Rural Radio Network

The Rural Radio Network (RRN) was a network of six commercial FM stations serving upstate New York. They were based out of Ithaca, NY. This set of simple farm stations was the first all-radio, no-wireline network in the world. They went online in 1948 with the idea of serving the agricultural communities of that region. The stations were all unmanned being remotely controlled from WVFC on Connecticut Hill near Ithaca. Classical programming was provided by WQXR in New York City relayed to the network by WFLY in Troy, NY.

Photo stolen from Fybush.com Go buy his calendar.

The concept for the network originated with the Cooperative Grange League Federation Exchange (GLF) an agricultural co-op founded in 1920 in Ithaca. They used a set of 10 stations connected by phone lines to carry a short 5 minute program.

In 1946, GLF having seen the advantages of the network and formed the Rural Radio Foundation. The board was embraced by several agricultural interest groups including the New York State Grange, Dairymen's League, and New York Artificial Breeder's Co-op.
The RRF consisted of the following 10 stations:

WVFC-AM-- Ithaca, NY

WFNF-AM-- Wethersfield, NY

WVBT-AM-- Bristol Center, NY

WVCN-AM-- DeRuyter, NY

WVCV-AM-- Cherry Valley, NY

WVBN-AM-- Turin, NY

WSLB-- Ogdensburg, NY

WGHF-AM-- Hartford, CT

WACE-- Springfield, MA

The stations struggled in their attempts at profitability. Their most famous owner was televangelist Pat Robertson. He got ahold of the network through a corporate donation in 1969. By the 1980s Robertson was trying to off load the money pit. He sold them to individual owners dissolving the network entirely. More here.

Branding for sale

Fybush tipped us off to what might be a horrific new trend in radio branding. The idea is revolting, truly heinous even by the standards of the biz. In addition to selling product placement, endorsements, sporsorships, ads, mentions, flickers, blips, spots, live reads and placements we can now sell the brand itself. Somone please stop us.


Clear Channel like many obese radio chains has been in hot pursuit of Non-traditional revenue sources. As a matter of fact, Google that Phrase and see how many radio services pop up. It's a sign of the epidemic.


So CC's Rochester cluster has been trying some very new non-traditional revenue sources on 107.3 WCRR a tiny class A in South Bristol Township. the station is to the distant south of Rochester, almost audible in Corning, NY. It's spent most of this summer as "Labatt Blue Country 107.3," having co-opted it's own branding in the name of a beer sponsor. I cant decide if this is a money maker or just sad. I 'm leaning toward sad. http://www.mycountryfm.com/


Their low standards became evident last year when they stunted with the "Wheel Of Formats." Durring the stunt they used the brand "Huge 107.3" co-branding with a local automobile dealership. After six days of thsi horror the wheel stopped on CHR/Pop. Gag.

Way back in the 1950s WCRR (as WVBT) they were a part of the Rural Radio Network. It was the first all radio, no wireline radio network in the world. It was meant to serve the agricultural areas of upstate New York. It was broken up and sold off in the early 1980s. More on that tomorrow.

For the record, WCRR-FM has relation to college radio 1600 WCRR-AM http://wcrr.fit.edu/

Wireless Blimp!

This is pretty obscure, possibly apocryphal. It's usually Tesla that gets credit for inventing remote control as I explained here in 1898. But this piece refers to this demonstration as the "first of its 'kind." Now possibly it's the first wireless remote control of aircraft, or not. This might even be an Internet hoax as I cannot verify elsewhere. But whatever it's entertaining and feasible. In 1912 Professor M. O. Anthony and Leo Stephens gave a demonstration of a Wireless Airship. It was a small powered blimp used to demonstrate remote control of aircraft by wireless telegraphy.

200 members of an automobile club came to see photographs and short films of the airship in action. A unanimous vote was passed urging Congress to appropriate monies for the development of aeronautics for the Army. ...And check this out, from the same page: Here modern nerds replicate. Hooray for wildly entertaining nerds.

175 hours on air!

I'll make this quick. DJ Johnny Walker has returned the glory of the Disc Jockey endurance record to America. On August 13th at WUAG he completed 175 hours on air a new world's record. More here: http://www.wuag.net/

Under the Guinness rules, to count as a continuous broadcast, a talent can only take one five-minute break per hour; no song played can be longer than six minutes; during interviews, the broadcaster must speak at least once per minute; and the entire process must be recorded and videotaped.

