Ever liked a station you DXed?

[nd2023]

2 days ago there was an e-skip opening to Miami and I heard Easy 93.1. I was amazed that they were playing soft AC songs on the radio, songs I haven't heard on AC radio for years. During the opening I of course tried to ID as many stations as possible but I kept tuning to 93.1 to hear what they were playing (that station was in throughout the entire opening for about 2 hours). The next day I listened to them online for hours and loved it! AC stations sounded like that when I was growing up, and it's nice to know there's a station still playing the traditional soft AC format. I probably wouldn't have listened to them if it weren't for the e-skip.

Have you discovered any stations you liked by DXing, with a unique format not heard elsewhere?

 

[Darth_vader]

CKMX was one of my favourites before they flipped to country. Although there are at least 400 different FM/VHF channels in the Vancouver/Portland area upon which one can hear AC/soft rock, it was (still is) impossible to hear it locally on mediumwave. Although CKMX isn't local to me by any stretch of the imagination (it's international, even!) it still somewhat filled that gap.

I also used to love BBC World Service and VOA, when they were still on shortwave. Well, at least when they were still going through transmitter sites on frequencies I could actually receive on my crappy SW radio on this side of the planet.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

The DX'ing I remember was some years ago and on AM.

I remember in the early 1960's getting a "man on the street show" on WIBC - 1070-AM in Indianapolis around their noon hour. Getting that station from here was basically easy. However, it was interesting to hear such a show then when so much of radio had gotten to DJ's and 45-rpm records. Interviewing passers-by on the street on radio was something from the 1940's into the early 1950's. I always liked the WIBC station break........."This is WIBC - Indianapolis - The Friendly Voice of Indiana. Easy-going and relaxing.

About that same time, I recall being out driving and picking up WCHO - 1250-AM from Washington Court house, Ohio and hearing the announcer giving results of the previous evening's youth baseball scores. The teams were apparently sponsored by local merchants...."Last night in local baseball....Bill's Pizza defeated Joe's Hamburgers, 5-3". Hometown news for the hometown people.

 

[radioman148]

In the early 60s I DXed WABC in NYC from the midwest. It turned out to be my favorite station to listen to at night.

 

[Tincap]

On the FM side of things. Well actually, more tropo, or even fringe, rather than DX, the New Classical 96.3 (CFMZ-FM) signal carried on 103.1 (CFMX Cobourg ON), tromped all over semi-local WTOJ Watertown NY this week. IMHO, I wish that that was rather a permanent situation.

Toronto's CJRT JAZZ FM91 comes in on semi regular visits and I've picked up Montreal's Planète Jazz (CHLX 91.9) here for the first time yesterday.

As for MW DX, Radio Farda (at least during the times I've picked them up) keeps the talk (in Farsi) to a minimum and plays long blocks of rather exotic Iranian music. The Brits and the Irish I can understand, so when I pick up one of the UK stations on MW or RTÉ on LW, they offer up interesting talk.

On SW, I enjoy catching the domestic services, meant for local audiences. Brasil's Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, is pretty cool. South Africa's domestic Afrikaans service (which I understand) , Radio Sonder Grense (RSG ~ Radio Without Borders) is a favourite, along with Greece's ERA 5. Until recently, Israeli domestic service Reshet Bet (Channel 'B') used to be a regular favourite, while from Germany, Bayerischer Rundfunk used to heard, until they switched to DRM (and BR have now closed down SW completely). In spite of the cutting back of SW, there's still stuff out there!

Having said all that, all of the above can be heard online. I guess my real enjoyment of DXing is not of what's actually being broadcast, but the fact that you are sharing that particular program with the local folks, for whom the broadcast is meant for. With a half decent radio and a certain amount of interest, one can experience a little part of another community...even if they're stuck listening, to the same program as I am, in a traffic jam somewhere. ;D 8)

~BG

 

[BostonRandy]

Though not a unique format, I've enjoyed picking up WGCO (Big 98.3) in Midway, GA (serving Savannah) and their format playing 60s, 70s & 80s. It's a very comfortable presentation - something that's truly lacking in 21st century radio

 

[ddsparxx]

One station I liked when heard during E skip in VA was KEZO 92.3, an AOR station in Omaha, NE. On the central Oregon coast, I heard KOMO 1000 in Seattle everyday practically at any time, but better starting late afternoon with news and information. Oh, yeah, UK's 1215 with British rock, I heard it here in VA at night, though very, very weak.

