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Kaaaaaahhhhahnn!!!
I drew up a AM Stereo time-line [LINK] years ago but never really dug into the subject. It's time to revisit the war between Motorola and Kahn. First I should admit that there were more than two...
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Sepia Serenade
Her obituary gives her name as Carolyn Blunt Easter Jenkins. Married names complicate history, and she was married at least twice. Her on-air name was Terri Lynn making things that much more messy....
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Transcription Mystery Disc #233
This is a 5-Inch paper-core Phonocord. It's a small and unusual home recording acetate. The little disc has a center start and a playing time of about 1:30.The disc is unlabeled which is no surprise...
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Radiofrequency Ablation
Here is a really peculiar use of radio waves. That image above is from the cover of a medical text book edited by Shoei Huang and David Wilber. Were this a much older medical text book it would sound...
View ArticleThe Radiro Radio Orchestra Festival
Radio Orchestras are virtually non-existent in modern American broadcasting. But in the golden era they were huge. The biggst name in the US was probably the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo...
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WLAN Postcard
I got a postcard in the mail. This one isn't a reproduction or an antique.. it might be the only new radio post card I've seen in decades. The station is WLAN 1390/96.9 a heritage Lancaster, PA station...
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Birth Control on the Radio
I find the timing is right to cover this topic. The hullabaloo over Limbaugh's most recent inane comments has subsided. But in senate races the topic has risen again. A century ago the legalization of...
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Transcription Mystery Disc #234
This is an 8-Inch, metal-core, Duodisc home-recording acetate. It spins at 78 rpm and has an outer edge start. These are very standard. As is also common, it is totally unlabeled: no date, no name, no...
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DECTRA
In addition to the Navigator system, Decca also designed a special long-range system for crossing the North Atlantic Ocean. It was called DECTRA. They rolled it out in 1957, installing one node in...
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Ad-Free Weekends!
I recently read that 95.3 WZLR-FM"the Eagle" in Dayton, OH has switched to ad-free weekend programming. This wasn't a stunt (supposedly) but a programming change. They will stick with this plan "for...
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Radio Dot
Radio Dot was born Dorothy Maxine Henderson in 1916. She does not claim a radio first so far as I know, but I think radio Dot might have been the first female band leader on air. There were certainly...
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Titan Is Watching You
Nobody involved could possibly think this is a good idea. They probably enjoy being paid very well but you can't participate without thinking it might not end well. The headline on Buzzfeed read as...
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Transcription Mystery Disc #235
I was recently contacted by a descendant of Frank L. Eulau. You may or may not know that name, but a few years back I stumbled upon a short stack of his discs in a junk shoppe. I digitized and posted...
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The First Black Radio Announcer (Part 6)
Charles Walton called Al Benson the Godfather of Black Radio.He was a DJ (obviously) a musician and recording artist, a record producer an ordained minister, and a civil rights activist. Born in...
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WFIL-AM 1976 (Pt 1)
I'm posting this in two parts. They span together (with a gap) from the first week of August to the last week of December 1976. These are documents from deepest darkest midnight of the disco era. This...
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WFIL-AM 1976 (Pt 2)
Here are three more playlists from Disco Hell. Except for those occasions caricaturization the disco era itself, none of these songs require a second listen. By the end of December Alice Cooper's worst...
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855-55-NOJAM
I just caught this in the news the other day. Signal jamming is considered poor form by most in our industry. At best it's an act of protest, perhaps just a prank.. the rest of the time it's rude, or...
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Transcription Mystery Disc #236
This is a 6.5-inch metal-core Federal Perma Disk. It spins at 78 rpm and has an outer edge start. it's labeled on each side with the phrase "Play this side first" and "Play this side second." The date...
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Digital AM Tests
For years now we have been hearing about how digital AM will revitalize AM radio. Personally I think it's about as likely as Paul Rubens being elected to the Senate. AM radio station has a maximum...
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Ransomeware and Radio
I normally avoid news stories but this is so daft and so readily avoidable I feel I must comment. In the past the fear "hacks" in radio was largely limited to "broadcast intrusion" aka hijacking. I do...
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