The HUAC investigation of Radio

Everyone remembers the Hollywood 10. Over 300 media people were named in the anti-communist investigation. But it was only 7 men and women in radio that got the same thumbscrews.

(HUAC) the House Un-American Activities Committee began the investigation of 7 radio commentators on November 6, 1945. This list includes: Bertolt Brecht, Norman Cousins, Carey McWilliams, Dorothy Healey, and W. E. B. DuBois... most of them worked for Pacifica.

Starting in the year 1946, HUAC issued general reports on subversive activities, based on its research and hearings. Their first report contained a very partisan section on the radio broadcasts of “certain unnamed liberal commentators.” The committee found the radio commentators to be pro-communist based on their comments regarding the State Department, presidential appointees, foreign governments, and General Douglas MacArthur. [Yes, the far right has really been trying to convince America that liberals are communists for that long.]

Three ex-FBI agents in 1950 published a booklet titled Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. This tome listed people, organizations and publications purported to have ties to communism. Among those people cited for their ties to communist organizations the following peopel in radio: Rod Holmgren, Lisa Sergio, William S. Gailmor, William Shirer, Johannes Steel, J. Raymond Walshand even Orson Welles!

By the time the book was published, all six commentators listed in its pages had been forced off the air. More here: http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/huac.htm

This crap went on for more than a decade with the FCC withholding the license renewals of KPFA, KPFB, and KPFK pending its investigation into "their communist affiliations." but after McCarthy Sputtered and crashed like the paranoiac alcoholic that he was, the whole movement loast steam. He had been reckless and like a gambler on a winning streak he had not planned for failure. He imploded and drank himself to death. The radio men he ran out of the buisness mostly met sad ends as well, but some found new work writing under psudonyms.

At the end HUAC offered lines of poetry by Sir Walter Scott in defense of their witch-hunt in their final report. I think they misread him myself. Poem Here: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/scott-quote.html

great documentary here: http://radfilms.com/huac.html

All stations on one frequency

This was a brief but painful stage in radio. At first, radio broadcasting stations operated with an experimental amateur license, and with call signs such as 6XAJ. They could operate over a wide range of frequencies. Then in 1918 almost all licenses were yanked as a part of WWII. That wasn't repealed until 1922. (more some other time on the ones that were not yanked)

In the middle of all this time period the (DOC) The Department of Commerce made some regulations that went into effect on December 1, 1921. It was one of the earliest broadcast rules. It required all non-government broadcasting stations to obtain a limited commercial license. These new licenses came with new three letter call signs. So 6XAJ became KZM.
This new license also required all stations to broadcast on the single authorized frequency of 833 kHz. Most government and weather broadcasts were allocated on 619 kHz. Now the immediate problem with this dumbass idea is that radio stations can't operate simultaneously on this channel without causing interference. Try to imagine radio as the newest hottest fad at the time. Over 100,000 radios had already been sold. And now, they barely worked because of all the damn crosss-talk. So the owners of the stations met and had to agreed on a time-share schedule. in San francisco the above mentioned KZM not only shared time with KLX but also their transmitter!

It got a little better in January of 1922. The Secretary of commerce sponsored the first National Radio Conference. It was decided that high- power stations (above 500 watts) were assigned to 750 kHz, and low-power stations (below 500 watts) remained on 833 kHz. Each station got exclusive use of the frequency for several hours each day. It was an improvement but the rudimentary radios of the time could babrely discren between the two frequencies. Despite this, about 1.5 million radios had been sold by the end of that year.
This cluttering was absolutely crippling in some cities. In Washington D.C. there were at least 11 stations sharing that frequency. This includes WQAW, WJH, WDW, WHAQ, WPM, WIL, WEAS, WIAY, WDM, and WMU. When the regulation was first issued in 1921, there were only 28 radio stations on the air. But in the year 1922 the DOC issued 480 more licenses! This was becoming a problem. By 1925 there were more than seven hundred stations and Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of the Department of Commerce, had to block the further issue of licences.

