Messages

91

Huh? / A-Train's favourite albums for 2016

« on: December 14, 2016, 2306 UTC »

A-Train's favourite albums for 2016. I do this every year; I list the albums I was listening to the most this year, some specifically released this year, some not. This are albums that mean a ton to me, and ones I will forever connect with the year 2016. I urge you to listen to these in their entirety.

It is NOT a "best to least" list. It is not. There is no way I could say any of these are better than the others. So here we go.

1. "Choose Your Weapon"- Hiatus Kaiyote
2. "Elohim"- Elohim (released this year)
3. "Souvlaki"- Slowdive
4. "Until The Hunter"- Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (released this year)
5. "Donuts" - J Dilla
6. "Shame" - Petal
7. "Dummy"- Portishead
8. "Blood Lust"- Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
9. "White Album"- Weezer (released this year)
10. "Journey In Satchidananda"- Alice Coltrane
11. "Lord Of Misrule"- Blood Ceremony (released this year)
12. "Desire's Magic Theater"- Purson (released this year)
13. "Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls"- Coven
14. "Wake Up! It's Tomorrow"- Strawberry Alarm Clock
15. "Still They Pray"- Cough (released this year)
16. "Rain Dogs"- Tom Waits
17. "Remain In Light"- Talking Heads
18. "Witchcult Today"- Electric Wizard
19. "Floral Shoppe"- Macintosh Plus (a e s t h e t i c)
20. "２８１４ - 新しい日の誕生/Birth of a New Day"- Hong Kong Express and t e l e p a t h

Now go and play them! They are all on youtube if I am not mistaken. I know you will love at least one of them!

92

Huh? / Fidel is dead

« on: November 26, 2016, 2152 UTC »

Wonder what Radio Habana Cuba is going to do tonight? Make sure to record for historical purposes!

93

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WEEK Radio 6873.4 AM 2012 UTC 6 November 2016

« on: November 06, 2016, 2056 UTC »

Fair to strong signal at my QTH using the Tecsun 880. Excited for the early sunset tonight!
2058z Black Night by Deep Purple.

94

Huh? / Good music that is out today (a long list of bands)

« on: November 06, 2016, 1809 UTC »

You say there's no good music out today. That's a lie.

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
The Blues Pills
Electric Wizard
The Vintage Caravan
Mazzy Star
Title Fight
Julien Baker
DJ Frane
Sleep
Blood Ceremony
Purson
Jex Thoth
Hiatus Kaiyote
D'Angelo & The Vanguard
Kamasi Washington
Macintosh Plus
Black Banshee
Jess & The Ancient Ones
Acid Witch
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Coven
Windhand
The Purple Hill Witch
Witchwood
Morbid Cross
Grouper
Horisont
Volfpeck
Petal
Dopesmoker
The Samsara Blues Experiment
Indica
The Devil & The Almighty Blues
Liquid Visions
Colour Haze

Every band there has released a kick ass album within the last three to six years. The genres are varied from stoner metal, to psychedelic rock, to vaporwave and jazz. Do yourself a favour and check some of them out.
All the good music has gone underground. It's there, waiting to be found.

95

Huh? / Donaldbert Trumperdinks' greatest hits!

« on: October 15, 2016, 2111 UTC »

Donaldbert Trumperdink's greatest hits.

1. If ya can't beat em, delete em [Dank email remix]
2. Smash n Grab [That p*ssy] ft. Anthony Weiner
3. Wonderwall
4.I can see clearly now the illegals are gone.
5. Ain't no emails when she's in jail.
6. 50 ways to delete your emails (ft. Paul Simon)

BONUS Christmas classics
1. Last Christmas (I built you a wall)
2. See me...deporting...all of the mexicans (ft. Paul McCartney)
3. I'm dreaming (of a white America)
4. Donald Trump is building a wall
5. Baby, there's Muslims outside!

96

General Radio Discussion / What does AM have to lose?

