before you (maybe even your daddy) was born. My child, WGN is what a RADIO STATION SHOULD BE.

Now, go knock your sisters BLOCKS over and pull her pig-tails again, so your mommy will yell at you.

I will look past your invective with a chuckle to say that you know little about me. I happen to have a large collection of music of all kinds. There is some music in that spread of time that I do enjoy, and it's probably outside the run-of-the-mill muzaky sounding stuff that is presented in that 'oldies' format. Actually, it's usually called 'nostalgia' (right now they're playing boogie woogie that's kinda nice-Oscar Peterson-into...Jeff Healy? Oh, he sounds like Harry Connick, Jr. so it fits the idiom...um, OK.)
The host sounds a bit moribund. I guess it's OK-he's giving a wad of history with the music. Reminds me a bit of WNEW-AM-NY my MOMMA used to listen to-the hosts were a bit more jovial IIRC. CHWO-smooth as bran and prunes together .


Since you mention WGN and 'being informed': Why did you all let GM and all those other companies pull up the trolley right-of-ways and destroy the rolling stock in Detroit? I'm taking a stab and guessing you haven't moved from Michigan...correct me if I'm in error. I think this falls on your generation. (Forgive me, I'm trying to keep up with the desultory nature of this exchange.)

So just how does 'Are you smarter than a talk show host?' inform me OR you?

That is all, or, in your generation's parlance:

23 Skidoo!

Yours,

Ray D. O'Fan

 

[hammondo]

Actually, I grew up in Chicago, college in Indiana, then St. Louis, MO before West Michigan. I immensely dislike Detroit.

I too have a large collection (10,000+ songs) and a happy i-pod. You talked about the run-of-the-mill muzaky sounding stuff that is presented in an 'oldies' format. I can tell you that's NOT CHWO. They play the old hits - and go quite deep, too, it's a clever mix of oldies AND nostalgia, programmed by someone who really knows how to use "Selector" the computer program that alot of oldies stations use. Both WGN and CHWO are on the internet, but I usually use a radio on both as my computer doesn't have wheels.

By the way, you old "hep cat" -

23 skidoo right back at you!
Thanks

 

[raydofan]

Actually, I grew up in Chicago, college in Indiana, then St. Louis, MO before West Michigan. I immensely dislike Detroit.

Apologies then...

I too have a large collection (10,000+ songs) and a happy i-pod.

I have records and a turntable, CDs...I do use mp3s, but only for casting or email. No iPod.

 

[Number_Six]

The music on CHWO (40's til mid 60's) is MY music. If you are so immature and narrow-minded that you don't realize people have different TASTE - YOU are the problem, not what I listen to. The announcers, the news, the flow of the 740 CHWO, Toronto is superb.

That's all good and well, but I'd rather have them as a CBC affiliate again, since CBA doesn't come in too good in NJ.

 

[hammondo]

Interesting. Please explain (to a US citizen not familar) what is a "CBC affiliate." Last I heard (some time ago) CBC resembled what was "NBC Radio Monitor." What does being a CBC affiliate mean?

 

[mimo]

CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, our national (public) network supported by tax dollars. Until the mid 90's in english we had CBC radio and CBC stereo, the former being a predominantly AM network with news, talk, some music and current affairs programming, it is (in a not entirely accurate comparison) the Canadian BBC. CBC stereo was an FM only network that was classical/fine arts programming. Now the stations are CBC radio 1 and radio 2, the programming has changed a bit, in terms or more variety of programming, but remain true to what they were before the rebranding. When Number_Six was refering to a 740 being a CBC affiliate, it was the Toronto service of CBC radio (1) There are 2 french networks..premiere chaine and espace musique as well (I jokingly refer to them as radio 3 and 4)

 

[Number_Six]

Interesting. Please explain (to a US citizen not familar) what is a "CBC affiliate." Last I heard (some time ago) CBC resembled what was "NBC Radio Monitor." What does being a CBC affiliate mean?

CBC = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Until about 1999, 740 AM in Toronto was CBL, a CBC Radio One affiliate. Then CBL moved to FM, and 740 became CHWO, an oldies station. Which is too bad, because 740 puts out a strong signal to the entire Northeast. In New Jersey, you can usually get CBA on a clear night, but the signal is nowhere near as powerful. I think there's also a CBC affiliate on 1550 that is sometimes copyable.

