Hi there folks. This topic thread is mainly for Peter Q. George, but perhaps some of the rest of you will enjoy reading this as well.
For the first eleven years of my life, I lived in NOrwood and East Walpole Massachusetts, but in June of 1965, we moved to the Burlington Vermont area. However, because I was attending the Perkins School for the blind in Watertown, I remained in the Boston area until I switched schools to a school for the blind in Hartford at the beginning of my junior year in September of 1970.
One night in the winter of 1968, I decided to tune into WFEA in Manchester NH as usual. After all, they were a rock station and were in my favorite New England state, and I enjoyed listening to them much better than WRKO in Boston. On a decent radio, you could hear them during most of the day and night, so needless to say, I was really surprised when I heard some middle of the road music, a song by Jerry Vale rather than the top forty music I had expected to hear. Then I heard an announcer with a very deep well modulated voice say, "You are tuned to 1370 radio, WDEA in Ellsworth Maine." I was quite surprised at the way this signal was booming into the Boston area with no trace of WFEA at all.
Quickly I took stock of things, and I moved up the dial to 1390 where I'd normally hear WPLM AM in Plymouth. But I had a feeling that that wasn't going to happen tonight, and I was indeed right. After the song I was hearing ended, I heard an announcer say, "You are in tune with 1390 radio, WEGP in Presque Isle."
Well, since I was living in the Burlington area, I always tuned into WVMT for local news of the Champlain Valley, but I had a feeling that tonight, WLBZ in Bangor would own the frequency of 620, and I wouldn't hear a trace of WVMT at all. This also proved to be correct. I wandered down to 600 kHz to see if just by chance, WFST might be coming in from Caribou. They weren't, but they were running only one thousand watts as opposed to the 5 K that both WDEA and WEGP were running. Well, that's one night I will never forget.
Another night I'll never forget was the night in January of 1968 when I tuned into 1400 and got a real shocking surprise, at least for me at the time. The bay state had three radio stations operating on that frequency, and the dominent signla in the Boston area came from two separate transmitters that broadcast the same signal. WLLH in Lowell, had two synchronized 1 kW transmitters on 1400 broadcasting from both Lowell and Lawrence, and they were a top forty station. Because of the two synchronized transmitters, they often sounded out of phase in the Boston area giving them a very unique and identifyable sound on that frequency. They also used the same Pepper We Turn You On jingle package that WPRO in Providence used. But the state had two other stations on 1400 at the time, WALE in Fall River, and WHMP in NOrthampton. As I tuned to the frequency, I heard the end of the song Down In Monterey by Eric Burdon and the Animals and just assumed that it was probably WLLH. It was not. An announcer said that the song was number 12 on the survey, and then went into a forecast for the listening area, wherever that was. But when he ever said it's 13 degrees in Berlin, I just about shit. Little 250 watt WBRL in Berlin New Hampshire was over riding all three of Massachusetts's stations on 1400 that night. Then they went into John Fred and his Playboy Band's current hit Judy In Disguise, and about halfway through the song, they faded back into the noise. By the way, other 1400 stations that I managed to hear from Boston include WDOT in Burlington numerous times, WABY in Albany, WYSL in Buffalo, WJET in Erie, WIDE in Biddeford-Saco, WRDO in Augusta, WSTC in Stamford Connecticut and WOND in Pleasantville New Jersey. Some New England stations that I surprisingly never picked up on that frequency include WILI in Willimantic Connecticut, WTSL in Hanover NH, WLTN in Littleton and the two other Massachusetts stations, WALE and WHMP.
One afternoon right around 4:30 PM, I almost absent mindedly tuned to 1230 on the dial. On this frequency, I had heard WERI in Westerly Rhode Island on occasion along with WINF in Manchester Connecticut and WNIA in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga New York. I had always hoped to hear either WMOU in Berlin New Hampshire or WTSV in Claremont on that frequency but I never managed to pick either of those stations up. And then of course, there was the normal local dominent station on that frequency, WESX in Salem Mass. But this night, I heard a Cot Quality Beverage commercial voiced by WBZ late night DJ Dick Summer, and this gave me even more cause to believe that I was tuned to WESX. But then I heard, "Hello, this is Tom Cheek. When I go skiing, I always enjoy going to Mad River Glen for a wonderful skiing experience." After his spot for Mad River Glenn, the station which I knew by now must be WJOY in Burlington went into a ski report, and then they cut from their one thousand watt daytime power to 250 watts and I lost them. But I had them with excellent quality and a very loud signal for about three minutes one November afternoon in 1967.
One night in Burlington Vermont in late December of 1970, I was all set to listen to a station that I was really becoming famiiar with since I was now going to school in Hartford, WDRC 1360 in Hartford Connecticut. They were obviously the station that regularly came in on that frequency in Burlington but not tonight. Oh, I was hearing rock music alright, but after hearing a current song, One Man Band by Three Dog Night I heard an ID for WSAI in Cincinnati and that certainly surprised me.
Well, those are just some of the wild radio oddities that I have experienced on the AM band, when 90 percent of radio station's programmming was still local and much more fun to listen to than radio is now.
