April 23 2021: Forty five years ago today, Dave Molvik threw a switch at Itasca Community College putting a transmitter on the air. Three miles away Jon Newstrom took some transmitter readings, he had to be there because we discovered, … Continue reading 45 Years!
84 years ago Radio came of age. In one terrible — beautiful hour the third rated program in a three network universe managed to entertain, terrify, and motivate millions of people by stimulating the imagination. If it happened today it … Continue reading 2X2L Calling CQ
Each Community Station is unique but somehow we are all the same. This was to be our one shot at seeing Australian Wildlife in the wild. Instead we found a community radio station. Kangaroo Island is an island nearly 100 … Continue reading Community Radio and Kangaroos.
Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland, September 4, 2017: What do you do in Kirkwell, Orkney Islands on a wet and windy day? Visit the Orkney Wireless Museum, of course! It is one of those delightfully cluttered and chaotic museums that invite … Continue reading Orkney Wireless Museum
On Saturday Suzi and I were fortunate enough to to sit on the Macalaster College lawn surrounded by family — kids, grandkid, in-laws, nieces and nephews celebrating A Prairie Home Companion’s 40th anniversary. The whole weekend was kind of a PHC festival with outdoor stages and indoor concerts in the Macalaster Fine Arts Center and the chapel. There were food booths, including great corn on the cob, and radio booths. At one the PHC sound effects man recreated the sounds we all hear on the show and had kids help him create the effect of a creaking ship, a crackling … Continue reading A Prairie Home Companion 40th Anniversary Celebration
The St. Olaf College radio station WCAL was a pioneer in broadcasting. It went on the air as an experimental licensee 9YAJ in November 1918, as soon as the ban on radio transmission was lifted after World War I. In … Continue reading Remembering WCAL