Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category

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Another thing I did not know.

Wednesday, June 29th, 2022

This is not an endorsement, and I am not getting anything from anybody for this.

In addition to those fancy Japanese toilets, something else I’ve wanted in my house when I win the lottery is a GeoChron. Maybe more than one GeoChron: I don’t know that I need one in every room, but at least the office and bedroom…

Yes, they are rather expensive. But how can you put a value on having your office look like a scene from The Hunt For Red October?

There used to be (for all I know, still is) a PC program that worked as both a stand-alone executable and also as a screen saver, that emulated the GeoChron but with a considerable omount of flexibility. That included additional map packages and zoom ability. As far as I know, though, that hasn’t been ported to other platforms, and I’m not sure if it is even still maintained or works with new versions of Windows.

I hadn’t looked at the GeoChron website in a while, but I did today. Turns out: the GeoChron people have gone digital. It’s a box (“Is like: a very heavy candy bar“) that plugs into the HDMI port of your 4K TV or monitor and provides…a GeoChron. Complete with Internet connectivity so you can download more stuff. They even offer a Ham Radio Bundle.

Still a touch expensive, but: I can get a 4K (Amazon Fire) TV for $200. $30 for a wall mount. $100 for someone to install the wall mount. Suddenly, that $4,500 GeoChron is about $800. This isn’t quite couch cushion money, but it also isn’t lottery winner money.

Very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Posted in Geek, Radio | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 14, 2022.

Tuesday, June 14th, 2022

Baxter Black, former “large-animal veterinarian” and NPR guy.

Black was keenly aware that he didn’t sound like anyone else on public radio, with former Morning Edition host Bob Edwards recalling that “he knew our audience and he knew how he fit in.”
“He would gear some of his commentary in that way, like the people who were against …. fur coats, use of fur, and Bax thought you should recycle roadkill and use the fur as clothing for dolls,” Edwards said. “So Barbie would have a fur coat from a dead possum or something. That was one of his tweaks at public radio right there.”

Posted in Obits, Radio | Comments Closed

Threads from Twitter that amused me.

Friday, May 6th, 2022

By way of President Dawg, a long thread on “Convoy” (the song and the movie) and the ’70s trucker/CB culture:

Includes bonus “Phantom 309”, MST3K, and “B.J. and the Bear” references.

I’m a little old for this, but:

Posted in 1970s, Movies, Music, Radio, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: February 25, 2022.

Friday, February 25th, 2022

Joe Wanenmacher, founder and owner of the Tulsa Arms Show, one of (if not the) largest gun shows in the world.

Mike the Musicologist and I have been lucky enough to attend a few of the Tulsa shows. The obit says that Mr. Wanenmacher had mostly handed off operational responsibilities to his other family members, but he still built the show into what it is today. Our hat is off to him.

(Hattip on this to our great and good friend David Carroll.)

Sandy Nelson, drummer and subject of one of the most interesting obits I’ve read in the NYT recently.

He had a big hit in 1959 with “Teen Beat”, which was based on a drum riff he heard in a strip club:

“While they were looking at these pretty girls in G-strings, guess what I was doing?” he told The Las Vegas Weekly in 2015. “I was looking at the drummer in the orchestra pit.”
“He was doing kind of a ‘Caravan’ beat,” he added, referring to a jazz standard. “‘Bum ta da da dum’ — small toms, big toms. That’s what gave me the idea for ‘Teen Beat.’”

He had a second big hit with “Let There Be Drums” in 1961. In 1963, he had a motorcycle accident and lost part of his right leg: he retrained himself to play the bass with his left leg.

He did a bunch of instrumental albums in the 1960s and 1970s, many of which featured covers:

“I think the worst version ever of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’ was done by me,” Mr. Nelson told L.A. Weekly in 1985, “and, oddly enough, it was a big seller in the Philippines. I guess they like squeaky saxophones or something.”

But he also continued to do experimental work:

His friend and fellow musician Jack Evan Johnson said that Mr. Nelson was especially proud of “The Veebles,” a whimsical five-track concept album released on cassette in 2016 that had an extraterrestrial sound and theme.
“It’s about a race of people from another planet,” he told The Las Vegas Sun in 1996, when the long-gestating project was just beginning to take shape. “They’re gonna take over the Earth and make us do nothing but dance, sing and tell dumb jokes.”

(I checked: there was a CD version of this, but it is out of print. Amazon and Apple Music do not show a digital version, though some of Mr. Nelson’s other work is available from both.)

Mr. Nelson acknowledged that he had not handled his early success well.
“I spent most of the money on women and whiskey, and the rest I just wasted,” he told The Review-Journal.

…

Mr. Nelson settled in Boulder City, Nev., in about 1987 and became a colorful local fixture, running a pirate radio station out of his house for about seven years before the FCC shut him down, Mr. Johnson said. And then there was the cave.

Yes. He dug a cave in his backyard.

The project took him 12 years.
“I got a ‘cave tour’ once,” Mr. Johnson said by email, “and it was quite something, precarious even — dug down at a very steep angle into the hard desert soil, with no kind of support structure whatsoever and just enough room to scoot down into it for a ways until the room opened up at the bottom.”
“He had an electric keyboard down there,” he added.