Sam
For the first eleven years of my life, I lived in NOrwood and East Walpole Massachusetts, but in June of 1965, we moved to the Burlington Vermont area. However, because I was attending the Perkins School for the blind in Watertown, I remained in the Boston area until I switched schools to a school for the blind in Hartford at the beginning of my junior year in September of 1970.
One night in the winter of 1968, I decided to tune into WFEA in Manchester NH as usual. After all, they were a rock station and were in my favorite New England state, and I enjoyed listening to them much better than WRKO in Boston. On a decent radio, you could hear them during most of the day and night, so needless to say, I was really surprised when I heard some middle of the road music, a song by Jerry Vale rather than the top forty music I had expected to hear. Then I heard an announcer with a very deep well modulated voice say, "You are tuned to 1370 radio, WDEA in Ellsworth Maine." I was quite surprised at the way this signal was booming into the Boston area with no trace of WFEA at all.
Quickly I took stock of things, and I moved up the dial to 1390 where I'd normally hear WPLM AM in Plymouth. But I had a feeling that that wasn't going to happen tonight, and I was indeed right. After the song I was hearing ended, I heard an announcer say, "You are in tune with 1390 radio, WEGP in Presque Isle."
Well, since I was living in the Burlington area, I always tuned into WVMT for local news of the Champlain Valley, but I had a feeling that tonight, WLBZ in Bangor would own the frequency of 620, and I wouldn't hear a trace of WVMT at all. This also proved to be correct. I wandered down to 600 kHz to see if just by chance, WFST might be coming in from Caribou. They weren't, but they were running only one thousand watts as opposed to the 5 K that both WDEA and WEGP were running. Well, that's one night I will never forget.
Another night I'll never forget was the night in January of 1968 when I tuned into 1400 and got a real shocking surprise, at least for me at the time. The bay state had three radio stations operating on that frequency, and the dominent signla in the Boston area came from two separate transmitters that broadcast the same signal. WLLH in Lowell, had two synchronized 1 kW transmitters on 1400 broadcasting from both Lowell and Lawrence, and they were a top forty station. Because of the two synchronized transmitters, they often sounded out of phase in the Boston area giving them a very unique and identifyable sound on that frequency. They also used the same Pepper We Turn You On jingle package that WPRO in Providence used. But the state had two other stations on 1400 at the time, WALE in Fall River, and WHMP in NOrthampton. As I tuned to the frequency, I heard the end of the song Down In Monterey by Eric Burdon and the Animals and just assumed that it was probably WLLH. It was not. An announcer said that the song was number 12 on the survey, and then went into a forecast for the listening area, wherever that was. But when he ever said it's 13 degrees in Berlin, I just about shit. Little 250 watt WBRL in Berlin New Hampshire was over riding all three of Massachusetts's stations on 1400 that night. Then they went into John Fred and his Playboy Band's current hit Judy In Disguise, and about halfway through the song, they faded back into the noise. By the way, other 1400 stations that I managed to hear from Boston include WDOT in Burlington numerous times, WABY in Albany, WYSL in Buffalo, WJET in Erie, WIDE in Biddeford-Saco, WRDO in Augusta, WSTC in Stamford Connecticut and WOND in Pleasantville New Jersey. Some New England stations that I surprisingly never picked up on that frequency include WILI in Willimantic Connecticut, WTSL in Hanover NH, WLTN in Littleton and the two other Massachusetts stations, WALE and WHMP.
One afternoon right around 4:30 PM, I almost absent mindedly tuned to 1230 on the dial. On this frequency, I had heard WERI in Westerly Rhode Island on occasion along with WINF in Manchester Connecticut and WNIA in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga New York. I had always hoped to hear either WMOU in Berlin New Hampshire or WTSV in Claremont on that frequency but I never managed to pick either of those stations up. And then of course, there was the normal local dominent station on that frequency, WESX in Salem Mass. But this night, I heard a Cot Quality Beverage commercial voiced by WBZ late night DJ Dick Summer, and this gave me even more cause to believe that I was tuned to WESX. But then I heard, "Hello, this is Tom Cheek. When I go skiing, I always enjoy going to Mad River Glen for a wonderful skiing experience." After his spot for Mad River Glenn, the station which I knew by now must be WJOY in Burlington went into a ski report, and then they cut from their one thousand watt daytime power to 250 watts and I lost them. But I had them with excellent quality and a very loud signal for about three minutes one November afternoon in 1967.
One night in Burlington Vermont in late December of 1970, I was all set to listen to a station that I was really becoming famiiar with since I was now going to school in Hartford, WDRC 1360 in Hartford Connecticut. They were obviously the station that regularly came in on that frequency in Burlington but not tonight. Oh, I was hearing rock music alright, but after hearing a current song, One Man Band by Three Dog Night I heard an ID for WSAI in Cincinnati and that certainly surprised me.
Well, those are just some of the wild radio oddities that I have experienced on the AM band, when 90 percent of radio station's programmming was still local and much more fun to listen to than radio is now.
Sam