Previous record holders include:

Stefano Venneri BBSI Radio 125 hours 2006

Robin Vember Rhodes Music Radio 126 hours in 2006

Suresh Joachim Tamil Radio 120 hours 2003

Glen Jones WFMU 100 hours in 2001

Greg Daines Radio Chelmsford 73 hours in 2001

Simon Mayo BBC Radio1 37 hours in 1999

Service Outage

Nah, just on the road for a bit. Back Monday.

Go read Gorman's Media Blog. He's been on fire lately:
http://gormanmediablog.blogspot.com/

One up one coming

Low vs Diamond - Life after Love - Epic Records
And more coming of course...

Dodd's Wireless Station

There were wireless stations before there were licenses. Hank Dodd for example, never obtained an official call-sign. He began operation before 1913. Which is before hams were required to be licensed. In that day there weren't any regulations for wavelength or power. I read about him on the Website of the Western Historic Radio Museum, here.

Hank Dodd was born in 1888, in Cortland, New York and moved with his family moved to San Bernadino about 1907. For him, like many other of the day radio was a hobby. After hank was drafted for WWI he taught radio calsses. After WWI, he was still big on radio and became involved in a radio business in LA. He retired to Reno in the 1960s and died in September of 1979.

What makes him wildly different from other early hams is that he was an unstoppabel pack rat and much of his original hand made equipment was found in a shed and is now displayed at the Western Historic Radio Museum. So go check it out.

The HD Radio Brand

I read just this week at Bridge ratings that HD radio awareness has actually decreased this year. I know I'm a nattering nabob of negativity but read it here. It reminded me that HD radio is a meaningless term. Like the fake syndromes that marketing companies come up with to sell drugs that people dont actually need. Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) meet HD-2 Digital Radio!

The HD radio Brand came from HD television. Now HD television is actually high defintion. HD radio in many cases will be low def. Multicasting can lower audio quality. In radio the codec is IBOC, and owned by Ibiquity exclusively. So they have some control over branding you could say. But they seem to suck at it.

Here are some radio spots they did. You can actually hear listeners get more confused. Stations between the stations? Huh? Why would that require a special radio? A mascott named "Anne Tenna? Oy vey. The branding is just unfocused in general and with the highly technical nature of the product it's difficult to explain no matter what the metaphor.
Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4
Number 5
Number 6
Number7

It's somthing they need to straighten out soon. IBOC debuts on the AM band at night which is creating a furor among sober engineers. Mexico is concerned enough to write the FCC, going so far as to suggest the interference will be so bad as to violate international treaty.

Review is Overdue

Alina Simone's album Placelessness will be on my top ten records of the year. Alina Simone - Placelessness - 54º 40’ or Fight

More on her record here:

http://www.alinasimone.com/

http://www.myspace.com/alinasimone

DO YOU KNOW THIS RADIO?

When I first saw this I thought it was an RCA model 45X11. but the chassis is wood and clearly older than that. Eventually I had to admit that I have no idea what model this is.

It's an RCA-Victor somthing and it's portable. It has a space in the back for a battery and no power cord, or if there is a power cord it's long lost. There's a handle on top so it's a portable somthing . It's resemblance to the 1940s Philcos is too strong for it to be much odler or newer. Anyone know what this is? It reminds me of Motorola Model 50-XC-3, but this is obviously an RCA, and lacks the "polish" of that model. it's got that nice dark finish like the RCA T63, but dosen't look a damn thing like it otherwise.

Phenol, Edison, Bayer and Records

Phenol, also known under an older name of carbolic acid, is a toxic, colourless crystalline solid with a sweet tarry odor. Its chemical formula is C6H5OH. It's solubility in water is limited, it's slightly acidic and is normally made from the partial oxidation of benzene. It's also a byproduct of coal oxidation. So far just a random chemical right?

Phenol is used in a few common products: Aspirin, phonograph records, and TNT. When you think about it, these are just three random products in a long list of things that include Phenol as an ingredient. but at the wrong time, the three can be in strong competition if Phenol is in short supply. ...Say World War One.

