Vintage AM Radio Airchecks from 1973

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:

Ever wonder what it would be like to time travel? Well, just sit back and relax in your favourite armchair, put on the headphones and enjoy the short six and a half minute trip back to 1973. Here is a collection of 23 AM broadcast band radio airchecks / ID's from 23 U.S. states as recorded at Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Equipment used was a Realistic DX150A hooked up to a long wire antenna. Please bear in mind these recordings were made using an open mike placed in front of the speaker. For example, WTMJ Milwaukee makes an NBC colour TV announcement (blooper) and you will hear a voice in the background ask "how can that be"?

1. KKJO St. Joseph, MO 1550
2. WCFL Chicago, IL 1000
3. WWWE Cleveland, OH 1100
4. WOWO Fort Wayne, IN 1190
5. WHO Des Moines, IA 1040
6. WLAC Nashville, TN 1510
7. WWL New Orleans, LA 870
8. WBAP Ft. Worth-Dallas, TX 820
9. WSB Atlanta, GA 750
10. WBZ Boston, MA 1030
11. WHAS Louisville, KY 840
12. WWVA Wheeling, WVA 1170
13. WRVA Richmond, VA 1140
14. WCCO Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 830
15. KAAY Little Rock, AR 1090
16. WTIC Hartford, CT 1080
17. WBAL Baltimore, MD 1090
18. WJAR Providence, RI 920
19. WVOK Birmingham, AL 690
20. KOMA Oklahoma City, OK 1520
21. WTMJ Milwaukee, WI 620
22. KSL Salt Lake City, UT 1160
23. KFAB Omaha, NE 1110

Russ Edmunds' Mediumwave DX Airchecks 2: 1996-2013

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Russ Edmunds, who has kindly shared another collection of mediumwave airchecks (click here to check out all of his contributions).

Russ notes that the reception location was Blue Bell, PA using a Hammarlund modified HQ-150 and a 4' air core amplified loop.

Russ also shares details about each recording in the following table. All recordings have been embedded below:

Independent Broadcasting Authority London (557 kHz): June 15, 1973

Photo by Hugo Sousa

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Nigel Thornbury, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Independent Broadcasting Authority London

Date of recording: 6/15/1973

Starting time: PM

Frequency: 0.557 MHz

Reception location: Birmingham, England

Receiver and antenna: NordeMende Globe Trotter II, internal ferrite rod

Mode: AM

Notes: Beginning of local independent stations in the UK in 1973

Twin Cities Radio Compilation Capitol Insurrection: January 6, 2021

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following recording and notes:

This is a compilation of radio broadcast from Twin Cities, Minnesota radio stations when the news of the January 6 US Capitol storming was first mentioned.

Time stamps for the following stations and their time of broadcast:

00:00 WCCO 1:07 CST

01:24 KTLK 1:08 CST

02:08 KYCR 1:20 CST

03:31 WLOL 2:04 CST

06:43 WWTC 2:08 CST

09:39 KDIZ 3:06 CST

KCBS Sinuiju (North Korea) 873 kHz: October 21, 2021

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following recording and notes:

873 kHz KCBS Sinuiju, North Korea at 1633UTC on Thursday, Oct 21, 2021 with instrumental North Korean music. Signal held out pretty decently for over 6 minutes. 250KW 3500 miles.

Receiver location: McGrath, Alaska

Receiver and antenna: C.Crane CC Skywave and Gary DeBock 5" FSL antenna

KCBS (mediumwave): January 8, 2021

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker who shares the following recording of KCBS made on January 8, 2021 starting at 1747 UTC in McGrath, Alaska, on 873 kHz.

The Voice of Peace Radio Ship Inaugural Broadcast with Abie Nathan: May 19, 1973

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording and notes:

Aircheck of the start of the Voice of Peace radio ship. Voice of Peace was an offshore radio station that broadcast in the Middle East for 20 years from the former Dutch cargo vessel MV Peace, anchored off the Israeli coast on East Mediterranean. Founded by Abie Nathan and the New York-based Peace Ship Foundation, the station broadcast almost continuously between 19 May 1973 and November 1993. With sounds of the creaking ship, Abie Nathan talks about the struggles, challenges and problems to get the Voice of Peace on the air in an emotional broadcast.