By 1924, the AM band stretched from 550kHz to 1500 Khz. Three levels of power, 5000, 500 and 100 watts were established. These became the designations of "clear", "regional" and "local". Finally, the Radio Act of 1927 enabled the government (thru the FRC) the power to regulate the technical side of stations. Thus we traded set of headaches was traded for another.
early FRC map: http://www.eliillinois.org/00001_00/main/map1932/map1932.jpg

STORY CORPS

Personally I find this to be one of the most progressive ideas in radio programming to date. It is positive, culturally signifigant and absolutely fascinating when aired. The first StoryBooth opened in New York City's Grand Central Terminal on October 23, 2003. It was a great idea, and as great ideas sometimes do, it took off.

CPB and NPR are behind this one. StoryCorps is a national project that instructs two everyday people on the art of interviewing and then records them. They are not intierviewing Leonard Breshnev. They are set up so that you interview your grandmother, your uncle, or the old guy making sandwitches in the cafe on the corner. Its purpose is the perservation of our stories, our oral histories.

They are building these soundproof recording booths across the country, called StoryBooths. You can use these to record broadcast-quality interviews with the help of a trained facilitator. They also have two traveling recording studios, called MobileBooths, which make cross-country tours. It's simple to do, they handle all the technical aspects you ask questions and answer questions. At the end of an hour-long session, you get a copy of your interview on CD. It's free, although making a $10 donation would be polite.

The recording goes in the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. NPR uses their favorite bits every week on the air.

Volunteer to work with story Corps here:
http://www.storycorps.net/participate/volunteer/

When I first heard about this I wanted to drag mygrandparents to the booth and drop them off. I may yet do that.

KXLU Vs. KTLW

A translator is just like a weak radio station. It serves a relatively small area but creates interference over a wide area. This poor service-to-interference ratio, which can be mathematically demonstrated, is the key reason that the FCC killed the Class D permits in 1980. It is irresponsible and downright irrational that they continue to issue these kind of translator permits in major metropolitan areas at all.


88.9 KXLU is a 2800 watt college tation in Los angeles Califorina. KTLW is a christian station in the same market. They should co-exist peacably except that KTLW snuck a 10 watt repeater(K205EP) into the protected contour of KXLU. The repeater is a licensed, though there are pretty legitamate accusations that it is running over its permited ERP.

Complaints have been coming in from listeners since the repeater powered on from several areas of Los Angeles that KTLW in Lancaster is bleeding into KXLU. It has even been suggested that they've also illegally installed other repeaters that are cutting out KXLU's signal. Other stations impeded by this translator are KVCR, and KCSB.

KXLU has been filing all the right paperwork but as always, progress is slow. They've been filing for over a year now.

The KTLW translator was first filed for in 1998, going live in 2001. KXLU did not file a brief against it, but lots of non-coms do not have the staff or money to be as vigilant as they should be. Of course this means they can end up spending ten times that ammount later in defense of their contour. alternately their coverage can just recede continually.

KXLU did begin defending themselves thankfully.
CA BLFT-20051024AAF K205EP 93751 LIFE ON THE WAY COMMUNICATIONS, INC. License to cover BPFT-20051024AAF E 88.9 MHZ LA CANADA, CA Interference complaint received from Loyola Marymount University (KXLU) on 10/11/2005

KTLW has 13 other translators, each causing its own brand of trouble, in other cities. Some of these are as far away as Guymon Oklahoma, and Juneau, Alaska. How can they have translators thousands of miles away? Well there's no good reason for that either. list here: http://www.ktlw.net/translator_info.htm They represent the Life on the Way network which is just another peice of the massive multi-national Moody broadcasting network.

Charles "Doc" Herrold

This was a full decade before Frankie powered up KDKA.

