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SOWNY » AM FM signal distance » August 18, 2025 1:12 pm |
Not sure what happened in the years that followed. I heard CKDO-1580 and CHHA-1610 a couple of weeks back, here in Edmonton on my Qodosen SX-286 pocket radio, for the first time in several years.
SOWNY » AM FM signal distance » August 18, 2025 10:13 am |
Early in 2007, I used to listen on a PT Cruiser car radio to 1580 at night here in Edmonton, when CKDO first moved to 1580. Great signal and great Oldies, especially after midnight Eastern time when the CanCon disappeared.
SOWNY » My Pet Peeve: Alleged ... » August 13, 2025 6:29 pm |
RadioActive wrote:
You'd never hear "alleged murder."
Well, the wording is different but the meaning is the same, though admittedly it sometimes covers other situations, too: "Police are treating the Death as Suspicious".
SOWNY » Wasn't It CHUM That Aired "The History Of Rock & Roll" In Toronto? » August 11, 2025 7:36 pm |
Former CHUM Newsman Ed Mason listened to Chuck Dann on CKY and followed him to KOMA. Ed was still in his hometown of Flin Flon, Manitoba, at the time.
SOWNY » Be Careful If Visiting Buffalo Radio Discussions Site » August 11, 2025 12:02 pm |
Not sure if it can lock a browser, but accepting Notifications from ANY site can certainly threaten to and ask you to phone an 800 number to resolve. Saw something similar around this time last year on a friend's computer, caused by a Notification on a small town buffet restaurant web site (he was checking the menu).
SOWNY » Wasn't It CHUM That Aired "The History Of Rock & Roll" In Toronto? » August 10, 2025 5:30 pm |
I just checked the Toronto Star from 1969 and CHUM did their own, while CKFH aired the version created at KHJ in Los Angeles. There was so much confusion at the time that they were advertised as "a chum history of rock and roll" and "The Original History of Rock and Roll" (CKFH).
Where I was at the time, KJR Seattle called theirs "The Story of Rock and Roll", contemplating another Seattle station would air the KHJ version, but it never happened, to the best of my knowledge. At least, not in 1969. As well as hearing KJR's, I also heard CKLG's.
SOWNY » Nice to hear… » August 9, 2025 5:28 pm |
I was an active DXer when Creeque Alley was a hit and I never heard one Top 40 DJ say "creaky". My point is: it seems to be an almost universal error by DJs, so I wouldn't knock Leatherby on such an obscure mistake.
SOWNY » Hey ex-radio types...do you still get "the dream"? » March 29, 2025 4:20 pm |
In December, I celebrated 50 years since my last "air shift". And I still get "The Dream".
SOWNY » 97-Year-Old Legendary Cdn. Radio Station May Go Silent Without Cash » October 26, 2024 8:20 pm |
As of Friday, they are three quarters of the way to their million dollar goal for the Fall Fund Raiser.
One of the efficiencies they have implemented is pretty drastic: no preventative maintenance on any of their 16 FM transmitters across Alberta. If a transmitter goes off the air, then they'll worry about it.
SOWNY » CKNX Television » April 18, 2024 12:15 pm |
Very interesting! I only knew of the early years of U.S. network radio where some Canadian stations, notably CKLW, were, for a time, affiliates of U.S. networks.
The early days of Canadian TV, before microwave networks were in place in the vast majority of the country, meant airing film delivered by Freight and broadcasting live and local.
SOWNY » Corus London » January 6, 2024 12:51 pm |
RadioQuiz wrote:
Curious. Did you ever find another gig where you were paid for 8 hours but didn't have to work them all?
Where do I apply?
Only place I got paid for 8 hours but didn't have to be in the building for the full 8 hours was at CBC Yellowknife in 1974. It was a NABET job and they openly violated the NABET contract by having you work 6-7 hours with no breaks, as the only person in the building, and paid you for 8 hours to ensure you didn't complain to the union.
SOWNY » CHLO 530 HD MIA? » September 26, 2023 7:55 am |
Forward Power wrote:
TheWiz wrote:
The big tower at 401 and 407 is AM 740. The signal is so strong that it interferes with 680 when driving nearby. Happens to me as well.
Also on that stick is CJBC 860, the CBC's French-language outlet, aka "Ici Radio-Canada Première".
Yes, the CBC was one of the first North American efforts to diplex. At the time, it was CBL-740 and CJBC-860. Late 1940s, as I remember reading it.
Very early diplex work was done in the South Pacific by Alan Roycroft during World War II. Alan was just starting triplexing in Honolulu in the late 1960s when he wrote me about it.
SOWNY » CHLO 530 HD MIA? » September 25, 2023 3:58 pm |
A DXer is reporting hearing traces of the HD encoding on CHLO-530 from his listening post in Montreal. Can anyone confirm or deny if CHLO has their HD IBOC/hybrid signal going again?
