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favorite DX discoveries
- Thread starter Goldilocks94941
- Start date
Off-topic comments follow.
Nice to read that others liked WBZ's (Juicy-Brucey) Bruce Bradley, as I believe him to be among the best. There was no one else out there quite like him. Witty, and off the wall. He was playing the Beatles a full year before the rest of America. He passed through for one day at 550/WKRC well over 10 years ago, apparently an on-air job "test".
Wonder what happened to him?
As so many DX'ers of the 50's & 60's who didn't have a DX'ing mentor, I began listening to find the absolute best Top 40 stations, which really meant the best Disc Jockeys.
From an early age, I loved geography, and was fascinated with exotic places. For a kid in Indiana whose family couldn't afford week long real vacations, Arkansas, Texas and Iowa qualified as exotic.
I remember the first time I heard 940/WCPC in Houston MS. It was sometime in 1965, not long after the began broadcasting on 940 directional with a 50KW DA antenna
Nice to read that others liked WBZ's (Juicy-Brucey) Bruce Bradley, as I believe him to be among the best. There was no one else out there quite like him. Witty, and off the wall. He was playing the Beatles a full year before the rest of America. He passed through for one day at 550/WKRC well over 10 years ago, apparently an on-air job "test".
Wonder what happened to him?
As so many DX'ers of the 50's & 60's who didn't have a DX'ing mentor, I began listening to find the absolute best Top 40 stations, which really meant the best Disc Jockeys.
From an early age, I loved geography, and was fascinated with exotic places. For a kid in Indiana whose family couldn't afford week long real vacations, Arkansas, Texas and Iowa qualified as exotic.
I remember the first time I heard 940/WCPC in Houston MS. It was sometime in 1965, not long after the began broadcasting on 940 directional with a 50KW DA antenna
I understand that Bruce Bradley is retired and living in Arizona. He was one of the best of his time.
Too bad that there is only one Bruce Bradley aircheck online (Reelradio.com). Surely somebody has another recording somewhere.
Too bad that there is only one Bruce Bradley aircheck online (Reelradio.com). Surely somebody has another recording somewhere.
tanner said:
I've always found that to be quite interesting.
frankberry said:
I believe in the 90s & early 2000s, Bruce Bradley was working in St Louis doing talk radio.
My AM memories.....
AFN on 873 from Germany with AT40 in the early hours of Sunday morning
Sweden calling DXers on 1179 AM on Tuesdays, and Radio Netherlands Media Network on Thursdays
RTE Radio Two and Radio Scotland (both only audible in England after sunset- RTE one was audible in daytimes)
Hearing Saudi on 1440 one night after Luxembourg shut down.
Circa 1990 hearing Black Velvet by Alannah Myles on Radio Moscow- and realising the world really had changed forever.
AFN on 873 from Germany with AT40 in the early hours of Sunday morning
Sweden calling DXers on 1179 AM on Tuesdays, and Radio Netherlands Media Network on Thursdays
RTE Radio Two and Radio Scotland (both only audible in England after sunset- RTE one was audible in daytimes)
Hearing Saudi on 1440 one night after Luxembourg shut down.
Circa 1990 hearing Black Velvet by Alannah Myles on Radio Moscow- and realising the world really had changed forever.
My mothers first cousin was the engineer who put WCPC on the air. JB Skelton. He died several years ago. The station is still around, with mostly religous programming these days. The same people who put WCPC on the air also did WSJC 810 in Magee, MS which was also 50,000. Has anyone heard that one? Today it is airing Seventh Day Adventist programming. I think its still 50,000 watts but has had its share of technical problems over the years.
Definitely used to listen for WSJC at sunset, though WCPC's directional signal is/was stronger in Indianapolis & here in Cincinnati. It wasn't uncommon for WSJC to briefly overpower WGY before it shut down for the day. Don't hear it at all anymore.flytrap said:
Both WCPC & WSJC were on different frequencies prior to obtaining their contstruction permits for 50KW operation. Seems to me that WSJC had switched frequencies and power at least once before they settled at 810.
Ahh Okinawa. Been too many years. Not too sure of the year either. Might have even been 1180 back then? I wasn't able to find any history on it. Do remember an article probably in response of the station shutting down that talked about the farmers around the site stringing up antennas to run lights at night.
UPDATE
Just found a discussion about it. It was on 1180 'till the 9 KHz move.
UPDATE
Just found a discussion about it. It was on 1180 'till the 9 KHz move.
I have a few to share...
10 years old- Hearing WHYT (96.3) Detroit on the radio I had in my bedroom and subsequently becoming probably the first 10 year old hip-hop head living on a dirt road surrounded by cows and corn. Then finding out a few years later that 100 mile enhancement is no big deal and can even be done in the middle of winter.
12 years old- Hearing 94.7 from San Angelo, TX on the car stereo in my parents 1987 Chevy Nova. Being absolutely amazed that I could get something from 'over 2000 miles away'. Finding out a few years later that I was witnessing sporadic E, and San Angelo is really only about 1100 miles away. Still a good distance!