Charles David Herrold of San Jose, California is a relatively unknown broadcasting pioneer whos work began around 1912. He may have been the first to broadcast radio entertainment and information for an audience on a regularly scheduled, pre-announced basis. Over the years he used the call letters FN, 6XE, 6XF and SJN. None of these were formal, legal calls as there was no governing body to assign them. His early broadcasts were very innovative with a great number of "firsts."

Herrod broadcasted using a spark gap transmitter with a carbon element microphone. These elements burned out almost hourly making long form programming very difficult. Through experimentation he invented the "Arc Fone" Basicly it was six arc lights in series which produced a high frequency carrier signal. This unit required 500 volts. So he tapped the san Jose streetcar wires. Then he invented a water cooled microphone, the power of the device burned out the others. The Arc Fone was patented on December 21, 1915. http://users.adams.net/~jfs/herrold3.htm

in 1910 Herrold, published an ad for wireless equipment in the catalogue of the Electro-Importing Company "We have been giving wireless phonograph concerts to amateur men in the Santa Clara Valley." While his 1910 listeners were radio hobbyists, they still listened. he then went on to broadcast to much larger public audiences daily during the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair.

The real significance of Herrold was that between 1912 and 1917 he operated a radio station, programming on a regular schedule. A shceulde that was even announced in the newspapers. It is also noteworthy that the first woman to broadcast was his wife, Sybil. Among the firsts by Herrold was the radio give-away. He awarded weekly prizes to regular listeners. He was also one of the first time brokers, buying time from stations, and then re-selling it to others. At the start of WWI Herrod like almost everyone else was ordered off the air. After the war, Herrold had to rebuild his station to conform with the new standard of broadcasting. In 1921, the Department of Commerce assigned KQW as calls, the station is known today as KCBS-AM, San Francisco.

He died penniless, with almost no recognition; last working as a janitor at a naval facility.

KTEH-TV filmed a documentary of his life. You can order it here: http://www.kteh.org/productions/docs/docherrold.html I plan to.

The Expanded AM band

You may or may not remember, but The AM band until about 10 years ago was a mite smaller. In 1997 it's top end was expanded from 1605 Khz to 1705 Khz.
The FCC issued the first two permits in that band September 26, 1997; Thus granting the applications of KQXI-AM, Arvada, CO and KPHP-AM. Lake Oswego, OR. Strangely both run radio disney these days. FCC Press release here: Link


The stated reason at the time for opening up this virgin forest was to reduce AM band congestion. AM band licensees were encouraged and sometimes prodded into migrating their stations up to that new spectrum. By 2005 only 65 stations made the move. The expanded band has a more FM-like approach based on spacings, omni-directional operation, and uniform 10kW (day), 1kW (night) power limits. No stations are shoe-horned directionally into this portion of the band.

The first station to make the move was KQWB-AM Radio in Fargo, ND., is one of the first AM station to completely switch from the traditional AM band to the expanded band. The station was known to cause significant interference to the 1550 KHz frequency and was a prime candidate for the expanded band. They use the new space well fleshing out their sound with Motorola AM stereo.

Before permits there is always testing. Military station KTRK was one of the first in my area. They conducted test broadcasts at 1670 kHz of the Tactical AM Broadcast Service from a temporary location at Fort Meade, Maryland. The call letters stand for "truck," indicating the station was mobile. That was back in February of 1996. The station began broadcasting around the clock February 5 and received reports from as far away as Colorado. You can actually hear an audio clip here: http://audio.bostonradio.org/19b6b45e-ab92-11d8-9fd3-00904703287b.ogg

Ownership Part 2

About 6 months ago I posted about ownership concentration. I began with a list of what was then the top 20 largest owners. Today I re-post that list. Please notice the big only get bigger.