 

[gar hi]

I liked listening to WKBW and WLS from New Jersey during their top 40 days of the 70s and then WLS and WNBC with my AM Stereo Walkman when I first moved to Florida in the 80s.

 

[dxho]

mid-60s AM DX was the only broadcast source of real RnR, before it went to FM. Locally there were 3 stations- the hog report/classical, C&W, and top-40, so we'd wait until night for KLIF, KOMA, WNOE, WLS, and quite a few others to roll in...

 

[radioman148]

mid-60s AM DX was the only broadcast source of real RnR, before it went to FM. Locally there were 3 stations- the hog report/classical, C&W, and top-40, so we'd wait until night for KLIF, KOMA, WNOE, WLS, and quite a few others to roll in...

I also enjoyed WBZ at night when they would play R&R in the 60s.

 

[FreddyE1977]

In the early 60s I DXed WABC in NYC from the midwest. It turned out to be my favorite station to listen to at night.

I would always listen to WLS from Pittsburgh when they were still playing rock n' roll in the 70's.
Also listened often to Ft. Wayne Komet Hockey games on WOWO.

 

[BRNout]

That's how I became a dxer! When I was a little kid, my father showed me this amazing thing: how to get great radio from exotic-sounding, faraway places at night. We lived in northern VA in the late 60s/early 70s and the local AM offerings would basically turn to dust after dark. But, there were the likes of WABC, CKLW, WKBW and WLS there in their place to entertain (I didn't learn about WCFL until later). And these stations sounded much BETTER than the likes of WEAM or WPGC.

This is how I became a five year old DXer with my own little radio at home. And how I became a big fan of WABC despite living 300 miles away. And WLS too.

It's also why the Washington area (much like Houston and a couple of other markets) became an early adopter of FM. WPGC-FM led the way and, by 1972, we had a new car with an FM radio that enabled us to hear it in the car at night with a crystal clear signal. We weren't alone, making this one of the first markets to see AM fade - basically due to the dearth of full-market signals and lousy ground conductivity.

 

[vibe]

Living and growing up in Central CT in the 60's, I used to listen to WKBW 1520 as an alt to local WPOP 1410. DRC came in so so in New Britain at nite. Also listened to CKLW and some of the Chi clears. But I got bored with the top 10 or so songs after awhile. For one reason or the other I liked the Ft Wayne Comets? on 1190 WOWO and a lot of college BB on various stations. Baseball was all over the dial; so yeah, I liked a LOT of out of market stations that came in from 500 to 1000 mi away.
Had to do all this with a radio under the pillow,,,

 

[radioman148]

In the early 60s I DXed WABC in NYC from the midwest. It turned out to be my favorite station to listen to at night.

I would always listen to WLS from Pittsburgh when they were still playing rock n' roll in the 70's.
Also listened often to Ft. Wayne Komet Hockey games on WOWO.

Speaking of Pittsburgh I used to listen to Bob Prince on KDKA do the Pirates games from where I lived in the Chicago area. He was very entertaining.

 

[davideduardo]

Have you discovered any stations you liked by DXing, with a unique format not heard elsewhere?

While in high school in NE Ohio in the early 60's, I discovered HJED-820, Cali, Colombia, while Dxing. Since at the time 820 was clear in North America after 1 AM EST, I could turn the loop to the south and put a timer on the radio and reel-to-reel recorder and have several hours of cumbia to listen to while doing homework the next evening. HJED consistently had a great signal, except during the summer static months, and the sponsored "Una voz en el camino" (A voice on the road) sponsored by Chrysler-Colmotores had nearly no long commercials and was fun to listen to.

