Category Archives: Radio History

Nuts and Volts: FM Radio Arrives in U.S. Cars in 1958

Preserving Radio History in Your Community

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes:

I have lived in southern Ontario, Canada my entire life, have been DXing since the late 1960’s and have held the amateur radio call sign VE3HLC for over 50 years. Most of this area’s AM broadcast stations had been considered “pests” over the years as I searched for more distant targets, until recently, when many of these began quietly slipping from the airwaves. While this opened up some new frequencies to DX, I soon began to feel that I had lost some old friends, many that I had known since childhood.

When I retired in 2018, I decided to spend a little time trying to preserve some radio history of stations in southern Ontario communities that have played a part in my life. This might include audio clips, QSLs, station booklets, and other types of ephemera, and I would try to place this information where it could be easily accessed by future historians or anyone else who is interested. In the end, I chose to use the Internet Archive (archive.org), where most uploaded information can be viewed (or heard) and downloaded for free.

CFPL, London, Ontario 980 kHz (still on the air)

“Communications in the Community” is a hardcover limited edition (2000 copies) souvenir book printed in 1966 by the Special Printing Unit of The London Free Press in London, Ontario, Canada. It includes historical information about the London Free Press (newspaper) and CFPL radio and television. I was lucky to find this item at a church rummage sale nearly 20 years ago.

CFPL began its life as CJGC in 1922. I acquired one of their QSL cards from 1925 through an eBay purchase a few years ago.

The above and more can be found by clicking on this link.

https://archive.org/details/page-16

CKOC, Hamilton, Ontario 1150 kHz (still on the air)

CKOC radio in Hamilton also started up in 1922. My parents met while working at the station in the late 1940’s. My brother and I (both radio amateurs), along with a few friends were given permission to operate on “Field Day” weekend in 1985 from their old abandoned transmitter site at Elfrida, Ontario.

This area has long since been developed to build homes and shopping areas.

“This is Hamilton, Ontario and the story of broadcasting station CKOC” is an undated booklet (I am guessing circa 1950) that I was able to purchase on eBay. Also found on eBay were two verifications, one from 1931 and the other from 1983.

You can find these scans and more by following this link.

https://archive.org/details/page-13_202209

CKNX, Wingham, Ontario 920 kHz (still on the air)

This station began in 1926 using the unusual call sign 10BP. It would remain that way until 1935. I managed to secure this QSL from 1932 through eBay, signed by its founder W.T. “Doc” Cruickshank.

Interesting stories of how the station began can be found at this link.

https://www.communitystories.ca/v1/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=386&sl=2541&pos=1&pf=1

CKCR, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario 1510 kHz (no longer on the air)

In 1924, this station began briefly in nearby Brantford, Ontario. It quickly moved to Kitchener-Waterloo and existed until 1965 when it became CKGL. The CKCR call sign was picked up later in 1965 by a station in Revelstoke, BC.

Another eBay purchase, I found this QSL with a not-to-scale map of southern Ontario from 1934.

More Ontario QSL’s can be found in my broadcast band gallery at this link: https://archive.org/details/ckoc-hamilton-on-1983

I would encourage others to save parts of the local radio history in their city, state, province or country and give back to the hobby that we have enjoyed for so many years. I would also be happy to hear about any efforts you have made!

Dan Shares Recordings of the Golden Days of European Shortwave Listening

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post:

Europe on shortwave in the 1970’s

by Dan Greenall

During the golden years of shortwave listening, many European countries had an international shortwave service and broadcast programs to North America (where I live) in English. As a result, these stations were usually among the first that a newcomer to the hobby would find. However, since there was no internet or e-mail, schedules often had to be found in the various club bulletins and hobby magazines. QSLs arrived through the postal system and could often take months to arrive.

I soon developed the habit of making a brief recording of each station as additional “proof of reception,” and many of these have survived to this day. These were typically made by placing the microphone directly in front of the speaker of my receiver. In recent years, they have been uploaded to the Internet Archive, and links to some of them from the early 1970s can be found here.

[Note that each title links to the Archive.org page where you can find more information and QSLs.]

