THE DEATH OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, the Decreasing Importance of Radio -- and the Greatness of GOJIRA!

A Sangean HDR-16 AM-FM-HD radio, which I bought at Fry's Electronics in March, 2020, right before the pandemic lockdowns kicked in, and several months before Fry's closed. I usually listen to the local rock station's Metal Militia HD2 channel, as you can just see in the pic. The bright LCD backlit display made the lettering a bit hard for my camera to decipher.

Recently, The Atlantic magazine had an opinion piece about the demise of new music, especially new music on the radio. The article is fairly interesting, especially when it included some statistics of which I was unaware.

First off, the writer mentioned that the audience for the Grammy awards, the annual TV show where awards are given out for various top recordings, has declined drastically since 2012. In fact, the audience last year was about one fifth what it was in 2012. In 2012, when pop music was really good, 40 million people in the US watched the Grammys. In 2020? It was just over 18 million. In 2021, it was just over 8 million viewers.

The Atlantic article can be found here.:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/old-music-killing-new-music/621339/

The writer, Ted Gioia, points out several issues that may be the cause. In his view, it's the music industry pushing old music instead of developing new music artists. And he may have a point. Corporate businesses tend to stick with what works, and if 40 year old songs by Queen and Tom Petty still are popular, then the industry will stick with the tried and true, rather than risk investing in the new music band or rapper down the street. It makes sense.

But I think there is more to the problem than music industry unwillingness to invest in new music, or new artists.

I think the quality of hit music has dived.

Here is an example that shows how far we've fallen. This catchy, upbeat, infectious hit came out in 2010, only 12 years ago. It made it to #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Hit Pop charts. It was still getting airplay two years later. Because it was good.

Compare this to much of the Billboard 100 today, and I rest my case. It's like night and day.

Just ten years ago, in 2012 (when I probably first heard "Dynamite"), the pop charts were burgeoning with catchy, infectious, and upbeat songs like this one. Today? Not so much.

SO BIG A STAR, SHE WAS IN MY LOCAL DRUG STORE

In 2012, there were TONS of big stars making good music, especially in the pop music world. And some were massive stars, who became household names. An example: Taylor Swift was making good pop, and she had a massive hit album that year ("Red"). She was so massive and popular that my local drugstore had a life-sized, photographic cardboard cut-out of her standing in the main aisle, with her CD's right next to it.

It was so real looking, that if you were 100 feet away you'd almost think it was her.

In 2012, Taylor Swift was so much a musical and popular icon she had cardboard versions of her in the aisles of drug stores. Think about it.

That was 10 years ago. So, what is Taylor Swift doing now? Because she has an issue with her old record company, she is now re-recording her old hits, and releasing them. 

How is that going to invigorate the pop music scene?

And who is the popular, musical icon now? Who is that big? I can't think of anyone. Billie Eilish and a couple other stars are big, but are they as big as Taylor Swift and Katy Perry were?

It says something about the music industry, when there are no massively popular singers, and no icons. 

2012: THE WORLD DIDN'T END AS PROPHESIED,

 BUT WE GOT LOTS OF GOOD POP MUSIC

In 2012, other artists were also making great pop music and it was exciting to hear... Artists like Pitbull, Kesha (We R Who We R, Timber, Blow), Adele, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson ("Stronger", "Dark Side") Cher Lloyd ("Want You Back"), Havana Brown ("We Run The Night"), Calvin Harris ("Feel So Close"), Justin Bieber ("All Around The World"), and even some of the popular boy bands like One Direction and The Wanted had good sounding hits. Just one or two years earlier Taio Cruz had his massive, punchy, upbeat sing-a-long hit with "Dynamite". Katy Perry and Adele seemed literally unstoppable. Most of the hit music was danceable, had strong hooks and lyric lines easy to sing along to.

It was upbeat. And it was fun.

Some of the artists in the above list, like Havana Brown, for example, had maybe one hit that only went halfway up the pop charts. But the official video (in the hyperlink below) for Havana Brown's excellent track "We Run The Night" has had 8 million views a year.

Not bad for a track that only peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Pitbull raps on it. You can jog your memory, and see it here. It's quite good.:

Havana Brown - We Run The Night ft. Pitbull (Explicit) - YouTube

Here's Calvin Harris's "Feel So Close", one of the better hits of 2012. It was a creative, catchy take on the electronic dance beat popular during that time, with a prominent guitar riff.:

Calvin Harris - Feel So Close (Official Video) - YouTube

In 2012, there were plenty of other pop artists making memorable, fun music like that. Some were one hit wonders, like Owl City w/ Carly Rae Jepsen (technically her second hit). The track "Good Times" was upbeat, punchy, had a sing-a-long feel, and had a great bass guitar line in it. In the comments under one of the YouTube vids for this song, you've got 20-somethings, who should still be loving today's music, lamenting the fact that today's music isn't as good as tracks like "Good Times."

Here is the Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen "Good Times" lyrics vid.:

Nowadays it's a cliche for Boomers and GenX'ers to complain about 'today's music'. But when 20-somethings are complaining about today's music, and saying it sucks, Houston, we've got a problem.

In 2022, there just isn't any artist that is turning out music that is turning heads. Sure, you can blame the pandemic if you want. In 2012 the Great Recession was still on for a lot of people, and that didn't stop anyone. 

The few artists that are hitting the charts are here and gone. Maybe two or three years ago Lil Nas X had a hit with Billy Ray Cyrus that crossed boundaries and hit it big. Then he faded quickly. He still makes music, but isn't the big star it looked like he would be. Billy Ray Cyrus went back to playing casinos or whatever. That seems to be a common pattern. Everything is increasingly transitory.

Here is a song from 2012 that ruled the radio. Produced by Dr. Luke (who also produced "Dynamite"), Katy Perry was unstoppable, and this track is a reason why. It's infectious, punchy, and easy to sing along to. The official video has had almost a billion views.:

Katy Perry - Part Of Me (Official) - YouTube

Kesha (known as Ke$ha at the time) was another artist produced by Dr. Luke. Apparently Kesha and Dr. Luke have a controversy in their history together but I don't want to go into that. I am talking about the music, and Kesha's hits were about as good as it gets.

This track, "Blow", was still getting airplay in early Winter 2012 when I first heard it played on local hit FM radio. The attitude is in-your-face but upbeat, and the hooks (with mysterious sounding keyboard phrases behind them) are catchy. It's probably her best song. Most of her songs had a match of infectious good time, a bit of rebellion, with some self-effacing humor tossed in. The music was impeccably catchy.

It's yet another example of the vast difference between good hit music and passable hit music. I have posted the audio-only video below because it has a bit more sonic impact, but the official video in the hyperlink above the video has unicorns and a bit of humor thrown in. It's well worth watching, but I usually prefer hearing the song exactly as I heard it on the radio.:

Ke$ha - Blow (Official Music Video) - YouTube

Some of her other songs and videos are just as good. Here's one, We R Who We R.:

Ke$ha - We R Who We R (Official Video) - YouTube

This extremely catchy dance-pop track by pop star Selena Gomez was a hit in 2010. I first heard it in the Fall or Winter of 2011 or early in 2012, late one night while DXing and the song was playing on Radio Disney (KDZR in Portland). A Year Without Rain apparently only made it to #35 on the Billboard Hot 100, although it sold over a million downloads, and was on her album that year (remember albums?). It's infinitely better than much of the dreck on the charts now. It's obviously not rock, but it definitely caught this rock-fan's ears. The video has had 261 million views in the 11 years it has existed.