Cylinders peaked in popularity about 1905. but by 1912 the record was picking up popularity. Edison wanted to compete but he didn't want to import shellac from Asia. They invented an early phenol-polymer the predecessor to Bakelite. Edison mixed phenol and formaldehyde with with wood-flour and a solvent. This new composite material made the core of the disc. This was then coated with a phenolic resin varnish called Condensite. The finished 10" disc weighed ten ounces, heavier than most, partially due to the 1/4" thickness of the record. Today records are made form PVC but until 1912 it was all shellac. (The Edison 1o-inch did require a switch from a steel needle to a diamond needle)

Bayer had the US patent on Aspirin. Aspirin was a brand name. Prior to Aspirin bayer mostly made industrial dyes. The chemical is actually named Acetyl Salicylic Acid. They used Phenol to make it. Circa WWI Aspirin was a wonder drug. It was an all-purpose analgesic, and fever-reducer that didn't cause stomach irritation like it's predecessors. And it wasnt' an addictive narcotic like Heroin and Morphine which were both available by prescription at the time. All three were used on troops in WWI. More here.

Bayer was feeling the pinch of the short Phenol supply during WWI because Britain and the U.S. State Department was buying most of the international supply whole sale to bomb Germany flat. At the same time that created a shortage of aspirin, but back home it was restricting the press runs of records. NO RECORDS! OH NO! More here.

Edison wasn't going to stand for that. In 1915 the clever devil started making about 12 tons of Phenol per day. He only needed 9 tons for his records, so he started selling the balance of 3 tons to Bayer. This was a good deal for Bayer since they just turned around and sold most of their aspirin to the military. But then it came out that some Bayer executives were involved with some spies at the German embassy! So the State department stepped in took over the board of Bayer since it was foreign owned and the war was ramping up anyway. They also took away their phenol and began allowing US firms to make aspirin without the patent license, essentially dissolving the Bayer patent.... Edison just kept making records.

Phenol was also used to execute people, an oral antiseptic, and actually was an ingredient in Bakelite™, a synthetic resin that was later used in the 1930s in the chassis of tabletop radios.

Dance Dance Revelation

I caught a killer program on KDVS last week. The mysterious DJ Woosley spins a mix of electro clash, synth pop and gheto tech that all blends in a way I've not heard before. His playlists note clearly that it's all music from his own collection. His taste is impeccable even if his mic breaks are spent mumbing artist and song titles.

But dance programming on radio is normally more dull than Fox News. This playlist is interesting and varied but still maintains a continuity that many professional programmers simply cant manage even with a team of consultants, and a stack of airplay data.

Here's about an hour of a Program chopped into tiny bite-sized peices for your listening pleasure:

Part 1 *audio expired*

Part 2 *audio expired*

part 3 *audio expired*

part 4 *audio expired*

WLW has a Big Juan

Everybody knows that the place to go for tasteful classy advertising ideas is a radio ad man. They're famed the world over for their puritanical ideals. In Cincinnati some nameless ad man had an idea a simple play on words. WLW-AM "the Big One" would do a billboard as "The Big Juan." I really do beleive that it was that simple and that little thought went into it. I do nto think this was malicious, just dumb. They paid for 82 billboards, each sporting a mule, and a fat white guy with a big moustache and a sombrero. Local hispanics were pretty civil about it.

The city's local Hispanic organization LULAC requested that WLW-AM remove the incredibly classy billboards decorating Cincinatti. He, his fake mustache, sombrero, poncho and mule had to go. Comitee presidente Alfonso Cornejo, called it "a hateful campaign" that exploited a "crudely depicted ethnic stereotype." and additionally asked for a written apology.

WLW-AM acted quickly. Within a week of the letter from LULAC, the signs were gone. WLW-AM GM Chuck Frederick, apologized in writing and LULAC seemed to accept that the fandango was over responding the quick response with a letter I quote in part:

"On behalf of 20+ multicultural organizations and LULAC Cincinnati, I would like to express my gratitude for your cooperation over these past two weeks. You have responded to the concerns of our community by removing the “The Big Juan” billboards and more importantly, you have stated your desire “to be part of the solution.” A major part of becoming part of the solution is by helping improve the equal treatment of Hispanics and other ethnic groups within media. In fact, a recent study conducted by Bridges for a Just Community indicated that 64% of Hispanics believe that they are not treated equal to Whites in the media."

Well it's not the most offensive thing Clear Channel's ever put on a billboard.