Note: The tape was recorded in the Middle East and was provided to me. Unfortunately, what was previously recorded on the tape did not erase when the broadcast was recorded. You will hear in the background Angie by the Rolling Stones, whistling and a talking played at half speed and double speed -- none of these were part of the broadcast. We did our best to edit and filter out those background sounds.

Frequency: 1.539 MHz

Russ Edmunds' Mediumwave DX Airchecks: 1968-1978

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Russ Edmunds, who has kindly shared another collection of mediumwave airchecks (click here to check out all of his contributions).

Russ notes that the reception location was Parsippany, NJ (in a garden apartment) using a Hammarlund modified HQ-150 and a 4' air core amplified loop.

Russ also shares details about each recording in the following table. All recordings have been embedded below:

Audio Block

Double-click here to upload or link to a .mp3. Learn more

Radio Luxembourg: September 25, 1990 (Part 2)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes:

Starting time: 2230 UTC

Frequency: 1.440

Reception location: Kirkwall, Orkney

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2003 with whip antenna

Notes: Aircheck of Radio Luxembourg from late October 1990 (recorded Sep 25, 1990)

Note: The following recording is Part 2, click here for Part 1:

Radio Luxembourg: September 25, 1990 (Part 1)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes:

Starting time: 2230 UTC

Frequency: 1.440

Reception location: Kirkwall, Orkney

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2003 with whip antenna

Notes: Aircheck of Radio Luxembourg from late October 1990 (September 25, 1990 recording date)

Note: The following recording is Part 1, click here for Part 2:

Radio Americas: March 18, 1968

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Jim Nail, who shares the following recording and notes:

This station was a regular into Louisville, Kentucky. It's been off the air for many decades.

You can find other great recordings on my YouTube Channel: W4OXB's Vintage DX Audio Recordings

Frequency: 1.160 MHz

Receiver location: Louisville, Kentucky USA

Receiver and antenna: Hammarlund HQ-129x, 4 foot square indoor box loop antenna

CFZM: July 28, 2019

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:

Last night I took advantage of a clear Saturday night to head out to my favorite "dark sky" astronomy site south of Bourbon, Indiana to do some stargazing. I took my 5" telescope along with my favorite "accessory", my newly cleaned, aligned and recapped RF-2200. While waiting for sunset and darkness I recorded one hour of The Mighty KBC's Giant Jukebox and followed that up with a recording of three hours of Toronto's CFZM "Zoomer Radio and their weekly program Saturday Night Bandstand. While not SWBC, listening to Zoomer is a great way to spend a Saturday night under the stars. There is some fading and a strange growling noise which I believe was caused by having my digital recorder too close to the radio. Also some thunderstorm static can be heard from storms which popped up near the end of the recording. Both recordings were made with either the RF-2200's whip antenna for KBC or the internal ferrite swivel antenna for CFZM. Enjoy!

Broadcaster: CFZM

Date of recording: 7/28/2019

Starting time: 0210

Frequency: 740 kHz

Location: Bourbon, IN

Russ Edmunds’ Mediumwave Airchecks: 1969 - 1978

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Russ Edmunds (WB2BJH), for sharing this collection of mediumwave airchecks dating from 1969 to 1978. (Click here to check out all of Russ’ contributions.)

If you’ve subscribed to the SRAA podcast, you might only automatically download the first of these recordings. I would encourage you to view and listen to all 29 recordings on this dedicated Shortwave Radio Audio Archive post.

Click here to download a spreadsheet with full details of each clip.

A New York City AM Radio Bandscan (Part 2): December 18, 2017

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, The Professor, for sharing the following mediumwave bandscan from his home in the New York City area.

This is part 2 of his bandscan. Note that this recording first appeared as a guest post on the SWLing Post.

The following bandscan notes pick up where Part 1 ended (click here to open Part 1):

Part 2: Late Night Pre-Christmas Medium Wave Scan, NYC 2017

970 kHz – More Fox News from WNYM in New York City.

950 kHz – Choral Christmas music. Probably the Family Radio outlet WKDN in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

930 kHz – WPAT, a brokered station in Patterson, New Jersey. In this late night slot it’s either an infomercial or just a discussion of meditation and mindfulness.

920 kHz – Newsradio 920, an iHeartMedia station – WHJJ in Providence, Rhode Island. The weather.

