PSC to PDX

I didn't drive directly from Tri-Cities to San Francisco. I drove from Portland to Tri-Cities and back to Portland, and only then down that long winding coastal road. Route 101 originates in Washington state where it wraps around the Olympic peninsula. Most sources give  that location as Olympia but I think the start of the ramp off is technically in Tumwater. The southern Terminus is in Los Angeles 1,540 miles away. The ramp  roughly at the ramp for S. Grande Vista Ave.

Two stations call Tumwater their city of license: 1340 KUOW-AM, and on 95.3 K237FR, the HD2 repeater of KYYO. Many stations give their city of license as Olympia: KAOS, KPLI, KXXO, KKWF, and seven repeaters and translators. Almost none of those towers are actually in either city. KAOS or course is local, as is KPLI; even KXXO way out on Capitol Peak at the Weyerhaeuser Radio Site in the Capitol forest is technically in Olympia. Strangely it's the repeaters that seem to be out of town like K270CJ and  K262CY repeater, are out of town.

K270CJ reminded me of something I've been observing for years now: the slow migration of oldies and classic rock playlists into the 1980s and even 1990s. By extension Country Oldies has also time-traveled to the 1980s which is frankly not a good era and I'm sorry to report that Nostalgia, the old big band format is basically extinct. But more on all that in a bit. 

Appropriate, to this topic, K270CJ at one point did broadcast "Olympia's Boomer Rock and Roll" as "Boom FM." But it's the HD3 channel of KRXY, that's not front row. HD3 is the back seat of the station wagon. (On the 94.5 FM stick they're broadcasting Hot AC.) But if you go to the website it has very mixed branding. It has KYA-FM in the header, but the URL is still Theboomfm, and the text describes the music as "Classic Hits" which is not oldies or classic rock. Notably the banner at the top is broken. I had forgotten this existed but this is all that remains of the old KYAgold site. That last flip of the FM stick happened in march of 1994 at 93.3 KYCY in San Francisco ending a brand stretching back into the early 1970s. [LINK] Per a December 2022 conversation on radiodiscussions.com [SOURCE] K270CJ flipped to SuperCFL and the steam flipped to sports which is what I found. However, I've found multiple other KYA streams... that are on-brand and still running.

• KYA Gold

• 1260 KYA Radio

• 94.7 KYA Radio1

I stocked up on  Calvin Johnson mix tapes at the Rainy Day Record Co. . but there's no tape deck in the car. So I spent this leg of the trip doing a bandscan while driving along the Columbia River gorge. This was an interesting experiment as there are no AM or FM transmitters in side of it but alternately behind the bluffs and hills around it. 

 

Heading to (Yakima-Pasco- Richland-Kennewick) Most of the drive is decidedly rural, these are white areas of the metro map. You can see the course of the river in the shape of the surrounding counties. But Route 14, aka The Lewis and Clark Highway,  starts in Vancouver, WA; home of 91.9 KOUV-LP, which is still a CP and 97.5 KDOA-LP a Caribbean station with a complicated resume. They sold their stick on 101.5 in the Dalles to the religious satcaster Educational Media Foundation (EMF). That station became KJYV in 2019 and then KDLZ in 2022. KDOA moved to 97.5 in 2021 but in September of 2023 filed a CP to move to 99.9. Both CPs are still active,but EMF (the E also stands for Evil) has a translator on 97.5 for KLVP making 99.9 the safer bet. They did file a proper STA [LINK] to remain silent due to that "copious interference" which they were when I drove through.

The first town of any note is Camas which has two location stations KIEV-LP "outlaw country" [LINK] and KNRK and by extension the HD-2 channel of KNRK, Alternative Classics. They were playing Kings of Leon when I last checked, a new cut from 2024. Alternative perhaps, classic? No. The Freeway ends at Washougal and while KMHD comes in clear there's nothing new on the dial I couldn't hear in Vancouver. The transmitters on Mount Hood are mostly on the south side of that summit and not particularly clear here.

Further down the road was the town Skamania, a perfect town for a ska-fest, or ska band. It's never happened but there have been a few near-misses. In 1964 Carlos Malcolm And His Afro-Jamaican Rhythms put out a record "Ska-Mania" which opened with the single "Skamania" it's mostly about curry. The Supertones and Five Iron Frenzy did a tour in 1998  named "Skamania." The band the Skatalites put out a record in 1996 "Greetings from Skamania." That's both one first wave and one second wave ska band, but still no love for the unincorporated community in Oregon. But if you're looking for local music in Skamania, Matthew McDonnell put our a cassette in 1992 "A Musical history and tour of the Columbia River Gorge."  Good luck finding it. A few miles later I pass the Bridge of the Gods.