Here's a link to the lyric video, for those interested.:

(1) Selena Gomez & The Scene ~ A Year Without Rain (Lyrics Sub. English/Inglés) [HD] Official Video - YouTube

One thing to notice in this video, as well as many of the others I've posted here, is the incredible amount of money put into the production. This Selena Gomez video is filmed in HD widescreen -- it's almost like a movie production. The record company put up that much money, to promote a really good song -- one that only made it to #35.

Here is a screenshot of the Selena Gomez video. Look closely. Everything is PERFECT -- from her hair, to her makeup, to her dress (offscreen here, but in the video), to the setting of the desert scene behind her -- a LOT of money went into the production of this video. It is almost like a movie set -- with the same amount of quality, and obviously very expensive to produce. Similar productions happen, but are increasingly a rarity today, as the record companies lack the promo money they used to have even in 2011 and 2012. The industry itself has changed.

The mostly fun attitude expressed in many, if not most of these songs I've included in this post seems to be missing in most of today's music. It may be due to the fact that the US was pulling out of the Recession, and the population needed the upbeat entertainment in music. 

Whatever the reason, something changed, and it wasn't for the better.

Now, I want to remind my readers that it's undoubtedly obvious that I am not a Millennial. Yet I found the pop music of the early 2010's to be extremely high quality and captivating. It was more fun to listen to than the new rock I was hearing at that time. I even put some of it on a mix-tape CD that I still have and play from time to time. 

Then the quality of hit music seemed to dive about halfway through the 2010's -- around 2015 or so. The apparent lack of interest by younger demographics in the Grammys recently, along with a few negative comments about modern music that I've noticed under some of these 2012 pop vids, tells me I'm not alone in my assessment.

ONE ARTIST = 12 PERCENT OF THE BILLBOARD 100 CHART

A sign of the bizarre and transitory nature of the hit charts today is the fact that there are less artists with hits than there were 10 years ago. This is reflected in that barometer of American hit music, the Billboard Hot 100.

Right now there is one artist named Gunna who has 12 songs on the Billboard 100. Adele has 2 or 3. Another artist named the Weeknd has 3 or 4. 

Gunna himself takes up more than 10 percent of the Billboard Hot 100. Will he become a household name, or a 'heritage artist'? I suppose time will tell.

Pitbull was massive ten years ago, and for a reason: his raps were upbeat, at least on the hit records in which he appeared. In videos he always seemed to be having fun. This track was played to death during the Summer of 2012.

Now, back to Mr. Gioia's article in The Atlantic. Mr. Gioia believes that the record industry is pushing older music, because they are afraid to risk money on new artists. And he thinks that is killing music.

He's right, and he's wrong. Where he's right is that the record industry is indeed pushing older music and forgetting about finding and developing newer artists. His figure of 70% of all music on the radio being old music is probably correct. And the recording industry is in relative disarray right now. They've just recently figured out how to make money streaming -- something that the artists are discovering isn't really paying off unless they bypass the recording industry. 

I know some music artists who are doing this. They make their own videos. And post them on social media. No record company needed. They're not losing money, because they know that there isn't that much money in music unless you are already a touring band. 

No one buys music anymore. They listen to it online.

And streaming pays less than CD's, LP's, Cassettes, and MP3's used to. The recording companies make less money than they used to make. The industry is hurting, compared to the way it was in 2012.

Olly Murs was a one or two hit wonder, but his track 'Heart Skips A Beat' was one of the coolest, infectious tracks from 2012 -- electronic pop with a reggae beat and it was very singable -- like one big hook. This song was in heavy rotation during the Summer on Radio Disney, a national radio network which during the early 2010's had transformed itself from a kids' radio network to one that featured its own youth stars' music as well as regular pop hits like this one.

NEW MUSIC: STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE

But is this current trend 'killing music', or even killing new music?

Not really. The new music is out there. You just have to look for it online. That's the key. Online is the new version of "radio". This isn't to say that no radio stations play new music. I can hear new rock and metal on the local rock station's HD2 channel. That's where I first heard the French metal band Gojira -- whose last album actually topped the Billboard album charts for about a week.

KISW's Metal Militia HD2 channel (available to hear online) plays a cool mix of metal and hard rock from Nu-Metal to Metallica to Motorhead to Slipknot to Gojira to other, heavier acts. But KISW's regular FM channel (99.9 FM in Seattle) has a lot more older, 'classic' rock on it, which is why I listen to the HD2. 

But Mr. Gioia's complaint about radio and the recording industry pushing more older music is probably true. I don't think it's killing music. I don't think it's killing new music. New music is out there. I can go to YouTube tomorrow and find a ton of guys playing new bottleneck slide tracks, and some of them get thousands of views per video. There are metal bands, alt-rock bands, and undoubtedly tons of hip-hop and rap artists who have videos and Patreons and the like, and they're probably as well off, if not better, than they'd be if they were signed to a record label that would just pump them and dump them like yesterday's trash.

Now, these new trends may be killing the music industry -- but that's another matter.

This song, 'Payphone' by pop act Maroon 5 was played hourly on every pop radio station for probably most of 2012 and even into the next year. It's because it was that good. This, by the way, is the actual radio hit without the cuss words. It's the version I remember hearing every hour on KBKS 106.1 FM ("Kiss FM") for what seems the entire year, and Radio Disney also played it to death. And you know what? I never tired of hearing it. Neither did millions of other music fans, apparently, because this song was so massive that the band's next single was delayed by a few months. Today, of course, the opposite happens: artists dump a ton of new releases out onto the charts quickly, and sometimes concurrently, hoping and praying that something will stick. Sometimes it does, but more often it probably doesn't. Such is how far down the hill hit music seems to have gone.

Payphones, of course, were already MIA before this song came out, but the imagery of some poor guy dumping quarters into a payphone trying to get ahold of a girl who dumped him struck home to people. It's an example of pretty good songwriting. It struck a chord.

THE INTERNET IS THE NEW RADIO

So the problem isn't the killing of new music. It's the changing of the guard. The Internet is the new version of "radio". The self-recorded track, and self-produced music video is the new version of the "record company". And streaming is the new version of "music sales."

I don't like it any more than a lot of my readers probably do. I'm a Generation Joneser, who grew up with the LP record and CD's. I grew up in a society where you bought music and played it on a turntable, tape player or CD player. In the 2000's and 2010's young people bought MP3's and loaded them on their MP3 players or IPods.

That music sales business model, which lasted just over a century, was based at least partially on an industry that financed the production of (usually) high quality music that people would buy. And a lot of money was made that way, by the companies, and the music stars themselves.

The music business model I just described is long past the pull date, unfortunately. People rent music via streaming subscriptions, and even though streaming royalties are fairly high, compared to radio airplay revenues, they are low compared to the CD sales and MP3 sales model. Musicians complain about low revenues. It's a brand new world, and that world is one where if you're a musician, you're on your own.

