The 1620 WJDI Story

[Kilokat7]

I connected with Dave Schneider a year ago after posting some old WJDI audio clips on my blog.  After exchanging some emails, we thought it would be nice to properly document the history of WJDI with facts provided by the person behind the operation, Dave Schneider.  This story documents Dave's interest in DXing at an early age and how this interest evolved into the first WJDI in 1970 using only 7-1/2 watts.  WJDI would later be recognized as running one of the most powerful hand-crafted pirate transmitters on the AM dial on 1620 kHz during the late 1980s through the mid 1990s.  If anyone has any memories of hearing WJDI then I would encourage you to leave a comment at the bottom of the page this story appears on so Dave will see it:

http://midx.wordpress.com/wjdi/

Enjoy!

[BDM]

WOW Kilo nice story. Thanks for posting this

[redhat]

Agreed, very cool stuff.  I was never around the scene in the days of those broadcasts, but I feel a kindred spirit at work over there.  Similar ideas...

Thanks Kilo and Dave,

+-RH

[ChrisSmolinski]

Great writeup, Kilokat7!

[jFarley]

kk7 you rock; great post!

[rdla4]

Excellent article! Thanks for posting that!

[Kilokat7]

Thanks for the comments everyone, they are much appreciated!

[SHORTY]

I had the pleasure of hearing WJDI on 1620 several times. His signal here in Beantown was stronger than most of the Beantown stations. I used car radio to confirm that. I did use my 2010 also most of the time. I also had the pleasure of meeting him twice at Ham Fests in NH in the 90's and Marlboro MA. He made no secret of his broadcasts. At the time he was looking for some large tube sockets. I still have his QSL's showing his xmtr. The story of his attempted bust by the FCC is quite a tale. He told me of his vertical antenna with 100's of feet of radials. He is a true treasure. One of very few.

[Kilokat7]

Agreed, very cool stuff.  I was never around the scene in the days of those broadcasts, but I feel a kindred spirit at work over there.  Similar ideas...

Thanks Kilo and Dave,

+-RH

Yes, you two really need to hook up.  I think you guys could learn a lot from each other.  Though no longer active on the airwaves, his knowledge of transmitter and antenna design is as sharp as ever.

[CoolAM Radio]

I saw the following on Wikipedia:

Branding   WJDI 1620
Slogan   The voice of New York.
Frequency   1620 kHz
First air date   January 1, 1989
Format   music
Power   2,500 watts

André
CoolAM Radio

[Osborne White]

Kilokat7:

I'm completely paralyzed and 100 % floored by your article and I literally cannot get out of my chair here!  A  GREAT, STUPENDOUS, and larger-than-life and obviously accurate article about a great & stupendous station and Chief Engineer! WOW!

 The quality of the resources here on HFU  e.g. the active posting membership continually astonishes me!  Thanx for the wonderful article!


Osborne White, lazy SOB-in-charge of nothing worthwile
WMMR - Mysterious Mystic Radio

[Kilokat7]

Thanks for the nice comments Osborne, I'm glad you enjoyed the story.  As more people become aware of the article, more information has been coming forward by those close to Dave during those years.  This is a great thing and it means the story can become a living document of events with updates added as fuzzy memories are jogged back into place, recordings discovered, etc.