Remember Early Country Radio AM ?

Paul Graupp · From: Macon Ga USA

Some of my earliest musical experiences were
associated with AM radio. I was wondering if others shared these listening moments with me. It was before TV and before FM. The 30s and early forties mainly but some thereafter as well. Everyone has heard the legend of folks glued to the radio to hear the Grand Ole Opry. Most of these people were considerable distances away from Nashville and received the programs via the ionospheric skip mode. The signal would fade in and out and it added a special sensation to the music.

In the 60s there was a pop record that sent
the singers voice to England to capture that effect and there was a very haunting flow to that record. This is how we heard the country music of those times. There was a whole culture of faraway radio stations that were listened to.

Some famous ones I used to watch for were: WJJD in Chicago; KMOX in St Louis; WOAI in San Antonio; WWVA in Wheeling and WRVA in Richmond; WCKY in Cincinatti and of course, WSM in Nashville. Once I was leaving Nashville for St Louis and as the Opry started to fade out, I tweeked my radio tuning. I heard a strange echoed version of the program and it took awhile to figure out what was going on. WSM is on 650kHz and WMAQ Chicago was on 670kHz. I had fined tuned onto 660 and since WMAQ was taking an NBC feed to the show and transmitting it as well, I was receiving a blend of both stations. Since the distance traveled in each case was different, I had my first experience with echo/reverb.

Early one morning on the way to work, I heard Ralph Emory bidding farewell to a fellow DJ in Dallas, Charlie and I've forgotten his last name. I tuned to the Dallas Ft Worth station and heard Charlie and then back to 650 and listended to Ralph. You could do that with AM but not nowadays with FM. It just seemed like a more personable time with the music and DJs on the AM stations of those times.

You got a good sense of personal identity from this listening method. You could feel the geography as well as the music. You got a little of history as well because the first station was KDKA Pittsburg, east of the Mississippi which later became the line for asssigning call letters to the new radio stations. East were Ws and west were Ks. But
there are still a few exceptions to this such as KYW in Philadelphia and WOAI in San Antonio.

And who can forget those monster stations across the border in Mexico that blasted the music into Canada and some say, around the world. XERF and XEG come to mind. Country
music was the format so I guess it was in demand. The things they sold are another complete discussion. Regards, Paul

Bill Crook · From: Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance

Ah,yes.....

I do remember tunning into WSM early in the wee hours of the morning. I was in the service,stationed many miles and countrys from my hometown of Nashville. It was a part of my way of staying in touch with home,the wife(as she would often dedicate a song to me) and Country Music.

Many of you proberly don't remember that station WLAC (at that time-frame) also was a very strong Country Music station. It,like WSM was a "Clear Channel" station. Could be heard all over the world.

Thankx for the memories.....

Blake Hawkins · From: Florida

Yes, Paul, I share your feelings for those stations and programs. I grew up in Georgia and Alabama listening to those stations, plus WWL in New Orleans and WSB in Atlanta.
It was a sad day when our government broke up the clear channel stations and provided us with the congested mess that is AM radio today. However, in a few years even that will be gone when the government mandated digital radio goes into effect. That could happen as early as 2006. It's still a bit of a political football so I'm not sure exactly when it will happen.
Blake

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

"Some famous ones I used to watch for were: WJJD in Chicago;"

OH Paul my dear man, you just made 50 yrs of my life go back. Wow. I listend to WJJD in Chicago with Randy Blake (and "The Supper Time Frolic"), the DJ for 4 years from '46 thru '49. Wow! What memories.

Randy was one of radio's pioneer "hard selling" type of DJ's. And NO recordings at all, except for the records which were mighty scarce

. He did it all by himself! I used to get so frustrated with his doing a commercial I could scream.

One time I actually timed him doing a commercial for 27 minutes between to 3 minute records. Never wanted to choke someone to death as a kid as him. Course it was not him. But I did not know it at the time

He was an Eddy Arnold feind and I was a Little Roy Wiggins feind, so I would sit for hours thru those abominable commercials to here Little Roy Wiggins with Eddy's accompanyment

I would try my best to figure out how Roy did all he did.

Gee Paul I have not thought about that in years and years.

Thank you man. I too could not get the Grand Ole Opry in Chicago because of WMAQ. But I had listened to it in the early 40's when we lived in Tampa. Nowadays, there is a powerful Cuban station that just about wipes it out down there, I understand. Cuba does not honor the US "clear channel" laws I am told.

Speaking of "skip" in the ionosphere. It is indeed remarkable how one can hear a radio signal 1000's of miles away so LOUD and CLEAR when the skip is just right. And when it's not right you could not pull it in if you had all the tea in china

God bless ya Paul,

carl

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

This is an interesting thread, but it belongs in the Music section.

(I too go back to WCKY and WJJD, along with WWVA Wheeling Jamboree and the WRVA Richmond Jamboree. WSM is still going but it's not the same since, as Blake noted, they did away with the clear channels.

I'm moving this to the Music section.

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