And although it's mostly killed the era of the music star, the new model ain't necessarily a bad thing for music. If you're a musician or singer, you don't have to wait to "get signed". You can put your music up on the internet anyway, and see if it flies.

For radio? It's not a great sign. Right now, radio is still more portable (being that there are many areas where cell service is marginal), and radio is still free. But how long until radio becomes little more than an archaic vestige of a prior age? Time will tell.

Looking back, it's still hard to believe how powerful a hit this song was. Kelly Clarkson didn't write this song about empowerment and personal endurance, but she definitely delivered on it vocally. I had never heard her before I heard this song being played on the radio, and I was impressed by her expressive, blowtorch voice. I thought she would make a great rock singer. She still probably would. I almost didn't add this vid here but Stronger is a classic example of what appears to be missing in hit music today.

One thing that may keep radio going is streaming. And not in the way one may think. Streaming costs internet platforms and streaming radio stations lots of money. The artists' representatives want the streaming royalty rates (that radio and streaming platforms like Spotify and Pandora pay) to go even further UP. If and when that happens, the big online music platforms will have to increase their subscription rates to still make a profit. Meanwhile, hit radio is free (Broadcast music, at least in the US, is under a completely different royalty scheme from streaming).

You can't beat the price of free, can you?

I'll end this diatribe with a bit of positivity. Andy Grammer was a one or two hit wonder from the early 2010's, whose biggest hit was this track, "Keep Your Head Up". It was an upbeat, hooky, infectious sing-a-long song that always reminded me of better days and California sunshine -- perhaps because it was written, produced and recorded there. It wasn't a massive hit -- it only made it to #53 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #21 on the Billboard pop chart, but the video single (linked below) has had 10 million views since it was released in November, 2010. I think I first heard it on Radio Disney while DXing one night, or maybe on one of the local pop radio stations (KBKS FM 106.1), probably in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LMVJ2xd1g8

 The radio and pop charts could use more songs like these.

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS MORE GOJIRA.

I will try to end this blog article on a high note. As I mentioned earlier, a year or so ago I discovered the French-American rock band Gojira on KISW's HD2 channel. The song was The Cell. Instantly, my interest was piqued. 

Gojira are named after the famous movie monster Godzilla. Because of naming rights, the band had to adapt their name to the Japanese version of the "Godzilla" name. It works. What first struck me about Gojira was the hooky chorus lines, the intense lyrics, and Joe Duplantier's singing voice. He reminds me a little bit of Jaz Coleman, the singer in the UK alternative rock band Killing Joke. They both have commanding sounding roars when they sing.

For those not initiated, here is an example of Killing Joke, from one of their better albums, the self-titled one they put out in 2003. The track was a single that got little if any airplay in the US, it's called "Seeing Red". Nirvana's Dave Grohl plays drums on the entire CD. It's awesome.:

After a year of not listening to current rock music much, I dug into the YouTube vids and -- almost by accident -- I found a Gojira concert live (one hour at 'Hellfest' 2019, which can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuOQxYxWntU) and I rediscovered the band, and checked out their hits. 

Gojira have an excellent song from their 2016 album, "Magma". The song is called Stranded.:

Gojira - Stranded [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube

Here is The Cell. It is also off their 2016 "Magma" album. It is really good.:

Gojira - The Cell [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube

Here is a live version of 'Stranded' that was recorded at a club in Switzerland. It's a good recording, and looks like the Swiss crowd was having a blast.:

GOJIRA "Stranded" live 2016 @ L’Usine, Geneva, CH - YouTube

I read that Gojira's new album actually hit the #1 position on the Billboard 200 album chart when it came out.

Perhaps there is hope for rock music yet. Gojira are quite good. They're the real deal. 

Until next time, my friends, peace and good health to each and every one of you, all over the world.

C.C., January 25th, 2022.

PS: As you may be able to see, I learned how to embed YouTube videos in my blog posts. That opens up a new world for me in blogging, as I am a music fan -- especially a rock, metal, and blues music fan. That said, you'll notice two links connected with most of the videos here: the panel, which plays the YouTube vid on my blog page (a very cool feature for Blogger to include!), and a hyperlink above it.

On some of these vids, the hyperlink above the YT panel leads to another video, sometimes the actual official band's video, where you can see the artist singing. That is the case with Gojira's The Cell, and Havana Brown & Pitbull's We Run The Night.

Peace to all.

C.C.

ADDENDUM, June 13, 2022. While reading through this again, I noticed a couple places where a couple sentences were partially, or entirely deleted somehow during the editing or posting process. I fixed those 'glitches', and also added the Selena Gomez video while I was re-editing. I also added a few sentences here and there.

I also changed the title. After re-reading the article, and thinking about the radio and music industry, I think it is indeed dying.

Christmas Night Is Here.... And Gone

My Hawthorn Tree, on which I put strings of Christmas lights (when they are working) and some ornaments every Christmas. This year, it's my 'Christmas Tree'.

I normally do not post things that are personal here on my blog, as I like to try to keep it light-hearted, as well as possibly informative, not just about the radio hobby, but about life in general. There is enough rancour in the world, and I don't really care to add to that.

It's one reason I veer away from general news and politics in my articles here -- as a student of History, my perspective on national and world affairs is probably a little different than a lot of people's, and as a guy who no longer votes, in any election, the political process means nothing to me anymore. It's refreshing, actually. 

I think George Carlin was onto something.

My two Christmas Candles, Christmas Night. I managed to find some scented tea lights to put in them. Some of the tall, glass 'votive' style candles can be re-used in this fashion. When the original candle inside is gone, you can drop in a tea light or small votive candle, and they usually last at least a couple hours. It's a money saving trick I learned during the 2009-2014 recession.

All that said, this year 2021 has been a toughie. My mother, who I had to take care of daily (and sometimes hourly) for well over a year (approx. 2018-2020), died suddenly and unexpectedly on November 17th. She was in a nursing home for almost a year, because I simply could not give her the proper care anymore. I was also totally exhausted, and it was starting to take a toll on my own health.

Also, earlier this year, my best friend Sheryl, a former girlfriend with whom I still kept in contact, also died suddenly at the end of June, during our short heat wave of 108F weather. Sheryl and I were going to get together for a movie and some snacks on the 4th of July, and I learned from her family on July 1st that she had died. It was all completely unexpected.

It was a shock.

Earlier, at start of August, Mom's dog died here of old age. And I almost lost a cat late in August, but I was able to nurse her back to health, thank God.

So, here come the holidays. Awesome time to celebrate stuff, right? Not really.

As far as I'm personally concerned, 2021 can go piss off.

My collection of Gingerbread men, that I put on my fireplace mantle every year. Gingerbread Men are cool. They're always happy. The one wearing the chef's hat, on the left, is my newest one. The one on the right I got at the Dollar store, probably in 2008, 2009 or 2010.

So here comes Christmas, and all of the memories of some Christmases past. I recall one Christmas being OK on 2014, I think it's because I had written a kids', illustrated Christmas book that never sold, but a thoughtful and considerate overseas friend read it to her young niece and nephew, and she told me about it. She said they loved the story, and the pictures. That actually felt really good. I put a lot of work into that kids' book. It's called Woody The Woodchuck Saves Christmas! It has sold 3 copies on Amazon in 7 years. A bestseller!

