Weird Stuff Heard on the Radio\TV.

[MarioMania]

Alot of times, When I go out

I try to DX 107.9 in Sacramento

But, I get Car Transmitters playing all kinds on 107.9..

 

[crainbebo]

More to add, both microtransmitters.

Some fitness clubs run little mini FM transmitters for the televisions. I noticed that while visiting a family member in Auburn WA several years ago. Heard audio from The People's Court on 101.3, and some Seattle ads (which would correspond to KSTW-TV). Found out a 24 Hour Fitness was using that frequency for their television. I tracked up all the way up to the climb up Lea Hill, over a mile away IIRC. I have no idea why they would use 101.3 with KPLZ 'Star 101.5' literally next door, less than 20 miles away.
Noted the same thing in Bellevue with a 99.5 station that would come in very weakly. You could not hear it in stereo mode, but it was there in mono, albeit it was distorted as if it was in narrow FM mode. The mini xmitter was located in the Bellevue Club Hotel, several blocks from my former QTH in Bellevue. Normally it aired a mix of television programming - sometimes KOMO, sometimes CNN, occasionally something else.

 

[Route66Fan]

Sometime, back around 2006-07, I remember picking up the audio portion of CW affilate KGCW-TV Ch. 26, Burlington, IA, from a second floor of a relatives house, East of Kansas City, MO, on a little portable B&W TV. A similar incident happened about 7 or 8 years earlier, at the same place, when I heard the audio portion of a TV station (Airing a promo for "Divorce Court".) calling itself "Fox 7" (I'm assuming this was either KEVN-TV, Rapid City, SD, KTBC-TV, Austin, TX, or possibly even WTVW-TV, Evansville, IN.).

 

[anotherguyTN]

At one time I had a Sears radio with UHF that would pick up the audio of the lower UHF TV channels even though it wasn't made for that purpose. But the only channel it would get in my area was WMTU UPN (Now WJKT Fox) 16 before rhe digital conversion.

 

[RFCCRadioAudio]

Back in the day there used to be an LPTV station on Channel 6 in Hartford, Connecticut. At one time they were airing the now defunct Panda America Shopping Network. It was weird hearing home-shopping programming in the radio - 87.7 FM. WLNE ABC 6 from New Bedford, Mass used to come in reguarlly on 87.7 in Bristol, Connecticut when I was growing up. I enjoyed listening to "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" on the car radio. (Our local ABC station aired that show out of pattern at like 5AM. WLNE ran it in pattern at 10AM or 11AM).

By far the creepiest thing I heard on the radio was after Midnight one night on WRYM 840, which is licensed to New Britain with studios and towers on Willard Ave in Newington. They forgot to power down to 125 watts one night and I was able to pick up their 1000 watt signal and they were airing a Spanish religious program. There was a male voice yelling really loud in Spanish and there was the sound of a female crying in the background. That weirded me out and I had trouble falling asleep after hearing that one.

And this was like pre-internet 1996. Hearing Radio Disney on what was then 740 WGSM out of Huntington, Long Island. 740 is strong and I had picked them up in Connecticut before, but they had been a Country Station. I remember thinking "What the heck is Radio Disney?" Even more interesting is that in spots where commercials were supposed to air they played an announcement something to the effect of "Looking for the Great Country Music that used to be on this station? Well it can now be found on 94.3 FM WMJC." They would also promote another sister station too. Something effect of "Hey kids, we know you enjoy the great music on AM 740 Radio Disney, but now let us tell you about a station your parents will enjoy B-103 Good Times and Great Oldies." Once WGSM Radio Disney was off the air and I picked up 250 watt WJIB 740 from Cambridge, Mass all the way down on the car stereo in Bristol, Connecticut.

What did Panda America sell while they were on the air?

 

[Route66Fan]

Back in the analog TV days, I remember being able to, usually, get a semi-watchable signal from the ABC affiliate, KMIZ-TV Ch. 17, in Columbia, MO in Carrollton, MO, using both an outside TV antenna, as well as on a portable 5" B&W TV with a telescopic antenna. Late one night (At around 2AM.) back around 1998, I remember playing around with the 5" portable B\W TV & tuning to Ch. 17 & seeing them come in with a fuzzy, but watchable, signal, showing commercials, a station id & then a color bar test pattern (This had to be on a Friday or Saturday night, because ABC World News Now wasn't on.) Some years later (In the mid-2000's.) I was spending the night at a relatives house, East of Kansas City, MO & was also sick & having to sleep in a recliner in their kitchen\living room. I ended up watching something on OTA TV in their kitchen\living room & at one point, I decided to go flipping through the channels on the VCR that was hooked up to the TV (Including the ones that were usually blank.) & ended up on Ch. 17 (A channel that usually had nothing on it at their house.) & saw a TV station that was trying to come in, but was experiencing severe ghosting (The reason for this was that the outdoor antenna was on the opposite side of the house from where the signal was coming from.). I also remember seeing a text id at the bottom center of the screen that, at first, was hard to read, but when the picture cleared up a little bit, I was able to read it. As it turns out it was the aforementioned KMIZ-TV, Ch. 17 in Columbia, MO. One thing that was kind of weird though was that KMIZ-TV was supposed to be off the air (It was, once again, a Friday, or Saturday night, after 2AM.), however, they were on the air showing a constant text id, & in the background, instead of showing a test pattern, they were showing what appeared to be dashcam footage of some of the roads from around the Columbia, MO area. I tried turning the sound up on the TV to see if there was any audio, but the sound was being blocked out by the VCR, due to the weak signal. I assume that KMIZ-TV was probably doing some overnight maintenence, but didn't want to show a test pattern for some reason. I never was able to catch them doing this ever again. Nowdays KMIZ-TV is on the air 24/7 & airs infomercials on the nights that ABC World News Now is not on.