WNOU attacks drunk drivers!

This has more potential for hijinks than any morning show needs. The Morning Mess reports last weeks' drunk drivers to the citizens of Indianapolis live every week. Nobody wants to hear their name on this list. I clipped the segment. I uploaded a chunk of the episode here. Hopefully total public embarassment will dissuade future DUIs.

WNOU began life as WIBC in the year 1961 as a classical station. In 1968 they dropped that and changed calls to WIBC re-launching as rocker WNAP. In the 1970s they rebranded as the Buzzard, still playing rock. http://www.radionow931.com/

In the late 1990s WNAP later went classic rock but that was a catastrophe. In 2001 they stunted for weeks and went CHR picking up the WNOU calls they amintain today. On an interesting note, last year, WNOU launched a HD2 subchannel, dubbed "Orbital 93.1." This station offers a Dance music format

Radio Station Drops Car From Helicopter

As I keep up on my radio news I begin to think that my week of "Stupid DJ tricks" posts could have been a blog in its own right. He's somthign a little more recent. The Chicago radio station WLUP staged an innovative stunt. After a century of ADD at the mic it's hard to innovate.

DJ Jonathon Brandmeier has always been a ham. Superman costumes, crashing thru video screens, mooning audiences... He's a peopel person. But he set up a great stunt a coupel months back/ At Tinley Park he wanted to do a car drop.

Here's how it works. A vehicle is suspended from a helicopter, about 500 feet up. Then dropped onto a numbered grid in a parking lot. The contestant whose number was hit by the falling Volvo is in line to win a new Hummer H3, according to the contest rules. The game was kind of like cow-chip bingo without the suspense or the stool softener.

The Carterfone Decision

It is only in the protractions of time that we realize the consequences of our actions. As we saw just days ago at the hands of FCC high mucketymuck Kevin "Bushpawn" Martin. In what can kindly be called an "interesting" re-application of the Carterfone decision, Kevy steers the course of history gently away from open access, whatever his cogent purpose may actually be. My hatred of the man is long been in evidence. I'll let The Scholars & Rogues Blog speak in his defense.

In recent months murmurs began about the fate of the white spaces. Broadcast television will switch to digital in 2009, and analog TV will cease to be. In that change, no matter how delayed or protracted and painful it may be, a large chunk of RF real estate will open up. The 700Mhz band is coveted by cell phone companies because it travels easier though walls than the currently used 2.5 GHz block. Cell phones could work indoors basically. Many parties are interested, nobody seemed to have any big ideas worth discussing here.. until Google spoke up 2 weeks ago. Google announced that they would bid $4.6 billion for a slice of the 700 MHz band to provide wireless Internet. But they attached a caveat. Access had to be open.
The policy they wish to see applied is the Carterfone decision. Blogs everwhere reference it but gloss over the event itself. It starts in 1959, Tomas Carter makes a radio phone that works with phone land lines and wireless. Ma Bell spazzes out and tells their customers they aren't allowed to use it, and if they do they will pay a penalty.

Carter, an obstinate Texan, stands up to the telephone giant and brings anti-trust proceedings against AT&T. The case is sent to the FCC. The FCC decides that the device is needed and does no harm to AT&T's existing infastructure. So in 1968 the FCC ruled that telephone networks could not forbid third-party devices to use their service. That the actions of AT&T were "unreasonable, unlawful and unreasonably discriminatory." In 1975 they expanded the idea, allowing consumers to attach any devices to a network, as long as they adhere to technical standards. More here.

But when Skype asked them to do the same thing with Voice over IP technology this Spring they hit pause. Approving that further broadens a policy that would never have been written under the current regime, yet it's the most applicable decision the commission has from which to make a decision. Google's idea of openness goes beyond even that, asking the FCC to require winning bidders to rent parts of their networks to competitors. That's not just hardware. compatibility. That's a tad bigger, but one that benefits consumers. Phone companies are claiming thsi will cause disruption and dange to their networks. yeah, that's what they said in 1959 too. It was a lie then, and a lie now.

Bidding begins in January 2008, an election year. Let the bribery begin!

Lee Hazlewood: radioman

I was listening to NPR late Sunday night on a drive across New Jersey. I heard for the first time that Lee Hazlewood died. Then I heard the voice of Felix Contreras remind me of a tiny fact that perked my interest. "Hazlewood got his start in radio in the 1950s, with a job at a small station in Coolidge, Arizona."