This is how I look in an Elf Hat. Elf hats are kind of cool, because the bell ringing when you're walking around sort of puts you in some semblance of the Christmas Spirit. Has to.

In 2008 or 2009 I actually had a decent Christmas. I was wearing an elf hat and trying to fix my girlfriend's son's new game that he'd gotten at a thrift store. There is a photo of that somewhere.

Before that, the closest thing to a good Christmas was in 1985 I think. First love and all that seems to help make those memories... And then, before that, one would have to go back to 1982, and earlier (minus a couple years where my parents weren't getting along), there were a few good ones, because it was family, and Dad was still alive. We generally had good Christmases. When the folks determined my discovery about the truth of Santa Claus, I decided to also play Santa Claus. To keep that tradition alive, in some way. I mean, it made it fun.

Holidays are supposed to be meaningful and fun, right? 

There are many people who dread the holidays. I can totally relate.

Which brings us to Christmas, 2021. I didn't decorate much. Living alone with my cats, there really wasn't much point. I did not put up my tree for the first time since I bought it new, at Walgreens in Renton, on December 22nd or 23rd, 2004. 

I didn't put up nativity sets, or any of that. I did manage to find a couple strings of lights that still work, and put them on my hawthorn tree outside, and add my ornaments.

Christmas Eve I slept part of the day, and when I awoke, it was night. So I grabbed a radio, to DX the MW/AM band and see what was out there. There was a lot of Christmas music, naturally. Even KGO San Francisco was playing a lot of Christmas music. Previous nights I tuned to 1270 khz and heard a bunch of stations, all competing: KVMI Tulare, California playing Christmas music, and Reno's KBZZ playing Classic Rock (they've just flipped to that format from Sports). Mixing in with those stations was KAJO, Grants Pass, Oregon, with Classic Hits and local spots, along with all-talk KEDO, Longview, WA, which has switched channels with KBAM, a long-time country station from that part of my state -- which was on 1270 and now is on 1400. 

As you can tell, it was quite a lively music and talk mix! That's one thing that's interesting about the AM band at night, even on one channel, you can get a lot of variety.

My Sony SRF-59, which still works off of its nine year-old battery, in its 'holder'. The SRF-59 still works. The Arginine supplement bottle came in handy as 'holder' for the radio, so it could be set next to a loop antenna. I just used a thick cutter to cut the bottle's top off. 

The back of my Sony SRF-59 with the first battery I used, a Sunbeam AAA I got at the local Dollar store. The battery is about nine years old. Some of these portable, analog tuned radios are very good on batteries. The SRF-59 is one of those models.

It was pretty cool. I then saw my Sony SRF-59, sitting in its homemade 'case', on the bed's headpiece, and switched it on, and DXed a little, using the crate loop I have on my nightstand near my bed. Now, the Sony SRF-59 is a little wonder radio for MW DXers. They unfortunately no longer make them, but SRF-59's are good performers and excellent emergency radios. I got my SRF-59 at a local box store in early 2012, for $15. It still works off the original battery I put in it.

Did I say an SRF-59 is perfect for disasters and other occasions when there is NO POWER? Yep. I just said it.

Obviously, I haven't DXed a ton with the radio -- as it still works on its original battery -- though I did log a bunch of stations on it in 2012, 2013, and did some DXing with it probably in 2014.

But it was a bit of fun tuning around during Christmas Eve on something I've had for a long time.

My Penncrest 1993, AM-FM-SW -- I heard South Africa and Australia on this radio, and did a lot of DXing with it over the early years -- and when I was a teen we'd go camping in Eastern Oregon and I first heard Wolfman Jack on this radio. It still works -- even the dial light is still working on it. The radio works on 4 C-Cells.

GHOSTS OF CHRISTMASES PAST

Then I grabbed my old Penncrest AM-FM-SW multibander, Model 1993. The radio was a gift from my great aunt on Christmas Eve, 1967 I think. Penncrest was a brand name for Japanese-made electronics sold by J.C. Penney's, a large US department store. The radio itself may have been made by Toshiba or some other Japanese manufacturer at that time.

The radio still works, and actually, it works rather well. In 2011 I took the back off, lubed the bandswitch, and overall checked it out to make sure nothing was broken. Then I put it back together and left it alone. I switch it on once every month or so, just to keep it working.

With a loop it will DX really well, and the sound through headphones is very pleasing. When I was a little kid, the radio used to pull in WSM 650 Nashville on a good night (without an external loop -- back then I didn't even know what an external loop was!). It would pull in WWL 870 from New Orleans on rare occasions, too. It doesn't have a TRF circuit (which boosts signals on an AM radio), but it has a hefty ferrite loopstick antenna inside, which definitely helps. And its sound is really pleasant.

I used to use my Penncrest 1993 to listen to Shortwave every night and early morning on this radio, hooking it to an 80 ft outdoor wire. I used to hear Radio RSA from South Africa, Radio Nederland, HCJB, Radio Moscow, and most importantly I heard Radio Australia on it during 1-2 in the morning when they would play their hit music program, Countdown. That was a rush. I heard all these Oz bands that no one here in the US had heard of at the time -- AC/DC, Skyhooks, The Angels, Supernaut, Hush, Chariot, Red House, Sherbet, John Paul Young, Pussyfoots, and a host of other artists that were part of the Melbourne-based Oz music scene at the time.

I was musically influenced by most of those bands -- thanks to me finding Radio Australia on my little Penncrest 1993.

So I fired it up on Christmas Eve, and listened for a while. All the memories came back -- stations I'd heard, going over to my Grandma and Great-Aunt's place every Christmas Eve, Dad and Mom still being alive, my former GF Sheryl still being alive, all of that.

Then I turned off the radio for another day.

Two books I read during Christmas time. Every year I read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I used to watch the movie every year -- the 1999 'A Christmas Carol' featuring Patrick Stewart as Scrooge always gave a little extra meaning to the holiday. My former GF and I usually watched it every Christmas Eve. Now I merely read the book -- which is an easy enough read, and grittily realistic in its portrayal of life in Victorian England. It has a lot of heart in it.

When I got up earlier this evening I read a little book I probably got at Borders Books when it was still around, "The Little Book Of Christmas", and dug up my copy of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", which I either watch or read (or both) every Christmas Eve or after. It's my own tradition. I don't know why I do it, but I adhere to it I guess because it doesn't depend on other people being here.

Right now as I finish writing this, it's time for me to go on my nightly bike ride. I do it because at night it's quiet, and it's easy to reflect. It's quite pleasant to ride at night, and it's safe on the local Trail. We had a slight dusting of snow earlier, and it's 0C / 32F outside. My bike, luckily, is good in snow and freezing weather, as it is quite a stable ride.

Then I'll have to hunt up some pics to throw into this blog post and publish it. 

