AVP to ORH

 ...another long drive in a long career of long drives.
We begin on route 33 in New Jersey because that is how you cut south back onto Route 78 East after you have accidentally taken the exit for 22 East. It is there I caught a cooking show, an honest-to-goodness cooking show on WHYY 90.9. It was The Splendid Table, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, and it's one of the last of it's kind.  The program actually won the Best Radio Food Show award in 2008. She really is quite good.. but there can't be a lot of competition left. 

When I hit 287 North, I tuned in Rhythm Revue with Felix Hernandez on 88.3 WBGO, always an excellent program. I haven't heard it much since I left New York. He was spinning Donny Hathaway "Valdez In the Country" when I tuned in, a little late they hit some Sugarman Three. About then I could also get in 89.5 WSOU which was playing "Elephant Riders' by Clutch, and both 89.2 WFDU and 91.1 WFMU were both spinning some really great garage rock: the Fabulous Wailers, Calvin Owens, Frank Zappa, even the Rat Pfink Theme. Rex at WFMU was out but his sub was still good.

 I caught 91.3 WVKR briefly up on  84 East but only one song by Circlesquare "Hey You Guys."  Further North I caught 91.7 WHUS was was in the middle of a jazz set, James Farm, Donald Harrison's kickass Drumline, Dave Alvin etc. Then while heading up 84E approaching the border with Massachusetts, on 90.1 WECS I caught Mark E. Ramone in the middle of some Dead Milkmen. I think he's been there for 20 years, probably been playing that record the whole time. I think it came out in 1988.

Up in Worcester I caught 90.5 WICN playing Ahmad's Blues by Red Garland, great tune. I think he did that one in the mid 50s. When I listen to stations like these I hope that they're still there next time I drive through town. I've seen so many vanish in the last year I cant help but to wonder about it.

Radio-Tourist

I take you places. I travel all over the country as a part of my day job. For years, every time I've landed in a new city, I've scanned the radio dial and told you all what was there. But thought all these posts were tagged by call sign, they're were not tied together. I fixed that today.

I was inspired by the positive response to my last travel post (TPA to RSW) to re-tag all my old travel posts. This is actually really hard to do. I've written almost 1600 posts since I started in April of 2005. So I had to search that payload by keyword. Common search words are: hotel, travel, traveling, trip, road, drive, driving, listen, ruben, tuned, tune, pirate, taco, missive, college, flying, flight, miles, points and rental. Despite all that, I am sure I missed some.

So the new totally searchable tag is: "radio-tourist."  You can click it here or in the tag below this post or in any of my old travel posts.. they all go to the same place: an index of all my travel writing. There are over 100!

Click here to see them now!

TPA to RSW

It's important to admit first that there is no radio on the west coast of Florida. It's so bad, the Enterprise rent-a-car map for the region lists only formats and frequencies —no call letters. The map identifies the mighty 88.5 WMNF as "variety." WMNF is audible loud and proud in the Tampa metro but also to the south, through Bradenton, Sarasota and into Port Charlotte where it starts to crap out. University of South Florida owns 89.7 WUSF and runs 100% syndicate NPR programming —nothing local at all. they also own 89.1 WSMR and there air 24/7 classical out of Sarasota.

Most of the rest of the radio band is crap. I had high hopes for 89.3 WKFA being owned by Florida Public Radio but unbeknownst to me they're part of another network of religious stations: WPIO, WEJF, WEGS, KREJ, KSNS, KSKB, KLOX, and WKTO. The religious network was first established in the early 1970s and presently carries programming from Family Life, Moody Bible Broadcasting and The Cavalry Chapel. On Sundays they have a bluegrass show and a polka show but that hardly makes up for sucking the rest of the week.

