I was completely surprised when I first heard KSAL. 1150 was normally cluttered by signals from several different stations. However, one evening they topped channel with with an incredibly strong signal on my receiver in Spokane. I sent them a reception report and chief engineer Don Engelhardt sent back a QSL letter with a nice personal note on the back. I am not sure what happened to the letter, but it got some rough treatment probably when I went to college. Even so, the note on the back makes this a valued verification.
Daily Archives: 11 January 2019
KSAL 1150
WHO 1040
Des Moines, Iowa
You don’t have to guess who this station is, because that is WHO they are. On the “clear” channel of 1040 they virtually owned the channel in 1969 when I first heard them. Today, 1040 is more cluttered, and while they still get out well, they are sometimes bothered with co-channel interference in many parts of the country.
WOWO 1190
Fort Wayne, Indiana
This was one of my favorite catches back in 1970. They would pop in under KEX in Portland, and could be heard with fairly readable audio on my radio in Spokane. They replied to my reception report with a QSL folder. After we moved to Maryland, I sent them another reception report and they sent another QSL card.
WLS 890
Chicago, Illinois
WLS Chicago with their powerhouse signal on 890 kHz is widely heard throughout North America. With their rock format in the 1970’s, I believe they showed up in rating surveys in outlying markets. They were channel dominant many nights in Spokane and in Utah before the channel became packed with co-channel stations. Below are the two QSLs I received from them.
KTFI 1270
Twin Falls, Idaho
This is my first QSL from an Idaho station. I remember the reception clearly. It was their nightly sign off complete with a full announcement and a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. KTFI was the channel dominant many evenings at my listening post in Spokane. After several call letter changes since 1970, the station has reverted back to the KTFI calls. Their current format is comedy.
KORL 650
Honolulu, Hawaii
This is my first QSL from an Hawaiian radio station (Scroll down to see).
KORL 650, Honolulu made it all the way to Utah fairly regularly in the 1980’s, but had to contend with Mexican or other Latin American stations on occasion, after WSM faded out. Now, the present station on 650 in Honolulu, KPRP, has to fight it out with co-channel US and Canadian stations which came on the air since then. They replied with this nice QSL letter for the reception report I sent to them.
The call letters KORL are now being used by a station on 1180 kHz, also in Honolulu.
WSB 750
Atlanta, Georgia
It was so exciting to hear WSB 750 for the first time back in 1969. Imagine, picking a station up all the way across the country from Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, this powerhouse station gets out well, especially in the eastern half of North America. Unfortunately, they are a more difficult catch nowadays in the western part of the country with the co-channel interference.
WDJA 850
West Palm Beach, Florida
Once in a while, especially during auroral conditions, WDJA 850 in West Palm Beach, Florida will become the channel dominant here at my listening post in Maryland. I sent them a reception report and they replied with a nice QSL letter and a coverage map. The verie signer remarked that my report was the first ever from Maryland.
WMAL 630
Washington, DC
WMAL -AM is a powerhouse station in the greater Washington DC market. Last year (2018), they moved from their 91-year old transmitter site in Bethesda to a site in Germantown. WMAL is a talk radio station that brand themselves as “Washington’s Mall.” Recently they started to simulcast on their FM outlet on 105.9 MHz.