Here are a couple pics from the Fall, which I had once intended to put in here, but never got around to doing it.:

The Cedar River during a fairly bright Autumn. The biggest problem with this Autumn, and Winter so far, is the rain. Drip, drip, drip, drip. And it's cold rain -- 40 degree weather (4C). And it never stops. As this picture looks soggy, so has been the weather. :-)

My soggy Zebra-Kenko, purple, 10-speed bike. It's an amazingly stable ride. My mother used this bike to commute to work at Boeing for several years. I refurbished it around 2010 or 2011 (a little automotive wheel bearing grease works wonders) and it's my number two bike. As one can tell, it was raining. Terminally.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. And fortunately, it is one that City laws can't outlaw (like they did with the 4th of July), and even a pandemic can't destroy it. I only put out a few electric Jack O' Lanterns, and didn't carve any this year. My neighbors down the street carved three of them, and they did a good job, too. I had nine trick-or-treaters, including parents (that I always give candy to, should they want it).

I'm sorry if  this blog article is a bit reflective. But it's how I feel, and there is no point in lying about it. This time of year is a variable time for people. If you have love, family, financial ability, and all that goes with it, Christmas can be an awesome time of year.

For the rest of us? YMMV (your mileage may vary). I lit a couple candles in a safe place atop the refrigerator earlier tonight, when it still was officially Christmas Night. I had to hunt for tea lights to put in them. One candle is in a clear glass holder Sheryl gave me one Christmas years ago, the other one is a red Maria candle (Virgin Mary), that is colorful, as it shines up the night with a red glow. My cats seem to be OK with it. As I type this I am listening to an Irish Carol on KIXI 880 -- they are still playing Christmas music, as they usually do until around 5-6 a.m. on the 26th. Christmas Morning I heard the Nutcracker Suite on local KING-FM, a classical music station. They play a lot of Christmas Carols during the season.

This is an early 2012 pic of my grey cat Fluffy. She took ill from a virus during this past August, and I almost lost her. I couldn't take her to the vet, because of their corona restrictions. They were booked out for more than a week. Giving her frequent doses of freshly mixed, warm kitten formula and keeping her on a heating pad brought her back. It's one positive thing that happened this year.

Another pic of Fluffy when a kitten. She has the same expressive eyes now.

I will end this by saying I wish for everyone something decent out of every day. Sometimes, that is all we have. Your loved ones may diminish. Sometimes all you have is your pets, whatever hobbies you may have, and your memories. But at least that's something.

As I have said before, this infernal pandemic is socking it to us all, even if we don't think so. But humanity has survived pandemics -- probably numerous ones, over the 40,000 + years of our existence as modern humans on planet Earth. As H.G. Wells said in the book War Of The Worlds, man earned his or her reason to exist here, by getting through these challenges, as we are a human race of survivors.

We'll get through this. Stay strong as you can.

Peace. 

C.C., Christmas Night, 2021.

Ham Radio Will Save The World! ...NOT

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! :-) AM / MW radio can be useful in emergencies, as noted on this blog previously. A pic of my Sangean PR-D14, a radio similar to the one on which I heard a recent Emergency Alert System message.

Recently -- a couple days ago, in fact -- I was at home on a day off, doing some writing on my computer, and a strange thing happened: a tornado warning.

I had my nearby radio -- my trusty, mini-boombox Sangean PR-D5 -- tuned to a local AM band talk station. The station was one of the stations in the Seattle metro area -- I had it turned on for background news and info, basically.

So I'm listening and typing away at my computer and voila! The Emergency Action System's data sounds cover up the programming. This normally does not happen. And then, suddenly, a computerized voice comes on, stating that there is a tornado warning, or tornado watch, for a nearby county, about 30 miles (roughly 35-40 km) west of me.

That never happens.

The message repeated a minute or two later. The message was extensive, urging people to 'take cover', get into a basement or a protected, bottom floor room. It was scary to hear.

Now, for those of you in other parts of the US, or other parts of the world -- especially places that have tornadoes -- this sort of warning on the radio may be no big deal. But here in Washington State tornadoes are as rare as it gets. There was one waterspout reported in the 1990s, and my grandmother saw a small tornado in the 1970s, that tossed up some field hay and stripped some leaves off of trees. Other than that, one could probably count the number of tornadoes in my state that have occurred over the past 50 years on one hand and a couple more fingers.

It was a bit shocking to hear this on my AM radio, to say the least.

My Realistic Patrolman SW60, purchased in 1989 but still a good emergency radio for today. Radios like this are great in emergencies. They are light on battery use, and usually have decent to good reception of AM, FM, and the Weather bands.

After the EAS alert stopped and the local station went back to regular programming, I then grabbed my trusty Realistic Patrolman SW60 radio, and turned it to the weather channel -- NOAA's station on 162.55 Mhz. NOAA was broadcasting a continuous warning about possible tornadoes in Kitsap County -- which is where the Bremerton, Keyport, and Bangor Naval bases are located. There were severe thunderstorms in which radar detected vortices, and they were tracking it.

After listening to the NOAA Weather Service for a couple minutes, I thought to myself: "Wait a minute! The 2 Meter Ham Band is also receivable on this radio! Ham radio guys online always talk about the value of ham radio during major emergencies! I'll tune in and listen to the ham guys talking about this rare emergency!"

Now, for those of you who don't know what ham radio is, it's amateur radio, a hobby where you get a license, procure a radio, erect an antenna of some type, and communicate with other 'hams', even across the world. Guys do it by Morse Code ("CW"), they do it on sideband, and even digitally, which is a growing and effective part of that hobby.

I have always been aware of ham radio, and know that the 2 Meter ham band is not too far from the Weather band. In fact, there are a few radios you can get that have AM-FM-SW-Weather Band and the 2 Meter ham band. Those radios are sometimes advertised as being great for emergencies because of the 2 Meter ham band being included, along with the Weather Band.

So I tuned my radio away from the continuous tornado watch on 162.55 Mhz, downwards to the 144 Mhz portion of the VHF-Hi spectrum, which is were the 2 Meter Band is -- and the 2 Meter Band has usually been one of the most popular ham bands.

To my surprise, there was nothing but hiss. No hams talking about the possible emergency situation. No emergency networks checking in. Nothing.

Just 'crickets'.

This was on a radio that I used to always hear plenty of chatter on when tuning the 2 Meter Band. Day or night, there would be at least some activity there.

HAM RADIO FORUMS and SWL -- An Interesting Mix

The reason I bring this all up is because if you are a radio aficionado, and you have an internet connection, chances are high that you have checked out the ham radio forums. There are several radio forums that, even if they are not dedicated to ham radio, they at least have several sub-forums where the ham guys hang out and talk about the importance of ham radio, rigs, antennas, and other ham topics.

Some of them are really gung-ho. If you mention that you haven't heard much activity on the ham bands, and you are just a listener (like me), they'll often come back and ask you "Why haven't you got your ham license yet?" They may talk down at you because you do not have a ham license, despite the fact that you may have been in the monitoring hobby as long, if not longer, than they have been a ham. Most of the ham guys are decent people, but some of them online are total jerks. And when enough of them do act like total jerks online, it really makes amateur radio hobby look bad.