On 1320 WDDV-AM simulcasts really bland nostalgia with 1450 WSDV-AM. It is so mild, and forgettable it could almost be beautiful music, there was no beat whatsoever. 1230 WONN-AM and 720 WRZN-AM are hardly better. To me with the aging population this metro seems like a candidate for an adult standards station that can swing, something like KCEA-FM out in Atherton. The most lively thing on the AM dial in Tampa was an ethnic Greek station, 1520 WXYB-AM, which does not simulcast on their sister station 1500 WPSO-AM north of Tampa in Port Ritchie. Yes, Tampa has two different ethnic Greek music stations, and that is pretty awesome. On the way out of town I realized that gospel station 1590 WRXB-AM is also on 96.5 FM in Bradenton, via translator W243AK.

In Sarasota I found a real gem. 96.5 WSLR-LP. Sadly it gets interference on the north side from the highly dubious W243AK (see above.)  WSLR operates at a modest 23 watts and is only clear intermittently along I-75. But wow, what a station. When I tuned in Friday, they were airing Democracy now, then on Sunday,  all-Dixieland which had to be the Louisiana Gumbo Show with John Osgood. Had I passed through at other times I'd have been equally likely to find Hawaiian music as the Blues. That is the kind of station that every town needs.*Also just learned that they also carry two Native American radio programs, a rarity!

It was the last decent station I heard. In Punta Gorda WCVU's easy listening format is a novelty but not really listenable. in Ft. Meyers christian propaganda airs on every frequency from the bottom to the top of the educational band. 88.1 to 91.9 with the sole exception of 90.9 WGCU which just airs all NPR like WUSF. They have a single local program on Sunday's, a call-in program called Gulf Coast Live. But really, that brief window of WSLR around exit 210 on I-75 was the highlight of the drive.

Travel

Short trip makes for a long weekend.
I'll report back next week.

Holiday Vacay

This is a scheduled service interruption. I'm taking a long weekend and getting my computer rebuilt and Monday is a Holiday... see you all next week.

If you start to jones for your radio fix, visit my two favorite blogs:

North East Radio Watch

Engineering Radio

TRAVEL

Short trip, be right back.

Driving to the 585

*This post is brought to you in part due to the mighty Fybush. Without his driving directions I'd probably be lost and looking for a hotel in Irondequoit.

Back in upstate New York again. This time I drove essentially straight west from the Boston area.  As you may have heard the weather was terrible. The so-called blizzard of 2010 only dropped 6 inches where I was, but the high winds maintained white-out conditions for 15 hours or more. I stopped a lot, and listened to the radio the whole way thorough. It's that semester break between Xmas and New Years day.  It's when everybody breaks schedule, and everybody else is on vacation. you never know what you'll hear. 

On the drive up, I caught little of interest.  I heard Kayak Jack on WNTI who is one off the worst DJs I've ever heard on any station in all my travels. But on the upside I also caught the Antique Phonograph Music Xmas Special on WFMU.  That was truly amazing.I've emailed the host and hope to interview him in the near future. There isn't a lot of shellac let out there in radioland.

The first station I caught was 91.3 WUNH.  They were running a funk program at the time.Their online schedule is inscrutable.. so I have no idea of the program name or the host. Inexplicably I was still getting them well down I-495... well outside their normal range. Of course there was the ubiquitous WUMB. I heard them both on the mother-ship 91.9, but also on 91.7 WNEF. I know it's also on 1170 WFPB-AM but I'm not going near the cape after a blizzard. I listened to WUML, the under-rated UMass/Lowell station, but the kids were all gone so they were airing some medical program about seasonal affective disorder. I also caught bits of what gets called the Jazz Juggernaut on 88.1 WMBR, they have a set of jazz shows that run Mondays from 2:00 starting with Research & Development, then the Jazz Volcano at 4:00, news break at 6:00 followed by Sound Principles until 8:00PM.  It's six solid hours of far out jazz. You can't beat it.

On the way out of Mass I kept tuning into different WFCR repeaters trying to listen to a program on Solitary Confinement and one on the citizens of he Louisiana coast after the oil spill.  It was some really great radio: good editing, good music, good ambiance.. but I never caught the program name. They have 5 repeaters
plus WNNZ-AM on 640. In Springfield I could also hear 91.7 WHUS and some random metal show. I'd also like to say now for the record that WAMU has too many affiliates. Their top of the hour ID takes almost 9 minutes. I caught WSKB 88.9 briefly who had a great country oldies program. I kept getting it intermittently on the hillsides approaching the border.