Lee was born in Mannford, Oklahoma in 1929. His family moved back and forth across the Texas-Arkansas border. He decided he liked the Texian side of the border better and went to college at SMU in Dallas. He was drafted and sent to Korea right out of college. There he found himself broadcasting on military radio. Radio was his first calling.

After he returned home he attended a broadcasting college and immediately scored a job at 1150 KCKY-AM in Coolidge, AZ. There he pioneered a morning zoo-ish format. He did the voices for multiple characters and pre-recorded their parts on quarter inch tape. (I'd love to hear an air check of this program) KCKY is still on air today but only as a simulcasts with of KASA in Phoenix broadcasting broadcasts Spanish-religious programing.

It was at KCKY that the plot picks up. Duane Eddy was a malingerer at the Coolidge station. He visted often trying to mooch free records. He and Lee became friends. Eddy eventually started getting a little time behind the mic at KCKY performing live. In 1955 he moved on to DJ at 1360 KRUX in Phoenix, only one day after being fired at 1150. (KRUX persists today as KPXQ-AM)

Something in Phoenix lit a fire under Hazlewood. It was then he began producing tracks for his buddy Duane. the collaboration produced a string of singles. His innovative use of reverb was immediately ripped off by thousands. By the end of 1955 Lee was putting out records on his own Viv label. More here.

In 1956 Lee moved on to 1310 KTYL-AM in Mesa, working morning shift again. Viv records was in the tank by then. He'd licesed Duanes singles to Jaime records and he'd not seen much cash out of it. He sold a 1/3 interest in Viv to Loy Clingmanwho worked at KTYL. The $3,000 Mr. Clingman spent to do that kept Lee rolling long enough for him to start licensing recording to Dot records. Th efirst big deal of hsi career and the one that allowed him to ease out of broadcasting into a full-time gig as a writer and producer. KTYL still exists to day as the talker KXAM-AM. Spectacular related post at No Rock n' Roll Fun, and a nice peice at WFMU of course.

Sharing and simulcasting

With 14,000 radio signals in America, simulcasts are well known but the exception rather than the rule. half a century ago WCAL-AM and KUOM-AM spent a lot of quality time togehter. They split the limited operating hours of an AM dayshare.

On June 1, 1945 WLB-AM changed call letters to KUOM-AM. Due to clear channel restrictions they ran as a daytimer, and split the day with WCAL-AM owned by St. Olaf's college in Northfield, MN. When WCAL acquired an FM license on 89.3 They agreed to cede their portion of the AM operating hours of 770 to KUOM.

But the indie-rock obsessed Radio K, beloved to the Twin Cities only began in 1993. Previous to that 770 ran almost exclusively educational programming, it was even less exciting than WCALs classical programming. The license is owned by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Today Radio K has two small FM transmitters.

Their first aquisition was 106.5 in St. Louis park, an 8 watt Class D. That went online in April of 2003. then in September of 2005 they talked their way into a 10 watt repeater W264BR on 100.7 in Falcon Heights. While both FM sticks are very small, they both over densely populated downtown neighborhoods. But ultimately to the limited range of the FM signals, the station relies primarily on their old AM signal.

WCAL-AM had begun as a physics experiment in 1918. They ramped up and operated the with the call sign 9YAJ as an experimental station. In 1922 they were assigned the WCAL calls. Like a few other bold broadcasters they began FM experiments in 1948. As noted above they parted ways with KUOM in 1968 for their very own FM stick. In a very clever barter CAL traded their half of 770 for the right to brodacast from land owned by the University of Minnesota.

In 2004 St. Olaf got out of the radio buisness selling off WCAL-FM. In a rare decision based on the best interests of the community and not their wallet; the college sold to Minnesota Public Radio instead of EMF. Today that's KCMP a indie rock/triple A mix format blazing a trail for the future of publuic radio. The station is programmed larelgey by former staff of KUOM.

the WCAL calls went to immediate use in Western PA replacing the WVCS calls on 91.9 here. Thus improving the branding at the student voice of The University of California, Pennsylvania.

Jim Ellinger attacks!

