Category Archives: Music

Upcoming shows on the Isle of Music

The Mighty KBC is seeking sponsorship

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike Nikolich (N9OVQ), who writes:

Hi, Tom:

Uncle Eric mentioned [this past weekend] on The Mighty KBC (6040 kHz) around 0145 UTC that they will be leaving the airwaves if they cannot attract enough advertising revenue.

I would really miss this radio station if it left the air.

[…]I’m sure Kenwood, ICOM, Ham Radio Outlet and C Crain have enough discretionary funds to advertise on this station and I can’t imagine a more targeted ad buy for shortwave listeners than The Mighty KBC.

Thanks for the message, Mike! Yes, I would also miss The Mighty KBC if they left the air–their music program, “The Giant Jukebox” is one of my favorites.

If you have any sponsorship leads or ideas, please contact The Mighty KBC via their website.

Spread the radio love

Your favorite radio stations that stream online?

52 Replies

The Grace Digital Mondo WiFi radio

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with WiFi radios.

You see, I’ve been preparing a three part series about WiFi radios for The Spectrum Monitor magazine (Part 1 will appear in the April 2016 issue). Not only have I been evaluating and reviewing several radios, but also station aggregators: the curated databases of radio stations to which WiFi radios link.

Internet radio = Local radio discovery

Internet (or Web/WiFi) radio is a fantastic platform for discovering small, even semi-isolated, community radio stations that, until the Internet, had never broadcast signals beyond their local communities. With Internet radio, we can enjoy these stations as if we, too, are locals. Local becomes international.

As I travel, I try to note the callsigns of AM/FM radio stations I enjoy.

Sadly, not all of my favorite local radio stations stream online as it’s a major expense for a small broadcaster and yields very little in the way of ad revenue. After all, who in South Africa is going to buy auto parts from a store in Homer Alaska? It’s a conundrum for sure, and one shared by private shortwave broadcasters.

Still, there are a number of stations that do manage to have a reliable streams online.

In no particular order, here’s a short list–a handful–of some of my favorite stations that stream (click on the callsign to listen to the station live):

WTZQ Everything from Glenn Miller to Steve Miller (Hendersonville, NC)
WXRC Classic Rock (Charlotte, NC)
WDRV Classic Rock (Chicago, IL)
WHGM Classic Hits (Havre de Grace, MD)
WFED Federal News Radio (Washington, DC)
CBAL French language music from (Moncton, NB, Canada)
CKUT McGill University radio, (Montreal, Canada)
CIAO World Music and Talk Radio (Brampton, ON, Canada)
6WF ABC local talk and music (Perth, Australia)
Fréquence 2 (Ivory Coast, Africa)
CFZM Nostalgia (Toronto, Canada)
Saint-Pierre & Miquelon 1ère French music/talk (St. Pierre and Miquelon)
WNMB 1950’s music (North Myrtle Beach, SC)
KBON Cajun/Zydeco/Blues and variety (Louisiana, USA)

What are your favorite stations?

Please comment and share some of your favorite streaming AM/FM radio stations! I’m all ears!

Spread the radio love

Listening to the Voice of Greece on the Signal Corps BC-348-Q

4 Replies

Yesterday evening, I warmed up my Signal Corps BC-348-Q and tuned to 9,420 kHz to see if the Voice of Greece happened to be on the air.

Fortunately, I was rewarded with a strong signal from Avlis.

The ‘348 did a fine job playing all that lovely Greek music, too. Though the WWII era ‘348 was never intended to be an HF broadcast band receiver, when paired with a good speaker, it sounds pretty darn amazing!

Here’s a short video (apologies for the dark image):

Spread the radio love

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece

5 Replies

The Voice of Greece is an unpredictable broadcaster these days. VOG is not on the air as much as in the past and doesn’t seem to follow a broadcast schedule. I only hear them perhaps once or twice per week now.

But I’m not complaining–after all, this is a shortwave broadcaster that basically came back from the dead.

I love VOG’s music programs and last night their Avlis transmitter was fired up and relaying some wonderful tunes.

The following recording was made on January 30, 2016 starting at 0145 UTC on 9420 kHz. I made this recording with the TitanSDR Pro receiver connected to a large skyloop antenna. Click here to download the MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

I also had the TitanSDR simultaneously recording pirate radio spectrum just below the 40 meter ham band. I’m saving that bit of spectrum for a rainy day!

Anyone else tune to VOG last night?

Spread the radio love

Alan Roe’s guide to music on shortwave

11 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, for sharing Alan Roe’s excellent guide to music broadcasts on shortwave radio.

Alan Roe (who happens to be an avid SWLing Post reader!) has generously given me permission to post his guide here as a free (PDF) download. Thank you so much, Alan! I’ve already printed this guide and placed it with my WRTH and WWLG.

Click here to download Alan Roe’s guide to music on shortwave (PDF).

Spread the radio love

From the Isle of Music: a new music program on shortwave

5 Replies

Havana, Cuba (Photo: Wikimedia)

Many thanks to Bill Tilford, Owner/Producer at Tilford Productions, who writes:

Beginning Monday, February 1, I will be hosting a weekly, hour-long music program, From the Isle of Music, dedicated to the music of Cuba, on WBCQ, 7.490 MHz, every Monday night from 8-9pm EST (currently 0100-0200 UTC).

I began listening to shortwave in childhood and now want to give something back to the medium.

This will be a cultural panorama of multiple genres from Classical to traditional music to Timba to Jazz to Funk, including a lot of things that people outside of Cuba might not know are played there. There will also be interviews. It will be partly in English, partly in Spanish. I hope to do this in the spirit of some of the best cultural programming of the golden years of shortwave.

There is a Facebook page, also titled From the Isle of Music, with more information.

Many thanks, Bill! I will certainly tune in and look forward to your music selections and commentary. Please keep us informed if you have any updates!

Spread the radio love