After a quick stop at North bank Books I hit the road. 104.5 KPLP reports a city of license right on the water in White salmon, but they use a stick 23 miles away in Parkdale. It's another christian contemporary station.  I headed on to The Dalles; home of KQHR, KOTD, KMSW, KACI, KDLZ, KACI, KODL and another 9 FM repeaters.  92.7 KMSW purports to be Classic Rock and 1440 KODL to be Classic Country; both have slide into the 1980s. On the AM band are two more: news talker KACI-AM and and KODL-AM, both simulcasting on their respective FM sticks. I can just get 102.3 KRSX a standard issue country FM station.  They're 12 miles inland up route 97 to nowhere. Further down the road I can just get 106.1 KWCQ out of Condon, OR 33 miles away.

By the time I get to Boardman, before the river hooks north, The dial turns over to mostly Tri-Cities stations. Public stations KOLU, KRBM and KFAE comes in clearly but just like my last visit the college station KWCW is elusive. Half the dial is country music stations. I tried for 980 KTCR looking for an oldies station and got more 80s music. I can however get two other classic country stations out here: 1240 KTIX-AM and 1360 KOHU. Both have playlists that also lean into the 1980s but KOHU is certainly more interesting with a lot more old style lap steel. Both stations cover an area in the hills south east of Tri-Cities proper out in those white areas of the map. Station 101.9 KNHK is also classic country but I couldn't receive it. 

On the drive back there was one RF mystery that took me hours to make sense of. On 1230 AM I could hear this Spanish music for most of the drive. In trying to guess the location of the transmitter, I found it was strong fore and aft even as I rounded sharp corners, and tall hills loomed over head. I even considered it being a pirate. It turns out that 1230 KDYM-AM Sunnyside (near Yakima) and 1230 KRYN-AM in Gresham both simulcast "Estacion de la Familia radio". They are 170 miles apart at opposite ends of the Columbia river, but because of the depth of the gorge you can usually receive it anywhere between Portland and Kennewick. But which one you receive depends on which side of the mountain you're facing.

SEA to PDX

Everyone knows the airport code for Portland (PDX) but if you were not familiar, PSC is the airport code for Tri-Cities in western Washington state. The Tri-Cities are three cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland) located at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers. I flew into Seattle (SEA) and after a short stop in Olympia and drove the 160ish miles to Portland to begin the real road trip. This is my first visit in over a decade. [LINK] and [LINK] Much has changed. The weird things was that I didnt' run into KEXP stickers until I got to San Francisco a week later.

In Ellensburg, 96.1 KGRU-LP is no more. The Great Round-Up Cowboy church surrendered their license in 2016. Station 89.9 KGRG is still there, as is 1330 KGRG. They're still broadcasting different programming, but I did not hear any hosts leading me to believe they're operating under automation at least that morning. The "Alternative past" logo is long gone.

Station 101.1 KOHO was playing Classical music as expected. I made a side trip into Olympia to tune into 89.3 KAOS which did not disappoint. I caught the program Sister Sound in all it's psychedelic glory. [LINK]. I picked up a few Calvin Johnson mix tapes [LINK]  and the latest issue of the Cooper Point Journal. (I did spot that KAOS advert on page 7, well done.)  Sadly 90.1 KUPS was not very audible on the route. 91.3 KBCS was, so I heard DJ Mike Biggins briefly before the Bluegrass show began at noon PST. I think he was spinning some Taj Mahal but again the faded out before I passed Tacoma. 

The co-channel interference between KASB and KMIH on 88.9 was such that neither station was audible on my route. Strangely KMIH has flipped from Rhythmic CHR to AAA making their playlist more like KBCS than KNHC if we're comparing among the Seattle stations. KMIH operated on 104.5 until 2008 when this mess began. They had some secondary coverage via a translator on 94.5 but they sold it to Bonneville and while I'm sure the revenue was tempting... the station seems all but inaudible now. Putting two class D stations on the same frequency was a truly bizarre decision, which at this point could really only be improved with a timeshare agreement.

As soon as I got south of Cowlitz, WA I began trying to tune in my long-time favorite jazz station, KMHD. The signal cleared up around Castlerock. I caught part of the program Songs From Cloud 9, and then the following Monday morning, but was sorry to miss the Carlton Heston rebroadcast. But I did listen to The Morning Session, which was very chill, as advertised. The dial stayed put for a long time.