« on: October 10, 2016, 2257 UTC »

http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20161008/radio-what-do-am-stations-have-to-lose-but-go-back-to-music-formats

As a longtime cheerleader of AM radio, much as I hate to say it, AM is dead.

It’s not even on life support here in Los Angeles any more, it’s dead.

In the most recent monthly ratings released in mid-September by Nielsen, only nine AM stations made the list out of 41 stations total, accounting for 10.1 percent of the listening audience. The highest-rated AM station, KNX (1070 AM), earned a 2.9 percent share of the audience aged 6 and over; KNX and KFI (640 AM) account for over half of the listenership of the entire AM band with a total of 5.5.

By comparison, the top-two FM stations, KOST (103.5 FM) and KIIS-FM (102.7) earned a combined 10.5 share, meaning that two FM stations beat out the entire AM band’s ratings. That’s sad.

Obviously current programming is not attracting an audience. Not young, not old. Not at all.

Reliance on political talk, infomercials and sports just doesn’t cut it when it comes to attracting listeners. For AM to become relevant — suggesting it should “stay” relevant would mean it “is” relevant, and it most certainly is not — it needs to reinvent itself once more. Or perhaps, more accurately, look to formats that would attract an audience if they were offered.

Industry observers and insiders don’t like to admit this, since the sorry state of radio in general and AM radio in particular is their fault, but many of the stations that lack ratings once did. At least they did when they played music, such as 570, 690, 930, 1110, 1150, 1190 and 1580. All had good, or at least acceptable ratings, until they lost focus and either programmed canned junk or dropped music altogether. Even KFI, the second-highest-rated AM station in town, had similar and often higher ratings as a Top-40 station than it does now.

My opinion is that AM can still compete as long as stations offer a format that either can’t be found elsewhere or is just done better. What formats? Glad you asked.

The following are just a few that could help revitalize America’s first broadcast band.

Heavy metal: Pure Rock KNAC (now KBUA, 105.5 FM) proved not only that there is a substantial audience for metal, but that they are among the most dedicated (read: rabid) listeners anywhere. And our area has numerous talented up-and-coming metal or related bands that could use the airplay; indeed, such bands as Odyssey Dawn, Divine Intervention, Soulera and reggae/punk band LAW all play to packed venues throughout the South Bay, Long Beach and Hollywood. Play these and classic metal and you’d bring listeners to the AM band who never even knew there even was an AM band.


Fifties oldies: A format that can’t be found anywhere. Once a mainstay of oldies stations — some purists feel that the ’50s are the only real oldies — the format done right can attract an audience spanning generations. Art Laboe has known that for years.

Sixties oldies: Another format that does not exist here. Much of the material that was played on stations such as KHJ (930 AM) from 1965-1970 hasn’t ridden the airwaves since then. You’d be surprised how many old airchecks feature songs you may not remember; give them a place and you again will find listeners.

Seventies oldies: See a trend here? Since KRTH (101.1 FM) and KOLA (99.9 FM) abandoned most music prior to 1980, there is a huge void waiting to be filled. And numerous programmers and DJs willing to play those hits. Get a station that plays the best of all the rock decades with a focus on Doo-Wop and the East Los Angeles music scene (think War, El Chicano, Tierra, and more) that propelled the original KRLA (now KDIS, 1110 AM) to the top of the oldies list years ago, and I guarantee a winner.

Rap: Real rap, such as heard when played by such DJs as JJ Johnson on the original late, great KDAY (now KBLA, 1580 AM). Most rap on the radio now is whitewashed; KDAY was real. Bring it back.

Big band: MIA since the old KGRB (now KALI, 900 AM) left the air 20 years ago. Yes it skews old, but not as old as you might think. Besides, old is better than nothing. And believe it or not, “seasoned citizens” listen to ads and buy things.

Adult Top 40: Music that appeals to the over-25 crowd but consists of current bands seasoned with oldies and classic rock. With a high-energy, fun but uncluttered presentation that rivals that of the best Top-40 stations of the past. Think KHJ, Ten-Q or KFI all grown up.

