In Reply to: Current State of Corporate Radio posted by FRG7SWL on March 14, 2025 at 08:34:35:
We had some incredible FM stations in SoCal for popular music and that's what we listened to in my H.S. years. I grew up on AM then transitioned to FM around the mid to late 1970's. KLOS and KMET were great for classic rock and the sound quality was so much better than KEZY AM which was an earlier favorite. I was a telephone solicitor for the "KEZY Treasure Chest Program" - a coupon book full of discount coupons from local merchants all of only $20!And then came KROQ "Rock of the 80's'" to usher in punk, new wave, alternative, metal, grunge, indie, garage, etc. to SoCal. It was fresh and new. The DJ's were fun too.
Moved to Colorado in 1995 where KBCO was the top station at least in the Boulder area. Lots of great 'modern' music, concert promotions, and community involvement from KBCO "World Class Rock". Unfortunately over time they became "World Class Commercials" so I stopped listening. It never failed, whenever I tuned into KBCO there was a string of commercials playing for what seemed to be forever, one after another - and not much music.
I gave up on radio by the mid-2000's or so. I was spinning CD's from a 5-disc carousel and DAC at home or a 10-disc changer in the car. A few years later I moved everything to a music server and streaming service like Qobuz which is where I'm at today.
Who needs radio for music? My attitude had soured on radio and I never looked back but it was a great ride. I enjoyed it a lot.
And here we are today:
If I'm involved with radio it's limited Ham Radio or SWL when we're in the mountains:
Yaesu FT-891 radio on 20Ah battery for operating CW and SSB
~17-ft telecopic whip 1/4 wave tuned for 20M HF operation
DIY tripod mount. Unobstructed view to the West and Zero man made electrical noise.
Heavy tool bag weighs down the tripod greatly improving stability in the breeze.Checkout the "Notable Staff" at KROQ. You might recognize several of the names including Jimmy Kimmel.
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Edits: 03/31/25
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Follow Ups
- Late to this party but.... - AbeCollins 12:26:33 03/31/25 (4)
- No photos, butI use a TS-450SAT for HF the few times that I now get on the air. )MT( - J. S. Bach 12:37:53 04/01/25 (3)
- RE: No photos, butI use a TS-450SAT for HF the few times that I now get on the air. )MT( - AbeCollins 17:55:59 04/01/25 (2)
- The first HF rig that I had a chance to operate was a Yaesu FT-107-m at ... - J. S. Bach 11:34:26 04/03/25 (1)
- Nice Rig - AbeCollins 08:18:57 04/07/25 (0)