The reason I revisit this is that this dipwad senator thinks the ownership restrictions should be relaxed. Guess what radio chains have donated to his campaign! Rep Fred Upton [R], a House Commerce Committee member and communications subcommittee chairman, has asked FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to launch a proceeding to raise the maximum number of stations one company can own in certain U.S. markets. In a Feb. 9 letter, the Michigan Republican suggested that the ownership limit in markets with 60 or more stations be increased from eight to 10 stations. He also recommended that the limit in markets with 75 or more stations be raised to 12! Tell Fred you think he's a jerk here: http://www.house.gov/upton/


Owns / Operates Stations
Clear Channel Communications 1241
Cumulus Broadcasting Inc 310
Citadel Communications Corporation 240
CBS Radio/Infinity Broadcasting 179
Educational Media Foundation 167
American Family Association Inc 134
Entercom 103
Salem Communications Corporation 95
Saga Communications Inc 82
Cox Broadcasting 79
Regent Communications Inc 76
Univision Communications Inc 73
Waitt Broadcasting Inc 70
Radio One Inc 69
NextMedia Group 60
ABC Radio Inc 52
Entravision Holdings LLC 52
Triad Broadcasting Company 46
Forever Broadcasting Inc 43
Beasley Broadcast Group 42

LINK http://dks.thing.net/Big_Radio_Rules.html

But This isn't just about New York and LA. The greatest concentration of ownership in the radio industry can be found in small and medium-sized markets. In Mansfield, Ohio, Clear Channel owns 11 of the metro area's 17 radio stations. Of the top 25 markets most heavily controlled by a single owner, Clear Channel is the top owner in 20 of them and Cumulus. (Americas 2nd largest owner of radio stations, see above) controls five.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, a single company owns nine or more stations in 34 different metropolitan areas. The limit for even the largest markets in the nation, including is supposedly eight.

The God-Button

In 1951 Pierre Schaeffer began experimenting with a Morphophone tape deck. The model had 12 playback heads and was not the first source of reverb, but perhaps the first one that made it easy. [Les Paul did not invented Reverb] The God Button, that source of massive instant echo appeared in radio soon after. As FM radio became more popular, so did reverb on AM. It was some kind of defense mechanism to the "clearer" sound of mono FM. But now, the sound that was once so prevalent has has dwindled. SAMPLE HERE

These days I only hear reverb on talker 101.5 WKXW and simulcast WIXM. http://www.nj1015.com/ And WRLL-AM in Chicago...

But we all know who did it best. WABC-AM also was big on the god-button in its hey-day. WABC's trademark sound was its unmistakable use of reverb. They layer4ed it on everything, the jocks and the songs all sounded like they were being played in an auditorium. But as odd as it sounds now, the effect was technically effective; it made transistor sets, car radios and portables sound great. And rock-star Djs of the day like Alan Feed and Chuck Leonard knew it.
The reverb didnt echo forever though. They were the greatest top 40 radio station in history. It's 50,000 watt PM signal, WABC was able to reach at least two thirds of the nation. When WABC flipped talk on May 10, 1982 some well-intending engineer killed the effects pedal.

Another reverb king was Chicago's WLS-AM. Their reverb was legendary. DJ's voices like John Landecker bounced off studio walls with almost comic effect. They didnt turn down the reverb until 1982. They held out a long time. 94.7 WLS-FM was even more reveb soaked in that era as they were running a very 70's prog rock format. Psychedelic DJ's like Spoke and larry Lujack cranked it up absurdly.

There are of course, other members of reverb royalty. Among them: WQXI-AM Atlanta, WCFL-AM Chicago, KKHR-AM Los Angeles and many others. If anyone knows of a station that's still cranking the reverb dial please let me know.

The Bombing of KPFT

KPFT was founded by journalist Larry Lee, who convinced Pacifica Radio to establish an independent radio station in Houston, TX. His dream became a reality in March of 1970. In that same year, KPFT became the first, second and only radio station in the United States to have its transmitter bombed by terrorists. More here. 