TEOTWAWKI & SHTF 

All that said, there is this undercurrent in ham radio land that somehow when the world is in the process of being blown to bits by meteor strikes, devastating earthquakes, tsunamis, coronal mass ejections, EMPs, or nuclear warfare, ham radio will be there to save the day. Ham radio will be that last line of communication necessary to save civilization! This is despite the fact that ham radio didn't save the day during Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy, and despite the fact that during this recent half hour of tornado warnings in a state where such a warning is a very big deal, the 2 Meter Band -- despite the fact that there are apparently 10-20 repeaters in the region -- was dead, dead, dead.

I'm not writing this to knock ham radio's relative importance. In a disaster, ANY communication medium is important. I've written before on this blog that AM radio may be the best disaster communication medium if a TEOTWAWKI or SHTF event occurs. I would include ham radio and even CB radio in that category as well. Some FM stations may still be on the air and operating.

But the problem biggest problem with ham radio is: ham radio is dying.

Now, as long as I've had radios with BFO or SSB capability, I've tuned through the ham bands. I have heard KC4AAA in the South Pole when it was handling DX 'pile ups' from the US and Canada. I've heard rare stations like A7XB (no longer active, I think), in Qatar -- an American who was apparently living there in the 1980s. At the time, countries like Qatar were still unknown to Americans -- this was pre-Gulf War. The pile up of stations trying to talk to A7XB was massive.

I've heard some of the exotic DXpeditions, although -- because I live in a hole, I haven't heard many of the actual DXpedition stations, but I still have heard the overall activity. I've heard stations from Indonesia and Malaysia chatting in English and sometimes Malay during the early mornings on 40 Meters. I've heard stations from all over the world during ham radio SSB contests. 

EVEN SANTA CLAUS IS A HAM RADIO GUY

Before the SW conditions hit the toilet in 2017, I even heard Santa Claus talking to little kids in the US, from his home in northern Finland (I think he was in Oulu, which is a city on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia). Santa was on the 20 meter band, early Christmas Eve. One little girl said "I love you, Santa!" It was fun to hear ham radio being used to make kids happy.

So, as you may be able to tell, I have always enjoyed tuning in to ham radio.

But I've also noticed that over the past several years, the bands are relatively dead, unless there is a contest. It wasn't always that way -- even during sunspot cycle downturns, there was activity.

A DIMINISHED HOBBY -- Still Important, But Fading

It's definitely diminished. The 2 Meter Band is an example. When I first got my Realistic Patrolman SW60 in summer of 1989, I heard 2 Meter activity day or night. There was always someone on. The local aerospace company had a lot of workers who were hams, and they even had a club where they put up 2 Meter repeaters, including one which was very popular. Now, even if those repeaters are still working, there is mostly silence. After doing some research, it seems that most of their repeaters, save one on 440 Mhz, are gone.

And anymore, any time I tune the 2 Meter Band, it's just hiss. It's not the radio -- it still picks up the local airports and the weather channels on the same frequency band and range.

A regular weekend? No activity.

Tornado warning? No activity.

Even though I am not a ham, and never will be, because of the cost involved, and because I just don't see the value in it for me personally -- it's sad to see a radio hobby of any kind die.

On the ham radio internet forums, periodically this subject comes up. The ham operators who have been in the hobby for more than a decade know that things have changed. And someone always brings up an online map showing various contacts between continents, proving that there is as much activity as ever. Yet my radios tell me differently, and other long time SWL's (and even some hams) will say the same thing. 

Someone then will bring up the increased numbers of hams as retirees get licenses and buy radios. But many, if not most, of those licensees are inactive, and many ham radio operators admit this. Online you can find databases of hams in your general area. In my area there are technically 5-10 hams within a couple mile radius. I've never heard any of them on the air. 

One guy, who I did hear on the air once, had a very large tower -- right in front of his house -- maybe a mile or so from me. He moved out of the region a couple years ago, and that proud tower is now recycled beer cans, and the concrete base has long since been pounded into dust.

Not Just Ham -- MW RADIO Is Also FADING

Unfortunately, we who are in the radio hobby in general are seeing similar things happening to SWL and MWDXing. Aside from a few Chinese, Tecsun and Sangean radios, new SW models are fewer and fewer. Stations are slowly leaving the air. Propagation conditions are miserable or poor. Online, even MW DXers complain about the state of the band: "the music's all foreign language", "nothing but right wing talk and sports", etc. 

In a way, I understand their frustration, even though they are definitely exaggerating. There still is plenty to listen to. Any given night I can hear the CBC, with their variety of programming and news; KGO's interesting talk shows; stations playing South Asian music, Country music, or Classic Hits; the BBC overnights on KOAC (550 khz out of Corvallis, Oregon); some Canadian talk stations; and other variety programming. Most nights if I tune to XEPE 1700 -- a station out of Tecate, Mexico -- I can hear pop hits from the 1970's to the early 2010's. But if you're not into those types of entertainment, MW DXing can be a wash.

All that said, I am convinced that MW will be alive and well for at least another 10-15 years. There will be plenty of North American stations left to DX. 

As for Shortwave? I'm not so sure. I'm not even sure about ham radio activity being plentiful in 10 years. By the time the sunspots pick up in three or four years, will there be that much to hear in the SW spectrum?

It's a dilemma, but I will repeat the mantra I stated several blog posts back: GET 'EM WHILE YOU CAN.

In 2001, the SWL magazines were bemoaning the BBC stopping broadcasts to North America. Radio Nederland, which took up the torch, then left the air. Radio Canada International then left the air. The SW magazines of the time were full of letters to the editor, pronouncing doom and gloom. Yet the early 2000s were still a goldmine for Shortwave listening compared to today. I heard tons of signals every early morning, and plenty at night, too.

Just under ten years ago, I could hear CBers from South America; hams from Borneo; SW stations from Brazil, Chile South Africa, Singapore and Thailand; and even Vividh Bharati broadcasting South Asian movie music most evenings on the 25 or 31 Meter SW bands. A lot of it I could hear on my Grundig G2 just off the whip antenna. Even though a lot of the big broadcasters had left the air, there was still a lot to hear just ten years ago. Compared to today, those years were a goldmine of listening.

My point is -- ten years from now, or twenty years from now, this space in time, and this decade may be the goldmine that you look back and go "wow, I remember when I could tune across the AM band and hear all sorts of stations." Or, "I remember when I could still hear WWV before they took it down." 

If you're a ham, you may be saying "Wow, there was still a lot of activity on 40 meters back then.."

You never know.

I try to stay positive about it. Have to, really. We all probably should.

A shot of empty store shelves over a year ago, when the pandemic first hit. Hopefully, the shipping and supply chain issues in the news recently do not cause a repeat of empty shelves.

IN OTHER LIFE....

Right now my work has been on a somewhat extended leave of absense. I probably will be seeking other work, as soon as I get a booster vaccine shot. Being that I had no ill affects from the previous one, I have decided that yes, I will get the booster. I also take my supplements to help my immune system -- something I've done for years. I have cut back on ginseng, because I think my body is tired of it. But garlic extract, zinc (which most men need especially), and a few other supplements I take on a daily basis.

I still have been doing a bit of fiction writing, and playing slide guitar, improving my accuracy.

Our economy seems to be holding to a strange pattern. Prices of some items have gone up, price of gasoline has gone up, some food prices have climbed, and quality varies more than it used to -- and I've noticed for the third straight week that the canned pet food shelves are partially empty. The shipping and supply line issues are a bit concerning. 