Heading over the border into New York state I caught 88.3 WVCR who was running a really good oldies mix. Up in Syracuse WAER was rocking some Cannonball Adderly while 90.7 WRVD was doing something a tad more twangy. WRVD of course is a simulcast of 89.9 WRVO, Fingerlakes Public Radio.  I'll also admit I was sucked into a few minutes of 96.9 WOUR as they were spinning the long versions of songs... some of which were incidentally mentioned on the best of "Fresh Air." Terry re-ran interviews with Brian May of Queen and  Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Thankfully the classic rock was readily accessible on the dial.

As I headed west I caught the Moth Radio Hour on WEOS which was also on WRVO though it was now far behind me. The Moth is only about a year old now, but what a strange hipster spoken-word sort of gig it is. There are a number of lesser known PRX programs like this that are really worthwhile.As I got to Rochester I tuned into WITR who was spinning Free Blood, a band I once interviewed and still truly dig.
Just today I spent a little time at 1370 WXXI-AM which is also the shared facilities for 88.5 WRUR, Classical 91.5 WXXI, 90.1 WITH in Ithaca, 90.3 WXXY.. and the TV side of course.  Their studios are some of the nicest I've ever been in. I had the opportunity to meet up with none other than the mighty Fybush himself and talk a little shop. If you don't read his North East RadioWatch —you should.

Traveling

Heading up north again... more excitement no doubt. I promise to report back. Christmas special to follow, then back to normal next week.

AVP, IPT, ELM, DSV, ROC

A long largely rural drive in bad weather can be pretty unpleasant. But I scan the radio dial coming and going looking for good news as I so often do. There were some winners losers and some surprises as always.  the terrain of upstate New York leaves for erratic reception atop all the hills and at the bottom of every valley. the challenge is catching an ID before it vanishes into the static.

88.1 WDIY was playing classical, doing nothing interesting on the northbound trip, but on the southbound side I caught a show called "Good Clean Fun" which was excellent. I heard a tune by a band called Broken Records that really grabbed me. WDIY-FM is also available on 93.7 W229AO Fogelsville and 93.9 W230AG Easton which help the little 100 watt station stretch it's legs a bit.

Moving north I ended up being a Muzak van which was ironic and somewhat comical.  I continue to be amazed at that corporations continued existence. 91.7 WMUH was rolling out the indie rock as I passed by with some band called the Headless Horseman who was excellent and turns out to be local to the region. The DJ did both a frontsell and a backsell so they're either a fan or they're in the band. WXLV was spinning Jeff Becks's Broken Guitar Blues, a sold proggy tune in the middle of a really good set of other rock I didn't even recognize. The show was probably Pet Sounds though I didn't catch the name.  90.3 WXLV, WMUH, WLVR and WDIY were all gone by the Lehigh tunnel or at least gone on the other side. When I saw daylight I discovered that 99.5 WUSR had dropped their regular programming for automated Christmas music, one of my personal pet peeves.  Within a mile of the bridge I heard a signal on 91.9 clearly but briefly... the only station I can attribute that to would be WNTI. If you live in that neighborhood -kudos, enjoy the splatter.

As I turned West I'll admit that I scanned right over 88.9 WQSU twice because they were spinning random pop of the 1980s like some crap Jack station. I hope that's not indicative of their normal playlist.In Bloomsburg I stopped in town and drove right past the WHLM studios.

In town I tried out 91.1 WBUQ which was playing commercial active rock on both trips confirming my worst fears. The is literally nothing new between Bloomsburg and Williamsport so I worked my way through a CD by Q65 I brought. In Williamsport   88.1 WPTC was playing uninteresting pop.The DJ on 91.7 WRLCwas yapping but at least it was their own local sport talk. Just outside Williamsport I stopped at Allenwood Americana Antiques and bought a stack of acetates on a chance. It was freezing cold, but it was a quality joint worth stopping at.