I made a real effort to spend some time listening to KFFD, Free Form Portland. They're small, they're weird and 100% volunteer. When I first tuned in I couldn't tell I even had a station, but after a bit of listening it was interrupted suddenly by an announcement about storm water runoff. Then I realized I was hearing ocean waves, not just static. It was surreal. Around 9:00 AM they had some hard soul and R&B program rolling. But when I checked back later it was a bilingual Spanish/English talk program.

KBOO was being KBOO and I can hardly describe what I heard but it was like Merengue with Hammond organ leads. I am guessing it was the Africa Oye program. KXRY (X-Ray FM) was playing a local artist Dakota Theim "The High Life" which I know because hosts Paul and Hannah backsold it properly. Good job kiddos. I tried to get 99.9 KXRW but there wasn't even a whisper on that frequency, not even driving down Route 5 in Vancouver. Similarly 100.7 had neither KBSF-LP nor KQRZ-LP when I tried Monday morning.

I had a great time in Portland, heard good music, ate great snacks.  There were more food trucks than restaurants. The hotel room even came stocked with a Roberts Revival R300 radio with a digital tuner. So instead of using the car radio, I was able to adjust a nice telescoping antenna and sit in the hotel room in total comfort and do a proper bandscan.

PORTLAND BANDSCAN (highly selective)

88.3 - KBVM     Religious talk
88.7 - KZRI        Christian rock
89.1 - KMHD     Jazz
89.5 - KPFR       Choir
89.9 - KQAC      Classical
90.3 - KFFP        Bilingual program?
90.7 - KBOO      Random
91.1 - KXRY      Indie Rock
91.5 - KOPB       NPR
91.9 - K2201N    KWAZ repeater
96.7 - KNUM      Hiphop
99.1 - KPRP        Indie rock
107.1 K296FY    KXRY repeater

The Telex Cordless Tape Eraser

 

Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself.  As you'd imagine, a cordless cassette tape eraser is just some permanent magnets, and it is so. In my lab, my tape eraser of choice is an electromagnetic model. The brand name of mine "Magneraser." But this Telex cost me a whole $5 at a thrift store so I thought I could do a little comparison. Thankfully one of the fine folks over at Tapeheads.net already dissected one, saving me some time. [LINK]

The verbiage on the side of the box reads as follows:

"Erases standard & micro/mini cassette. For use in the home-office-on the road. — No outside power or batteries required. Can operate practically forever with built in alnico magnet which produces a strong demagnetizing field. Particularly useful with dictation systems which allow erasure of sensitive recorded material with minimal effort."

So I read up on those powerful "alnico magnets." Alnico is a family of iron alloys which, in addition to iron are composed primarily of aluminum, nickel, and cobalt, hence the acronym al-ni-co. The development of alnico began in 1931. Metallurgist Prof. Tokushichi Mishima in Japan discovered that an alloy of iron, nickel, and aluminum had double the coercivity of steel magnets. Before you ask, he does have the patents to prove it. [LINK] Mishima is on the Japan patent office top 10 inventors webpage. [LINK] He had quite a storied career. Born in 1893 in Empire of Japan, Mishima graduated from Tokyo Imperial University and spent his entire career as a metallurgist, eventually returning to Tokyo Imperial University as a professor. He died in 1975. Magnets are cool.

As you'd expect, the first thing I wanted to know is how old this device actually is. The first and only catalog listing I found was in the ICIA Directory of 1999. But the tech is much older. In 1999 you could buy this bulk eraser individually for $20 or a case of 12 for $216. The catalog number isn't on their website anymore of course. Telex is part of the Bosch Communications these days. Founded in 1936, they got bought by Memorex in 1988, got spun off in 1989 and then merged with Electro-voice in 1998. Bosch only bought them in 2006. Telex was in the audio equipment market from the get-go so very little of that corporate history narrows the window down. This eraser could have been made in the mid 1930s, except that the cassette wasn't invented until 1962. But sure enough, the bottom of the box reads "MFG. FOR TELEX COMMUNICATIONS, INC. MINNEAPOLIS, MN. U.S.A.  Based on the company name, and the catalog, this device was probably made in 1998 or 1999.

How well does it erase?  It does a better job than I expected, the results are not as different as I expected between the Telex and the Magneraser. With the Magneraser I get long audible segments interspersed with areas of total loss. The Telex seems to have less of those exaggerated peaks and valleys, though it didn't erase everything by any stretch. Thinking back, the late 90s were the end of the CD/Tape format war. [SOURCE] CDs were now 90% of the market. The CDs had won so cassette electronics were headed to the budget bin. So this wasn't limited to ancillary devices like this Telex. Almost all the tape player erase functions after the year 2000 seem to use permanent magnets. To make cheaper gadgets we got cheaper components. Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself.