Tuning In
November 14, 2005
I had a long drive back from southwestern Connecticut to Boston this afternoon. About an hour into the drive, the sun set, I was bored, and I began scanning the AM dial, picking up distant stations. I have always enjoyed this phenomenon, where AM radio waves travel further between sunset and sunrise. This wikipedia entry describes the phenomenon in brief, and mentions there are some people who are really serious about it. So I spent a few minutes each listening to stations in Buffalo, Rochester, NY, Montreal, Toronto, Baltimore, Cleveland, Charlotte, and other places. It was radio drive time, so there wasn’t much more to listen to than traffic reports (Pittsburgh sounded especially backed up) and weather (Charlotte 72, Buffalo 49). No surprise that stations sound drearily the same, with local advertising jingles providing the only variety. I was also struck by a particularly paranoid sounding home security ad from Charlotte; it had me ready to run out and buy one, and I even found myself briefly noting the 800 number. I also noted one insurance ad in Cleveland that seemed to repeat the phone number 16 times in 30 seconds. Is there something about Cleveland where people have trouble remembering phone numbers?
Posted by Bill Trippe at November 14, 2005 9:03 PM
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When I used to drive an OTR truck, I'd always get a kick out of picking up the local Boston stations in Kansas or Missouri. You'd be surprised how far BZ goes! I'd especially enjoy hearing the late Norm Nathan on the graveyard shift.
Posted by Ron Gustavson at November 15, 2005 10:16 AM