By now I was far enough out into the woods that I could hear both New York and Philadelphia area AM stations. 1060 KYW-AM informed me that I had bad weather behind me, and 680 WINR-AM informed me that it was bad ahead of me too. On 89.5 "The Giant" WNTE-FM I caught part of the Super Jocko Taco Show, the name kind of says it all. Further north I heard mostly NPR on the non-com band WSQA, WETD, even WRUR. As I approaches Rochester the first original voices I heard were WGSU and WBER of course. On the southbound trip I caught one last good program. Out in the boonies late at night I listened to Rick Jackson's Country Hall of Fame on 105.1 WILQ. Admittedly not my normal listening, especially since it's a satellite fed dialglobal show. But this was the Turkey and Leftovers episode, an all country comedy show.  It reminded me of Dr. Demento in a world that still really needs one.

Short Trip

Traveling today, break out the snow tires.  I'll be back shortly.

Holiday Travel

Got some traveling to do by train.  Monday is a holiday, I'll be back Tuesday. Enjoy the Labor Day weekend.
Do yourself a favor and go read a brief history of how the holiday came to be on the American calendar.

Just to be brief...
In 1894 Pullman rail workers in Chicago went on strike over a 25% wage reduction. President Grover Cleveland ordered 6,000 federal and state troops to Chicago to end the strike. There were shootings, beatings and riots.  Thirteen strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. In reconciliation, President Cleveland and Congress quickly passed a bill to found the new holiday in an astounding six days. It was a coalescing of the American populist movement, American socialism, and American unions. More here.

Traveling

Got a plane to catch and two layovers, back next week.

West to Walla Walla

Leaving Seattle I checked out the AM side of the dial. At night I tried some of the Canadian stations that should be audible out here but struck out on 600 CKBD-AM, 650 CISL-AM, 730 CHMJ-AM, 1130 CKWX, 1410 CFUN-AM, but 690 CBU-AM is somewhat audible through the RF haze but unlistenably noisy. 880 KIXI-AM is loud and clear and playing some Glenn Miller. After Seattle much of the drive was without local radio as that interstate passes through the Wenatchee National Forest, and the Snoqualmie National Forest. The last interesting station before Ellensburg is in Enumclaw. 

Contrary to popular belief, 1330 KGRG-AM is not a simulcast of 89.9 KGRG-FM. The AM side is in Enumclaw, Washington and the FM stick in is Auburn, about 15 miles apart. The FM stick covers parts of Seattle and Tacoma and is widely listened to, even in this very well-served market with half a dozen options for indie rock on the radio band. But KGRG-AM remains elusive covering barely outside Enumclaw by day, and at night powering down to 26 watts, it almost vanishes entirely. I caught it briefly (I think) and they do appear to run their own Classic Alternative format. (Is it too early to call it Alternative Oldies?) KASB took it over briefly, bombing the dial with commercial rock for a few miles courtesy of a pre-recorded program hosted by Barry Fry. KSER was clear-ish on the return trip and I caught a live blues program called Blues House. In the Wenatchee National Forest most signals are poor except the info station WPZ971-AM on 1610.

Heading out I-90 West I caught AAA 101.1 FM Icicle broadcasting station KOHO. and in Ellensburg, 88.1 KCWU, the Central Washington U. Station. "The Burg" was playing automated christian rock.  And with much driving in circles even tiny gospel station 96.1 KGRU-LP. It is reputed to be a white gospel station, (a format more common in rural Tennessee) but was playing a bit of Skynyrd when I came though town.

As I approached Yakima I found a new set of local stations. 90.3 and 90.7 are both NWPR stations.  More interesting are 88.5 KYVT, a Yakima high school station, and 1490 KYNR-AM a station owned and operated by the Yakima Tribal Nation. I caught the Ryan Craig Program.  Also here is 91.9 KDNA, Radio Cadena, a community station which serves the Hispanic farm workers of rural Washington. It reminds me of Radio Bilingue.On the way out it was doing a talk program on the return trip it was mariachi.