 

[trusty]

We are trying to answer the question "Why DX?" from a listener standpoint - which is OK, but doesn't capture the motivation of the DXer.

The DXer is a collector, along with being a explorer, discoverer, listener, engineer, etc. Some people collect stamps; some collect records; some collect music on their iPods. The DXer collects stations. New stations - from different locations - from different parts of the country & world - at the top of mountains (FM) or at beaches (AM).

It satisfies a curosity that the beginner of this thread doesn't have. If you're only intrerested in content, DXing doesn't interest you. If you find discovering new things to add to your life to be satisfying, then maybe DXing could be for you. The DXer adds new stations to his/her collection. And, there's always more to discover.

I agree that CtC on half the AM stations at night can be boring - but there's always the next frequency to explore.

 

[hammondo]

As a dx'er for about 50 years, Trusty hit it on the head.

Back when I was a kid I had an album FULL of "qsl cards" from various AM stations I received on my Hammerlund radio with a 100 foot long wire antenna from my Chicago basement.

I remember KMOX, KSL, KSD, KDKA, WIBC, KOA, WINS, WABC, WOR, WTMJ,WMBD, WLW, WSB, WSM, WTMJ, WISN, WOWO, WCCO, and a couple of dozen others sent me a postcard that verified my listenng. It was lots of fun. I still dx when I'm in my car. It's a hobby.

Some people golf, some people make muscle-bound, ego-enhanced, stupid atheletes rich by attending games, some people do drugs or porn, or drink. I think it beats all of that.

 

[mikl73]

Why collect coins, stamps, spoons, shotglasses, or anything else.....

people collect things that excite them.

listening to distant signals has been a passion for many since the invention of the radio.

I too have had the bug since I was a wee little lad.. while my friends where climbing tree's I was saving money and raising the biggest highest fm ant. I could get away with.

What a geek huh?

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

How about when WWL broadcasts sent information out of the NOLA to people across miles and miles where no FM or "local service" radio station could EVER get? Everyone forgets about WHY we had clears in the first place. Someone with a brain in the past understood that we NEEDED this for emergency management. What would have happened if IBOC was on at night back when most of NOLA was underwater? Would those folks wanting to know the latest about their relatives and the area have been able to hear the staiton or just some hash? The AM standard is flawed, to put it lightly. AT LEAST they need to think about turning the juice down at night on the IBOC signal to cover the local area and not much more at night. Why do we need to have it going at night full-blast? Wouldn't power reduction at night for the IBOC channel help the problem?
If the industry indicates all they care about is the local market, then why would more powerful stations need full-blast digital at night for their local area?

 

[wkbam1690]

I am curious about all the people that are concerned about IBOC ruining DXing:

Why do you even DX on AM in this day and age at all?

If you have to even ask this question, then you are not a REAL radio person, IMHO.

 

[BRNout]

I am curious about all the people that are concerned about IBOC ruining DXing:

Why do you even DX on AM in this day and age at all?

If you have to even ask this question, then you are not a REAL radio person, IMHO.

Yes, Amen to that! Every "real" radio person I've ever known has enough of a 'geek' side to find dxing interesting. I suppose it starts with wondering how far your signal (and your voice) goes out and the curiosity grows from there. Not that big of a stretch.

For some, the curiosity starts much earlier in life. In my case, it was how my dad tuned in music from WLS and WABC at night back when I was 5 years old. Being naturally curious about all things scientific, I asked him how we could hear such far away stations. Stations that were much better than our local offerings in Virginia. And, I then got my first (simplified) explanation of propagation. The bug bit, and I have remained interested. By the age of 7, I realized that skywave still occurs for a time after sunup - with the help of Harry Harrison, of course. All in all, it is a hobby that requires a basic understanding of our atmosphere, of wave physics, and of electronics. Pretty useful stuff.

There are other reasons too. What if you enjoy Matt Drudge's Sunday night show and live in Pittsburgh? Well, then you need to dx - its not offered locally. Or you live in a market without Coast to Coast AM - and you like the show? Again, dxing is an easy way to catch it. AM IBOC will trash the dial and - sadly - it does not appear that the benefits will come close to outweighing the negatives. This is why you hear so many more complaints about AM IBOC versus FM IBOC - because AM IBOC does much more damage and promises much less payoff.

Our only hope may be for the Canadians or Mexicans to file suit over nightime IBOC cluttering their airwaves. I really hope it happens. This technology is crap.