Tag Archives: Bill Tilford

Last ‘From the Isle of Music’ from WBCQ on March 3, 2024

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who notes:

The last broadcast of From the Isle of Music from WBCQ The Planet will be March 3 from 2200-2300 UTC on 7490 kHz.

He mentions that there simply hasn’t been the support from listeners in North America to continue broadcasting via WBCQ, thus listeners may need to use a WebSDR in order to listen to the regular broadcasts from Europe. Bill also notes:

The last episode will be a killer Cuban dance party – I am going out with a bang, not a whimper.

We look forward to tuning in! Thank you, Bill, for your dedicated music services over shortwave!

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From The Isle of Music returns August 6, 2023!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following announcement:

From The Isle of Music, the best cuban music program produced outside of Cuba, returns as a monthly Sunday, August 6 on WBCQ The Planet, 7490 kHz from 6pm-7pm EDT (2200-2300 UTC). It will air the first Sunday of each month, sharing the day/time with Julio Cesar Pereira’s Ginga Brasil!, which will air the second and fourth weeks, and Uncle BIll’s Melting Pot, which will air the third week. When there is a fifth Sunday in a month, that will feature Doug Feldmann’s Comedy Favorites.
This return episode of From The Isle of Music will feature selections from new recordings recognized in Cubadisco 2023.

William “Bill” Tilford, Owner/Producer
Tilford Productions, LLC
809 S. 20th ST
Lafayette, IN 47905-1551
email: [email protected]
phone: 773.267.6548
website: www.tilfordproductions.com

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Returning to Shortwave: From the Isle of Music, Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot and Ginga Brasil!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following announcement:

From the Isle of Music, Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot and Ginga Brasil! Return To Shortwave

On August 6, From the Isle of Music, Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot and Ginga Brasil! return to shortwave on WBCQ The Planet, 7490 kHz. These programs will share the hour of Sundays 6pm-7pm Eastern US Time (currently 2200-2300 UTC) as follows:

1st Sunday – From the Isle of Music
2nd Sunday – Ginga Brasil!
3rd Sunday – Uncle BIll’s Melting Pot
4th Sunday – Ginga Brasil!
5th Sunday – varies

From the Isle of Music and Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot are both produced and hosted by “Uncle Bill” Tilford in the United States. Ginga Brasil! (pronounced “Zheenga”) is produced and hosted by Julio Cesar Pereira in Brazil. These stellar international music programs will immediately follow one of WBCQ’s flagship programs, Marion’s Attic, which airs Sundays 5-6pm Eastern Time (currently 2100-2200 UTC); they also precede Harry Shearer’s Le Show for a solid three hour block of quality entertainment.

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Radio Angela To Cease Broadcasts May 31, 2023

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following press release:

WBCQ’s Radio Angela, which began broadcasting a little over a year ago, was a bold experiment in quality programming. It carried world music (including the last Greek music on shortwave after Greece itself stopped broadcasting on the SW bands), great literature read aloud, new music releases by independent artists, some of the best vintage music on any radio band, science and comedy. It avoided the political and religious programming about which so many shortwave listeners love to complain but which are also the bread and butter that keep most private shortwave stations alive. The production standards were frequently nearly public radio quality even when not sourced from public radio. We also brought several new voices from around the world onto the shortwave bands who had never been there before.

It was known from day one that its long term success would depend upon attracting an adequate amount of both listener contributions and program buyers outside of regular core hours.

Critically and artistically, Radio Angela was a great success, and many thanks to all who gave us public and/or private support of any kind. Financially, however, this has not proven to be viable. The airtime buyers didn’t come, and neither did enough donors. Consequently, Radio Angela’s last transmission as Radio Angela will be May 31 (June 1 0200-0412 UTC).

Some individual programs are likely to continue in some form on the WBCQ grid, my own individual flagship programs (From the Isle of Music and Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot) will be going on hiatus for a least a month, possibly longer, on both 5130 and 7490, and my other shows will be discontinued altogether. This is a purely financial matter, and if we could find a nice wealthy philanthropist who loves shortwave, perhaps this wouldn’t need to happen.

This is hardly the first quality venture on radio or TV to end this way – Radio Angela had more weekly broadcasts than the original Outer Limits television series to name but one example, and the roads of radio generally are littered with the corpses of worthy broadcasting concepts and stillborn projects. My thanks to Angela and Allan Weiner for going out on a limb and backing the project, to all the content providers for their hard work and excellence, to the technical staff, some of whom are no longer with us, and to those of you who cared that we were on the air.

Those who lament the religious and political programming that keep private shortwave stations alive are welcome to consider us a case study in what is likely to happen without those dollars. I obviously lack the right answer, but I have learned a great deal about the right questions.

73,
William “Bill” Tilford, Owner/Producer
Tilford Productions, LLC
809 S. 20th ST
Lafayette, IN 47905-1551
email: [email protected]
phone: 773.267.6548
website: www.tilfordproductions.com

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Regency TR1: Anniversary of the first commercially available transistor radio

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Tilford, who shares the following:

Today is the anniversary of the announcement of the first commercially available transistor radio, the Regency TR1, in 1954. It wasn’t very good, but it started something.

You can tell something about the frequency allocations of the time by how the numbers are spaced.

To put the ad below in context, the median weekly family income in 1954 was about $81.00.

Thank you for sharing this, Bill! If you’d like to read more about the TR1 and view a wide variety of product photos, check out this dedicated TR1 website.

I’m curious if any Post readers own a Regency TR1. Please comment!

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Coming Soon to WBCQ 7490: Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot


Bill Tilford, who currently brings us From the Isle of Music on WBCQ and Channel 292, is launching a second program, Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, a half hour music variety program, on March 2 on WBCQ, 7490 Khz.  It will be a combination of Americana, World Music, Comedy, Novelty,  and Bill  threatens that it will  be one of the most musically eclectic programs on any band along with a few laughs here and there.

WBCQ pegs its long term schedule to EST/EDT and translates to UTC.   UBMP will air 7:00-7:30pm EST/EDT Thursdays (for the first couple of weeks, 0000-0030 UTC Fridays, then 2300-2330 Thursdays).

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