In Richland I can hear 1360 KOHU-AM spinning country Oldies, and 88.1 KTCV the Kennewick, high school station. 89.1 KFAE and 89.7 KWWS are carrying NWPR. KRBM on 90.9 carries Oregon Public radio leaving the band triple served with NPR. But I was thwarted at the end off the journey, despite best efforts the 160 watt Class A Whitman College station  90.5  KWCW in Walla Walla Washington remained inaudible, but there was some religious teaching on that frequency inexplicably in Pasco, possibly from a pirate.

On the return trip some of those elusive Canadian AMs came in: 600 CKBD-AM,and 1130 CKWX-AM were quite clear as was CBR-AM CBC Radio One in Calgary! That's at least 1000 miles. The program on air was an interview on Q with the band Hollerado. Also clear were 670 KBOI-AM in Boise, 750 KXL-AM out of Portland, and 1530 KFBK-AM from Sacramento. But almost all of those faded out as I approached Seattle.

SeaTac, SEA and TAC

SeaTac (si-tæk) is a city in southern King County, Washington State.  The name of the city is a compound word a reference to the city's location between Seattle and Tacoma.  SeaTac only became incorporated in 1990. Various reasons have been bandied about, but it probably has a little something to do with all the Fortune 500 companies located in that zipcode and the airport. More here. It's twice as far from Tacoma as it is from Seattle, and being incorporated so late, it has zero local stations. Of course, it gets some of each market.

My first band scan was notable at 1:00 AM yesterday.On 88.5 KPLU there's a lot of NPR but tonight thankfully is jazz.   89.5 KNHC was playing dance music, it's the only non-com dance station in America. 89.9 KGRG was playing metal, following a spot promoting a program called "Dead Air."  I could barely get 90.1 KUPS which I've always understood to be free-form but was very AAA that evening. 90.3 KEXP spun Sigur Ros and Dead Can Dance back to back which was utterly appropriate.

Unsurprisingly I could not get the very independent urban station 88.9 KMIH until I got to Seattle.Also local to Seattle were stations 90.7 KSER and 88.9 KASB due to it's co-channel interference from KGRG.IN a similar situation,in Tacoma Peninsula High School 89.9 KGHP is either off air or otherwise inaudible from interference from co-channel KGRG also. The fifty thousand watt 90.9 KVTI comes in clearly in both metros but no longer plays top 40.  As of June 1st 2010 they carry Northwest Public Radio bringing NPR and classical to Seattle. FM stick and AAA stalwart  91.3 KBCS is strong in Seattle and still audible in Tacoma but it breaks up as you head south. I had hopes to hear 89.3 KAOS in Olympia, but they are not audible outside that zip code. North of Seattle is 91.7 KSVR who is only audible normally north of Everett, but is also available on 92.9 from K225AX-FM in Seattle.

On the west side of Seattle there was a pirate operating on 87.7 but they're not right now.  87.9 is perennially home to FSR Free Seattle Radio supposedly 5pm to midnight at 30 watts. In the Capitol Hill neighborhood is 101.9 FM The Whore. Also notable, but to the South of Tacoma is Free Radio Olympia, 125 watts of far left mischief.  More here and here. Also notable are the local webcasters Hollow Earth Radio and Radio Free Tacoma. Locally I spent some time at Rocket records to peruse vinyl and oh yes.. even shellac. Special thanks this week to The Stranger Weekly for telling me exactly where to get fried Chicken in Seattle.

Travel

Bit of Travel. Back shortly. 

Radio Button

"Turn plastic knob (radio button) left for open"
"Turn plastic knob (radio button) right for close"

This was a label over the shower spigot at a La Quinta hotel in Scottsdale, AZ. My guess from the poor grammar is that it's a bad translation from the native language of whatever nation manufactured the shower knob. If it  turns its a dial, if you push it, its a button. their nomenclature is reversed. If you think about it, radio dials sort of went out of style when we moved definitively to digital displays.

Regardless, It was a let down, when I turned the button, there was no radio audible whatsoever.

