WBWA was about at the end of my “reach” from Apple Valley, MN. You can hear some “bounce” in the signal during this very short aircheck. Their transmitter was located about 150 miles NNE of my location.
Reception was made using a Pioneer SX-3900 receiver, Winegard 10 element FM yagi antenna, Alliance U-100 Tenna Rotor, and Belden ultra low loss RG59 coaxial cable. The recording was made with a Technics stereo cassette deck and TDK SA90 tape.
#1 by Steve Brown on December 10, 2009 - 11:58 am
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The original Radio Rangers put WBWA on the air way back then. Quite a project! The owner, Kermit Hanson, was a renowned Washington DC physician who had grown up in Bayfield and wanted to build the station as an audio gift to Bayfield, Washburn and Ashland, hence the call letters. He spared no expense to put the finest equipment into the station, and we were proud to say that it was the best equipped station anywhere in the Midwest, certainly better than anything in the Twin Cities at that time. Sadly, Kermit didn’t count on listener tastes so much, didn’t make any money from running the station, and I heard that when he sold the station for peanuts the new owners were able to sell most of the equipment and almost pay for the whole radio station with the proceeds. I could write a book, or at least a long paper, about that station—maybe someday.
Ranger Steve
#2 by Drew on December 10, 2009 - 6:44 pm
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Hi Steve,
You could write a book and call it…”Fiasco at 105.9!” LOL!
The Rangers did a good job with that one. I had no problem hearing it from Apple Valley with my system. Of course, this was before Red Wing moved from 105.5 to 105.9. Listening back to the clip, I can hear how clean the audio is. Very nice. When did you guys build it?
Drew