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Author Topic: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z  (Read 4723 times)

Offline skeezix

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UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« on: July 07, 2013, 1807 UTC »
UNID station back on 1690 playing oldies.

1808Z 55454 S9+ The Lovin' Spoonful "Do You Believe In Magic"
1810Z 55454 S9+ "The real oldies live here on The Real Oldies Channel."
1810Z 55454 S9+ Richie Valens "Donna"
1812Z 55454 S9+ The Outsiders "Girl In Love"
1815Z 55454 S9+ DJ - Craig Stevens
1816Z 55454 S9+ Gene Pitney "It Hurts To Be In Love"
1818Z 55454 S9+ Martha Reeves and the Vandellas "Heat Wave"
1821Z 55454 S9+ DJ
1821Z 55454 S9+ Tony Orlando & Dawn "Knock Three Times"
1824Z 55454 S9+  The Drifters "There Goes My Baby"
1826Z 55454 S9+ "The roots of rock and roll live here on The Real Oldies Channel"
1826Z 55454 S9+ Chubby Checker "Slow Twistin'"
1829Z 55454 S9+ Sam & Dave "Soul Man"
1831Z 55454 S9+ The Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
1834Z 55454 S9+ "Come for the real oldies and stay for the fun."
1834Z 55454 S9+ Bobby Vinton "Mr. Lonely"
1837Z 55454 S9+ Three Dog Night "Easy To Be Hard"
1839Z Off air mid song




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« Last Edit: July 07, 2013, 2323 UTC by skeezix »
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Offline Kilokat7

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2013, 2036 UTC »
Do you think this is a rebroadcast of a legit station (maybe satellite channel)?  1690 is owned by WVON/Chicago here day and night, so I doubt I would have any chance of catching this, especially at 1800z.  Very interesting though.
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Offline skeezix

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2013, 2312 UTC »
Its definitely not WVON from Chicago. Signal is strong & clear up here. It pops on, plays for a couple hours then suddenly disappears. No trace of the blowtorches from Chicago on 670/720/780. Plus, WVON is a talk station and only 10kW with a non-directional pattern.

In previous broadcasts, the playlist coincided with 680 WINR's playlist, incl a couple of the DJs.

Today it didn't match up with anything I found. In a previous logging, the DJ on the air was "Dangerous Dan," who at the time was on WINR's page. Checking their site now, no Dan. But, Dangerous Dan Allen now shows up at 1480 WDJO.
Internet search came up with him on the old WINR:
http://www.oldies969fm.com/pages/danallen.html

At 1815Z today, the DJ said his name was Craig Stevens. At WDJO, no Craig Stevens, but there is a Craig Roberts, Harry Stephens and Gary Stevens.

There is a bio of Craig Stevens buried at WINR (Internet search turned it up):
http://www.oldies969fm.com/pages/craigstevens.html?article=11054965

Recorded our 1690 broadcast today and listened to 1815Z repeatedly and it sounds like "Craig Stevens," not Harry nor Gary.


One interesting post from Jan 2012 where Dangerous Dan gave some insight:
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=205333.0

Quote
No big mystery or drama. WDJO was my Sunday diversion but my full time job at Clear Channel is pretty demanding. After WSAI changed format I moved the Real Oldies format online to IHeartradio.com and as of today, I am going to be on there daily from 10am to 3pm. The format also debuted today in Binghamton, New York on 680 WINR and I can be heard there as well. I'm joined by my old friends Bobby Leach and Marty Thompson so it should be fun.

I've enjoyed my time at WDJO but, alas, it's time for me to move along. As you noted, I will be available for fill-in and that includes Dial-A-Hit where I will, of course, play requests mixed in with my personal all-time favorites. I'm hard to control.

Quote
My full-time employer is Clear Channel. They allowed me to be on WDJO in addition to my work for CC. I've been programming Real Oldies for Clear Channel non-stop since 2003. That was long before I was part of the WDJO team. There is no conflict.

Which brings up another question- Dan said in 2012 he's gone on Sundays from WDJO, but he shows up on their site today. Perhaps gone then returned? Certainly not uncommon.


The 1690 source is probably an Internet stream of The Real Oldies Channel (although I can hear no digitization from a low-quality stream). If it is a broadcaster testing, then maybe getting the high quality feed off a satellite. Today's broadcast didn't match any live playlists, so could've been a recording. Didn't see The Real Oldies Channel on Sirius nor XM.

