Peter's DX Corner

The wonderful world of listening to the radio

Tag: New York

QSL WWKB “The Bet” 1520 Buffalo

February 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

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.

WCBS 880 New York

November 7, 2023 / / 2 Comments

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.

QSL WBBR 1130 Bloomberg Radio … Wow!

November 1, 2023 / / 1 Comment

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!

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