The format might not have been unique in Colombia, but it was the only think like it I could hear regularly in Ohio.

 

[flashback]

i often listened to wls amd wcfl chicago in the 1970`s durring their rock days.both were great top 40 stations.i listened to ron owens on wcau from 2 am to 6 am from philidelphia.i liked his show.that was around 1970 or 1971.those were from indianapolis, indiana.

 

[cyberdad]

WBZ and KAAY did it for me during the 60s in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. In college in Iowa a few years later, KOMA, WLAC, and XERF absolutely kicked a** every night. Still later, it was Joe Donovan's all-nighter on WHAS.

 

[cd637299]

WBZ and KAAY did it for me during the 60s in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. In college in Iowa a few years later, KOMA, WLAC, and XERF absolutely kicked a** every night. Still later, it was Joe Donovan's all-nighter on WHAS.

I was gonna chime in about another station, and I will....but yesssssss Joe Donovan!!! Although DX quality, I have over a dozen C-90 tapes of that show. I had a system....I had a great Yaesu AM/SW receiver with a REC jack & a timer....since I slept overnights, I piped the sound into my VCR which I set for 5 hours, then listened in the morning.....any song I wanted, I kept. Still I had over a dozen C-90's, to give you an idea. Sadly, I only discovered his lost-oldies show in 1995, when he began in 1983. So it was only 2 years worth.

On the FM side, once I heard a station on E-skip: Fabuestereo 88.1 in Guatemala City (I live in Florida). Unique B/EZ station in an age of rock/dance/etc. Now in this internet age, it can be heard online (although they do not run 24 hours): www.fabuestereo.com (they have not changed format in Lord knows how long).

cd

 

[jd]

Oh yes, there were many stations that appealed to me when I was growing up in the Dallas area. Reception was a lot a lot easier back then, so besides the local Top-40's KLIF 1190 and KBOX 1480 in Dallas (and Fort Worth's KFJZ 1270 and KXOL 1360), I always sought out Oklahoma City's KOMA 1520 (home of the "KOMA Kissing Tone") and stations from Little Rock like KAAY, KLRA 1010 (silenced years ago), KARN 920 and even KALO 1250. From St. Louis I enjoyed the Top 40 on KXOK 630, the "full service" programming on KMOX, an occasional visit from KWK 1380 and some good R&B on KATZ 1600. Two Top-40's from Louisiana were on my list, too: WNOE 1060 from New Orleans (with jocks like Dan Diamond and "Long John Silver Bluebeard") and a fun little station from Lake Charles, KLOU 1580.

My absolute DX favorites from that era will come as no real surprise to many: the Big 89 WLS and WLAC 1510. WLS was a fantastic station with great jocks, of course, but it was pretty cautious about breaking new records. On the other hand, I still remember John R. on WLAC playing songs days or weeks before they were on my local stations. Plus you could order them by mail from Ernie's Record Mart in Nashville!

 

[radioman148]

WBZ and KAAY did it for me during the 60s in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. In college in Iowa a few years later, KOMA, WLAC, and XERF absolutely kicked a** every night. Still later, it was Joe Donovan's all-nighter on WHAS.

I was gonna chime in about another station, and I will....but yesssssss Joe Donovan!!! Although DX quality, I have over a dozen C-90 tapes of that show. I had a system....I had a great Yaesu AM/SW receiver with a REC jack & a timer....since I slept overnights, I piped the sound into my VCR which I set for 5 hours, then listened in the morning.....any song I wanted, I kept. Still I had over a dozen C-90's, to give you an idea. Sadly, I only discovered his lost-oldies show in 1995, when he began in 1983. So it was only 2 years worth.

On the FM side, once I heard a station on E-skip: Fabuestereo 88.1 in Guatemala City (I live in Florida). Unique B/EZ station in an age of rock/dance/etc. Now in this internet age, it can be heard online (although they do not run 24 hours): www.fabuestereo.com (they have not changed format in Lord knows how long).

cd

Ahh Joe Donovan. What a great show he had. Great setup CD--good thinking!