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Radio stations that are "chestnuts"/anomalies

jp1996

jp1996

What is a radio station, either in your area or one that you know of nationally, that is an anomaly? Could be for the programming they play, various personalities they have, types of music they play, or something entirely different. I know for my neck of the woods, a station that many here have talked about is that of WBRF 98.1 in Galax, Virginia.......100,000 watt blowtorch that sounds and is run like a thousand-watt daytimer. But that uniqueness is why I love it so!

For nationally, my vote would be for WGCY in Gibson City, IL.......the last (I believe?) commercial station in the United States that still remains with a beautiful music/easy listening format
 
1630 KCJJ in Iowa City, they run live and local talk and Hot AC and are involved with the community, plus stream online and on YouTube. They do great live storm coverage, and Captain Steve has been on air for around 60 years. He has great stories about meeting John Landecker at WLS, being on the Ken & Bob show on KABC as “Stupid Steve”, getting puked on by Stevie Nicks, going for donuts with Linda Ronstadt after working a show she did, etc. and it’s always fun to listen to him. He really focuses on serving the Iowa City community. There aren’t any other live and local AM stations licensed to Iowa City, and none playing Hot AC music.
 
jp1996 said:
For nationally, my vote would be for WGCY in Gibson City, IL.......the last (I believe?) commercial station in the United States that still remains with a beautiful music/easy listening format
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I would love to be able to listen to this, but there doesn't seem to be such a thing as an online Kiwi SDR for the FM band (only for SW/MW/LW), and of course they don't have a live stream.

Streaming is so simple to do nowadays, I bet all one would need to do is take the OTA signal from a decent radio and pipe it into a computer running IceCast or whatever.

c
 
cc333 said:
Streaming is so simple to do nowadays, I bet all one would need to do is take the OTA signal from a decent radio and pipe it into a computer running IceCast or whatever.
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Technically it's easy. Being legal about it is another story altogether. A major cost for a broadcaster. Here's an introduction to the rabbit hole:
www.soundexchange.com

Licensing 101

Please feel free to explore the information below as an educational resource for current and prospective statutory licensees.
www.soundexchange.com www.soundexchange.com

Dave B.
 
DaveBayArea said:
Technically it's easy. Being legal about it is another story altogether. A major cost for a broadcaster. Here's an introduction to the rabbit hole:
www.soundexchange.com

Licensing 101

Please feel free to explore the information below as an educational resource for current and prospective statutory licensees.
www.soundexchange.com www.soundexchange.com

Dave B.
Click to expand...
Oh, yeah. Right....

BUT, there's nothing stopping an individual who lives within range of the station from getting a radio, tuning it in, and sending it to a private, password-protected, by-invitation-only stream, is there?

c
 
Most stations I stream from Canada seem like anomalies, but that is due to Cancon and quite common there. They probably would sound like US stations if not for that. It would be curious to know the owners' thoughts on it.
 
cc333 said:
Oh, yeah. Right....

BUT, there's nothing stopping an individual who lives within range of the station from getting a radio, tuning it in, and sending it to a private, password-protected, by-invitation-only stream, is there?

c
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It might be technically illegal. IANAL. But there's a boatload of SDR's around that pretty much do just that and I haven't heard of any of them receiving cease-and-desist orders. Likely the cost to chase this sort of thing is higher than the potential reward they would get by charging fees.

Dave B.
 
cc333 said:
I would love to be able to listen to this, but there doesn't seem to be such a thing as an online Kiwi SDR for the FM band (only for SW/MW/LW), and of course they don't have a live stream.

Streaming is so simple to do nowadays, I bet all one would need to do is take the OTA signal from a decent radio and pipe it into a computer running IceCast or whatever.

c
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WGCY streamed 24/7 until a couple of years ago, dropping the service when the music license fees jumped, I believe. It still streams local high school sports.
 
Ah, that's too bad.

Maybe they will reestablish it (with the EZ Listening format) at some point. Perhaps with some listener donations?

c
 
Humboldt County, California has an entire cluster of them:

93.1/94.5 KSLG - a new music/indie/alt station that plays more new tracks in a week than KROQ in a year.
94.1 KLGE - a "lounge" music format
100.3/102.7 KWPT - a "classic hits" station that goes deep into albums
104.7 KHUM - a "freeform" Triple A - but much more eclectic than average. On live shifts, DJs have complete control.

