The wonderful world of listening to the radio
After 65 weeks I received a friendly email from YvesZor at Bangkok Radio to QSL my reception of a DSC message from Bangkok Radio on 12577 kHz. It was worth the wait, although in the meantime YvesZor already QSL-ed my 2 MHz reception of Bangkok Radio which is a bit more special.
A station that I received quite often this year was WZAN “The Outlaw” from Portland, Maine, USA on 970 kHz. They are listed with only 5 kilowatts, but their – for us DX-ers excellent – location on the Atlantic coast most likely makes up for that. This can easily be seen on the night-time coverage maps published on the interesting Radio Locator website:
Mr. Phil Zachary from the Portland Radio Group replied to my reception report by email. He mentioned that they get quite a few reports from DX-ers.
In 2019 the stations changed from ESPN sports to its current “classic country” format, branded as “The Outlaw”.
I received a fully detailed email QSL from WWKB “The Bet” on 1520 kHz from Buffalo, NY, USA. WWKB follows a trend in which more and more stations use a catchy name. Since 2021 they brand themselves as “The Bet 1520” as they focus on sports gambling. I heard quite a few “BetMGM” commercials.
Receiving a Transatlantic station might be a challenge, getting their QSL is another one. The websites of the stations are often blocked for IP addresses outside Europe, so you have to use a VPN connection. But even then often the only contact opportunity granted is via a web form. This makes it difficult to personalize your reception report and impossible to include a MP3 recording. And so far I had poor experience in getting a reply. But as you can see, Kevin Carr from WWKB did reply with a nicely detailed email within a day.
In the last few days I enjoyed pretty good Transatlantic medium wave conditions. This resulted in a couple of QSLs that I will post in the coming days. The QSL for WJR 760 Detroit, Michigan, USA, is the first of those. Mr. Keith Bosworth, regional director of engineering for the Cumulus Group was so kind to confirm my reception with full details:
Whenever you receive a station with a three letter call-sign you can bet it is an older station with a great legacy. The roots of WJR go back to May 4th, 1922, albeit under the call-sign WCX. That is only 5 months after December 1st, 1921. On this date the US government adopted regulations formally defining “broadcasting stations”. The wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) was designated for entertainment broadcasts, while 485 meters (619 kHz) was reserved for broadcasting official weather and other government reports (source: Wikipedia).
WCX obtained a license for both frequencies. With a fast growing number of stations competition was fierce. Stations in the same region had to “time-share”. It took until 2023 when a band running from 550 to 1350 kHz was opened for broadcast activities. But even then WCX had to time-share on 580 kHz with WWJ from Detroit. This situation lasted until 1925, when WWJ was assigned to 850 kHz. That was also the year in which the Jewett Radio & Phonograph Company received a license for a new station. The letters of the call-sign letter WJR apparently refer to this company. This company took over WCX and the call-sign WJR survived until today.
The studios are still located in the Fisher Building, a “sky scraper” in Art Deco style, built in 1928. The antennas on top of the building relay the signals to the transmitter site.
In the last week of October I received strong signals from WCBS 880 New York. Click the link for a YouTube recording. On the internet I could find a QSL report from 2016, but nothing of a more recent date.
WCBS Newsradio 880 is operated by the Audacy group in the United States. Audacy apparently owns 235 radio stations. In 2017 they took over CBS radio, which might explain why I couldn’t find a QSL of a more recent date as Audacy appears to be not very “friendly” to DX-ers or even listeners overseas in general. All of their websites can’t be viewed in Europe for example, unless you use a VPN to bypass the IP blocker. And if you do so: contact email addresses are nowhere to be found.
So in addition to a traditional mail, on which I didn’t receive a reply, I sent them a Facebook message for my reception in January this year. All I got was a generic message expressing their appreciation… Disappointing that a group with a 1.5 billion USD revenue can’t do a little bit more in terms of public relations.
I got a QSL WBBR 1130 Bloomberg Radio… Wow!