910 kHz – “Eight Days a Week” from the Beatles. I don’t know where this is coming from, but it might be bumper music for a talk radio show like Coast to Coast (They often let the bumper music play for a minute or two) or a full playing of the song on a music radio station. Some crosstalk from a talk station in the mix on this reception.

900 kHz – CHML in Hamilton, Ontario. I know this Canadian news and talk station for playing old time radio shows overnight. Kind of odd to me that they’re covering the hearings of an American judge. Followed by some news about Prince Harry.

880 kHz – It’s WCBS in New York, a powerful clear channel news outlet heard across the country. Here you get a dramatic report on four separate shootings in New York City, the kind of news you don’t hear so much these days. I let this play for a few minutes.

860 kHz – Very poor reception of CJBC, a French CBC outlet in Toronto. I’ve heard a wide variety of great music on this station over the years. I almost always would get a good copy on this station from my former home in North Brooklyn, but then again late night AM reception does vary.

820 kHz – WNYC-AM in New York, the sole NPR outlet on the AM dial in the city. Overnight they carry the BBC World Service, which is what you hear in this scan.

770 kHz – Trump apologetics from “Red Eye Radio” on WABC in New York. While this syndicated program has roots in Bill Mack’s great country music program, now it’s just one more conservative talk show. But it’s the exception to the rule as most live overnight talk radio programs don’t stray into political opinion like this, unlike during the day when it’s everywhere.

750 kHz – WSB in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a strong signal up the east coast. Here I find them in a commercial break which leads into a snippet of a rebroadcast of the Johnny Kielbasa Final Fast Food Review of 2017. Then the much beloved Meg calls in.

740 kHz – CFZM, or “Zoomer Radio” in Toronto, Ontario. It’s a quirky format, and often the only dependable music radio station for listeners in the eastern middle of North America. Here we’re treated to Jim Croce and some holiday fare.

710 kHz – WOR in New York. It’s former WABC talk host Mark Simone enthusiastically selling “My Pillow.” AM radio can be so comforting late at night, but the IBOC surrounding this frequency not so much.

700 kHz – You can almost hear WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio trying to cut through the IBOC from WOR, but it’s a mess. I guess it’s a sacrifice so all those dozens of HD radio listeners can enjoy WOR in all its digital glory.

660 kHz – WFAN in New York. Sports radio heaven I guess.

640 kHz – Some old-fashioned vocal belting in Spanish. Not sure what this is. Perhaps WWJZ in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

620 kHz – WSNR in Jersey City booming in. Here you get one the epic and much-played recordings of Alexander Scourby reading from the King James Version. What a voice – warm, authoritative and dramatic. I have to admit he sounds dated, but in a good way. His recitation of the Bible is still popular almost seventy years after it was recorded.

610 kHz – Difficult to read signal of a talk radio show. Male host. I’m guessing this is sports talk WTEL in Philadelphia.

600 kHz – Another hard to hear transmission of a talk show with a male host, and it seems to be another sports discussion.

570 kHz – A cheesy Infomercial on WMCA. Once a great top 40 station, WMCA was also where the “Father of Talk Radio” Barry Gray got his start back in the nineteen-forties. Nowadays it’s a New York City Christian outlet owned by Salem Media, which apparently pays some bills by playing tightly edited testimonials praising the miracles of consuming fruit and vegetable pills. I never hear programming like this promoting a diet of real fruits and vegetables.

560 kHz – More Christian broadcasting from another former legendary top 40 station, WFIL in Philadelphia. They’re also owned by Salem. Some more traditional preaching, and not a great signal arriving here in Brooklyn.

From there, I stop by a couple very weak signals up to the top of the dial, and that’s it.

There were a number of radio stations I almost always hear late at nights that were absent or very faint in this scan, like WHAS in Louisville, WAY in Schenectady, WJR in Detroit and WHKW in Cleveland come to mind. And on a good night (especially if the IBOC on an adjacent station isn’t active), if I can null out a booming local next door I can receive WSM in Nashville, or KMOX in St. Louis and even occasionally pick up WLS in Chicago sneaking over the edge of booming clear channel WCBS at 880.

I hope some shortwave listeners find something of interest in this medium wave excursion. Thomas runs a fantastic blog, and I’m proud to be a little part of it today.

Thanks for listening, and reading.

A New York City AM Radio Bandscan (Part 1): December 18, 2017

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, The Professor, for sharing the following mediumwave bandscan from his home in the New York City area.