Kenny Burrough, wide receiver for the Houston Oilers during the 1970s.

Burrough, who famously wore No. 00 with the Oilers, played 11 seasons in Houston and made the Pro Bowl in 1975 and 1977. His 6,906 receiving yards still ranks third all-time in Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans history behind only Ernest Givins (7,935) and Drew Hill (7,477). His 47 touchdowns ties him for second on the franchise list behind 1960s Oilers receiver Charley Hennigan.

Sally Kellerman. THR.

Other than the original “Hot Lips”, credits include a guest spot on an early episode of a minor 1960s SF TV series, “Back to School”, “T.H.E. Cat”, “Coronet Blue”, the legendary “Delgo“, and a whole bunch of other stuff…

…including “Mannix”. (“The Solid Gold Web“, season 2, episode 23. She plays a former love interest of Mannix.)

Posted in 1970s, Guns, Mannix, Movies, Music, NFL, Obits, Radio, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 411

Sunday, May 16th, 2021

Science Sunday!

I thought I’d do a sampler platter today. Roughly from short to long:

“The Creation and Behavior of Radio Waves”. This is a 1942 Army Signal Corps film: I guess technically this could be MilHisMonday, but it is more about the theory of radio than specific military radio usage, so I feel like it qualifies here.

“The Nuclear Look”, a pro-nuclear power propaganda film from Westinghouse.

And speaking of nukes, “Medical Aspects of Nuclear Radiation”.

In the light of more current science, the film seems woefully incomplete and misleading.

Finally: I know this was just posted recently, and I’m trying to avoid using anything that’s not older than at least a month. But I haven’t done any space science recently, I haven’t done anything from the Soviet perspective, and we’re moving towards closure here, so: “Conquerors Of the Universe”, a documentary about the Soviet space program. Don’t worry, it’s narrated in English.

Posted in Geek, History, Radio | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 394

Thursday, April 29th, 2021

Travel Thursday!

Why don’t we continue with our tour of the United States and visit another exotic destination?

“More Per Mile”, a 1950s travelogue about the great state of Kentucky, “the state where the young have fun”.

Bonus: “Real Appalachia with Shane Simmons” visits Harlan.

Bonus #2: This stretches the definition of “travel” a bit, but I found it amusing: “Flight Attendant: Is There A Doctor On This Flight? Dad: Yeah, Me [It Happened Again]”. This guy seems to get dragged into in-flight medical emergencies a lot.

Also, to be honest, I’m fascinated by this portable Bluetooth EKG machine. Not that I have heart trouble, but at $149, this almost falls into “impulse buy” territory. Throw it in your carry-on if you are a doctor and are traveling…not that I know anybody who falls into that category…

Posted in Bluetooth, History, Radio, Travel | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 31, 2021.

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021

Most people don’t have a favorite Watergate conspirator.

G. Gordon Liddy was mine. WP in archive format so you can actually read it.

As a leader of a White House “plumbers” unit set up to plug information leaks, and then as a strategist for the president’s re-election campaign, Mr. Liddy helped devise plots to discredit Nixon “enemies” and to disrupt the 1972 Democratic National Convention. Most were far-fetched — bizarre kidnappings, acts of sabotage, traps using prostitutes, even an assassination — and were never carried out.
But Mr. Liddy, a former F.B.I. agent, and E. Howard Hunt, a former C.I.A. agent, engineered two break-ins at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washington. On May 28, 1972, as Mr. Liddy and Mr. Hunt stood by, six Cuban expatriates and James W. McCord Jr., a Nixon campaign security official, went in, planted bugs, photographed documents and got away cleanly.
A few weeks later, on June 17, four Cubans and Mr. McCord, wearing surgical gloves and carrying walkie-talkies, returned to the scene and were caught by the police. Mr. Liddy and Mr. Hunt, running the operation from a Watergate hotel room, fled but were soon arrested and indicted on charges of burglary, wiretapping and conspiracy.

…

Unlike the other Watergate defendants, Mr. Liddy refused to testify about his activities for the White House or the Committee to Re-elect the President, and drew the longest term among those who went to prison. He was sentenced by Judge John J. Sirica to 6 to 20 years, but served only 52 months. President Jimmy Carter commuted his term in 1977.

…

Disbarred from law practice and in debt for $300,000, mostly for legal fees, Mr. Liddy began a new career as a writer. His first book, “Out of Control,” (1979) was a spy thriller. He later wrote another novel, “The Monkey Handlers” (1990), and a nonfiction book, “When I Was a Kid, This Was a Free Country” (2002). He also co-wrote a guide to fighting terrorism, “Fight Back! Tackling Terrorism, Liddy Style” (2006), and produced many articles on politics, taxes, health and other matters.
In 1980, he broke his silence on Watergate with his autobiography, “Will.” The reviews were mixed, but it became a best seller. After years of revelations by other Watergate conspirators, there was little new in it about the scandal, but critics said his account of prison life was graphic. A television movie based on the book was aired in 1982 by NBC.

