Posted on 07/04/2016 9:24:15 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
Way back in the early 70s, my mother's youngest brother (who was a seasonal worker for the US Army Corps of Engineers), as was his habit, brought his car over to our house while he was away on "the boat" (as we all called it). But this time he left something else . . . an very plain-looking, ordinary radio.
Back in those days FM was still fairly exotic. AM was still king, and that's where most of the music and regular radio programming was. This little radio happened to have both AM and FM. But it had a third option--something labeled "SW."
I had no idea what this "SW" was at the time, so naturally I began listening. At first all I got was noise. Then I noticed some of the noise was decidedly atypical for radio static. There were Morse code signals, muffled voices (I found out later they were hams), things that sounded like a constant roar (we assumed these were the "motors" of ships and planes) as well as what most people know as "woodpeckers."
This was all very interesting, but it certainly didn't seem to have any entertainment value. Then before long, I noticed that at night, I started picking up stations (though nowhere near as clear as the other two bands). And what stations!
The first was station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes in Quito, Ecuador (a Protestant missionary station). Then came the Voice of America . . . Radio Canada International . . . BBC World Service . . . and then I discovered the really exotic stuff--Radio Moscow . . . Radio Havana Cuba . . . Swiss Radio International . . . Deutsche Welle . . . Radio Nederland Wereldemroep . . . Swiss Radio International . . .
Yes . . . I had, quite by accident, stumbled upon the wonderful world of international broadcasting!
In those days most adults had lived through World War II and I had of course heard of Tokyo Rose. Here was the same thing! Not only did I get to listen to the government radio of exotic foreign countries, but I had a whole half a world of "bad guys" to listen to, just like the grown ups had thirty years before!
Naturally I gave names to the various Commie announcers. The two most common English language announcers on Radio Moscow I named Moscow Mildred and Leningrad Larry. Radio Havana Cuba had three: Havana Hannah, Santiago Sam, and Cuba Clyde. It was all so magical.
And there was something else as well . . . that wonderful time signal broadcast continuously from the National Bureau of Standards in Fort Collins, Colorado--an obsessive-compulsive's dream!
Then after I graduated from high school I decided I wanted a better radio. I found one in a mail order catalogue . . . a ten band beauty with two short wave bands. Homina-homina-homina!!! I enjoyed that radio so much over the decades. I kept it by my bed so I could listen to it at any time, though of course it was portable. The only problem was that two short wave bands, like the one I had access to previously, wasn't enough. It didn't have the whole spectrum. There were stations out there I couldn't get or couldn't find. Plus my beloved time signal immigrated across the band and at times disappeared completely.
I dreamed of a humongous digital receiving set that could get everything, even the broadcasts of Irish anarchists on a ship at sea whose broadcaster had to be turned off intermittently to keep it from melting down. Well, I was poor and couldn't afford the coveted Grundigs or any such thing. It was just me and my ten band for thirty years (and the old analogue dial slipped a lot and at times couldn't even access everything it should have).
Before going further, I would like to reminisce just a little bit about those stations and those broadcasts.
Voice of America was important to me because I could actually listen to exotic foreign languages I had only read of before, languages my parents had never heard spoken in their lives. There would be the "ding" at the top (or bottom) of the hour followed by a voice saying "This is the Voice of America; the following program is in [fill in the blank]." Wow.
And straight out of World War II was AFRTS, the American Forces Radio and Television Service.
Deutsche Welle was important because it represented a country that not too long ago had been an enemy, but was now an ally. I really enjoyed their 65 minute programs, especially the feature with Larry Wayne, Deutsche Welle's answer to Paul Harvey. And at the end of each of his programs he would always close by saying "with regards from Jezzy, the Cat What Am!" Unfortunately they eventually cut back to just twenty minutes and Larry Wayne and Jezzy were gone.
Sunday nights meant "Happy Station" on Radio Nederland hosted by the redoubtable Tom Meijer. "Happy Station" had begun way back in 1928 with Eddie Startz and was one of the oldest and longest-lasting programs in broadcasting history.
Albania was one of the most isolated and repressive countries on the world under the heel of the unlamented Enver Hoxha (the only country to actually make the worship of G-d a crime), but their signal came in loud and clear. I recall one time the announcer chirping that in Albania "the socialist spring is blooming with all the colors of the rainbow."
HCJB and Family Radio WYFR often carried the old gospel dramatic program "Unshackled." Does anyone else remember that? HCJB also had a program called "The Cracker Barrel" where they read viewer mail.
And of course for many years I was a regular listener (especially on Shabbat and holidays) of Qol Yisra'el, the Voice of Israel.
My QSL card collection (which I still have) is small, but I was very proud of it. I got cards from Qol Yisra'el, HCJB, Radio Nederland's "Family Radio," the Voice of Turkey, Radio Japan, Radio Australia (famous for having gone completely broke at one time), the Voice of Spain, Deutsche Welle, and various other stations (I'm sure I've forgotten several). I had two rules though: I never sent for a card to a Communist or an Arab station.