This is Part 1 of his bandscan. Note that this recording first appeared as a guest post on the SWLing Post. [Click here for Part 2.]

Enjoy:

Part 1: Late Night Pre-Christmas Medium Wave Scan, NYC 2017

I haven’t recorded a proper scan of the AM dial in New York City for a while, so I took a shot at it a week before Christmas, starting around three A.M. Monday morning, December 18.

I asked Thomas if his readers might be interested in the audio from an AM scan here and some annotations, kind of like I used to do on my Radio Kitchen blog not so long ago. When I scan the dial I often start at the top of the AM dial and work my way up, but sometime it’s fun to do it the other way around and begin with more low power small stations where the fare is a little more exotic than the typical talk and news formats you hear from regional and powerful clear channel transmitters up the dial.

I have a number of radios that would really be better candidates to do this sort of thing, but since I’m kind of between places right now and most of my radios are in a storage unit somewhere, I’m using the Tecsun PL-880 I have with me. And typically I’d do this with a loop antenna up next to the radio, but they’re in storage too. So it’s just the stock ferrite antenna inside the radio doing all the work here. There’s some of the typical urban RF noise in the mix, but it’s not all that bad. Then there’s the awful splatter of digital IBOC to plow through. Not fun to listen to, and some stations you might otherwise find are masked by hash.

If you don’t listen to AM this late at night (or this early in the morning), it’s really not a great time to hear live programming. A lot of talk shows from daylight hours are rerun at this time, and the few music stations you might find are often running music automation with no live DJs. But a few talk local talk shows in big cities are live, and syndicated ones like Coast to Coast or Red Eye Radio are broadcast live overnight on quite a number of stations.

Instead of trying to do a lot of DX digging and pull in the really hard to hear stuff, I’m not equipped for that right now so I just plow through looking for what I can find without too much trouble. As I said, I didn’t have another antenna to assist me, but I duly rotated the radio and adjusted the bandwidth when appropriate. If you’re keeping score at home I do at least pause on every viable MW frequency, even if there’s nothing there.

I wouldn’t say it’s a typical late night New York medium overview of the band, as a few common finds on the dial were missing, and didn’t find many of the smaller Canadian locals I’ve heard on other nights. The one difference is that for years I’ve been listening from my former home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For now I’m down in Bay Ridge, at the bottom southwest corner of Brooklyn, and a few things are different. Like the very first station I come across.

1710 kHz – This scan begins with an oddity, WQFG689 a “traveler’s information station” broadcasting just a notch above the x-band, but a spot on the dial that is still included on contemporary AM radios. According to Wikipedia it’s the only legit station in America broadcasting on 1710. It’s owned by Hudson County in New Jersey broadcasting on a handful of ten watt transmitters. I’m assuming this reception might be coming from Jersey City, which is across the water not far from here. A few years ago one of the Hasidic communities in Brooklyn had a lo-fi pirate station at this frequency, but I haven’t heard it there in a long time. And as WQFG689 sits in a very lonely place on the dial, this station is a popular DX target. Apparently at this hour they were experiencing “technical difficulties.”

1690 kHz – Some contemporary R&B style pop song with a male singer. It’s an English language performance however (is it Spanish?). I’m not sure what this might be, but from looking around on the web it may be CHTO, a multicultural station in Toronto, Ontario.

1650 kHz – A weak reception of a talk radio show. Some discussion of the desires of Harvey Weinstein and other matters. Perhaps this is WHKT in Portsmouth, Virginia.

1630 kHz – At this spot on the dial I receive an image of WINS (1010kHz) as well as some station broadcasting the unavoidable Brother Stair. Don’t know exactly what is going on there, but the PL-880 is known to toss in some stray images on the dial in dense radio markets like New York.

1600 kHz – Some spirted South Asian pop music. Bollywood stuff I suppose. This would be WWRL here in New York, broadcasting from Secaucus, New Jersey.

1570 kHz – I believe this is the Eagles singing about Christmas. I have no idea what station this might be. WFLR in Dundee, New York is a guess.

1560 kHz – A little bit of Bible from Family Radio – still on New York City radio, but not on the FM dial anymore. Otherwise known as WFME here in New York. Armed with fifty-thousand watts, their signal has quite a reach. I hear the ghost of Harold Camping on here from time to time.

