New Log!

[mimo]

Last night I was able to get KRND 1630 from Fox Farm, Wyoming here in Ottawa. The signal was very go0d at times, and it's my most westerly catch from this location. They completely overpowered KCJJ and at times were the loudest station in the X-band. I don't know how far exactly Southeast Wyoming is from Ottawa, but it has to be around 2000 miles or so. I just used a CC Radio plus with no external antenna. It was easily able to overide all the heavy electrical interference in the house.

 

[gar hi]

Good catch, mimo. Those 1kw X band stations sound like 50kw stations at night. Where I am, there's one US station on 1630 from Augusta Ga. There was a brief time one night where another station came in from the NW for a short while but I didn't get an ID. It faded out into nothingness and never came back.

 

[mimo]

I've heard the station in Georgia, in fact I caught it briefly for a few seconds last night. If you heard pop/rock music, it may have been KCJJ. The X band is pretty active here at night, and on a go0d radio during the day, you can hear all 3 of Montreal's stations. When you get into KCJJ's cancellation zone, in central Illinois. Georgia is very clear.

 

[radioman148]

Last night I was able to get KRND 1630 from Fox Farm, Wyoming here in Ottawa. The signal was very go0d at times, and it's my most westerly catch from this location. They completely overpowered KCJJ and at times were the loudest station in the X-band. I don't know how far exactly Southeast Wyoming is from Ottawa, but it has to be around 2000 miles or so. I just used a CC Radio plus with no external antenna. It was easily able to overide all the heavy electrical interference in the house.

Wyoming is a good catch from Ottawa. I remember when the X-band was relatively new I caught 1640 Vallejo, Ca. loud & clear in Illinois. They were running an R&B format then.

 

[mimo]

Last night I was able to get KRND 1630 from Fox Farm, Wyoming here in Ottawa. The signal was very go0d at times, and it's my most westerly catch from this location. They completely overpowered KCJJ and at times were the loudest station in the X-band. I don't know how far exactly Southeast Wyoming is from Ottawa, but it has to be around 2000 miles or so. I just used a CC Radio plus with no external antenna. It was easily able to overide all the heavy electrical interference in the house.

Wyoming is a good catch from Ottawa. I remember when the X-band was relatively new I caught 1640 Vallejo, Ca. loud & clear in Illinois. They were running an R&B format then.

I remember those days, and that station. They actually moved from 1640 to 1630 and then back. I logged them in Iowa every night when they first went on, and in AM stereo to0!

 

[radioman148]

Last night I was able to get KRND 1630 from Fox Farm, Wyoming here in Ottawa. The signal was very go0d at times, and it's my most westerly catch from this location. They completely overpowered KCJJ and at times were the loudest station in the X-band. I don't know how far exactly Southeast Wyoming is from Ottawa, but it has to be around 2000 miles or so. I just used a CC Radio plus with no external antenna. It was easily able to overide all the heavy electrical interference in the house.

Wyoming is a good catch from Ottawa. I remember when the X-band was relatively new I caught 1640 Vallejo, Ca. loud & clear in Illinois. They were running an R&B format then.

I remember those days, and that station. They actually moved from 1640 to 1630 and then back. I logged them in Iowa every night when they first went on, and in AM stereo to0!

I remember when they moved. I'll never forget when I first heard KDIA Vallejo in Illinois. I was stunned. How could I pick up this little 1KW station from so far? Of course it was the only station on that frequency at the time.

 

[cyberdad]

Nice Catch, Mimo. KCJJ owns 1630 here in Northern Illinois every night.

 

[radioman148]

Speaking of KCJJ, anybody know if "The Captain" Steve Bridges is still on in the morning? I used to catch him a few years ago and he was pretty funny.

 

[mimo]

He is. I wonder what ever happened to his former co-host, Anthony Weller. It seems kind of odd to hear him Steve without Anthony, but he works well with Tommy Lange, who worked at KCJJ a couple of decades ago, but I remember him best from his work at KRNA.

 

[radioman148]

He is. I wonder what ever happened to his former co-host, Anthony Weller. It seems kind of odd to hear him Steve without Anthony, but he works well with Tommy Lange, who worked at KCJJ a couple of decades ago, but I remember him best from his work at KRNA.

Yeah that's who I remember The Captain & Anthony. I used to listen to them driving to work in Chicago.
From what I understood Bridges owned at least a part of KCJJ.

 

[cyberdad]

I crossed paths with Steve VERY briefly in the early or mid 70s. From what I remember personally, as well as from what I've heard/read, I think its probably safe to say that KCJJ is (at least to some degree) a monument to his ego. I'm saying that in an objective...not at all negative or prejudicial...sense. Perhaps it would be more fair to just say KCJJ is a monument to Steve's determination.

 

[radioman148]

I crossed paths with Steve VERY briefly in the early or mid 70s. From what I remember personally, as well as from what I've heard/read, I think its probably safe to say that KCJJ is (at least to some degree) a monument to his ego. I'm saying that in an objective...not at all negative or prejudicial...sense. Perhaps it would be more fair to just say KCJJ is a monument to Steve's determination.

Well whenever I listened to him he seemed like he was just having a good time--simply fun.

