1960s AM Radio Airchecks from 540 to 1600 khz
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- These are recordings made of AM broadcast band radio stations during the 1960s. In those days programming was "local-centric" with little syndication, and stations had individual personalities. The airchecks are presented in sequence by frequency across 107 AM channels from 540 to 1600 khz. Stations in 40 states, 6 Canadian provinces, and 9 countries are included.
Addicted to radio at age 4. Knew all the Crosley calls by then. Thanks for your excellent DX checks. In the old days we would swap reels of airchecks for kicks. That was fun in my book
My absolute record was set a few months ago, while in the city of Yekaterinburg (Russia), I caught a 2 megawatt radio station on 540 kHz, it broadcasts from Hungary (Kossuth radio), near Budapest (3700 Km). I caught this station on a copper coil wound on a ferrite rod, then I tried to catch it on a 20 m dipole and here is success, the signal is ± 15 decibels, but the signal from another antenna differs ± 2 decibels. It all depends on the time of day, at night is the best time to catch Long and medium waves, during the day you can't hear anything (unless the station is in the visible horizon, of course. In Russia, medium-wave radio stations do not function, only a VHF signal, no more than 100 km passes, and then if we listen to Russian radio on 999 kHz from Transnistria at night (The disputed territory between Moldova and the self-proclaimed republic)
This is a wonderful idea of a show, that's how radio has always felt to me.
I love how some stations claimed they were broadcasting in "Color Radio" whatever that is, at a time when Color TV was coming out. Too funny.
Thanks for compiling this collection of great recordings of DX catches, allowing us to hear things that were not only distant geographically then, but also distant in time now.
This is awesome, love the shout out you got from the station in Georgia. So cool that you recorded that. As a lifetime MW DXer this is one of the most enjoyable videos I’ve ever seen.
Thanks. And it's a miracle I still had the reel-to-reel tapes, since my tape deck died about 30 years ago. Digitizing my tapes has revealed a 1-year gap, i.e. there's a missing tape (or two) of airchecks covering fall 1960 to June 1961. Hope I can find it some day.
Wonderful compilation of airchecks. When am radio was enjoyable to listen to. 👍👍
“The Year of Economic Planning” sounds like a blast!
Nice treat. 1610KHz from Anguilla often came in well here in New England. Also 1010KHz CFRB from Toronto, when it wasn't getting clobbered by WINS. 1250KHz WARE is a personal favorite. BCBDXing is a hobby easily enjoyed.
Absolutely amazing reception of what was then KNBC (now KNBR) in San Francisco! It wasn't unheard of to copy West Coast clear channel AM stations on the East Coast before the FCC started "dismantling" the concept of clear channel stations in the late 1960's/early 1970's. Thanks so much for posting these air checks!
This is the ONLY recording I've ever heard of KNBC radio.
The dismantling call probably was in response to pressure for certain demographic groups.As late as 1989,Al Sharpton threatened to hit the streets if 1190WLIB wasn't allowed to go full time,cutting off WOWO in Fort Wayne.
Wow. Just wow. From a kid who DXd back in 1963.
Beautiful compilation of AM radio airchecks. Amazing reception of west coast stations. I’m near Bethesda Md and started listening in the 70’s. Again, an excellent compilation of airchecks.
This is amazing!!!! The one station missing is WGY 810. Just amazing! You got my favorite all-time station - WMCA. That was Ed Baer doing "Nightwatch" that evening.
This is the most important collection of air checks ever. Thank GOD you had the foresight to record these.
Thanks. Before I got into ham radio I used to dx the broadcast band, and started taping stations when I was 13. I found some of those tapes in a closet last year and got them digitized. Now after 60 years I'm finally able to edit and organize that stuff.
Outstanding collection!!
Thank you so much for uploading these.
73! De N1XV
Excellent reception. I was especially impressed with the Washington to est Coast reception. Just of interest, I also started AM DXing as a hobby in the 1960's here in Australia.
Awesome. This is priceless. Thanks so much.
I'm 15 and love DXing, I live about 40 miles east of NYC on Long Island, so I get alot of the same stations you got back in the 60s... It is kinda hard to listen to stations such as WLW (700), CHML (900) and 790/60, etc., just because of the local 50,00 watt stations I have here (WINS, WABC, WCBS, WMCA, WFAN(NBC), WOR, etc.) if I lived a liiiiiiiittle further out, I think my zenith "transoceanic"(Royal 1000) and royal 790 would be golden (not the most selective radios, but SUPER sensitive!) Haha...
