Comments on: Shortwave and AM Radio from the Kitchen

Shortwave and AM Radio from the Kitchen

dhammond — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:05:07 -0800

The Radio Kitchen is an mp3 blog dedicated to the late night wonder of listening to shortwave and AM radio, now and as it used to was. Brought to you by The Professor from WFMU's defunct AM and Shortwave Radio blog).

Previously.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:34:26 -0800

Huh. I'd always wondered what happened to those posts on the FMU blog. I'd missed his farewell post, which seems oddly bitter.

By: _aa_

_aa_ — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:55:27 -0800

See also, theaudiokitchen.net, also by the prof, regarding found and amateur audio, i.e. thrift shop answering machine tapes and yard sale reel2reels.

By: melorama

melorama — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 01:15:48 -0800

Crap, how in the hell could I have not known about The Prof's Audio Kitchen mp3blog?!?. Oh I know...I think it's because I never read the WFMU blog anymore, because it's become a victim of it's own popularity, and quantity has now become of higher priority than quality. Ahem...but I digress. I really hope that The Radio Kitchen continues with the same type of documentation of great, fascinating moments in radio that he did so well on his (sadly defunct) FMU show, Aircheck. That's how I got turned on to the brilliance that is Bob Lassiter. Thank's for that link, _aa_

By: Spatch

Spatch — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 05:40:43 -0800

This is absolutely wonderful. I grew up obsessed with pulling in late night AM stations. There was always just something so ephemerally comforting about hearing voices and music from a long way off. Of course, I was 100 miles away from WBZ at the time and heard an awful lot of Larry Glick and such (and on road trips we'd see how far we could pick up BZ's signal) but other nights I'd let the dial roam and eventually pick up a Canadian hockey game broadcast in French from Montreal or Quebec or music I'd never heard of and probably wouldn't have identified for me. And speaking of trucker radio, I still to this day refuse to believe there is an actual clean, hi-fidelity recording of Rhinestone Cowboy anywhere. It HAS to come from a fading AM signal with maybe a little bleed-through from some local religious station, or it's not the real thing, dammit.

By: jayder

jayder — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:21:43 -0800

This is a great post. I grew up listening to AM radio under the covers in my bed. This observation is so true: "There's something about the dark of night that changes talk radio. Once the schoolmarms and businessmen have turned to the tube or hit the hay, the freaks are free to play." When I was in college, I drove a car that only had an AM radio, and that's when I learned about the trucker radio stations, which, it seemed, I always listened to at night. On those pages that dhammond linked, don't miss the excerpt from Alan Colmes' radio show; Colmes is taunting a caller who says that all "socialists," including Colmes and various public officials, should be lined up and shot. (On that page I linked, scroll down a little bit for the mp3 player.)

By: jayder

jayder — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:24:44 -0800

Oh my God, listen to the call from Jimmy in North Carolina. It's priceless. The guy offers to pay for an airline ticket anywhere in the country to fist-fight Colmes. It's the second MP3 player on this page.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:47:20 -0800

I think it's because I never read the WFMU blog anymore They haven't posted a single word about it, as far as I can tell.