15 years old- My first foray into AM radio. Hearing WWL-New Orleans pounding in at night and knowing that WKAR also broadcast on 870. Vowing to someday find out where the handover was where WKAR would take over WWL at night, then finding out that WKAR is a 'daytime only' operation.
17 years old- Finding out that translators can easily be wiped out within the boundaries of the COL if tropo conditions are favorable! Listening to WRIF Detroit within sight of the local translator at 101.1!
Mid 20's- Finding out that the same translators that are wiped off the map during strong tropo can really carry during dead band conditions! Hearing the same local translator @ 101.1 from over 40 miles away!
Mid 20's- Finding out just how much terrain plays a role in DX reception. Plotting out almost fail proof terrain maps!
10 years old- Hearing WHYT (96.3) Detroit on the radio I had in my bedroom and subsequently becoming probably the first 10 year old hip-hop head living on a dirt road surrounded by cows and corn. Then finding out a few years later that 100 mile enhancement is no big deal and can even be done in the middle of winter.
12 years old- Hearing 94.7 from San Angelo, TX on the car stereo in my parents 1987 Chevy Nova. Being absolutely amazed that I could get something from 'over 2000 miles away'. Finding out a few years later that I was witnessing sporadic E, and San Angelo is really only about 1100 miles away. Still a good distance!
15 years old- My first foray into AM radio. Hearing WWL-New Orleans pounding in at night and knowing that WKAR also broadcast on 870. Vowing to someday find out where the handover was where WKAR would take over WWL at night, then finding out that WKAR is a 'daytime only' operation.
17 years old- Finding out that translators can easily be wiped out within the boundaries of the COL if tropo conditions are favorable! Listening to WRIF Detroit within sight of the local translator at 101.1!
Mid 20's- Finding out that the same translators that are wiped off the map during strong tropo can really carry during dead band conditions! Hearing the same local translator @ 101.1 from over 40 miles away!
Mid 20's- Finding out just how much terrain plays a role in DX reception. Plotting out almost fail proof terrain maps!
My favorite discoveries were the earliest for me. I always knew we could get WLW here, but never thought anything of it. But just a few moves up and down the dial opened up a new world for me when I was a kid (I was born in 1978). My earliest motives were finding baseball games, so WGN, WFAN, WLUP/WMVP, KMOX, etc. are among my favorite discoveries.
M
mc_billy_bob
Guest
My best still are KBXX-FM/Houston, Texas and WYOY-FM/Jackson, Mississippi....from Greenville, Pennsylvania!!! But also memorable was the time I lived in Ashland, Ohio and I picked up all of the Detroit (151 miles away) local stations on my car stereo for about 4 days straight, they even overpowered Cleveland (67 miles away) stations, which were more local.
mc_billy_bob said:
Along these lines, I remember one Sunday night in the summer of 1998 (or it could have been 1999, my memory is a bit fuzzy) leaving Columbus to drive back to college in Toledo and picking up Windsor's 89X up around Worthington, a northern suburb of Columbus. I am guessing the skies were especially clear that night - I don't remember any storms - but we carried 89X pretty much the entire way back to Toledo with very little fading. Toledo's WIOT also was notably strong well south of its local listening area.
On the whole, though, I've never been much of an FM DXer. My memorable FM catches are those listed above and the occasional Dayton and Cincinnati appearances around here in the wake of strong summertime storms.
2005: First finding AM DX on a cheapo $5 radio. I could hear KGA 1510 Spokane (which was the Big Talker and had Jerry Doyle nights at that time) and 1530 KFBK Sacramento if I used the analog tuner right.
July 2007: First finding FM DX on a good radio, a Grundig G5. Listening to 102.1 (since I was trying to get KSWW Aberdeen, Sunny 102.1, since I went over there a couple weeks before that which was actually on the beach in a little town called Pacific Beach, near Ocean Shores), I heard a C&W countdown show. I thought, this is not right, KSWW is Soft Rock, not Country! The ID changed the way I DXed: "KTRA 102.1". First Es log, Farmington, NM at 1053 miles.
Late 2007: My first "long log" on AM. After hearing some commercials on 1500, I heard the ID of "KSTP St. Paul-Minneapolis". Boy was I excited! 1400 miles and a good signal!
November 2008: Second big log on AM, beating KSTP by over 500 miles. On 1530, just about sunset, below KFBK was a promo for podcasts "on 1530homer.com". It was WCKY Cincinatti!!! The distance on that was 1965 miles. Boy was I excited once again!
January 2009 (or so): Third big log on AM. One night nulling XEPE Tijuana, Mexico on 1700, I heard Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone". Turned out to be KVNS Brownsville, TX!!! This beat my record at 2021 miles, but by only 56 miles however. For a third time, "Boy was I excited!".
July 1st 2009: Beat my Es record with 104.1 KNAB Burlington, CO at about 1150 miles. Also got my only USA TV Es logging with KRMA 6 Denver, CO with DTV nightlight info, actually heard on the audio frequency of 87.75 mHz, which my radio can tune.