Ps. Its cool that I got to hear Cousin Brucie on 77 wabc in this video, because he's back on WABC, with the old jingles, music, etc... That show and videos like these are really the closest I feel I'll get to real 50s/60s radio, you should check it out (sats 6pm ET).
-Nick
I started recording stations in 8th grade. It was easier to identify stations then, since practically all programming was local. Probably most stations, including clear channel, went off air at least once weekly to do transmitter maintenance, and you could hear signals not otherwise detectable. WHO 1040 Des Moines signed off Saturday night at 1 am eastern time, and if conditions were favorable you could hear KHVH Honolulu. Thanks about Brucie - I'll listen for him. Maybe Great Uncle Brucie by now.
@@robertmcarthur7631 WHO was the one radio station I was *never* able to pick up in all the years I DXed AM.
@@robertmcarthur7631 - And before "Clear Channel" became the name of a broadcasting behemoth that would rebrand itself as "iHeart Media."
I used to routinely listen to CKLW and CHML in the 1970s, The were fairly "easy catches" at night here in Pittsburgh, PA.
beautiful sample source
What an amazing collection! And the one's west of the Mississippi, a few not even clear channel frequencies.
Wolf Man Jack on XERF and the California and island stations. Thanks for preserving this fascinating part
of radio history. I imagine you have an impressive collection of QSL conformation cards and letters.
Dave - thanks for your comments. I do have a box of verification letters , including some from Hawaiian am stations, though I haven't yet located my tape recordings of them. Also a few from Europe.
Very Cool Bob!
Even the QRM sounded better back then. I have been collecting/repairing radios since I was 9. I am now 67 and I am still looking for a radio like the one in the Twilight Zone episode "Static".
I would like to get that radio, but only to hear broadcasts from the 1930s! Haha
Great! Thanks for all the work you did on creating this presentation.
i had a small battery AM radio you heard from everywhere in April 2011 when we didnt have power for most north alabama there was little to no interference BTW cousin brucie is back on WABC on Saturday nights hard find a good am radios anymore sadly and what's on even at night aside from Coast to Coast am its terrible
Thanks for KQV (30:06).
Stations must have been much more powerful in those days, or these came over on a very powerful receiver. I live in Northern New England, and it's hard to get anything from west of the Mississippi! However one night I received KMSP in Minneapolis/St.Paul and WHO in Des Moines. Once in Stone Mountain, Georgia I received KNX 1070 in Los Angeles!
I would venture to say, not having more power (in fact many AM’s have upgraded in the last 60 years), but rather less interference from co-frequency stations, + less electrical interference. Computers and modern stuff will mess up any AM signal.
During the late 60's living in Boston at night I could only get as far West as Chicago. Living in LA during the 90's, got Albuquerque.. The reception you received was Amazing.. Could it be that there was less interference in the atmosphere then?
Probably less interference from other stations back then when there were a lot of truly clear channel operations. Also, I received signals from some of the most distant stations when closer ones were signed off for "maintenance", usually one night per week. My most distant catch was 1040 KHVH Honolulu, which I heard after WHO Des Moines had signe off. Unfortunately I don't have an air check recording of that one.
@@robertmcarthur7631 I am as well as other listeners are grateful for what you have posted. As a child fiddling with the radio at night, it gave me an other wordly feeling and it does even more so now hearing clips like this.
I have a few favorites here, but thanks so very much for the whole thing!
This is a great channel. Thank you so much for it. I have a question. Do you know where I can get a copy of the full history of WLS broadcast that was produced by Jeff Davis of WLS. It’s trace WLS from its roots all the way up to where it switched in 60 to rock ‘n’ roll, and it went on into the rest of the music era of WLS. I’ve been trying to find it for a long time. I would also be interested in hearing old W CPO, radio checks From Cincinnati. WCPO was on 12:30 AM and they had an FM station two. 19:00
If I’m not mistaken there’s a recording of the history of WLS on TH-cam try searching for it. I definitely remember listening to the radio 📻 when I was younger when I was riding my grandpas car lol! Take care.
At 37:12, it's Wolfman Jack.