…

In the 1980s, Mr. Liddy dabbled in acting, appearing on “Miami Vice” and in other television and film roles.

His IMDB page. In addition to “Miami Vice”, he also did a guest shot on “Airwolf”.

On the old Nashville Network cable channel, he co-starred as a crime boss in the short-lived series “18 Wheels of Justice,” a program that he boasted had “no redeeming social value.”

…

But he was better known later as a syndicated talk-radio host with a right-wing agenda. “The G. Gordon Liddy Show,” begun in 1992, was carried on hundreds of stations by Viacom and later Radio America, with satellite hookups and internet streaming. It ran until his retirement in 2012. He lived in Fort Washington, Md.
Mr. Liddy, who promoted nutritional supplements and exercised, was still trim in his 70s. He made parachute jumps, took motorcycle trips, collected guns, played a piano and sang lieder. His website showed him craggy-faced with head held high, an American flag and the Capitol dome in the background.

Posted in Nixon, Obits, Radio, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 347

Saturday, March 13th, 2021

Talk, talk, it’s only talk. Elephant talk.

But seriously, folks: from our pals at the National Security Agency, “The Last Elephant Cage”, a short documentary on the FLR-9 antenna in Alaska.

Bonus #1: in keeping with today’s radio theme, and crossing over with some other folks, from the OH8STN Ham Radio channel, “Grid Down Comms Ham Radio & Texas”.

Bonus #2: and along the same lines, but longer: “Mike Glover Talks Ham Radio and Preparedness” with Josh from the Ham Radio Crash Course channel.

Noted: the Ham Radio Crash Course channel has a video coming up on “Building A Communications Go Bag or Get Home Bag“. Might be of interest to some folks in my audience.

Posted in History, Radio | Comments Closed

Obit watch: February 17, 2021.

Wednesday, February 17th, 2021

Rush Limbaugh. Because I think the last thing in the world El Rushbo would want me to link to is the NYT, especially since the obit that’s up now is both incomplete and kind of insulting.

The website, which seems to be under heavy load right now.

I wish I could say more, but I was never a Rush listener, or really a talk radio listener after I left high school.

Edited to add: Lawrence. Also, thank you, Chris.

Posted in Obits, Politics, Radio | 2 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 322

Tuesday, February 16th, 2021

Radio, radio!

A tour of WBCQ in Maine from April of last year. WBCQ is a new shortwave station:

WBCQ features a 1 million watt transmitter with a rotatable 400 foot tall high gain directional antenna array that has an Effective Radiated Power output of 20 million watts.

Bonus #1: We went on a virtual tour of the Early Television Museum. How about one of the Antique Wireless Museum?

Bonus #2: Another tour, this one of WLW in Mason, Ohio. WLW at one point was transmitting at 500,000 watts (between 1934 and 1939). They were forced to drop down to 50,000 watts, and still use that power level.

Despite no longer being the sole occupant of 700 kHz, WLW’s signal still sometimes spanned impressive distances, and in 1985 overnight host Dale Sommers received a call from a listener in Hawaii. Reception at the United States Air Force’s Thule Air Base in Greenland (4235 km) has been reported as sufficiently good for routine listening with an ordinary commercial AM-FM radio receiver at night during the Arctic winter.

Posted in History, Radio | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 305

Saturday, January 30th, 2021

I don’t want to keep going back to the AvE well, but this one grabbed me by the socks for reasons:

“Stone Age Radio Voice Based Interwebs for Frozen Third World Sit-Holes.”

Bonus #1: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have crossbows.

“960lbs crossbow vs 150lbs crossbow – TESTED!”

Bonus #2: “Sergeant Stan W Scott, No. 3 Army Commando, demonstrates the use of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.”

Bonus #3: This is actually one McThag turned me on to: I enjoyed it, and I don’t think everyone reads McThag’s blog (unfortunately). So:

“I bought The Cheapest Orange County Chopper in America for only 8k.”

Since I am unwilling to pay for television, I have never seen an episode of either one of the bike shows (though I am familiar with the meme). I know there’s a lot of manufactured drama on all of those shows, but I have to say: I was surprised by this guy’s comments on the OCC bike.

(Chopper style bikes aren’t really my style anyway. If I was going to ride, it would either be something in more of a cafe racer style, or else a full-up BMW touring bike.)

Posted in History, Knives, Radio | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 23, 2021.

Saturday, January 23rd, 2021

Larry King. Or, as the old story goes, “Larry King Radio“.

He bragged that he almost never prepared for an interview. If his guest was an author promoting a book, he did not read it but asked simply, “What’s it about?” or “Why did you write this?”
Nor did he pose as an intellectual. He salted his talk with “ain’t,” and “the” sounded like “da.” To a public skeptical of experts, he seemed refreshingly average: just a curious guy asking questions impulsively.
“There are many broadcasters who’ll recite three minutes of facts before they ask a question,” he said in a memoir, “My Remarkable Journey” (2009, with Cal Fussman). “As if to say: Let me show you how much I know. I think the guest should be the expert.”

Posted in Obits, Radio, TV | Comments Closed

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