Jim has done some great things. Even previous to this fiasco I'd heard of the work he's done and I'd describe it as civic and community-minded. Immediately following the havoc of Hurricane Katrina he filed with the FCC for a low-power FM license for the evacuees in the Houston Astrodome. It was one of the few things treated with expedience for the evacuees; the Feds granted approval in a few days. He has a blog here.

Honestly I thought he was just an idealist, sacrificing his own time and money. Then I read about his house. Apparently in addition to making an art project of his home, he also considers himself a an amateur vexillologist (flag expert). So he's an indigenous hippie weird too. So what, that's the best part of Austin, better than the BBQ.

Then it went bad. In 1999 KOOP kicked out Jimbo. Problem being.. Jim helped found KOOP. That kind of coup (nice phononym) never goes well. Info here. It was a purging. Non-profit organizations have bords of directors. Sometimes as the power is ceeded from visionaries, and those who built thigns directly from their own sweat and blood goes well. But usually not. apaprently the board of 1997 began allegedly changing the bylaws to their own benefit. It was ugly, members suing other members, trustees suing volunteers, name calling, 30 grand in debt... the Save KOOP website explains it better.

Jim was probably pretty pissed. He turned on KOOP. The station was being mismanaged, mishandled, the board was acting illegally in some cases even. I'm not local so without being fully informed it looked like he lost his mind. At license renewal time Mr. Ellinger formally filled a number of complaints against the station he built. The FCC handed down a big wad of fines to KOOP. KOOP was guilty as sin and has been made to pay almost all of them. You can read the legalese here. It must feel like having to shoot yoru own dog because it's rabid.

Mac Curtis and Radio

Mac Curtis began his career as a DJ in 1957. Mr. Curtis has worked at radio stations from Nashville to LA. Today he's the host of The Rockabilly Connection on 95.9 KFWR. He's in The Rockabilly Hall of fame and there is a reason.

He was born in 1939 in Fort Worth, TX. A neighbor taught him how to play guitar. He started a band in Weatherford in 1954. They performed country music, and rockabilly. Within a year they were "discovered" by Big Jim Randolph of KNOK. He was an early supporter. It was Randolph that scored them their first record deal with King Records. that first record even wowed Alan Freed, who booked Curtis' band for the 1956 Christmas Jubilee extravaganza at the Brooklyn Paramount. They'd gone from high school sock hops to the biggest rock n' roll radio show in America in 2 years. Then nada. Elvis took off in a way that made a lot of rockabilly fade into the background.

In less than a year Curtis was DJing at KZEE back in Weatherford. He barely had time to warm up the stool when the Army asked him if he wouldn't mid so much DJing in Korea. His radio experience got him an assignment with the AFRN in Seoul. He probably wasn't happy, but mercifully he was discharged in 1960 and went back to doing rockabilly records.

By 1971, Curtis made the transition from making records to spinning them. He got a show on KLAC in Los Angeles. He was rediscovered there by Ronny Weiser. Ronny went on to release a couple single on his fledgling Rollin' Rock label and eventually released three Curtis LPs. Discography here. Labels in Europe and Japan continue to put out his records. A loyal fan popped a couple tracks up on Myspace here, for your listening pleasure. Or if you live around Dallas you can probably catch him live & local.

3 Reviews for ewes

bang bang bang and more coming of course

Bellavista - Self-Titled

Panthers -The Trick

Rock Central Plaza - Are We Not Horses

Number Stations

If you listen to Shortwave you're already familiar with number stations. For the uninitiated, these are shortwave radio stations of unknown origin lacking Calls or ID that broadcast just sequences of numbers. The number are read clearly and occur in many languages. Voices can be male female or even computer generated.

Reports of Number Staitons date back to World War I and continue to this day. It is suspected that the broadcasts are coded messages used for communication with spies. Though no nation cops to this, I know of at least one trial where come cubans were prosecuted for espionage in relation to a numbers shortwave broadcast.



While the sequences are usually all numeric they can include words, or letters. They are sometimes apparently random, and other times organised. In the 90’s, amateur radio enthusiasts tracked the source of one number station to a US military base. The FCC refused to comment, duh.

The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations is a four-CD set of recordings of numbers stations, mysterious shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin believed to be operated by government agencies to communicate with spies "in the field". The collection was released by England's Irdial-Discs record label in 1997, based on the work of number station enthusiast Akin Fernandez. You can download it all free here: http://irdial.hyperreal.org/