The first sound to emanate from 90.1 FM in Houston was the song Here Comes The Sun from the then-brand-new Beatles album, Abbey Road. About two months later on May 12 members of the KKK blew up the KPFT transmitter, and the station was off the air for weeks.

Several months after completing repairs and returning to the air, the transmitter was bombed a second time! The October 6th bombing caused much more extensive damage. The cost of the damage was estimated to be about $35,000 —that's $222,000 in today's money adjusted for inflation. KPFT was off the air for more than three months. They resumed broadcasting on Wednesday, January 20th, 1971. A guard of armed police surrounded the station. They interviewed the mayor and the chief of police who both sided with the KKK, questioning their right to broadcast, and accusing them of airing obscene records.  Arlo Guthrie performed live in studio opining his set with Alice's Restaurant. This was the song that they had been playing when the October bombers struck.  Guthrie stepped up to the mic and said:

"So I was sitting in West Palm Beach yesterday, —this is in Florida— and I said "Wow, I'm gonna go over to Houston. What am I going to do there?" I mean maybe somebody will bomb me.. I didn't have any songs about bombs, or nothing like that, so I had to write one. I'd like you to sing it with me..."

A decade later, the KKK's Grand Wizard claimed that his greatest act "was engineering the bombing of a left-wing radio station," hinting none-too-subtly at KPFT. In 1977 bomber Jimmy Dale Hutto was ratted out by FBI informant Russell Rector. Russ has been in the witness protection program since the bombing because the KKK was pretty upset about his informing. Ultimately a whole quartet were indicted: Louis R. Beam Jr., a 24 year old salesman; Peter Lout Jr., a 26 year-old construction worker; Jimmy Dale Hutto a 24 year old chemical worker, and Paul William Moratto a 24 year old electrician. Hutto for his part was arrested in February by the FBI as he was driving toward California with Moratto. His intention was to dynamite more Pacifica radio stations.

Despite the actions of these right-wing terrorists, The Pacifica Network grew to five stations: KPFA in Berkeley, KPFK in Los Angeles, WBAI in New York, WPFW in Washington, and KPFT in Houston. Until 1983 it also included KRAB in Seattle. More here.

The First Webcast

There are thousands and none seem to succeed fiscally. Not even the trendy and popular ones manage to get by on ad revenues Ex.WOXY. It's the first one certainly deserves the most attention. Of course, the entire way that information and, yes, audio is being broadcast has been changed over the past few years. Not only have satellites and the Internet made a difference, but even more innovations in getting information from one place to another are developing, often as a combination of more than one technology.

The first Internet broadcasts appear to be way back in 1993. The IMS (Internet Multicasting Service) was set up in Washington, D.C., as a non-profit experiment. There is an archive of some of their early programs here: http://museum.media.org/radio/

The IMS ran a cable up to the roof of the National Press Building, then directed a high-speed wireless link to the White House lawn to allow the President to see his first live Internet broadcast. In January of 1994, despite the objections of the SEC and the U.S. Patent Office, the IMS posted the full text of all Patent and SEC documents for free. They also hosted the first online databases from the General Services Administration (GSA) , the (FEC) Federal Election Commission, the Federal Reserve , and the Government Printing Office. They topped it off by , providing audio feeds from the floor of House and Senate. They had in excess of 50,000 users per day.

They provided all services free for 18 months then threatened to shut it down. They gave 60 days notice that they were killing the service. The SEC took over their own hosting. The pansies at the Patent office threw a fit and refused to have their data online.

William Erwin Antony

So many radio engineers languish in obscurity despite their sometimes massive contributions to radio history. William Erwin Antony is one of those men.

He founded and/or was the engineer for 25 radio stations in the Shreveport Louisiana area. This includes KWKH, WAAG, WGAQ, KGDX, WMAU, KFHF, KGGH, KTSL, KWEA and even early experimental stations like 4CK and 5ZS. WAAG eventually became KFDX the first church-operated radio station in the world.

