The Juke Box II

[Michelle420]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srEUzdY6oaw&list=RDsrEUzdY6oaw&feature=share]Rickie Lee Jones - Lush Life (live) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Coyote]

Henry - you rock! Nice choice

 

[Coyote]

Kalinka...

Russian Army Choir - Kalinka - YouTube[/ame]

 

[HenryBHough]

OK, what about the Red Army piece inspired that memory?

It was because, in the 1950's, Radio Moscow ran a North American Service up around 1.7 MHz that could be tuned by some of the tube-type Fada (brand) table-top AM radios. One of their signature pieces of music was a lush instrumental of "Lover". The other was a complex piece, very short, played on a set of chimes. I've never been able to identify it but could hum it today.

 

[Coyote]

Bony M - Rivers of Babylon

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fngpeVcZFOE]Rivers Of Babylon - Boney M - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Coyote]

Boney M - Rasputin

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDMlk3kSYg]Boney M - Rasputin - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Coyote]

Greg Brown - Rexroth's Daughter

Ah...a voice as slow and deep as a summer day

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbw4RIaqFLE]Rexroth's Daughter By Greg Brown with Lyrics - YouTube[/ame]

the murderer who lived next door seemed like such a normal guy--
if you try to follow what they shove at us you run out of tears to cry
i heard a man speak quietly i listened for a while
he spoke from his heart to my woe & then he bowed & smiled
what is real but compassion as we move from birth to death
i am looking for rexroth's daughter & I'm running out of breath

 

[HenryBHough]

Now speaking of daughters....here's one about a miner's daughter:

 

[Coyote]

Who's next?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLON3ddZIw]Tom Lehrer - Who's Next - with intro - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Pogo]

Check out this version of White Rabbit -- Mayssa Karaa

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFM1gyDbpk"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFM1gyDbpk[/ame]

 

[HenryBHough]

Earlier, with another piece of music, I posted this:

It was because, in the 1950's, Radio Moscow ran a North American Service up around 1.7 MHz that could be tuned by some of the tube-type Fada (brand) table-top AM radios. One of their signature pieces of music was a lush instrumental of "Lover". The other was a complex piece, very short, played on a set of chimes. I've never been able to identify it but could hum it today.


Today I found it on YouTube. Only the first few seconds were as I recalled and they the particular recording was from the 1970s though when I heard it was sometime between 1958 and about 1963....

I still don't know what the chimed piece is named....



Can anyone put a name to it?

 

[Pogo]

But of course. That's what we SWLers call an interval signal, and runs for several minutes before a broadcast comes on to identify the correct frequency for those looking for it - or in my case simply curious to know which was who. As another example Canada used a similar kind of chime using their national anthem (just the two bars that carry the words "O Canada"). Voice of America used an orchestral passage from "Yankee Doodle".

The Moscow tune is translated as "Wide is my Homeland" and appears in more complete form here -- this is how the broadcasts would typically start (first 51 seconds, followed by a more stagey version. Ultimately it comes from a film made in 1936.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0pzC5T3GU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0pzC5T3GU[/ame]

I have to say I've never heard of any international broadcaster using 1.7 Mc nor would it carry farther from Russia than maybe central Europe at that frequency.

 

[HenryBHough]

Somehow I knew you'd be familiar with Radio Moscow themes! Thank you.

As to the frequency, yeah, it makes no sense yet there it was. Closest AM frequency in use in the area was a 1kW daytimer on 1590. Twisting the dial beyond that got only noise until a little above 1600 then some nights you'd find police calls from a suburb of Boston, can't remember the name of the town, somewhere near Swampscott. Then, especially on clear winter nights, there it was - English voiced programming and the distinctive chimes plus "This is The North American Service of....."

Over the years I had other radios in that same location. Nothing fancy, an old Firestone Air Chief; a Motorola portable and even a very old Philco portable with A, B and C batteries but only the Fada tuned those oddities. Perhaps some quirk of the particular radio which I gave away probably 50+ years ago. Still, good to know others heard those distinctive chimes.