There really is a station called WAXX & it's in Chippewa Falls, WI.
I saw a truck advertising it go down the street when I was a kid back in Chicago during the '60s.
WRCA (5:49) would in later years become WNBC, now it's WFAN. At (5:59) KNBC would later become KNBR. I used to wonder whether there was a KNBC radio, because there were KABC and KCBS; some years ago I learned that.
Great stuff! I just noticed Barbados on 900. I believe that 900 might have gone off for good last year; I was able to hear it on the Bonaire SDR in the daytime, but as they ran the same programming as their 94.7, I guess they decided to drop 900.
Robert mc Arthur this awesome Dxing the AM band in the 1960s
When music of the 60s wasn't nostalgia!
The days before the horrific noise, interference caused by all kinds of electronic gadgets that don't comply with the rules.
I go out in my backyard at 1am occasionally, with my zenith transoceanic royal 1000, with a non-directional long wire. I pick up the world! I’ve even gotten California.
Wow at 19:01 knx coming across America 👍👍
Looking for WANN in Annapolis, MD. Did you happen to record that one? Amazing collection. Thank you for posting.
Interesting that CKLW was owned by RKO General as far back as 1960.
This is really amazing! Is there an "index" showing each station and the time on the video?
No, though that would have been a good feature. I can't modify the video without creating a new channel, but perhaps can add an index as a comment.
I'm wondering how these were recorded. Must have had a reel-to-reel rolling next to the radio.
How did you pick up another station at 630 with WMAL in your backyard?
Back then, most stations left the air once a week for a few hours (usually Sunday night at midnight local time) to do "maintenance." I would often dx the broadcast band at those times.
6:19 Chicago Represent!!
WMCA 57 AND WABC ALSO GOOD RADIO CKLW /WWL NOLA 50,000watts
Do you have a longer versions of the recordings of XERF 1570 and 770 WABC? I’d like to hear a bit fm more of it.
Amazing collection. I would love to hear more of the WMAZ 940 air check. Is there anyway I could? I worked at that station in the 80’s. Recordings like this are rare.
So far that's the only recording of WMAZ I've found among my aircheck tapes from back then, but I'm still looking.
Amazing catches in LA (KNX, KFI,KPOP) San Fran with KNBR and Bakersfield and also KTAR in Phoenix. I don't think you could do it today with all this interference. Still love DXing
Thanks. I enjoyed dxing back then more than I do now. Talk radio and syndication drive me away.
The way things are going, if we live long enough to witness it, AM will keep dropping stations to where it might be like it was in the 30s/40s/50s. Even FM will die out. The young’uns have streaming now….
Super
WCKR in Miami became 610 WIOD.
Robert MC Arthur my hobbies are painting pictures 🖼 and listening to shortwave and ssb iam thinking 🤔 about getting my ham license
WKBN at 570 is in Youngstown, Ohio, not Portsmouth. No 710?
Sadly, I have no recordings from 710. I used to frequently hear WOR, but somehow don't have any airchecks.
Just found this video...my wife just got a Chromebook and the display on the screen won't stay put. If she types, it moves and is very inconvenient. I've not been able to find any online instructions covering this subject. Acer support has been no help
Apologies......this comment was intended for another video
@@BradLovett We all make mistakes! I find that if I don't reload the page, TH-cam keeps the comments from the last video (don't know why), that may have been what happened!
-Nick
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Robert MC Arthur i got to DX the MW band and the fm band e skip my friend
oh my gosh hearing that sweet staticyness of classic radio brings joyful happiness to my heart
I was an MW DXer in New York from 1965 to 1973. I got many of these, although your western ones are pretty amazing! I used the Grundig Satellit-6001 with a space magnet antenna. What did you use? I really miss the local personality of these stations, it made it fun and interesting to DX. Nowadays it's just syndicated shows which are the same everywhere.
I used a general coverage receiver, primarily a National NC-125. It was sensitive, but selectivity could have been better.
I have heard of Chinese years having names, I didn't know that was a "thing" in Cuba. I'm thrilled to find out that I was born in the "Year of Economic Planning"! 🤣
WKBN 570 is Youngstown, Ohio
Oops. My bad. Youngstown it is!
@@robertmcarthur7631 just nitpicking because I worked there lol. Excellent video!
I tip my hat! Very nice!