Radio Moscow

Deutsche Welle, Cologne

Radio Berlin International

Belgian Radio

Radio Belgrade

RAI, Rome

ORTF, Paris

IBRA Radio via Radio Trans Europe in Portugal

Radio Sofia Bulgaria

Austrian Radio

Radio Prague

Radio Denmark

Radio Luxembourg

Vatican Radio

Radio Sweden

Trans World Radio Monte Carlo

Radio Kiev

Radio Free Europe

Radio Nordsee International

100 Years Ago: A Teenager in Iowa Reaches Greenland by Radio

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Collins QSL Card via the Collins Bookshop

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia, who shares this fascinating article from The Gazette:

Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association celebrates 100th anniversary of major radio breakthrough in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — Years before the first trans-Atlantic phone call, and decades before international direct dialing would become available, a Cedar Rapids teenager had a direct line to one of the most remote places on earth.

And decades before companies like Collins Radio and Rockwell Collins became multibillion dollar enterprises, a 15-year-old’s ham radio was connecting Arctic explorers with the world from an attic on Fairview Drive.

On Aug. 3, 1925, Arthur A. Collins made headlines as the first person to communicate with MacMillan scientific explorers in Etah, Greenland on short-length radio waves — what The Evening Gazette in Cedar Rapids hailed as “a new chapter into the history of radio.”[…]

Explore the full story on The Gazette.

HCJB Quito, Ecuador – Then and Now

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:

In the 1970s, the powerful signal from radio station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, in Quito, Ecuador, could be heard with station identifications (similar to this one circa 1971) being given between programs.

I am led to believe that they were made by the late Bob Beukema (1928-2001), since his resonant radio voice was often referred to as the “Voice of the Andes”. My listening post at the time was Ancaster, Ontario, Canada.

Today, the station can still be heard broadcasting from Ecuador, albeit with much lower power, perhaps 10 kW at the most, and a much simpler antenna arrangement.

The accompanying recording was made July 30, 2025 on 6050 kHz around 0200 hours UTC using a Kiwi SDR located in Lima, Peru. Even though programming is only in Spanish and indigenous languages, some of that wonderful Andean music can still be found here.

73
Dan Greenall, Ontario, Canada

Click here to download a bit of HCJB ephemera (PDF).

Dan Unearths Radio Memories: A 1990s Treasure Trove of Broadcast Ephemera

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes:

Hi Thomas

Before the days of the internet and e-mail, handwritten or typed reception reports mailed out to broadcast stations would often net the lucky DXer other goodies, including station brochures, program schedules, frequency guides, station stickers, blank reception report forms, pennants, booklets, and other items in addition to that coveted QSL verification.

The QSLs were stored carefully away in albums or shoe boxes, while much of the other paper ephemera eventually (over the years) made its way into a recycle bin. Recently, while cleaning out some storage boxes in the basement, I came across a number of envelopes containing some of the aforementioned items from the early to mid-1990s. To preserve these newly discovered pieces of radio history, I have scanned much of the material and included it here.

Here’s a sampling:

There are 39 JPEG and 7 PDF files to view: https://archive.org/details/radio-finland-program-guide-1992-3-page-2

Dan Greenall VE3HLC, Ontario, Canada

Thank you so much for archiving and sharing these, Dan! Pure radio nostalgia.

History of the Radio Intelligence Division Before and During World War II

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mike, who writes:

Good afternoon, Thomas. Recalling that there have been a few postings on the SWLing Post over time on the FCC’s Radio Intelligence Division, I thought this might interest you and some readers. I just came across this (I don’t even remember what linked me to it) and have only briefly looked reviewed it, but the manuscript appears to be pretty interesting. https://www.qsl.net/w3df/sterling/ridhist.pdf

Additional history can be found here: https://www.qsl.net/w3df/sterling/dfh1.html.

An interesting local (to me) tidbit on page 19: “It [RID] patrolled the outside of the Oak Ridge, Tennessee installation, the scene of the Manhattan Project but without the personnel knowing what atomic developments were being made inside.“

73,
Mike in Knoxville,
KW1ND

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this, Mike.