NOTE: KWEA-AM is named for him = William Erwin Antony. Founded in 1928 they were on 1410 intially, and moved to 1210 later that year. That license was killed in 1936.

He built the actual transmitter and antenna (the Telsine) for very first TV station in the entire south.The picture and the audio channels were licensed separately as W9XX and W5XA respectively. nice article about that station here. The first image he transmitted was a still picture of a cartoon character known as krazy kat. Some info on that here.

After all of that, he helped create the radio detonators used for the atomic bombs that went off over Hiroshima and Nagasak in the year 1945.

Radio on the Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone "Static" Season 2, Episode 20.The original air date of this episode was March 10th, 1961. In this script, an old man, Ed Lindsay, obtains an old radio, which he listens to and hears old shows and music from his younger days. But other people only hear static. The radio reunites him with his lost love but 20 years into his own past, where he can relive his life and set things right.

In the episode he clearly refers to the calls and city for the radio station. These are: WPDA-AM Cedarburg, New Jersey. Currently there is a 106.1 WPDA (simulcast WPDH) in Jeffersonville, NY to the west of Poughkeepsie. In 1930 the Pasadena, CA police department used those calls on 1712 kHz. However, a 1936 issue of Radiotron puts the calls in Tulare, CA; some 170 miles north. A 1934 issue of Shortwave Craft puts the same callsign in Framingham, MA on 1666 kc concurrently with the other Tulare listings. Something is amiss there.

There is no Cedarburg in New Jersey, but there is one in Wisconsin outside Milwaukee. There is a Cedarville, a Cedar Grove and a Cedarbrook but none of these has a local stick. This still may of course be a veiled reference to some radio station from the resume of writers Oceo Ritch or Charles Beaumont. 

It originally aired in March of 1961 starring Dean Jagger as the cranky old man. The context here is that may old radio writers were re-purposing themselves as TV writers about then. It's a script an old radio man, who didn't feel that magic in TV, would write. More info here, and here.

It wasn't until 2002 that The Twilight Zone TV show was adapted as a radio drama series of the same name. Of course this is the opposite of the traditional media shift.

Woe unto the RF sensitive

...for they truly are a bunch of obnoxious hypochondriac retards.

Do you feel ill when you're near computers, cell phones, fluorescent lights, or radio towers? If so, you may have what certain hypocondriacs call "electrical sensitivity". Common symptoms include headaches, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, prickling or burning skin, and memory loss. These People experience symptoms that range from mildly annoying to absolutely debilitating. they think it's real, and much like a placebo, that makes it real. Some of these people even avoid getting dental x-rays.

Because modern telecommunications equipment and services are being designed to emit more and not less RF these "disabled" people are forming coalitions to keep radio, cell towers and wifi out of certain neighborhoods. Last year one of those groups, named the CTF (Cellular Task Force) mobilized in an attempt to make Meddocino California a radio-free zone.

What makes this interesting is that the Telecommunications Act of 1996, prohibits local governments from banning wireless facilities based on the "environmental effects" of the radio frequency emissions. So in 1997 some of these groups got together and sued Uncle Sam. They were of the opinion that this clause violated the 10th amendment. A claim less loony than their medical claims. They lost anyway.

But since they couldn't beat the system, they joined the system. In Mendocino they infiltrated a local zoning board and routinely cancel, obstruct and dismiss cell towers over minor technical issues such as height, and appearance.

In 2002 they attached the local high school radio station 89.3 KAKX. Their assault focused on antenna height again. KAKX has theweakest ERP of all 5 sticks in the city of Mendocino. so why did their attack focus on the hcigh school? Because they had the least ability to fight these scumbag legal manuvers in court.

WIRED had a good article on these cads:Wired

and there is plenty of info out there on electrical sensitivity:
http://www.citlink.net/~bhima/emfcomp.htm
http://www.emrnetwork.org/sensitivity/esemergingillness.pdf

The correct place to find information on RF safety is here: http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety/

Three Islands in the sound

I have an interest in radio stations on islands. Each has the opportunity to develop a microcosm of community support. And because it's somewhat cut off from the rest of the world, it can become a tighter and more loyal crowd. There are three major islands from the mouth of Long Island Sound to Cape Cod. Moving North to South these are Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Block Island.

