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The Time Honoured Practice Of “Local DXing” On Road Trips
Have you ever been on a road trip and listened to your favourite radio station until it fades out for good? One talk show host was talking about that very thing on Friday, as he prepared to take a weekend drive out of town.
The problem is trying to scan the dial for something else to listen to if you want to stick with broadcast radio. Finding a new station to listen to is great until that one inevitably disappears, too.
I remember when I was a kid and my parents drove my family to Florida during school Christmas breaks, I’d be siting in the back seat with a transistor radio, trying desperately to see what I could get in a new town, and it became especially interesting by the time we reached states like Tennessee, Georgia and Florida itself discovering radio I couldn't possibly get at night back home.
I still remember great Top 40 stations like WOLF in Orlando, WNOX in Nashville and WQAM in Miami, the station that supposedly inspired Allan Waters to change CHUM’s format to rock, starting the beginning of a Canadian radio empire.
Streaming has sadly ended the practice for many. But it was a great time for those of us who became, in effect, “local DXers,” during those very long drives that took days to finish.
I hadn’t thought of it in years until I heard someone mention it on the air. Did anyone else do this?
- mace
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Re: The Time Honoured Practice Of “Local DXing” On Road Trips
Oh definiely. Summer of 1969. We were headed to Quebec City where I couldn't find any English stations, let alone top 40. After dark, Cousin Brucie was always available. But on our way we stopped for the evening in Cornwall. I heard top 40 on 1050. Couldn't be CHUM, It was too clear. Turned out to be the long silenced WYBG Massena, NY.
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Re: The Time Honoured Practice Of “Local DXing” On Road Trips
I also collected charts along the way, if we stopped at a mall somewhere. Here's a few of them from a very long time ago. 
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Thread Starter- Evuguy
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Re: The Time Honoured Practice Of “Local DXing” On Road Trips
Yes. As a young teen I would be in the back seat with my radio-cassette and recording what I heard on FM along the way. Ditto for hotel rooms. Was surprised to hear stations that sounded just like Rock 102. Little did I know at the time that it was a syndicated format. Most interesting were plane trips, listening to FM stations fade in and out within minutes. This was before some airlines banned the use of radios onboard. And yes, I always had the window seat.
- Chrisphen
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Re: The Time Honoured Practice Of “Local DXing” On Road Trips
Just returned from a trip to the Maritimes. Our car's radio is perhaps emblematic of modern enshittification. There's no granular tuning - only entering direct frequencies, or scanning. AM sound quality is garbage.
I scanned the FM band at various points and the results were mostly unremarkable. Local commercial radio, occasional college/community stations and Corpse in various languages.
- Saul
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Re: The Time Honoured Practice Of “Local DXing” On Road Trips
Chrisphen wrote:
Just returned from a trip to the Maritimes. Our car's radio is perhaps emblematic of modern enshittification. There's no granular tuning - only entering direct frequencies, or scanning. AM sound quality is garbage.
I scanned the FM band at various points and the results were mostly unremarkable. Local commercial radio, occasional college/community stations and Corpse in various languages.
I was just in Halifax, Cape Breton and Bay of Fundy and did very quick local bandscans from the motels, really just to capture PI codes from RDS and to check accuracy of data in the WTFDA database. No skip was noted during the two weeks I was there in mid-late June. I largely concur with your observation; nothing terribly exciting or different from the Ontario band. The best music I heard there was live (ceilidh).