July 13th 2009: Beat my Es record again with 101.9 KATP Amarillo, TX at 1360 miles! This was the farthest until June 2010.
November-Jan. 2009-10: Made many great logs on AM, including KMOX 1120 St. Louis, WJR 760 Detroit, 780 WBBM Chicago, 540 likely XEWA San Luis Potosi, and my best of the season, 1610 Caribbean Beacon (Dr. Gene Scott) out of Anguilla, 3800 miles away on AM!
June 2010: Beat Es record by 7 miles, and the lowest-powered by several thousand watts, by getting 88.9 K205CW Follett, TX (KJIL) at 1367 mi, by hearing a "KJIL Weather" jingle. Also heard Canada on TV6/87.75, CBWT 6 Winnipeg, MB with local 11PM news on 6/18/10 at about 1100 miles.
July 2010: Beat FM Tropo record, with 104.7 KDUK Florence, OR at over 250 miles. Also got Mexico on TV via Es, XETV 6 Tijuana at 1090 miles on 7/05/10 and 7/13/10 (that opening only made it to 91.7 (XHGLX I think) a Mexican out of the same area)
November-December 2010: Heartbreaking AM moments on a Grundig G5 here. One morning, 594 had a carrier. I put it on the booster, and heard Japanese talk, so I got JOAK Tokyo (NHK-1) at 4780 miles, beating Anguilla!!! Then, I got JOUB 774 Akita, and JOUB 693 Tokyo (both later).
Feb. 11 on- Been taking a break from DXing here. Except for WGN about January or Feb., I've been getting the same AM stations over and over, and it's getting boring. Plus the winter Es season down in the South wasn't that great, so I wonder what will happen for the 2011 Es season here in the US and Canada.
-crainbebo
July 2007: First finding FM DX on a good radio, a Grundig G5. Listening to 102.1 (since I was trying to get KSWW Aberdeen, Sunny 102.1, since I went over there a couple weeks before that which was actually on the beach in a little town called Pacific Beach, near Ocean Shores), I heard a C&W countdown show. I thought, this is not right, KSWW is Soft Rock, not Country! The ID changed the way I DXed: "KTRA 102.1". First Es log, Farmington, NM at 1053 miles.
Late 2007: My first "long log" on AM. After hearing some commercials on 1500, I heard the ID of "KSTP St. Paul-Minneapolis". Boy was I excited! 1400 miles and a good signal!
November 2008: Second big log on AM, beating KSTP by over 500 miles. On 1530, just about sunset, below KFBK was a promo for podcasts "on 1530homer.com". It was WCKY Cincinatti!!! The distance on that was 1965 miles. Boy was I excited once again!
January 2009 (or so): Third big log on AM. One night nulling XEPE Tijuana, Mexico on 1700, I heard Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone". Turned out to be KVNS Brownsville, TX!!! This beat my record at 2021 miles, but by only 56 miles however. For a third time, "Boy was I excited!".
July 1st 2009: Beat my Es record with 104.1 KNAB Burlington, CO at about 1150 miles. Also got my only USA TV Es logging with KRMA 6 Denver, CO with DTV nightlight info, actually heard on the audio frequency of 87.75 mHz, which my radio can tune.
July 13th 2009: Beat my Es record again with 101.9 KATP Amarillo, TX at 1360 miles! This was the farthest until June 2010.
November-Jan. 2009-10: Made many great logs on AM, including KMOX 1120 St. Louis, WJR 760 Detroit, 780 WBBM Chicago, 540 likely XEWA San Luis Potosi, and my best of the season, 1610 Caribbean Beacon (Dr. Gene Scott) out of Anguilla, 3800 miles away on AM!
June 2010: Beat Es record by 7 miles, and the lowest-powered by several thousand watts, by getting 88.9 K205CW Follett, TX (KJIL) at 1367 mi, by hearing a "KJIL Weather" jingle. Also heard Canada on TV6/87.75, CBWT 6 Winnipeg, MB with local 11PM news on 6/18/10 at about 1100 miles.
July 2010: Beat FM Tropo record, with 104.7 KDUK Florence, OR at over 250 miles. Also got Mexico on TV via Es, XETV 6 Tijuana at 1090 miles on 7/05/10 and 7/13/10 (that opening only made it to 91.7 (XHGLX I think) a Mexican out of the same area)
November-December 2010: Heartbreaking AM moments on a Grundig G5 here. One morning, 594 had a carrier. I put it on the booster, and heard Japanese talk, so I got JOAK Tokyo (NHK-1) at 4780 miles, beating Anguilla!!! Then, I got JOUB 774 Akita, and JOUB 693 Tokyo (both later).
Feb. 11 on- Been taking a break from DXing here. Except for WGN about January or Feb., I've been getting the same AM stations over and over, and it's getting boring. Plus the winter Es season down in the South wasn't that great, so I wonder what will happen for the 2011 Es season here in the US and Canada.
-crainbebo
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