Nantucket has 3 radio stations. WNCK (a WGBH feed), WNAN (another WGBH feed) and WRZE 96.3 an actual CHR pop station.

On Martha's Vinyard is WMVY 92.7 (a very reputable AAA), and 93.3 WCAI another WGBH feed. I will note that a few other stations blast the island from Falmouth. A special note on WMVY, their website is loaded with mp3s from local bands. That is just sheer class. They don't have to do that. They just want to. http://www.mvyradio.com/The slightly smaller Block Island also only has two sticks on it: 95.9 WCRI a classical outlet, and 99.3 WJZS a Nostalgia outlet focusing on Big Band: http://www.wadk.com/fm/ but Martha's Vinyard.

Notice a pattern? NPR, Classical, and Nostalgia all have the same demo: over 50, with high income and as white as a new fluorescent bulb. It's a demo you can hit up for cash, and a demo that delivers the donations. That's why WGBH has three of the sticks out of the 7 I noted.

A little Fybush blurb on LP applications in that area (link below) I was not the only one that noticed all LP applications were denied. click and scroll down.
http://www.fybush.com/nerw-030210.html

Memphis to Knoxville without stopping.

Memphis was a quick stop. Even so, I could tell that 88.5 WQOX was more eclectic than I had been led to beleive. Some man with a high-pitched voice was explaining about the UFO's printing up 5-dollar bills. Also in Memphis; Despite a reputation to the contrary 89.9 WEVL was a rock solid college station. I caught Cap'n Pete's Blues Cruise before bed and the Bluff City Barn dance early in the morning before hitting Denny's.

NOTE: only ever order off the breakfast menu at denys.


I got to hear 91.5 WFHU for the first time as I drove through Jackson. They've always had thsi off reputation, both as a supporter of indie rock but also being very very religious and conservative. So while they may obsessively play songs from an artists catalog, they will also sternly refuse to play the single, because of a reference to "crotch-shaking. C'est la vi.

http://www.fhu.edu/radio/

To be honest after I left Jackson there wasn't much radio until I hit Nashville. While Nashville is a Thrill, I've written them up before. I stopped for lunch and got back to driving.

There was a small cluster around Cookeville East of Nashville. Tennesse Tech's WTTU 88.5 was very cool. I tried to find their logo online but only found the World Traditional Taekwondo Union. While their logo is funny, it's not the right one.

I had no time to stop in Knoxville. I caught WDVX briefly, I opted to listened to WUTK until it faded out. http://www.wdvx.com/main.html For those of you who dont know, WDVX is about as much of a taste-maker as a station gets in Americana and Triple-A. WUTK was playing the new audio Bully's album. Knoxville used to have a pretty renowned pirate KFAR. but they were shut down KFAR Board

Then I drove on to Bristol VA where I heard WETS breifly before checking in to the hotel. The program was Out On A Limb. It's a harder and more progressive americana playlist than say roots & branches.
http://www.wets.org/

All that and I never even caught Paul Hitchcock on WMKY... His Nothin' But The Blues program has been on for over a decade and is the stuff of legend. http://www.morehead-st.edu/mspr/

The National Radio Quiet Zone

Most of America is absolutely saturated with RF. Some engineers call it "the haze." Much like a fog, it obscures everything else. Signals bleed into each other, every electical device producing its own hum and buzz. This is literally almost everywhere in America... except for one 13,000 mile square in West Virginia.

The National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) was established by the FCC and the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) in 1958. It's purpose was to minimize possible harmful interference to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV and the radio receiving facilities for the United States Navy in nearby Sugar Grove, WV.