TRAVEL

Got a plane to catch.  
Back Monday

PHX to TUS

The drive from Phoenix to Tucson is mercifully shorter than Vegas to Phoenix. But similarly there's nothing between but desert and desert hermits. Eloy is sort of in the middle but it has no local local stations, the closest being KKMR with it's city of license going to Arizona City.  But it's a Class A and a simulcast of KQMR. They have a CP to increase the power from 6,000 watts to 8,000 watts while moving their stick North West. Clearly they aspire to be a Phoenix station. Thank you Univision.

I listened to KJZZ on the drive out, they were playing a Tom Waits song called "Step Right Up."  It was a song he was already doing back in 1979.You never really lose KJZZ on the drive South. They have repeaters all the way to Tucson. Eighty miles later in the town of Marana you start to get in KXCI on 91.3. Truly eclectic but leaning Triple-A they're the first "traditional" non-com I've heard all week.  Briefly the highway dipped low and I lost them only to hear another station butt in with some gospel, sounded like the Staple Singers. I took a look at what's local... there's no obvious candidate for that "other" station.

The local AAA in Tucson is KWMT they were not particularly memorable. On 98.7 is a LP High school station KWXL.  The format seemed to be automated Classic Hits. I don't want to be dismissive.. but what a waste. KRDX and KCDX and KHYT already have that covered.  KGMG runs Rhythmic Oldies, and KLPX runs Classic Rock. That playlist is totally played out.  Small non-coms are great for learning, but there are better format selections out there.

On the AM side I tried 690 KCEE-AM and 1400 KTUC-AM they both came in like hell and seemed to be canned Adult Standards when they came in at all. 1080 KGVY-AM seemed a bit different at least. 1600 KXEW-AM was interesting. Tejano isn't my bag but it's a very region specific format to the Southwest. Local talk radio is rife with venom and fiery opinions about the law that was supposed to begin today, SB1070. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is on all of them celebrating his current national celebrity. He certainly seems to like the attention. (For the record I have no problem with deporting illegal aliens. I do have a problem requiring that all Mexican-Americans carry ID to avoid incarceration.) Anyway, the hot topic morphed all the News-Talkers into an unlistenable narrative monologue.


I went back to listening to KXCI then went record shopping at Bookmans on Grant Street. I stopped at a thrift store and bought a guayabera Then I got lucky and found Molcas Mexican Grill, a taqueria stand stand at about the intersection Grant and Stone Streets. It was excellent.

LAS to PHX

This is a serious drive, 300 miles of desert and big empty spaces between the gas stations. As you drive south out of Nevada down Route 93 South radio peters out. You get what is essentially a diminishing pool of Vegas stations, (some on repeaters) then it all begins to peter out to nothing. (quite literally) There are a couple big Prescott area stations, but that's it until you get to the outskirts of Phoenix.  Before I left Nevada I stopped ate some Mexican food and hit a thrift store and bought some acetates. Maybe there will be a winner in the stack.

Those aforementioned Prescott stations are most notably 104.3 KAJM a very good rhythmic oldies station which I listened to till it petered out and 102.1 KAHM an easy listening station.  Easy Listening is an exceedingly rare format these days. It's one of 34 in the entire nation that purports to carry the format. The real number is probably half that and half a dozen of those are LP stations or non-coms. I listened for quite a while trying to get a hold on the demographics and was stumped. They ran no ads, and there seemed to be a live DJ early on. But then an automated message took over in the early evening. Maybe Southwest FM Broadcasting does it as a public service? Their website only tells me that "Calm Radio" was born September 9, 1981.  Elsewhere on the dial KNAU was available on multiple frequencies pumping out classical music all day long. KJZZ our of Rio Salado College runs on a string of repeaters into the desert bringing NPR to me, the desert hermits and the Saguaro cactus.