1530 kHz – Speaking of ghosts, it’s Ol’ Brother Stair buying some time on WJDM in Elizabeth, New Jersey I believe. Is he in prison yet?

1520 kHz – Sports talk from WWKB in Buffalo, New York.

1500 kHz – A discussion of Christmas treats on WTOP in Washington, D.C.

1480 kHz – Some seasonal mischief in Chinese from WZRC, a Cantonese station here in New York.

1460 kHz – Some distant choral or Christmas music from somewhere.

1430 kHz – Casual talk of God’s happiness plan from WNSW in Newark, New Jersey. Not to judge, but Catholic talk radio is just more civilized than most Protestant talk radio. A little more breezy than the fire and brimstone stuff. They always sound like their shirts are ironed. Carrying the Catholic radio network “Relevant Radio” is the latest format at this frequency in the city. Before that the “Voice of Russia” was broadcast here.

1380 kHz – More Chinese talk. This time it’s from another multicultural station – WKDM here in New York City.

1350 kHz – A poor reception of late night talk. I believe it’s “Red Eye Radio.” I really don’t know where this is coming from.

1310 kHz – A female host on a talk radio program. Mediocre reception from another unknown AM station.

1300 kHz – Again, a female conversation here as well, but this time the topic is spectator sports of some kind. I’m thinking this is the ESPN affiliate WAVZ in New Haven, Connecticut.

1280 kHz – A medical case study in Spanish and English from WADO, here in New York. This is a Spanish news/talk station owned by Univision.

1250 kHz – It’s WMTR in Morristown, New Jersey, which is essentially the only true oldies station that reaches New York City. During the day it’s not a rock solid signal in New York, but anybody who knows how to fiddle with a decent AM radio can pick it up. At night, I had a hard time getting a good read on WMTR when I lived up at the top of Brooklyn, but down here in Bay Ridge at the South Brooklyn waterfront it’s pretty solid as you can hear. Starting with “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Sugar, Sugar” I let it roll for a few minutes. Not many radio stations play a “classic oldies” format these days, or if they do it might just be the torture of a super tight 300 song playlist. While WMTR can’t top the huge music library of WLNG out at the end of Long Island, they rotate a respectable mix of the old hits. There’s a rather interesting Wikipedia entry for WMTR, where you can read about their experimentations with AM Stereo and how they’ve tweaked their oldies rotation over the last few years, partly in response to WCBS-FM in New York moving away from oldies into a morass of format noodling.

1210 kHz – WHPT in Philadelphia playing the conspiracy/paranormal Coast to Coast program, the most popular syndicated overnight radio show in North America. It’s George Knapp hosting, but during the week it’s George Noory. The original host and creator of the program, Art Bell is long gone after quitting radio about five times. After one A.M. or so, moving across the AM dial means you’ll come across Coast to Coast many times. Tonight the topic is Area 51, which is hardly surprising.

1190 kHz – Some contemporary R&B flavored Christian music from WLIB. in New York. Always clear reception for this station. This station was actually the original flagship station for “Air America,” the short-lived progressive talk network. For those of you who may remember WOWO, the Midwest clear channel 50,000 watt station heard far and wide at 1190 from Fort Wayne, WLIB’s powerful 30,000 watt upgrade is directly related to that Indiana station’s demise as a nighttime powerhouse. Back in 1994 the owners of WLIB actually bought WOWO for the specific purpose of cutting back their signal after dark (It’s now only 9,300 watts and directional) so WLIB’s could be increased up to what it is today. Sneaky, eh?

1180 kHz – Coast to Coast again, this time coming from in WHAM, in Rochester, New York. Great call letters.

1170 kHz – Coast to Coast coming from WRVA in Wheeling, West Virginia this time.

1130 kHz – WBBR in New York, otherwise known as “Bloomberg Radio.” I may find it kinda tedious, but if you’re a big time profiteer this might be your favorite radio station. Just listen to the commercials, sheesh! And as a bonus you get a public service announcement about how high-tone Manhattanites should prepare for disaster.

1110 kHz – A strong read of Coast to Coast from WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1100 kHz – It’s WTAM in Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting Coast to Coast. Not as strong as the signal from Ohio.

1090 kHz – WBAL in Baltimore, Maryland offering some tips on “layering” customer rewards programs.

1050 kHz – Sports in Spanish from WEPN in New York City.