My Halloween Jack O' Lanterns from 2019. This year I just put out a few of my electric ones. It was a low key Halloween when compared to previous years.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. This year, I only put out my electric Jack O' Lanterns. I had maybe 9 trick or treaters -- if you include the parents. I always give candy to the parents, if they want one. Halloween is a good time to interact with the neighbors on a fun basis. We had a cold holiday this year -- it was freezing the night before. And Halloween this year also was on a Sunday night -- so those factors, and the pandemic still being with us -- all probably added to the low numbers of trick or treaters.

Sammy the Cat (grey cat in front) R.I.P. -- Boots the Cat, in back, is still thankfully very much alive.

I am ending this post with a pic of my cat Sammy, who my neighbor found dead on his driveway. I don't know why she died, but she used to greet me every time I came home from work -- she'd be right on the car, meowing, like she was my little welcoming committee.

Now she rests next to Pudge, my cat who died last November. They are out by the hawthorn tree.

I hope this finds all of you readers safe and doing well. During this continuing pandemic, we all need to count whatever blessings and good things we may have.

Peace.

C.C. -- Thursday, November 11th, 2021.

Some Thoughts On A Dream Gone Wrong

 

Gabby Petito, on the California coast. From her YouTube. 

As many, if not most of you are probably aware, social media poster and traveller Gabby Petito was found dead in a remote area of Grand Teton National Park, in the US state of Wyoming, It's a sad end to a tragic series of events involving Gabby and her boyfriend, who is now apparently wanted by Federal authorities in connection with her murder.

Now, I hadn't been following the news much over the past few weeks -- outside of the brief news reports I heard on the radio while writing, I haven't paid much attention to news. I've just gotten burnt out on it. 

But I kept seeing references to a "lost blonde girl" in social media, and a couple days later someone on Facebook posted a pic of Gabby which was taken when the Moab Police (in Utah) pulled over the white van, in which she was riding, for erratic driving. The boyfriend was driving.

In the pic, Gabby was crying. There was talk about how the police handled the situation, as it appeared Gabby was possibly a victim of abuse. There were some people talking about how Gabby was travelling across the country, living her dream. But in that pic, her sadness was deeply touching.

The pic struck me -- she was such a pretty girl, was living a glamourous life of travel and adventure -- and here she was, miserable. Why?

It turns out that she and her fiancee had a tumultuous and probably violent relationship. And it also appears that her boyfriend Brian Laundrie was verbally (and physically, according to witnesses) abusive -- witnesses had seen Brian hit Gabby and slap her on one occasion, and witnesses also saw her crying in a Mexican restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, not too long before she disappeared. Her boyfriend was described as volatile, enough to where the witnesses were concerned. In the police video available to see online, Gabby mentioned that he had struck her.

I checked out some of the Moab Police bodycam footage, and a few other videos about Gabby, and then I found Gabby's Instagram, which is still available online to see. 

Gabby's Instagram is full of pics that make it look as if she were living a dream life: there's pics of her on the beach, pics of her posing in the mountains, posing in front of murals in California, and even a couple pics of her near the beach in Costa Rica. There are pics of her and her boyfriend hugging, laughing, enjoying life together. From the pictures, the two appeared to be in love, nothing but happy, and living their dreams.

Apparently, Gabby's dream was to be a "travel blogger". Now, I know a bit about blogging, and know a little about social media, but I hadn't heard of "travel blogging" before. I knew that some people blogged during travel, but wasn't so aware of it being a big thing. But I guess there are people who travel all over the US, Europe, and all over the world, and they blog about it, and have lots of followers.

Gabby's Instagram is undoubtedly an example of this: she has 1.2 million Instagram followers. Gabby's posts on Instagram had the hashtag "VanLife". I wasn't aware that the idea of living out of a van was a big social media deal, but I guess it is.

Gabby wanted to have a successful VLOG website -- a video blog, based on her travels with her fiancee. She had been working on her website the day the cops pulled them over when they were fighting. It seems that Gabby -- 22 years old, who had just quit a nutritionist's and pharmacy tech's job to travel and blog -- had a dream of being an internet personality. Both Gabby and her boyfriend were described as online 'influencers' -- people who post pictures and videos online that bring in lots and lots of followers. Many people apparently make a lot of money being influencers.

Perhaps Gabby was aiming for that goal -- to be a popular influencer.

I won't go into more detail on what happened. It appears Gabby was murdered in some remote campsite in the Tetons, and a lot of evidence points to her boyfriend as the murderer -- right now, as I write this, he is a fugitive. 

But I can't get over the tragic nature of what happened to Gabby Petito. I've known girls like her in the past -- they dreamed big. There are a lot of young women who dream big, using the internet and social media as a platform to achieve their dreams. All one has to do is peruse Instagram for a while and you'll see all sorts of examples. It's not difficult to find attractive young women who have thousands of followers, their social media loaded with fashionable photos. Like Gabby's Instagram, their pics often reflect the perfect life, where nothing goes wrong, and all is happiness. 

In some cases, perhaps it's illusory. In others, maybe it's real.

Gabby Petito didn't have that luck She had her whole life ahead of her, and a big dream of making a living as a travel blogger. Now she's gone.

Rest In Peace, Gabby. You deserved better, no matter what the circumstances. You deserved a chance to pursue your dream, to find your happiness, and be known for your travels and your pictures and videos. But not this way.

The CB Mystery of "GI Joe" in Belize -- and 105F in the Shade

My venerable Cobra 148GTL, a terrific CB/SSB radio -- and it still works. I took this pic in 2011 and was hearing a mess of skip signals on channel 6, just off a small whip attached to the back of the radio. Over a decade earlier, I was able to talk to Texas, Alaska, California and Mexico with this radio.

I hang out at several radio forum websites, under different pseudonyms, and often at these forums the subject of Shortwave radio comes up. 

And CB radio (also known as the 11 Meter Band) often is raised as a SW-related subject, as well. The ham guys on the ham sites seem to decry CB, making fun of CB operators. The MW and SW guys seem to have a more positive view of the 11 meter band.

I'm old enough to remember CB, during the last edge of its heyday, which was during the turn of the decade, just when the 1990's began. The sunspots were up, and the 11 Meter Band was hopping with activity. It wasn't long after 1991-1992 that the sunspots started their dip, and then the internet cut into the Shortwave radio band's popularity, and CB, too.

But as late as 1990, even with a CB radio plugged into a whip antenna stuck into the back of the set, you could hear much of the world. I bought a SSB CB radio (Uniden 122) and then a second, better one (Cobra 148), and even just using the legal channels (my radios were, and are, both 100% stock), I could hear Latin America, Hawaii, Canada, the SE US and Texas, California, and even Australia. And most of this long distance CB skip was on sideband.

During this period, I built an 11 meter quad antenna. With the quad I was able to talk to Northern California fairly often, and also parts of Canada and even Alaska. One of the more interesting convos I had was with a guy driving a truck up the gravel highway that runs from Fairbanks to the North Slope / Prudhoe Bay region of Alaska. I don't know what the name of the road was back in 1989, but now it is called the Dalton Highway:

Dalton Highway - Wikipedia

The Alaskan trucker was driving up into the isolated, desolate looking, and majestic appearing Brooks Ranges when we talked. He said a lot about the highway, and we also talked fishing -- in Alaska they have a lot of big lake trout. That 'QSO' was one of the standouts.

