[IRCA] Last moments of 1550 CBE

[Brett Saylor <bsaylor@xxxxxxxxx>]

I spent some time this morning reviewing my overnight Perseus recording of
1550 around midnight ELT in hopes of reconstructing the rather jumbled mix
of reception at the time of the sign off of CBE. What follows is a
minute-by-minute replay of what I heard here in Pennsylvania. I hope it
might help some folks make sense of what they were hearing during that time.
It also introduces an interesting twist to CBE's operating frequency in the
final moments of their broadcast.

At around 1158pm CBE is on top with Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap program
leading out with the Beach Boy's theremin on "Good Vibrations". WDLR-OH is
in 2nd place with regional Mexican music and WZRK-WI is in third place with
a mention of avenue1550.com.

At 1159 ET there was a CBC Radio 1 local ID with only the 97.5 FM frequency
mentioned. Over the next 5 minutes CBE faded and WDLR dominated but CBE was
still in. At 1204:30 the local and regional weather was being given and
CBE's audio dropped mid-sentence at 1205:00.

At 1205:35 the audio returned for about 5 seconds, still in the middle of
the weather, but the carrier frequency was actually 1550.05 rather than the
previous 1550.00 (I can zero-beat the sideband audio and tell it's CBE, and
the carrier line on 1550.05 was extremely strong). The carrier dropped
abruptly again in mid-sentence at 1205:40 (there were at least 6 other
carriers on 1550 spread between 1550.00 and 1550.02 at this point, by the
way). Between 1206 and 1210 ET there is no sign of any CBE audio but at
1210:15 the audio from CBE comes back in the middle of "Maggie May" by Rod
Stewart, back on frequency at 1550.00.

"Maggie May" stays on top with a brief dip at 1211, ending at 1214:10; Randy
starts to introduce the next song, saying "the Beat Farmers are a cowpunk
band from San Diego..."  and the audio drops mid-sentence at 1214:21 ET.
Then, at 1215:48 the carrier and audio came back in the middle of their
"Happy Boy" song ("hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba") and the carrier is now
back on 1550.05 kHz.

At 1216 Randy starts to introduce Joni Mitchell but the Spanish music is
beating it out. At 1217 Joni's song "Carey" pops through and is pretty
strong from 1218-1219, ending at 1220. At 1220:30 he introduces the next
song by Joanie Sommers "Johnny Get Angry, Johnny Get Mad". At 1220:45 a
promo for "Big Ed's Chowder House" and The Avenue 1550 pops on top of CBE
but Joanie's song comes back from 1221 to 1223. Randy begins to introduce
The Troggs "Wild Thing" but then the audio is gone at 1224:40, presumeable
for the last time. After that it's WDLR's " la que buena " slogan, more
Spanish music and some unidentified vocal folk-ish music from presumed WZRK.
Never got to hear "Wild Thing". I stopped checking the recording at this
point, presuming they are off for good.

The off-frequency carrier is still there even now (1100 am ELT Saturday)
although it appears to be closer to 1550.04. I wonder if this indicates they
may return with a tape loop as some have speculated. I also wonder why their
carrier frequency changed at the end? I cannot recall there ever being an
off-frequency station on 1550.

Brett Saylor
State College, PA
Perseus SDR and 16'x36' corner fed Superloop pointed at 30 degrees
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