WBBR on 1130 kHz is one of these stations (like CJYQ and VOCM) that most European DX-ers use to see whether there are favorable Transatlantic reception conditions for either the USA or Canada. It is really a fairly easy to catch station. That said, having lived in Canada for 4 years listening to these sort of stations always brings back memories… On the 25th of October conditions were really good!
But easy to receive doesn’t mean easy to QSL. The station started as WNEW in 1934, with the call sign referring to their slogan: “New York’s newest radio station”! And as such I heard this station often in the 80-ies, when they were still broadcasting music programs on 1130 AM. But they also featured the famous Larry King… although I have to admit that in those days I wouldn’t have known who Larry King was. I sent multiple QSL requests to WNEW… never got an answer.
In 1992 Bloomberg bought the station. And since you can receive them with one of the best slogans in the world (at least that is what I think): “From the financial capital of the world, this is WBBR New York, Bloomberg 11-3-0“. I submitted a QSL request earlier this year (never give up) and made a second attempt a week ago… and guess what!
A nice answer from Bob Janney, who is a HAM, which always helps! Bob is also a fan of the famous Friesian horse breed from the Netherlands!
I have QSLs from various program owners that had there programs broadcast via WRMI, Florida, USA. But until now I didn’t manage to QSL the station itself. I was worried my reception reception report of 5050 kHz in March this year would also remain unanswered. But today I got this beautiful postcard QSL. Definitely worth waiting for!
John Jurasek the program host of VORW Radio International sent me a very original e- QSL via vorwinfo@gmail.com. I heard them on 5950 kHz via WRMI, Okeechobee, USA.
VORW stands for “Voice Of the ReportoftheWeek”. “ReportoftheWeek” is a podcast on YouTube reviewing fast food, frozen meals and energy drinks. But what I heard on shortwave was a mix of pop music and a summary of reception reports received.
John also attached the latest schedule for VORW:
Main Broadcasts:
4840 kHz at 2 AM Eastern every Saturday Morning (New Show)
4840 kHz at 12 AM Eastern every Monday Morning (New Show)
Repeat Airings:
6115 kHz at 6 PM Eastern every Saturday Evening (Rebroadcast)
5950 kHz at 7 PM Eastern every Saturday Evening (Rebroadcast)
5950 kHz at 8 PM Eastern every Sunday Evening (Rebroadcast)
15770 kHz at 4 PM Eastern every Tuesday Afternoon (Rebroadcast)
15770 kHz at 12 PM Eastern every Thursday Afternoon (Rebroadcast)
I received a this nice e- QSL from Radio Igloo. Via WRMI 5950 kHz they brought a program about Britt Wadner, owner of offshore pirate Radio Syd. In 1962 Radio Syd was the successor of Skånes Radio Mercur, the first Swedish pirate station. The popularity of pirate radio is easily understood if you know that Swedish National Radio played a maximum of 60 minutes of recorded music a day, with only two or three “pop songs”.
Unfortunately for me Radio Igloo targeted North and South America from the WRMI location (Okeechobee, Florida, USA). In combination with some propagation disturbance that night it made it difficult for me to really understand the details of what was said about Britt Wadner and her ship. But the 60’s music was very enjoyable.
Hopefully there will be broadcasts targeted to the European audience in future, as happened in the past using a transmitter in Europe. Reports to radioigloo@gmail.com are welcome. Please do specify not only technical details but let them know what you think of program content.
I have never really been into amateur radio/HAM. Maybe that is something for later when the last broadcast station has left the waves for the internet. There is one exception to the rule though. I bought the MULTIPSK decoder a few months ago, and occasionally I like to keep it running on 14230 kHz to see if I can catch some SSTV DX. It is probably all about the instant satisfaction of receiving a nice picture.
One June 9th conditions allowed me to make my first Transatlantic SSTV catch: VE2JWC from St. Jerome, Quebec Canada. Cute detail is that the picture shows the QTH of the station.
And on June 10th I also received stations from New Hampshire and Wisconsin. Nothing spectacular probably for the seasoned radio amateur, but a first for me!
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