Would these stations dominate? No. But they would be a force to be reckoned with and would accomplish two things: bring new and old listeners back to a band that programmers long ago abandoned and keep the FMs an their toes in much the same way that early FM formats made AM stronger, for a while at least. Besides, as with early FM when AM dominated, today’s AM stations truly have nothing to lose.

Then perhaps some of the AM stations in Los Angeles would have something to show for themselves.

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Send him email at rwagoner@cox.net.

97

Huh? / Gary J. Cohen, DX'er, passed away

« on: October 03, 2016, 0051 UTC »

He was one of the nicest and most knowledgeable guys in the SWL community I knew. Owner of the "Shortwave Listeners Global" Facebook page, I raise a drink to Gary. RIP

From David Giba- current admin for the page-

"On August 11 Gary contacted me via PM. He had told me about his exciting new opportunity in China and that there were Internet difficulties there. He asked that I take over as group admin if he had such Internet difficulties. I told him I would. Gary arrived in China and we all saw his posts but on the night of September 17 he PM me from China. He asked that I fully take over as group admin because the internet was just too spotty and that it was not fair to all of us. So he gave me controls. We had a good long discussion that evening and he told me a lot of things and that he would be available to answer my questions. He said he really enjoyed my radar posts and stuff like that. I was very surprised that he handed me the controls as administrator of this fine group. When I say that he formed a great network of folks here on Shortwave Listeners Global I mean it. We've had a lot of fun on here and we helped each other with questions and finding DX. Whether SWL, Ham radio or anything else it's been great. All the food and drink pics and videos too. The news of Gary's passing is tragic and it hits me pretty hard to hear of this because of his actions of making admin of this great group. May his memory be eternal as we say in Greek and may his soul rest with the Saints. We will keep the group alive and vibrant and maybe even all meetup one day in Gary's honor, we should think about that. Let's all keep sharing radio, antenna, DX, food and drink videos and pics. He would want us to."

The best part about all of us SWL'ers, hams, pirate ops and so on, we are all tight-knit and caring for each other. I couldn't be any happier to be in this community.

98

Huh? / Re: The Mysterious “Binary Bandits” of Philadelphia

« on: September 22, 2016, 0426 UTC »

Beings that I am not too far from Kensington, I can tell you that the liberal college hipster scene is big there. They probably had a contest as to who can commit the most hipster crime- and here's the winner.

99

Huh? / Re: Al, about your permanent record card.

« on: September 22, 2016, 0421 UTC »

You and Al are the strangest group of guys I know.

What, may I ask, haven't you done? Have you played pool with the pope? Shot the sh*t with Yeltsin?

100

Huh? / Re: Transmitting SSTV over WBFM (wideband FM)

« on: September 21, 2016, 0330 UTC »

Thanks jFarely!

And WA4FHY yes we stream online and we are on at fairly random times- I post when we go on air on our facebook page facebook.com/929whar

101

Huh? / Transmitting SSTV over WBFM (wideband FM)

« on: September 20, 2016, 0450 UTC »

Tried that today on 92.9 FM station. Worked beautifully! I would love if some commercial stations would try this out to get some people more interested in radio again. It is not hard AT ALL even for a dumbass like me to hook up an FM radio to the mic jack on your laptop, turn on RXSSTV or MMSSTV- pick the proper mode of decoding and hit GO. Not hard at all

102

Huh? / Re: Russia 'to revive the KGB' after Putin wins biggest majority

« on: September 20, 2016, 0448 UTC »

Radio Moscow- let's get that back.

103

Broadcast Announcements / Currently live online

« on: September 20, 2016, 0048 UTC »

Doing a live show on my ...... experimental station.

http://whar929.radiostream123.com/

104

European Pirates and Private Stations / Unknown on 6317.58 via Twente

« on: September 18, 2016, 1647 UTC »

Strong signal but low audio- wonder if I'll get an ID

105

Huh? / Re: Hacking Wireless Tire-Pressure Monitoring Systems

« on: September 18, 2016, 0418 UTC »

My HS vice principle was rumored to only have one testicle.