1030 kHz – WBZ in Boston, Massachusetts. Something about hips. One of the few talk stations I’ve heard which still specialize in local programming around the clock. WLW in Cincinnati would be another.

1010 kHz – WINS in New York. News radio which still features the hokey teletype sound effects in the background. I let this play for a few minutes, including a PSA about a cocaine cessation program.

960 kHz – Something about a meatball sub. It may well be WELI in New Haven, Connecticut.

970 kHz – 970 “The Answer,” otherwise known as WNYM in Hackensack, New Jersey with top of the hour Fox News. The big story – the power outage at the airport in Atlanta.

Click here to read and listen to PART 2.

Radio Nacional de España: February 25, 2016

Radio Nacional de España 1992 logo

Radio Nacional de España recorded in London, UK on February 25, 2016 at 0600 UTC on the frequency of 585 kHz using a Lowe HF-150 radio with the Lowe PR-150 preselector, DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference. The transmitter is located in Madrid, Spain and has a power rating of 500 kW. This is a local service targeted at the domestic audience.

Radio St. Helena, The final hour (sign-off) with Tony Leo: December 25, 2012

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Sarah Boucher, who submits this final sign-off of Radio St. Helena on 1548 kHz and notes:

Closedown begins with the last few seconds of love is everywhere by caught in the act (1995).

CKCM Grand Falls, Newfoundland: Oct 1, 1976

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Ray Robinson, who shares this mediumwave recording of a station ID and notes:

"This was my first ever transatlantic DX catch of a North American station, while I was living in England. I was so excited! The radio bug truly bit me, and I have been an avid radio enthusiast ever since!"

Broadcaster: CKCM, Grand Falls, Newfoundland

Date of recording: 10/1/1976

Starting time: 0156 UTC (2326 local Newfoundland time)

Frequency: 620 kHz

Received in Luton, England, using a Russian Vega 206, medium wave loop

Radio Damascus, Syria: October 23, 2013

Radio Damascus, Syria recorded in Moscow, Russia on October 23, 2013 at 2242 UTC on the frequency of 783 kHz using a Tecsun PL380 portable radio. The transmitter is located in Tartus, Syria and has a power rating of 600 kW. This is a local service targeted at the domestic audience. There were several short poor propagation spells throughout the recording, after which the signal would recover.

Radio Cook Islands (Recording #1 Mediumwave): circa 1993

A view from the driveway entrance to the Radio Cook Islands studio in 1993. Insulators on an antenna (T2FD or multiband dipole) can be seen as dark spots against the cloudy sky. A feedline is also seen rising above the left side of the building. (Photo: Guy Atkins)

SRAA contributor, Guy Atkins, writes:

In 1993 I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit Rarotonga with my wife, courtesy of a nice award through my company which afforded me an all-expenses-paid trip anywhere we’d like to go.

I chose the South Pacific island of Rarotonga, partly because I wanted to visit Radio Cook Islands after listening to their “island music” on 11760 and 15170 kHz through my teenage years.

During our visit to the island I recorded 90+ minutes of RCI on 630 kHz with a local quality signal using a Grundig Satellit 500 and a Marantz PMD-221 recorder.

Sadly, RCI will likely never be on shortwave again; a fire in the local tele-comm building a few months before my 1993 visit destroyed RCI’s transmitter. I had an amusing exchange with the secretary when I visited; she insisted that their station was still on shortwave. Of COURSE we’re on the air she said, because “the frequencies are published right here in the newspaper!” The engineer and announcer confirmed, though, that the silence on their former frequencies was for real. They indicated they were covering the outer islands just fine with FM translators and had no intention of restarting shortwave.

Recordings

The programming of Radio Cook Islands is bilingual, and announcers are fluent in both English and Cook Islands Maori. Music selections on RCI encompass all styles, to appeal to many age groups. These recordings was scheduled to include as much local music as possible.

RCI programming includes all the hallmarks of a small, non-professional station: stuck records & tape carts, dead air, poor modulation, and other miscues.

However, that’s part of the flavor of local radio, and these errors are heard throughout this recording. Particularly noticeable is the bassy, over-modulation of the studio announcer during sign-on announcements.

Recording 1

Notes: National anthem & hymn; sign-on announcements & music.
Music; weather; sign-off announcements & national anthem.
Local & regional news; weather; ads; music.

Recording 2 follows in the next post....