Now thinking back on those days I come to a piece of music which I believe still has the distinction of being the longest used musical theme in radio history. The version below is NOT the original - that was an instrumental off a scratchy old 79 rpm hard and brittle disc. Can't remember the name of the artist. It was used as the introductory theme for a program called "Musical Parade and Shopping News", a 15-minute interlude on WSAR in Fall River, Massachusetts starting in about 1929. Sponsor was The R.A. McWhirr Department Store. The program continued into the 1960's, through at least a couple of format changes, until the store went bankrupt and closed down. A true oddity, the little program, especially when the format turned to popular music (station had for years been ABC network through the era of stuff like Don McNeil's Breakfast Club and evening mysteries).

Anyway, here t'is....

 

[Pogo]

Somehow I knew you'd be familiar with Radio Moscow themes! Thank you.

As to the frequency, yeah, it makes no sense yet there it was. Closest AM frequency in use in the area was a 1kW daytimer on 1590. Twisting the dial beyond that got only noise until a little above 1600 then some nights you'd find police calls from a suburb of Boston, can't remember the name of the town, somewhere near Swampscott. Then, especially on clear winter nights, there it was - English voiced programming and the distinctive chimes plus "This is The North American Service of....."

Over the years I had other radios in that same location. Nothing fancy, an old Firestone Air Chief; a Motorola portable and even a very old Philco portable with A, B and C batteries but only the Fada tuned those oddities. Perhaps some quirk of the particular radio which I gave away probably 50+ years ago. Still, good to know others heard those distinctive chimes.

Oh I know all my interval signals. That one took me back.

I suspect a spurious image from -- well I dunno what SW freq would show up at 1.7 -- a subharmonic from 6.8? That doesn't add up either-- it's outside the 41m band. Even today with all the stretching of international allocations, only pirates are anywhere around 6.8.

The only non-domestic broadcaster I can recall audible on MW was the Trans World Radio facility on Bonaire at 800, its 500 kW vying with CKLW and usually winning. But the longest DX we ever got in southeastern PA on MW was XERF from Juaréz.

Moscow was always very easy to hear. They were doing a better job with their 50kW xmtrs than VOA was in the other direction with 250.

(/offtopic)

 

[HenryBHough]

Of music and radio and DX (distance listening).....

This piece was used as a sign-off theme by (then) WYNG, Warwick/East Greenwich, Rhode Island through out its "Beautiful Music" years:



At the time the station ran one thousand Watts (1 kW) on 1590 kHz, daytime only. During an annual proof of performance test I set up a looped tape of the Fred Waring song and let it run for about an hour during the international test period. About a week later got several letters from Australia and New Zealand accurately describing having received the signal. Nothing, though, from anywhere in Europe.

 

[Pogo]

Of music and radio and DX (distance listening).....

This piece was used as a sign-off theme by (then) WYNG, Warwick/East Greenwich, Rhode Island through out its "Beautiful Music" years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX522A_OKdY

At the time the station ran one thousand Watts (1 kW) on 1590 kHz, daytime only. During an annual proof of performance test I set up a looped tape of the Fred Waring song and let it run for about an hour during the international test period. About a week later got several letters from Australia and New Zealand accurately describing having received the signal. Nothing, though, from anywhere in Europe.

Ah propagation is a fickle mistress. I hope you sent them QSLs.

Australia and NZ both do a bang-up job of reaching across the Pacific to these parts on a daily basis. Sadly the former is talking about budget cuts and possible obsolescence. Such is the way. Sackville is gone. Bonaire (RN) dismantled. CFCX dark. Meanwhile China has been ascendant, even if they no longer have Sackville to rent time on. I content myself with Atlantic air traffic, the odd Latin American regional, occasional ham copy and the elusive sporadic E-skip on VHF.

By now nobody in the regular stream of this thread has a clue what we're talking about so - back to the regularly scheduled programming

 

[HenryBHough]

Much of the music we fleetingly heard over our lives came from radio. The mention above of "Sackville" brought to mind a visit I made to the facility in the 60's. One of the stations operated from the site was CBA, Moncton (New Brunswick) whose signal pounded along the coast well down into Connecticut. They had a nightly show that started at midnight which featured English Music Hall tunes by the original artists. T'was there that I first heard:



and always enjoyed it when they'd trot out this better-known.....



All gone now - and they call it "progress".

 

[DriftingSand]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUDMy-GplkQ]Foreigner-Dirty White Boy - YouTube[/ame]

 

[DriftingSand]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuyvT8nFMLY]Van Halen - Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - YouTube[/ame]

 

[DriftingSand]