Also in CA:

KMMT Mammoth Lakes - another new music/alt station
KPIG Freedom - iconic "Americana" outlet

Other Alt/Modern stations that aren't in the iHeart/Audacy style:

WEQX Manchester, VT - independently owned and new music heavy, excellent specialty features
WWCD Columbus, OH - also independently owned, and the third version of the heritage station for alt in Columbus
 
Most unusual station in my travels has been WXJK in Farmville, VA. Classic rock that’s programmed almost like a 70’s progressive rocker. Lots of live tracks…and peppered in several times per day is the owner preaching from the Bible.

They stream last time I checked. Not many (if any) commercials and the ones you get come immediately after the TOH ID.

I don’t know how David Layne and his family keep it from running in the red, but last time I checked he lived at and owns the studio/transmitter shack/tower.
 
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cc333 said:
I would love to be able to listen to this, but there doesn't seem to be such a thing as an online Kiwi SDR for the FM band (only for SW/MW/LW), and of course they don't have a live stream.

Streaming is so simple to do nowadays, I bet all one would need to do is take the OTA signal from a decent radio and pipe it into a computer running IceCast or whatever.

c
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There are Global Tuners that will get FM, but not as many, DXers here have mentioned in in Pennsylvania pretty often
 
WCNL 1010 Newport, NH (with translator W234BN 94.7 Claremont) has a hybrid format of classic and contemporary country along with what it calls "crossover" music. The classic country ranges from the '50s through the '00s, the contemporary includes songs currently on the Billboard chart. The crossover? Well, that could be anything from CCR's "Lodi" to the Band's "The Weight" to Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind," which just happens to be playing now. The songs that preceded it were Waylon Jennings' Dukes of Hazzard theme and Brooks and Dunn's "Lost and Found."

Add to the mix a feisty, locally oriented morning show (nearly all talk) hosted by the station's general manager (and former Mayor of Newport) and a hilariously primitive website (link below) and you have a real unicorn of a station. The only negative is that much of the day is a jockless jukebox. There are a few specialty shows on weekends, including bluegrass and southern gospel, though.

Here's WCNL's website, complete with bizarre URL:

HOME | wcnlwebsite

dunebugg66.wixsite.com dunebugg66.wixsite.com
 
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I work for 2 that would be considered anomalies.. but i'll mention 1.

Hits 106 KLMI Rock River(Laramie, WY). Stand alone 50kw FM owned by one guy, whos younger than me (and im 39) hes had it 12 years, his station and his alone, sole owner. Moved into owned office space a year ago after renting for 10 years or so.

We're typically labeled as AC, but I lovingly refer to us, off air, among friends as "a locally programmed AC Variety/Jack FM on Crack". I've had Bruce Springteen and some pop tune in the same music set. I've had Justin Beiber into Gloria Gaynor or as seen here, from today.. Lizzo into Barry White.

We play nothing too hard/rocky, soft or slow..... if you look at our playlist over a day, we play country, pop, a little alt-ish and we've even played christian artist Lauren Daigle and NeedToBreathe. We go for what is overall, an up beat mainstream AC sound.

We dont just talk the talk, we walk the walk with saying we are involved in and do stuff for/with the community, year round. We are very promotionally active with giveaways and contests year round.

And when shit goes to pot, we are there. When a freak May snowstorm knocked out power to over 1/3 of the citys 30,00 people at 1030pm, who was at the studio on generator powr in his PJs and on the air? The owner. I was on social media posting pictures and updates there.

We have a silence sensor.. after 5 seconds of dead air, the automation will auto advance to the next playlist item and text the owner. We have an auto start generator for the studio. We have a battery back up for the main transmitter site FM exciter to main COL coverage. We have a battery back up for our on channel booster, KLMI-FM1.

and because of the time difference between AK and Wy, ive had stuff on air like breaking news (missing kid, fire, etc) at 11pm or midnight when others at the company are asleep)





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seattlesarchiebunker said:
Most unusual station in my travels has been WXJK in Farmville, VA. Classic rock that’s programmed almost like a 70’s progressive rocker. Lots of live tracks…and peppered in several times per day is the owner preaching from the Bible.

They stream last time I checked. Not many (if any) commercials and the ones you get come immediately after the TOH ID.

I don’t know how David Layne and his family keep it from running in the red, but last time I checked he lived at and owns the studio/transmitter shack/tower.
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I'll have to check this one out!

BTW, speaking of Farmville-does any trace of WFLO remain?
 
gr8oldies said:
WDVX, Knoxville, a Noncom with a mostly Americana format. The unique part especially is the daily lunchtime concerts at the Visitors Center.
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That sounds like something I would enjoy! Although the aforementioned WBRF broadcasts their own music show every Friday night from the Rex Theater in Galax, I would love it if they broadcast some of the jams that go on at the Blue Ridge Music Center on the Parkway.
 
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