SOWNY » 1220 » November 5, 2021 2:59 pm |
RadioActive wrote:
Not sure if that's a record
Aboriginal Voices Radio CKAV-FM stations across Canada never got past Test Phase, in the sense of getting to the programming that they were licensed to provide. Second place would go to CFQR-600 Montreal, who is still in Test Phase as far as programming is concerned.
Never had it confirmed, but I assume the CFAJ is awaiting Industry Canada approval of what is undoubtedly a difficult directional pattern to get right, given the number of towers involved.
SOWNY » Audacity Software Warning » July 7, 2021 10:14 pm |
I haven't checked it out, but someone has taken Audacity and cloned it (legally, since Audacity is Open Source), without the alleged spyware portion:
As you can see, they call it Tenacity.
SOWNY » Changes At Global Out West. Does This Make Anyone Uneasy? » February 11, 2021 6:22 am |
Then is then and now is now, but in the 1990s when the CBC in Alberta ran Edmonton supper hour News as a simulcast of Calgary, and later completed reversed the process, it was a Ratings disaster, even though neither situation lasted very long. I'm not sure that they ever really recovered the viewers they lost with those two major mistakes.
SOWNY » Database Of Every RPM Chart From 1964-2000 Can Be Accessed Online » January 19, 2021 2:43 am |
I was really impressed with the all night show on CKFH, which I could only hear in Vancouver after 3:00 AM Monday mornings, when all the other stations on 1430 were off the air for transmitter maintenance. Probably 1968-69.
SOWNY » How TV Changed Forever Exactly 50 Years Ago Today » January 16, 2021 4:38 pm |
I had stopped watching all television a few years before this. But this show, I could not resist. For more than three years after, All in the Family was the only television that I watched.
SOWNY » Where Local GTA Radio Station Transmitters Are Located » September 20, 2020 2:41 am |
Great resource, but may not be updated much/anymore, as the first entry I looked up was nearly 10 years out of date: CJCA-930 Edmonton moved their transmitter to a new site in Devon almost 10 years ago. On the other hand, CFCW moved from 790 to 840 just a few years ago, and that new frequency is shown.
SOWNY » Longest On-Air Career? » August 8, 2019 8:49 pm |
Has there ever been anyone on the air longer than 73 years in Canada? CKUA (transmitters across Alberta) just lost Jack Hagerman, AKA The Old Disc Jockey, after 70 years with the station, having previously spent 3 years at CFQC in Saskatoon.
To the best of my knowledge, Jack was still updating his weekly Big Band programs up to his death earlier today. He stopped recording new programs some years back, but always wanted them to sound fresh and new, so would update some of his announcing in each show every time it aired.
Edmonton also has a retired Chief Engineer who should celebrate his 100th birthday very soon.
SOWNY » The Toronto Radio Dial In 1958 » March 25, 2018 12:31 pm |
This was the era of Big City Canadian newspapers increasing their circulation numbers by going after "nearby" areas. Listing local stations in those areas was a big part of it.
I don't have access to the Toronto Star from back then, but the Vancouver Sun produced multiple regional editions for different parts of British Columbia. Typically, only a few pages differed in one of the "back sections" of the paper, including the radio and TV listings, as well, of course, as the front page Masthead, which already changed for each edition (e.g. FIVE STAR FINAL).
The Star had huge ambitions back then. The Star Weekly was better known than Macleans in Vancouver when I was very young. In fact, I didn't initially know it was published by the Toronto Star. In my Vancouver suburb of East Burnaby, in the early 1960s, there was even a paperboy who sold and delivered the Star Weekly.
SOWNY » U.S. Station Discovers It's Been Operating Illegally - Since 2008! » February 26, 2018 1:52 am |
In 1974, UBC Radio did not get off as lightly for its "innocent mistake": when Carrier Current first required licensing by the CRTC, CYVR applied and continued broadcasting after the deadline. Punishment was 6 months off the air, after which, a license was finally issued by the CRTC.
SOWNY » Morning Drive Or All Night Show Question » February 26, 2018 1:43 am |
At my favourite job, I was 20 and had to be at work at 5:00 a.m. on Saturdays, 6:45 a.m. on Sundays, 4:15 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, and 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I didn't get paid for Monday and Tuesday, and left just after I got off the air at 6:00 p.m.
It just didn't make sense to get up at 3:45 a.m. every other morning just because I had to on Saturdays.
SOWNY » 1220 AM St. Catharines any action? » February 24, 2018 12:23 am |
The article talks about the station signing on in 1967. Not long after, a friend from Buffalo drove around St. Catharines at night and said that, in the West half of the City, CHSC reception was good. In the other half, WGAR Cleveland was dominant on 1220.
Ah, just checked Vane Jones log ("North American TV/Radio Station Guide") from 1968, and I see why: CHSC only ran 500 watts at night in those days, and had to protect WNIA-1230 located in a Buffalo suburb.