Other Communist stations I picked up other than those I have mentioned included Radio Peking (yes, that was actually its name at the time), Radio Prague, Radio Sofia, Radio Budapest, Radio Kiev, and Radio Vilnius. I never did find Radio Berlin International (the East German station). One time I actually picked up Qaddafi's Radio Jamahiriya ("the voice of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya") for a few days.
Other exotic stations I picked up were the Voice of Spain, Swiss Radio International, RAI (Italy), Radio Japan, Portugal, the Voice of Turkey, Radio Cairo, Radio RSA (South Africa from Johannesburg), the Voice of Free China (via WYFR in Okeechobee, Florida), and the Pinochet-era Voice of Chile (great music!).
In the early years of this millennium I finally achieved my dream of getting a digital short wave receiver that actually had the entire short wave spectrum on it. Unfortunately, the Internet was already cutting into international shortwave broadcasting as the medium by which governments propagandized each other.
What brought this whole post on was the fact that half a year ago I noticed that my valiant little digital radio was giving forth distorted sounds. It had been around a long time, so I guess it certainly had the right. I tried to find someone who could fix it, but the regular repairman had gone out of business and the people at the local ham club (no, I'm not a member) said that the little radio's time had come and gone. I knew I had to have another one, so I just last month ordered and received its replacement. It's the exact same model it is replacing, which is the cheapest model to cover the entire shortwave spectrum. Unfortunately, international broadcasting on shortwave is now only a shadow of its former self. Even that old stand-by HCJB closed down years ago to be replaced by a series of local AM stations.
Radio Canada International and Swiss Radio International are Internet-only. BBC and Deutsche Welle no longer broadcast to North America. Radio Moscow went out of existence twenty-three years ago. The Cold War is over everywhere except domestically. It's almost all over. I can't even find VOA on the radio any more, much less AFRTS.
A few stations remain. Radio Havana Cuba and China Radio International keep perking on. I can now pick up Radio Hanoi. I even got the Czech Republic the other night. Radio Australia, the station that became famous for going broke, is still around. I got the Voice of Turkey as well as Greece, though Greece is always in Greek.
Nowadays shortwave is primarily the home of religious stations and Alex Jones conspiracy types. The first shortwave station I picked up on my new radio was someone in a thick African (I think) accent claiming that the Jesuits run the CIA. But even so, without a shortwave receiving set available to me, my life is simply not complete. Especially since I can now pick up my beloved time signal and practically any time of the night or day, no matter where it migrates to!
Well . . . these are simply my nostalgic musings about the golden age of Cold War shortwave radio brought about by my having to get a new set. I hope maybe a few of you who had the same experience will consider sharing your experiences as well. -_-
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I don’t think I’ve listened to WPGC since Harv Moore left.
-JT
Ah yes, I fondly remember WPGC AM and FM Morningside.
I remember Harv Moore the guy next door.
I remember how WPGC AM had to sign off at sunset. Then you would have to switch to FM if you wanted to continue listening. The two stations were simulcast as you know.
Back in those days, our car radios only had an AM radio. So if we were in the car at sundown, we would have to change the station when WPGC went off the air for the night.
yes, I remember the WWV time signals. The reason that the town’s ended about 20 seconds before the top of the minute was so the stion could put in their time announcements. WWV had their time announcement at 53 and a half seconds before the top of the minute. But their sister station in Hawaii, WWVH, did theirs first at 46 seconds to the minute. on days and nights when you get really good short wave propagation, you can hear both stations make their time announcements. WWVH uses a female voice and WWV uses a male voice. That’s how you tell them apart. Also at the minute before the top of the hour, WWVH does their station identification, and at the top of the hour WWV does theirs.
Then there was CHU in Canada, that would alternate the announcements between English and French.
Radio Tirane was omnipresent. As I said before, I've never picked up North Korea.
When I first started listening, Mao was still alive. Their station was called "Radio Peking" back then (none of this "Beijing" nonsense; that came later). I don't remember a great deal of the programming, but I do recall a segment on some sort of operation that could restore sight to the blind. They quoted one patient as saying "to Chairman Mao and socialism, we owe our thanks."
I also remember a "revolutionary folk song" entitled Joy of Emancipation.
I was fortunate to have as a kid the two best hobbies for learning about the world: Stamp Collecting and Shortwave Radio.
Yes...and a couple of times, I even got JJY,
the Japanese time signal.
“...”folk songs” about Fidel and Che . . . the lousy Commies!”
The English Radio Havana music 1/2 hour always featured “so-and-so and his typical Cuban orchestra”.
I didn’t know until recently that “La Bayamesa” the Cuban national anthem was written in 1867. When they began the broadcast with it I assumed that in typical commie fashion the old one had been thrown out & a new one substituted.
One night Fidel ranted on for five full hours and that wasn’t his longest, either. And he still hasn’t croaked yet.....
