{"id":3063,"date":"2024-11-18T23:21:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T07:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/?page_id=3063"},"modified":"2024-11-18T23:38:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T07:38:08","slug":"2024-1115","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/2024-1115\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Waves: November 15, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

More Border Blaster Oldies<\/h1>\n
In a move that has AM radio fans celebrating, there are now more oldies on the AM band. After a few weeks playing the format just four hours per weekday afternoon \u2014 and Spanish religious programming the rest of the day and on weekends, border blaster XEPRS (1090 AM) has added more.<\/p>\n

With a twist. First off, it’s not all day, nor even every day – yet. I am told they are hoping to do so “soon.” For now, it’s weekdays 7-9 a.m. and noon to 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Additionally, for much of the broadcast day, the station is running recordings of popular DJs of the past, using some of the syndicated programs once heard across the country. For example, Wolfman Jack is on the air using remastered recordings of one of his later syndicated programs, The Real Don Steele is heard playing music from his \u201cLive From the Sixties\u201d program, and Charlie Tuna is back hosting one of his programs that to my knowledge never aired locally. M. G. \u201cMachine Gun\u201d Kelly even has a program on the station; unlike the others, he\u2019s still alive and well.<\/p>\n

Listening soon after the switch to 24\/7, I noticed something that needs to be fixed immediately \u2026 The Steele shows (and presumably others) are in stereo; the station is broadcasting in mono. This is not normally a problem, but in this case it is – the feed used on the air includes only one side of the stereo source \u2014 not sure if it is left or right \u2014 so many songs (especially early Beatles) are missing vocals or some of the instruments.<\/p>\n

Easy to fix of course, but hopefully done soon.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the meantime, AM music fans are indeed celebrating. Now we have an oldies station, a classic country station (KKGO 1260 AM) , a news station (KNX 1070 AM) and a few talk stations (KFI 640 AM and KABC 790 AM to name two). Add in play by play sports (KLAC 570 AM) and you have almost<\/i> a full complement of stations to pull some listeners from other entertainment sources. It would be nice to get some current music along with some hard-edge rock \u2026 or even some adult standards, but I\u2019ll take what I can get.<\/div>\n

I know there will be many who say it will never work, and they may very well be right. The person behind the format is Marc Paskin, and my understanding is that he\u2019s merely leasing time on the station \u2014 easier to support back in the old days \u2014 today, it\u2019s hard to attract the ad dollars. Further, every format mentioned is attracting an audience outside of prime (young) demographics.<\/p>\n

Speaking of AM \u2026 and FM<\/h2>\n

I lamented the lack of HD available in the latest model cars from General Motors, including the redesigned Traverse. But I have to say, at least the reception on the oldest broadcast band stellar in the new Chevy. I have yet to find a station I like that suffers from interference problems, and that includes XEPRS and KKGO.<\/p>\n

Fidelity of course isn\u2019t the best, but it\u2019s honestly not bad.<\/p>\n

FM is similarly good, though some of the weaker stations blend to mono (and cut the highs) in poor reception areas much faster than I like. I\u2019d rather have a little bit of hiss with full fidelity. That being said, it is perfectly acceptable.<\/p>\n

Overall this may be among the best factory car radios I\u2019ve ever used, just slightly edging out the one in my wife\u2019s Corsair.<\/p>\n

I do wonder at times if HD technology is even worth the effort any more, considering the proliferation of phone apps that often work better than reception of FM HD secondary channels. Maybe simpler really is better. This would be a good example.<\/p>\n

The Big Switch<\/h2>\n

I thought that by now KOST (103.5 FM) would be all holiday music. But it appears they are holding tight. Will they wait for Thanksgiving weekend?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m betting November 15th, perhaps happening as you read this. I would be very surprised if the station waits any longer than that.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More Border Blaster Oldies In a move that has AM radio fans celebrating, there are now more oldies on the AM band. After a few weeks playing the format just four hours per weekday afternoon \u2014 and Spanish religious programming the rest of the day and on weekends, border blaster XEPRS (1090 AM) has added […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3063","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3063"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3075,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3063\/revisions\/3075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}