SOWNY » 1220 AM St. Catharines any action? » February 23, 2018 4:14 pm |
RadioActive wrote:
I thought I read they planned to use at least some of the existing CHSC facilities. Shouldn't that have allowed them to get on air faster? Or are they actually starting from scratch?
A fair analogy would be how much longer it takes to re-build a long-abandoned historical building than it would to bulldoze and start over. Not just from not being maintained, but mainly from having to meet today's building standards. One big example is asbestos: if you don't touch a building, you don't have to replace the asbestos. But many types of changes to an existing building would require that all the asbestos be removed.
A few years ago, CKUA-AM in Edmonton was faced with several million to get their transmitter site up to new Industry Canada standards, so they surrendered the license before the deadline for upgrades, and lived with the loss of coverage in areas not covered by their simulcast FM transmitters. Since we are talking about the same period of time, I suspect the CHSC transmitter site would not be allowed back on the air with the new Industry Canada rules likely mandatory by now. Who knows what changes to the studios might have triggered the requirement to meet current building code?
SOWNY » Toronto Vs. Buffalo & The Bigoted Shame Of Channel 2 » February 18, 2018 4:56 pm |
Even closer to our hearts is the late 1950s story of an inspiring young Black announcer in Edmonton who sent out audition tapes, and got a call from a station about 40 miles away. He drove there for the interview, but was not allowed past Reception when the interviewer, likely the PD, saw him face-to-face, so to speak. My assumption is that they were worried about him being on Remotes, which the station, to this day, is still famous for.
I first met his about 5 years ago when he introduced himself while two of us from the Edmonton Broadcasters Club were having a coffee break and passionately talking about Broadcasting. He has since joined the Club.
As for his career, that experience made him take a serious look at Reality, and he became an independent Electrician. But he always had to be prepared to have a White employee available when he would occasionally arrive on a new Job Site and be "rejected". He is in his late 70s now, still owns the business, but probably has not done any Electrical work in quite a few years.
SOWNY » ReelRadio To Bite The Dust » February 10, 2018 4:42 pm |
There was talk of a new President replacing the Founder, who is unable to continue for much longer due to medical issues. But the home page of reelradio.com now says: "THIS SITE WILL SHUT DOWN WHEN FUNDS ARE EXHAUSTED. WE CURRENTLY HAVE $6740."
It also notes that both Registrations and Donations are not currently being accepted.
SOWNY » Shaw Communcations launches voluntary buyout program » February 9, 2018 3:23 pm |
Having been a contractor at TELUS a few years after the first set of layoffs, when it was still Alberta Government Telephones (AGT), there was a huge contingent of folks in the 50-65 year old retirement window who realized that taking a buyout made more sense than waiting to retire. TELUS was smart though, never offering a buyout to more employees than they wanted to lose.
I know that Shaw has a lot of long-time employees, so this may be the reason for the larger than expected numbers accepting the buyout. If I read the numbers right, Shaw offered the buyout to almost half their employees!
SOWNY » ReelRadio To Bite The Dust » February 2, 2018 4:24 pm |
Fitz wrote:
Do you mean that people started to record what was on the sit and that Reel Radio's copyright costs went up due to that ?
Not sure what type of copyright licence they have but the Socan Licence that I have for my site is a flat rate fee every year, set up for not for profit web sites/radio stations. The fee does not increase with the number of users
Anyway sad if they shut down.
I agree with Jody. Real Audio is irritating and outdated but to convert to another system is probably too much for them at this point. What they could have done is start adding new files in another format.
The U.S. system is very different. reelradio must document every single song that anyone listens to in the course of listening to each aircheck, and the number of times it was "listened to" during a given month. There are several (three?) music rights associations that must be reported to and paid, on a per performance basis. I don't know the exact details
By the way, I spoke to SOCAN 15 years ago and they told me that their license only covers listeners in Canada. Legally, each country where a listener listens from in a given month or year, must have fees paid to their music licensing body. In practice, it is a liability issue in the sense that you need to be paying in whatever countries have a large number of listeners to your site's music.
I bring this up, because when reelradio was first looking at having to pay fees, the idea of moving the server to a country with no music licensing fees was floated, and shot down after my conversation with SOCAN.
As for RealAudio, that is the real job that lies ahead for anyone considering taking over reelradio. Go back to the original masters of each aircheck, digitize it all over again, and encode it to whatever current technology is decided upon. As a rule, no .wav files were kept from the original RealAudio, especially in the early years.
They have been encoding exhibits in mobile-friendly formats for s
SOWNY » ReelRadio To Bite The Dust » February 2, 2018 12:35 pm |
Because of the high costs to them (Rights payments for the music) of people who registered then went 24/7 with multiple streams, recording everything in sight, reelradio has halted registrations for a while now. If you weren't already registered, you cannot.
The likely "die date" is just after February 12th, the 22nd anniversary of the site. The site will be shut down completely then. It cannot be left unattended because someone has to report and pay all the music rights every month.
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