My Realistic Patrolman SW-60, a portable radio that runs on 4 C-Cells for a long time. When I first got it, of course, there was a lot more activity on the SW, VHF, VHF-Low and UHF bands. I heard my only satellite on this radio, just off the whip -- a weather satellite beeping around 136 Mhz. For a non-TRF model this radio does really well on MW at night. It's probably a good emergency and camping radio for those who still have them, as it gets MW and FM well, and also the Weather band.

The quad antenna also came in handy for VHF Low Band 'skip' on my Realistic Patrolman SW60. The radio has provision for an external, balanced antenna (via Motorola style jack) so I plugged the quad into the radio and tuned the VHF Low Band. The 11 meter quad antenna was tuned close enough to the 30-33 MHz portion of the VHF Low Band that I heard Louisiana accented guys talking about oil rigs -- in clear FM, as well as other Texan and Louisiana accented speech.

After building that quad antenna, I built a three element, wire beam, which aimed South-East. I hung it by ropes from the house, the other ropes attached to some poplar trees. With that antenna I was able to talk to Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Coahuila and Chihuahua Mexico. Because I know some Spanish, I made contact with some Mexican sideband CBers on their favorite sideband channel of that time, which (I think) was the upper side of channel 29. The main way to call "CQ" was "Hola Once! Hola Once!" (hello 11, hello 11).

So I have quite a few fond memories of talking on the CB sideband.

THE STRANGE SAGA OF BELIZE'S "GI JOE"

But then there was a CB mystery, which has always puzzled me. It's almost like the CB radio version of an urban legend, but this guy was very real... he was the mysterious guy who was on CB skip every afternoon during the summer and fall of 1989 or so -- a guy who called himself "GI Joe".

I was working at a college radio station at the time, and sometimes I would hook up my CB to a magnet mount antenna atop my Ford sedan car, and switch the CB on to listen to the CB sideband channels while commuting, and sometimes I would listen a while in the parking lot just before going up to work -- and there he'd be, most afternoons: "...this is GI Joe.... Just an old soldier... I'm in Belize..."

He had no call letters or 'unit numbers', like sideband people had back then. Just his 'handle': "GI Joe".

He always had tons of US stations trying to talk to him, and some Canadian stations, too. Some of them didn't know (or hear correctly) where "GI Joe" was located, so sometimes he'd spell out the name of the country ("it's B-E-L-I-Z-E...") -- and sometimes he would even tell them where it was on the map (in Central America, near Guatemala, Mexico's Yucatan Penisula, and Honduras). 

"GI Joe" never talked about the conflicts going on in Central America at the time (US involvement with the Contras), nor did he say exactly where he was, but at least once he seemed to mention an offshore island (Belize has a couple offshore, barrier islands). He sometimes mentioned the weather, which he always said was warm.

Of course, because F2 skip was on (the peak of the solar cycle), "GI Joe" was usually heard very well. I don't remember him saying what kind of radio he had, but my guess is that his radio was probably a ham rig like a Yaesu or Kenwood, tricked out for the CB band, because he got out so well.

And for a couple months it seemed that every afternoon, I heard him... "This is ol' GI Joe, in Belize, calling CQ..." You can't necessarily tell a person's age from their voice but he sounded like he was close to retired.

Any time he made a call, there was a 'pile-up' of stations trying to reach him -- from the Southern states of the US, from Texas, from Florida, from Ohio, from Ontario Canada... "GI Joe" had quite a draw. I think I remember him talking to a guy in Utah or Colorado or California, but never anyone in the Northwest US. Of course, this was years ago, and I'm going by memory.

 

He didn't say too much about his life, aside from mentioning now and then that he had been a soldier. I don't know if he was married, divorced, widowed, or whatever. He also didn't specifically say where he was, like ham radio operators will do.... aside from him being possibly on an island with a beach, and I think he said he was living in a camper or caravan trailer. I tried to talk to him more than once but never got through.

 

I stopped hearing him some time during the early 90's, and I never heard him after that. Also, internet searches came up completely blank. There apparently is a store by that name that shows up in searches -- but it's not him, obviously. One would think he'd been mentioned somewhere on CB forums because of all the guys (and women) who talked to him, but nothing ever came up. Even searches of radio people in Belize comes up blank.

A lot of Americans apparently retire or move to Belize. I have found that out from internet searches. "GI Joe" obviously was one of them -- probably sold his house and stuff and either drove a camper van to Belize, or somehow got a hold of one when he moved there. But who he was? We will never know.

I rack it up as a mystery. He was just a guy who -- with just a simple CB radio and a decent antenna -- talked to probably hundreds of people every day of every week, and then eventually disappeared, into the ether.

If you're still out there somewhere, "G.I. Joe", this one's for you, and stay safe.

Dry, packed earth -- a pathway just off the bicycle Trail that a lot of people use as a detour. It's what's left of the Milwaukee Road railroad grade. The dirt is drier than I have seen it in a long time. Although this photo was taken a few days ago, I'm certain that our heat wave here made the dirt only drier and even more hard-packed.

HEAT, HEAT, AND MORE HEAT

Here in the Seattle area we're not used to heat. "Hot" to us is 85 degrees F (about 29C), and 90-95 degrees F (35C) is really hot. It usually hits 90F about 4-5 times a year. 100 or greater is rare.

When I was a kid, usually once a year the temperature would break 100. Now, to you folks who use the Centigrade system in the rest of the world, 100 to us is similar to what 40 is to you: a round number that means SUPER HOT. When I was a kid, 100+ temperatures were exciting for some reason. We'd all talk about it, how hot it was. I remember at least 3-4 times the thermometer hit 101 and 102. Never hotter than that.

The clear, sun-sparkling waters of the Cedar River when the sun is high in the sky and warm temperatures and river recreation beckon.

Last week they told us that there was a heat dome building in the Western US, and that we'd have record breaking temperatures over the weekend, and into Monday. They were right. About 200 miles north of us is a small town in British Columbia, Canada called Lytton. It's in a relatively dry area (rain shadow) NE of Vancouver, BC. It was 118F there -- that's 48C. That's HOT.

Here in Seattle on Sunday it was 105 (40C), and on Monday it was 108 (42C) on my front porch. For us, that is REALLY HOT. Especially for rainy, moderate weather Seattle. The hardest part of it was trying to sleep, because the rooms in the house were still hot, and most people here in the Seattle area do NOT have air conditioning. Just fans. And if the power goes out during the heat (which it did for a couple hours), you don't even have the fans. :-(

Thankfully, it's cooling down over the week!

I notice I have a couple new readers from parts of the world... One from Colombia (new country), one from Luxembourg (new country), several from Croatia (new country, I think), one from Belgium (a rare check-in), and Japan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, and the Czech Republic all have checked out the blog. Usually, half of my readers are overseas. I hope your temperatures are moderate and you're all well and safe. 

Peace.

C.C. June 29th, 2021.