The NRQZ lies approximately at longitude 78d 30 W and 80d 30m W by and latitudes of 37d 30m N and 39d 15m N near the state border between Virginia and West Virginia. It encloses some of Americas least populous land including The George Washington national Forest, the Monongahela national Forest, the Allegheny Mountains and a whole lot of the Shenandoah Forest. (marked below in Green.)

Not many people live within the NRQZ, but those who do live by the rules of the zone.
This means, among other things, limited radio reception. Very limited. Radio stations must arrange their transmitters directionally away from the Green Bank telescope. Cell phone towers have been kept to a bare minimum. So no cell phones, no walkie talkies, garage door openers, pagers, wifi, iradio or iTrips. Even Cordless microphones are forbidden. Power lines must be buried 4 feet below ground here. At the center of the area even ordinary gas-powered engines are banned. (sparkplugs cause unwanted noise) The Observatory staff use a fleet of 1960s-vintage diesel cars and trucks.

[I mean everything. Even the North American flying squirrels tagged with telemetry transmitters by the US Fish & Wildlife Service are a problem.] Wired had a great article on this here.

A radio you can swallow.

This is straight from their website:

The SmartPill pH.p Capsule is a miniaturized disposable telemetry device. Its dimensions are 26 mm x 13 mm and weighing little more than 3 grams. It is encased in inert, bio-compatible, medical-grade polycarbonate that makes it safe for human ingestion. Internal to the device are the data transmitter, three sensing elements and a battery chamber housing the power source. On it's brave sojurn through your colon, it measures Ph, pressure and temperature.

The SmartPill pH.p Capsule moves through your intestines by peristalsis or the normal rhythmic contraction of the intestinal muscles and is capable of transmitting data continuously for greater than 72 hours. The single-use capsule is excreted naturally from the body, usually within a day or two, without pain or discomfort. [suuure...]

Trials completed in June of 2004, and in 2005 began the submission process with the FDA. What about the submission process with the FCC?

Credit to "The Future of Radio Blog" where I first read about this.
http://futureofradio.typepad.com/the_future_of_radio/

480 Miles to Memphis

It is 480 miles from Dallas to Memphis. I drove thru Sulpher Springs, Texarkana, Arkadelphia and a whole lot of nothing. It all started somewhere near a building that just read: BEER BBQ MUSCLE CARS. that was the Texas side of the border of course.

Around Texarkana I heard 95.1 KEWL running a weird medly of Buddy Holly songs. It wasn't a bumper. For about fifteen minutes they continued to play clips as long as 45 seconds from the buddy holly catalog before I got a little tired of the mystery. KEWL simulcasts on 1400 AM for the record.

Around Arkadelphia I caught a couple minutes of 99.9 KSWH the Henderson university LPFM. they were only audible briefly, but they seemed to be in it for all the right reasons. http://www.kswh.org/

I the K-PIG ID on 103.9 right outside Arkadelphia. That's KPGG in Ashdown. They were running a mix of country legends and country oldies. I caught a Johnhy Cash B-side and some old Waylon Jennings. Not a bad mix.

In Little Rock I had been looking forward to hearing 88.3 KABF a well-known community station. http://www.kabf.org/ Sadly they were playing dance music. I ended up listening to Bob parlocha on 89.1 KUAR the NPR outlet.
http://kuar.publicbroadcasting.net/index.html

NOTE: there is a cool shortwave station originating in Arkansas that I did not have the time to listen to. You may already know KTR in Hope, Aarkansas. Dedicated to life, liberty and AM plate modulation how could they go wrong: http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/redmond/699/kitchentable.html

Upon hitting Memphis City limits I tuned in 89.3 WYPL (the reading services station) and heard old sun records style rock n roll. It was some program called "the Memphis Music Collection" It was a whole show on the good-rockin' tonight Sun records tribute album. I didnt even know they had music programming...
LINK

I am Sick

When I am better I will be back.
go read fybush in the interim.