Antigo was on the edge of my eastern coverage during normal band conditions. WRLO could be heard on most days, but with a bit of white noise. Still, not bad for about 200 miles straight line distance. This short aircheck of WRLO was recorded during a routine dial scan. The announcer is Dennis Nelson.
The recording was made from Apple Valley, MN, using a Pioneer SX-3900 receiver, Winegard 10 element FM yagi antenna, Alliance U-100 Tenna Rotor, Belden RG59 ultra low loss coaxial cable, Technics stereo cassette deck, and Scotch Dynarange 90 tape.
#1 by Al Higgins on December 7, 2009 - 12:24 am
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I worked at WRLO from 1980 through the the early part of the 2000′s. The announcer in question is a guy named Dennis Nelson. The last time I was in touch with him, he was in the Twin Cities. Not that it matters, but Dennis is legally blind, and we would read commercials and other stuff into a tape recorder, and he would bang out a braille script to record.
#2 by Drew on December 7, 2009 - 8:04 am
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Hi Al,
Thanks for the note. I’ll add the info on Dennis to the WRLO aircheck exhibit. I’ll bet you guys never figured that someone in the Twin Cities would be listening to WRLO. Or were there other geeks who also did this sort of thing?
Drew
#3 by Dean Kallenbach on December 9, 2010 - 10:46 am
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Hi, Drew. I’m Dean Kallenbach…I was program director in 1980 when WLRO went from 3000 to 100,000 watts…in fact, I came back from my honeymoon early so I could be there for the switchover (my wife reminds me of that often). We knew the station was a blowtorch…my parents and in-laws lived in the Rice Lake-Barron area, and could pick it up on a good day. BTW, I hired both Al Higgins (who was a UW-Platteville classmate) and Dennis Nelson (who once beat me playing a video game, despite his total blindness).
I look forward to checking out your site…
#4 by Drew on December 10, 2010 - 1:09 pm
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Hi Dean,
Great to hear from you! What frequency was WRLO on before they upgraded to 100,000 watts? I know that back then, Class A FMs (3kW) had to be on certain channels. Before all the Docket 80-90 move-ins, drop-ins, and shoehorn-ins, 105.3 was completely empty in and around the Twin Cities. Even with my receiver/antenna system, there were only 2 stations I could receive: WRLO and KLYV/Dubuque, IA. Both could be heard clean and clear, simply by rotating my antenna.
BTW, I was 18 and attending Brown Institute when I recorded that clip. If I were closer, I would have pestered you for a job!