This has been going on for at least 4 months since I first found 'em. In that time, no ID and no FCC records of any lic station nor CP in MN on 1690.

Pirate? If so, it has really good range. within about a 5-7 area around my house, the signal was strong and consistent. That was from observations when & I was out for doing other things or asking friends to tune in when I was on the phone with them. Luckily they obliged and although took a bit of explaining when the station suddenly went away.

As of now, I'm still betting on a legit broadcaster that's testing & whatnot. Why four months for only a few random hours? Who knows.

« Last Edit: July 07, 2013, 2325 UTC by skeezix »
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Offline atrainradio

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2013, 1811 UTC »
Very strange indeed! It reminds me of something that happend a year ago, actually around this same time! Back then, (and still today) i used the tecsun pl-380. I remeber tuning around 1700, and heard with monderate signal, UNID music playing. It was classic rock, I believe it was some black sabbath playing, and played song after song for about 3 hours. It then sounded like someone turned a mic on because i heard some chatter, then, mic went off and so did the transmitter. It went back to static, never to return (from what i've seen).
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Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2013, 0748 UTC »
Have you taken a portable out with you to do some DFing with the internal loop? Just curious.

RE: internet streams being used: a local station, usually standards (MOYL) at night, was playing some hard core rap (including swearing) for two nights in a row a couple weeks ago.  The program IDed as "66 Raw", which is an internet rap / hip-hop channel.  Obviously, somebody had switched to the wrong channel for overnight music....

The sound was clear -- I didn't hear any artifacts.

So I think its entirely possible your mystery station could be taking audio off the internet.  I know for a long time radio stations used Mp2s of music compressed 4:1.  You could hear the artifacts if you played the music directly off the hard drive, but over the air it was very difficult to hear any, because of the processing.
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2013, 2203 UTC »
It sounds like someone is testing on a new frequency.

I had a similar experience with a mystery station on 1300 khz a number of years back. No id's and a varying format. It went on intermittently for months.

Turned out it was a local media group reactivating a license for that frequency, testing and tuning up an old antenna system that had been in disrepair for years.

Offline skeezix

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2013, 0256 UTC »
I've got one bearing from my house (have a Collins ADF-650A), but haven't been out & about with a portable radio when its on. When its on, I'm usually comfy at home and not really motivated to go hunt it (esp if I've been partaking in some adult beverages). However, the curiosity is becoming stronger. But strong enough to actually leave the house? Beats me.  ???

Also, unsure how accurate the ADF is. Its great with some known broadcast stations, but what it says for this station and when I try with my portable (near the ADF and out in the backyard), they disagree and thus confuses me. Have a 70's Ray-Jeff marine RDF, but it doesn't go up to 1690.

Pigmeat- That's what I thought too when I heard it way back in Feb/Mar, but this is a long time testing, and one would think there should(?) be an FCC record now. Or, perhaps not. Maybe its been filed and is very slowly making its way through the red tape.  I'm not going to worry about the bureaucracy, just going to enjoy the curious sporadic station. Part of me hopes it just does this all the time. No ID and comes & goes.  (And throw in some spy numbers for that extra special craziness).


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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2013, 0320 UTC »
The one here tested for nearly a year, but I think that was due to extensive repairs and adjustments at the antenna site? (When they first showed up, their third harmonic was driving the local hams nuts.)

The way I found out about it's true nature was through a local radio engineer I was friends with. I asked him if he'd heard anything about it, and he told me what it was.

Offline synthman78

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Re: UNID 1690 kHz July 7, 2013 1807Z
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2013, 1821 UTC »
Two things I found out about this:
1. Craig Stevens is employed by Clear Channel, and is weekend host of The Real Oldies Channel. (according to linkedin)
2. There Real Oldies Channel is an online streaming program and part of iHeartradio
3. WRLL used to operate on 1690 and used to be an oldies stion owned by clearchannel, but is now WVON, so it can't be that, as I had earlier thought.
4. Still has an online stream though, probably by former staff or fans: http://tunein.com/radio/Real-Oldies-1690-s88448/
5. This one makes reference to it as well: http://player.slipstreamradio.com/player/slipstream/chicagoradioonline/982/

So I'm guessing it is a fan of the iHeartradio show, rebroadcasting on WRLL's old frequency..... just a guess though.

 

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