I remember it well. On my old ten band, when WWV migrated off my dial, I could always get it.
They're still on, but ironically now they're the one who are hard to find.
I provided a sample of Radio Peking in #98. They even made the point of repeating Chairman Mao’s quote, twice!
After enlisting in the Navy in 1968, I found that I enjoyed communication, and especially cryptology. This dated back to my earlier interest in puzzle solving, especially anything where one letter or symbol was used to represent another ...kinda the basis for the Enigma Machine in WWII.
I opted not to go to cryptology school (in Pensecola, FL) and settled for radioman (San Diego, CA). Served on two aircraft carriers (USS Oriskany, USS Ranger) and did three tours off the coast of Viet Nam. Yes, I was part of the "Tonken Gulf Yacht Club," along with Jim Robinson.
When I got out of the service in 1971 I lost all interest in communication and radio (other than the AM radio in my 1968 Dodge Coronet) and moved on with my life. Then an engineer friend of mine at work in around 1975 introduced me to a 1 watt tuna can radio he had built. From Northern California we were able to listen to ham radio operators in Portland, Oregon. Remember, this was 1 watt! (the typical light bulb is 60 or 75 watts). That was a distance of about 550-600 miles. I was hooked!!
I built my own tuna can receiver, and from that humble beginning I soon owned a Kenwood TS520 transceiver. Borrowing from my Navy days, I always preferred CW (continuous wave, or better known as morse code). Few people realize that Morse Code in transmitted mostly in English, so I was able to read messages from all over the world. At one time I could send and receive about 35 words per minute, so most messages were within my ability to copy and communicate.
I listened to stations from everywhere, especially 10 meter, 15 meter, and 20 meter. I collected hundreds of QSL cards from all over the world. I always preferred seeking out the weakest, often barely audible, stations, and avoided the 50,000 watt monstronsities that bled over in both directions!!
I eventually had to sell my radio when my business failed. It broke my heart to sell it, and I actually kicked one guy out of my house when he bad-mouthed Kenwood brand in order to get me to lower the price! Ha! Talk about brand loyalty!
Anyway, its all a memory now, except when I go to the Phoenix Science museum where they have a full-blown operational ham radio station. I love to impress them with my "keying" skills, as few of them actively use morse code (evidently, no longer required for ham radio license).
Well, that's my story. Nice to share on a 4th of July holiday.
Yes, I did some stamp collecting and coin collecting too.
Two other hobbies which young people today just don’t seem to have much interest in.
I remember back in my day, you could still find Buffalo nickels and Mercury dimes in circulation, and you could find them in pocket change. It was possible to assemble a nice collection of the coins then. Not sure you could do the same today, in terms of collecting many years past of old coins today.
They didn't change the Cuban flag either.
One night Fidel ranted on for five full hours and that wasn’t his longest, either. And he still hasn’t croaked yet.....
Ah yes . . . I remember hearing some of those speeches.
That's funny, I also collected stamps and coins as a kid. I had a 6th grade teacher who owned vending machines on the side. He had us help him go through the change from the vending machines to find buffalo nickles and mercury dimes (which, he kept for himself!). But that gave me the bug. As you suggest, he made a LOT of money collecting coins. He gave up teaching and opened a stamp/coin store and then two minature golf courses, one in Hawaii!
We stayed friends for almost ten years, well in to my teen years. He finally sold everything and moved to Hawaii. And to think, I helped sort the coins that made his move possible. Ha!!
“The first was station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes in Quito, Ecuador (a Protestant missionary station). Then came the Voice of America . . . Radio Canada International . . . BBC World Service . . . and then I discovered the really exotic stuff—Radio Moscow . . . Radio Havana Cuba . . . Swiss Radio International . . . Deutsche Welle . . . Radio Nederland Wereldemroep . . . Swiss Radio International . . . “
Built my first Heathkit shortwave in 66’. When I got a QSL card from Radio Moscow my father had a serious talk with me, I believed he thought I’d become a commie. When I got the one from Radio Havana................
Yep. I can't do hobbies right now, but I have one. I won't have antenna-stringing opportunities after I move, so I'll have to come up with something inventive.
Radio Cairo was interesting, the first day of the war they had wiped out the IAF and were on the outskirts to Tel Aviv. The following days all they played was martial music.
Sounds like the Germans, as the end neared.
That's a beautiful story. Unfortunately I have no such skills (or skills of any kind, unfortunately). To actually make one's own radio and use it to get QSL cards is quite an accomplishment. (One college buddy had a private radio station in his dorm room.)
I've always been in love with international broadcasting, but I have no technical knowledge of radio. However, it's always fascinating to read people who do.
I don't know if you've ever heard this, but the reason Freeman Fisher Gosden ("Amos" on the original radio version of "Amos 'n' Andy") got into broadcasting was because he had been involved in radio in the army during World War I.
Is Morse code even used at all these days?
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