 

[mimo]

When KFMH 99.7 in Muscatine got sold, Steve was on vacation. He was a minority owner of KFMH. He came to work when he got back to find out the station had been sold and he'd been fired. He to0k his money from the sale and went shopping. KCJJ happened to be up for sale at the time, so he bought it, so he'd never get fired again. He's taken it from a sleepy little lite AC station at a horrible frequency (1560) to a regional powerhouse. The station bills really well and has a very loyal audience. Calling it a monument to his ego isn't an insult, at least not in my opinion. When he asked what he was going to do with it, he said he was going to programme hit music. Every one thought he was nuts for putting hit music on an AM in 1995. He did it and it to0k off. People listened, not caring if it was AM, they cared that it played what they wanted and gave Iowa City a local voice where people could talk about things and hear their local high scho0l games on the radio. The AM stereo sound was nice to0, as you could actually buy AM stereo receivers in Iowa City at the time.

 

[radioman148]

When KFMH 99.7 in Muscatine got sold, Steve was on vacation. He was a minority owner of KFMH. He came to work when he got back to find out the station had been sold and he'd been fired. He to0k his money from the sale and went shopping. KCJJ happened to be up for sale at the time, so he bought it, so he'd never get fired again. He's taken it from a sleepy little lite AC station at a horrible frequency (1560) to a regional powerhouse. The station bills really well and has a very loyal audience. Calling it a monument to his ego isn't an insult, at least not in my opinion. When he asked what he was going to do with it, he said he was going to programme hit music. Every one thought he was nuts for putting hit music on an AM in 1995. He did it and it to0k off. People listened, not caring if it was AM, they cared that it played what they wanted and gave Iowa City a local voice where people could talk about things and hear their local high scho0l games on the radio. The AM stereo sound was nice to0, as you could actually buy AM stereo receivers in Iowa City at the time.

Kudos to him for recognizing an opportunity. Is Steve from that area?

 

[mimo]

From what I know he was born in Davenport and his mum still lives there. He lived for years in Muscatine, and even while working at KCJJ, he was living in Muscatine and would drive the 40 minutes to work every day. He finally moved to Iowa City around the turn of the century.

 

[ddsparxx]

Last night I was able to get KRND 1630 from Fox Farm, Wyoming here in Ottawa. The signal was very go0d at times, and it's my most westerly catch from this location. They completely overpowered KCJJ and at times were the loudest station in the X-band. I don't know how far exactly Southeast Wyoming is from Ottawa, but it has to be around 2000 miles or so. I just used a CC Radio plus with no external antenna. It was easily able to overide all the heavy electrical interference in the house.

Wyoming is a good catch from Ottawa. I remember when the X-band was relatively new I caught 1640 Vallejo, Ca. loud & clear in Illinois. They were running an R&B format then.

I remember those days, and that station. They actually moved from 1640 to 1630 and then back. I logged them in Iowa every night when they first went on, and in AM stereo to0!

I remember when they moved. I'll never forget when I first heard KDIA Vallejo in Illinois. I was stunned. How could I pick up this little 1KW station from so far? Of course it was the only station on that frequency at the time.

Wow! That's impressive, to hear a 1 KW station from Ca. in Illinois. When I was in Oregon in 2007 I heard either Nashville's WSM 650 or a Utah station (KMTI) on the same frequency at 900W at night. (Both play classic country and I couldn't ID the station on time)

 

[radioman148]

From what I know he was born in Davenport and his mum still lives there. He lived for years in Muscatine, and even while working at KCJJ, he was living in Muscatine and would drive the 40 minutes to work every day. He finally moved to Iowa City around the turn of the century.

So he really is a lifelong Iowan. One of the few people in radio able to work all his life near home.

 

[cyberdad]

From what I know he was born in Davenport and his mum still lives there. He lived for years in Muscatine, and even while working at KCJJ, he was living in Muscatine and would drive the 40 minutes to work every day. He finally moved to Iowa City around the turn of the century.

So he really is a lifelong Iowan. One of the few people in radio able to work all his life near home.

I lived/worked in the Quad Cities early in my career. Steve was down the road at KWPC/KFMH....owned at the time by a very decent man and local pioneer of sorts, George Vogler. Both of these stations had pretty good signals....even KWPC with 250 watts on 860. (The transmitter was right in the control room... right next to the turntables. KFMH's transmitter was in the next room).

KCJJ, on the other hand, had a lousy signal on 1560. Credit Steve with starting out with very little to work with, working hard, and building something out of it. I also credit him for once again proving that you don't have to come up through the sales side of the business to be a successful operator. And yes, its quite obvious in listening to the guy that it's all a labor of love.

 

[radioman148]

From what I know he was born in Davenport and his mum still lives there. He lived for years in Muscatine, and even while working at KCJJ, he was living in Muscatine and would drive the 40 minutes to work every day. He finally moved to Iowa City around the turn of the century.

So he really is a lifelong Iowan. One of the few people in radio able to work all his life near home.

I lived/worked in the Quad Cities early in my career. Steve was down the road at KWPC/KFMH....owned at the time by a very decent man and local pioneer of sorts, George Vogler. Both of these stations had pretty good signals....even KWPC with 250 watts on 860. (The transmitter was right in the control room... right next to the turntables. KFMH's transmitter was in the next room).

KCJJ, on the other hand, had a lousy signal on 1560. Credit Steve with starting out with very little to work with, working hard, and building something out of it. I also credit him for once again proving that you don't have to come up through the sales side of the business to be a successful operator. And yes, its quite obvious in listening to the guy that it's all a labor of love.

Congratulations to Steve for succeeding on his own without "the corporation".
Whenever I've listened to him on KCJJ he sounds like he's doing exactly what he wants to do.