Back in the late 1960s and 1970s, I was introduced to the phenom of AM DXing by a family friend in Toledo, Ohio, and was amazed to hear the uniquely Boston sound of WBZ, and the novelty of WWL New Orleans, coming in loud and clear, with minimal fading. Larry Glick on WBZ was a gift from God, especially a few years later when I had to dricve in the lonely fog of Appalachia on winding country highways, from hosting part time radio gigs back to my home base at college, an hour away.
Dialing around at night on the living room stereo, while they rest of the family were glued to TV in the family room, I enjoyed finding the low-end of the AM dial regularly had lots of Cuban stations, especially on 550, 590, 600, with 640 and 690 the strongest most nights. Perhaps 3 or 4 different program services, on multiple freqs. Including Radio Reloj from time to time. At 8pm, Radio Progreso on 640 (and a few other freqs) would play a half hour show of "youth" music called "A las veinte horas." Mostly MOR Cuban music, similar to what we now know of from musicians like Buena Vista Social Club. There were some sublime vocal harmonies, at times, too. Wish I knew who those groups were to find their recordings now. And Jose Jose singing "La Nave del Olvido" and other sentimental Latin and European music not easiliy found on American radio at the time (nor today, either).
When Radio-Canada started to broadcast on AM540 from 40 miles away, I was introduced to what would be called new age music on the nightly "Par Quatre Chemins," which otherwise favored lengthy musings in French that I couldn't understand but like to hear, nonetheless. The sound literally floated on the night air for a teenager dreaming of far away places and kind of the radio they had.
One of my favorites was listening to unusual sign offs of daytime AM stations whose signals were starting to ride the skywave before they had to shut down. WNRS Saline Mich was only 500 watts on 1290, but their produced sign off for their country format "this is WNRS, headin' for the barn" was memorable.
I used to look for WCPC Houston, Mississippi (near Tupelo) on AM940, which would often (but not always) come in for about an hour or a little less until they signed off. It was a 50,000 watt daytimer, and we couldn't get any other stations from the South in Toledo, apart from the big two in Nashville and WWL, so their last hour of the day, given the time zone difference, was worth looking for. WCPC would end their schedule with "sundown hymn time" - several old style gospel tunes, like the Chuck Wagon Gang, and gospel albums by country stars like Loretta Lynn. And maybe a couple of local commercials, like for a funeral parlor or barbecue joint. But it did sound segregated - no soul gospel mixed in back then. They played "Dixie" instead of the "Star Spangled Banner" before shutting off the transmitter. That always caught my attention. I can still hear the heavily-accented sign of "This is W'bya C-P-C Houston Mississippi, 940 killa-cycles, with fifta-thousand watts of power..."
What do the rest of you fondly remember of AM radio at sundown?
Dialing around at night on the living room stereo, while they rest of the family were glued to TV in the family room, I enjoyed finding the low-end of the AM dial regularly had lots of Cuban stations, especially on 550, 590, 600, with 640 and 690 the strongest most nights. Perhaps 3 or 4 different program services, on multiple freqs. Including Radio Reloj from time to time. At 8pm, Radio Progreso on 640 (and a few other freqs) would play a half hour show of "youth" music called "A las veinte horas." Mostly MOR Cuban music, similar to what we now know of from musicians like Buena Vista Social Club. There were some sublime vocal harmonies, at times, too. Wish I knew who those groups were to find their recordings now. And Jose Jose singing "La Nave del Olvido" and other sentimental Latin and European music not easiliy found on American radio at the time (nor today, either).
When Radio-Canada started to broadcast on AM540 from 40 miles away, I was introduced to what would be called new age music on the nightly "Par Quatre Chemins," which otherwise favored lengthy musings in French that I couldn't understand but like to hear, nonetheless. The sound literally floated on the night air for a teenager dreaming of far away places and kind of the radio they had.
One of my favorites was listening to unusual sign offs of daytime AM stations whose signals were starting to ride the skywave before they had to shut down. WNRS Saline Mich was only 500 watts on 1290, but their produced sign off for their country format "this is WNRS, headin' for the barn" was memorable.
I used to look for WCPC Houston, Mississippi (near Tupelo) on AM940, which would often (but not always) come in for about an hour or a little less until they signed off. It was a 50,000 watt daytimer, and we couldn't get any other stations from the South in Toledo, apart from the big two in Nashville and WWL, so their last hour of the day, given the time zone difference, was worth looking for. WCPC would end their schedule with "sundown hymn time" - several old style gospel tunes, like the Chuck Wagon Gang, and gospel albums by country stars like Loretta Lynn. And maybe a couple of local commercials, like for a funeral parlor or barbecue joint. But it did sound segregated - no soul gospel mixed in back then. They played "Dixie" instead of the "Star Spangled Banner" before shutting off the transmitter. That always caught my attention. I can still hear the heavily-accented sign of "This is W'bya C-P-C Houston Mississippi, 940 killa-cycles, with fifta-thousand watts of power..."
What do the rest of you fondly remember of AM radio at sundown?
