TheSamba.com :: View topic - Radio Nerds

Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:17 pm

What's up everybody?? I figured this would be appropriate because if you have a stock radio in your VW, it's probably AM!! I am lucky enough to live in Denver where we have a large selection of killer AM stations. Nothing like blasting Phoenix or some Buju Banton from your AM radio!!! Post up your favorite local stations, and maybe they have an online stream. Please refrain from telling me what station RUSH LIMBAUGH is on, his music sucks!!!! The best part about the AM stations, at least around here, is that they are COMMERCIAL FREE!!!!

Here's the few that I listen to,

oldies 950 AM
CU Boulder station 1190 AM
OpenAir Colorado Public Radio (indie and underground artists) 1340 AM
KGNU 1390 AM (reggae program, BBC world news, and Grateful Dead hour)

What's your favorite where you live??

Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:51 pm

My wife used to work for KHPN "the Giant of the front range" I think they were country back then. That was a while ago now.

Sun Feb 24, 2013 5:33 am

The only time I listen to a.m. Radio is when I'm camping at shows, or when the power goes out at home, I have a old a.m. radio that takes 6 c batteries, it reminds me of the past, simple times before MP3 players cell/smart phones ect.

Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:00 am

crukab wrote: The only time I listen to a.m. Radio is when I'm camping at shows, or when the power goes out at home, I have a old a.m. radio that takes 6 c batteries, it reminds me of the past, simple times before MP3 players cell/smart phones ect.

AM radio is the frequency of the future!!! Just wait....

Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:53 am

I'm a frequent listener of AM 710 Seattle sports talk radio, I can catch the Mariner and Seahawk games and I hope we get our Sonics back soon! 8)

Sun Feb 24, 2013 2:02 pm

We only have one AM station in town, 1400 KSPT,and it's almost exclusively conservative talk radio. But there are a few local political and business shows that can be interesting, and late at night I listen to Jim Bohannon and George Nori while working in the shop.

I like to scan the AM stations while I travel across the upper Midwest. Listening to old country songs and hearing the farm reports is a good way to pass the time while seeing Big Sky country and the Dakotas.

Sun Feb 24, 2013 2:54 pm

My bug doesn't have a radio so instead I use and old transistor radio. We have to keep swinging the antenna around to pull the signals out of the snow. :D

Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:08 pm

I started this thread a few years back, looking for a way to get better AM reception at home. Though not the same as this thread, it is applicable, maybe.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=419325&highlight=antenna

Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:09 pm

Hope you guy's don't mind an old fella's rambling about AM (and FM) radio.
I'm in my mid seventys now, rolling my '63 15 window bus. It just turned fifty years old earlier this month. The radio that's riding in it I actually bought new back in 1966 in my then new bug from Truman motors in El Cajon. Its a Sapphire IV AM/FM radio.
We still own the car and back in the 90's when I turned the bug over to my college age daughter she swapped the radio for a new pioneer unit.
I had the radio converted to 12 volts and put it in my bus where it's been ever since. By the way new in '66 a Sapphire IV ran 85 bucks.

Anyway, back in "the day", late sixtys, early seventies, I followed the FM dial
most of the time. I was and still am a big fan of blues and jazz. artists like
Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Ahmed Jamal, and groups like the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) and Dave Brubeck, to name a few, all on FM.
On the AM side of the house, it was all about "WOLFMAN JACK"! I was in the Navy then, served thirty years from 1957 to 1987 and I followed the WOLFMAN from his beginnings in Texas 'till he hit the big time in the '70's.

Probably not to many here remember him now. But for those that view the classic movie "AMERICAN GRAFITTI", you've got to have heard him.
He was the man! I had rear speakers in my bug with a system called vibra-sonic that gave them an echo effect. When the WOLFMAN got to howling you could hear him all over the street!

One memory I still have is, not long after picking up my new bug in June of '66, I took it in for a warranty oil change and valve set. It was a nice day, I had the sun roof open and the radio set to an FM station when I drove in to Truman Motors.
A while later, upon leaving the dealership, I turned the radio back on, and instead of the station I had previously tuned into, I was listening to some of the most beautifull Spanish guitar music I'd ever heard, probably coming out of nearby Mexico. I guess whoever had worked on my car was Mexican or at least into the music.
At any rate I always thought if I ever had run into him I would have thanked him. I set one of my "buttons" to that station and continued to follow it for the time I remained in southern California until transferring away on Navy orders.
This many years later, and
Living here in the Pacific NorthWest I miss that Guitar music, and of course,
WOLFMAN JACK. But the memorys still bring a smile.

Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:49 am

Nice story Mr Mike! 8)

I forget what the exact number but the only AM station I listen too is when the Red Sox are on.

I do have an old Blaupunkt Head Unit in my bus. It lights up, all the dials works and came with all the original wires. Only problem is it's AM only and I can't find an AM/FM antenna for my bus.

Anyone know where to get an AM/FM antenna for a 68-79 bay?

Mon Apr 24, 2023 8:48 am

AM radio being obsoleted by manufacturers

https://www.theverge.com/23633932/am-radio-discontinue-ford-tesla-markey-fema-fcc

Mon Apr 24, 2023 9:00 am

I live in a remote area and very few FM stations reach us. AM is the only real choice here. For some reason (I am not an electronics engineer) FM does not have the range that AM does.

Mon Apr 24, 2023 10:24 am

oprn wrote: I live in a remote area and very few FM stations reach us. AM is the only real choice here. For some reason (I am not an electronics engineer) FM does not have the range that AM does.

Different wavelength and different propagation.

Mon Apr 24, 2023 10:42 am

1340 in Grand Junction is Sports-Radio

660 KTNN (I think), is the voice of the Navajo Nation, and it is strong. I listen to it all over the place, when traveling.

640 KFI.....they used to be music. AS in, "I'm riding in her car, we turn on the radio (On KFI, it was "we turn on KFI", they had their own version) and when we kiss, my balls are on FIRE." (My version). You used to be able to get it in Phoenix.

1520? KOMA, we used to be able to get it near Lukeville, AZ, and the Papago Res. Then, it switched to talk radio.

Mon Apr 24, 2023 12:40 pm

If you are a deeply serious radio nerd, you owe it to yourself to check out Mr. Carlson's Lab on YouTube.
I've never seen more test equipment in one place and it appears he has the largest collection of tubes in the world!

https://www.youtube.com/@MrCarlsonsLab

Mon Apr 24, 2023 12:47 pm

My local AM is no longer broadcasting on AM. They switched the programming over to one of their FM frequencies. So for now, unless it is dark out with clear skies, I get nothing at all on the AM dial.

Mon Apr 24, 2023 1:45 pm

cdennisg wrote: My local AM is no longer broadcasting on AM. They switched the programming over to one of their FM frequencies. So for now, unless it is dark out with clear skies, I get nothing at all on the AM dial.
Our local AM did the same thing. Apparently the FCC had some deal with stations switching over to FM. But their power is limited. One of the DJ’s told me this. The station is in my town and broadcast oldies from three locations. I love the format, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. If they play 80’s it’s rock, not Madona or Paula Abdul.

Mon Apr 24, 2023 5:16 pm

NJ John wrote: cdennisg wrote: My local AM is no longer broadcasting on AM. They switched the programming over to one of their FM frequencies. So for now, unless it is dark out with clear skies, I get nothing at all on the AM dial.
Our local AM did the same thing. Apparently the FCC had some deal with stations switching over to FM. But their power is limited. One of the DJ’s told me this. The station is in my town and broadcast oldies from three locations. I love the format, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. If they play 80’s it’s rock, not Madona or Paula Abdul.

Yes, I forgot to add the fact that the FM broadcast barely makes it out of town. Can't listen if you you're 10 miles away. With AM, depending on weather, you could listen 50-60 miles from the tower, sometimes further.

Tue Apr 25, 2023 8:36 am

cdennisg wrote: My local AM is no longer broadcasting on AM. They switched the programming over to one of their FM frequencies. So for now, unless it is dark out with clear skies, I get nothing at all on the AM dial.

Wow! Really? In Spokane I listen to AM radio every morning still. Our FM signals seem to reach almost into Montana before we lose them but maybe there's repeaters from town to town?

We have two or three FM stations that also broadcast on the AM side which is neat because I can listen to them on the old VW am radio. There's not many AM stations left here that play music anyways.

Tue Apr 25, 2023 8:39 am

In LA area, it's all talk and Spanish music. But I still listen to Dodger games on the local station when I'm not at home...