Then I got to the town of Nothing. Nothing seems not to have a zip code, as it's not incorporated. Unsurprising since it has a population of 4 according a sign on an abandoned building. I read there was a pizzeria here once. But clearly it's long gone now.  The wind turbine purported to power the lights now has a rakish tilt while it spins cock-eyed in the wind. (more here) I sat down and did a band scan on my car radio while in Nothing. The two clearest FM stations are 94.7 KFLG and something on 100.1 which by my math should be KNRJ or KRRK but what I heard was country oldies making it KGMN out of Kingman, AZ. Willie Nelson made my id definitive. AM was far more interesting since there is no local source of AM signal or noise so every frequency had at least some RF. Most of it was identifiable, here are the highlights:

550 KFYI-AM News/Talk (Phoenix)

660 KTNN-AM "Voice of the Navajo Nation" (Window Rock, AZ)

770 KKOB-AM News/Talk (Albuquerque, NM!  350+ miles away!

830 KFLT-AM News/Talk (Tucson)

850 XEZF-AM Spanish (Mexicali, Mexico) 180+ miles away!

880 KHAC-AM Religious (Tse Bonito, NM) 240+ miles away!

890 KDXU-AM News/Talk St. George, UT 170+ miles away!

910 KGME-AM Sports Talk (Phoenix)

930 KAFF-AM Country Oldies (Flagstaff)

1010 KXXT-AM Religious (Phoenix)

1040 unknown Spanish Station XEHE?

1050 unknown Spanish Station XED?

1070 unknown Spanish Station XEOB?, XEZO?

1110 unknown Spanish Station XEVS?, XEWR?

1200 unknown Spanish Station XEYF?

1250 KHIL-AM Country Oldies (Willcox, AZ)

1290 KCUB-AM Sports (Tucson)

1330 unknown Sports Talk

1420 unknown Spanish Station XEXX?

1460 unknown Spanish Station XEARF?

1510 KFNN-AM News/Talk (Mesa, AZ)

1520 unknown Spanish Station XEEH?

1580 KMIK-AM Radio Disney (Tempe, AZ)

1700 unknown Spanish Station XEPE?

I can't account for the huge number of apparent Mexican stations. but it's what was there. I am sure it would have been much more interesting with a better radio and a better antenna. It was dark before I made it to Phoenix.  The first thing I heard was KJZZ on 91.5. They were playing a little something by Thelonius Monk.  I'll check more tomorrow and report back.

LAS

Flew into Las Vegas Sunday night and it's 109 degrees here in the dark. It makes me question why there is a major metropolitan area here. It's the 28th largest city in America as of last year, up dramatically over the last 20 years.  It's nearly doubled in population in that time. I cannot fathom why. Las Vegas is market rank 33 if you are about your MSAs. you know I do.

There are no traditional college stations or community stations in Las Vegas leaving a great gaping void on their radio dial. Surprisingly it has bupkis for Pirate Radio. Andrew Yoder wrote a book called Pirate radio Broadcasts which catalogs those fun but illicit transmissions. It mentions Las Vegas once, and only because a Pirate in Alberta broadcast a recording of a commercial station from Vegas.  It's not inspiring. At the bottom of the dial is 88.1 KCEP an all Urban AC. It's housed in an old school house.  They play a little gospel on the weekends but the rest is pretty commercial and predictable. I cant get too excited about it.  It leaves us with NPR courtesy of KNPR 88.9. Then just up the dial a bit KNCV 89.7 runs classical. It's a lot of syndicated programming, but strangely KNPR carries a couple odd ball shows like Vinyl Cafe, a CBC production.

91.5 KUNV runs Jazz all day. Jazz and Classical are the safe havens of public radio programming.Of the two I prefer Jazz, more specifically swing , and Bebop neither of which seem to get any airtime on KUNV. However, their The Jazz Legends Preservation Project warrants mention. they are conducting a series of interviews with local Jazz musicians to help to preserve and maintain jazz music.  KJUL up on 104.7 actually runs nostalgia with a decent and fairly respectable playlist. They spin your Ratpack singles which is appropriate for sin City but also your Petula Clark's, and some straight-laced oldies like Bobby Darin and even the Lettermen.

On the AM band pickings are still slim. 790 KBET-AM which supposedly flipped to Sports was still running country oldies when I tuned in.  KSHP-AM 1400 what's supposed to be an all-shopping station was running sports talk. Even that was a let down.