There’s been a buzz going around regarding the mystery oldies station on 1710 calling itself “The Big Q”. See this post for more details. More DXers are reporting reception and it was heard in Oregon as recently as last week on 1710 khz. With all of this recent talk, it has reminded me of some old pirate stations that I remember hearing back in the 80s at the upper end of the dial. I also remember that catching any pirate on medium wave was a big deal back then (to me anyway). Snagging a pirate reception on shortwave was difficult enough back then, and hearing something on MW from the midwest was even tougher. Today when I scan the band above 1700 khz, I routinely hear both Radio Soleil Int’l. & Radio Celestial from the east coast on 1710 – not exactly exciting pirate catches. Before the expanded AM band came into place, I fondly remember hearing pirate station WJDI pumping out music on 1620 with a said power of 2.5 kw. The Radio Animal’s WKND was also heard at the top of the dial at least once here. Digging way back in my pirate archive, I’ve pulled a few audio samples to bring back those warm fuzzies:
WJDI_1620_Khz_0500_UTC_11DE89_00.mp3
WJDI_1620_Khz_0500_UTC_11DE89_01.mp3
WJDI_1620_Khz_0500_UTC_11DE89_02.mp3
WJDI_1620_Khz_0500_UTC_11DE89_03.mp3
WKND_1620_Khz_0614_UTC_17DE89_01.mp3
WKND_1620_Khz_0614_UTC_17DE89_02.mp3
Sadly, I never got one of those spiffy WJDI tower QSLs 🙁
Long live the hobby pirates at the top of the dial!
During its test broadcast in early 1989, WJDI broadcasted with the power of 1000 clear watts.
If you want a QSL, just tell me the date and time you heard me on and I will send you one. It is amazing to me how much is still going around about WJDI. email me. Dave
Dave, thanks for the comment. I just sent you an email…..