Between 1 and 2 p.m. EST / 30 DEC there was quite a bit of skip DX activity on FM as I noted while driving in the Yarmouth / Barnstable / Sandwich, MA area.
Right away, at my house, I knew something had gone wacky when local 100.5 "Koffee" was replaced by a country station calling itself "Whistle 100".
This turned out to be WSSL from Greenville, SC: ' http://wsslfm.iheart.com/ '.
On 98.3, I heard HD 98.3 mentions and ' hd983.com '. Checking that website shows WHHD from Augusta, GA.
Onwards to 101.5 where country music was followed by a Kicks 101.5 slogan. Googling that comes up with WKHX, Atlanta, GA: ' http://www.wkhx.com/ '.
99.3 produced Charlotte mentions and WBT ID, familiar enough from 1110 AM.
101.7 had mentions of "serving Georgia and Northern Florida" in an advert, then "here in Vidalia" - good enough to nail down WYUM in nearby Mount Vernon, GA.
102.1, coming through well despite a local on 101.9 and semi-local 102.3, declared itself as "102.1 Nash Icon" which turns out to be WZAT, Savannah / Tybee Island, GA: ' http://www.savannahnashicon.com/ '.
Another on 102.1 popped up momentarily with a "Touch 102.1" mention but no Google hit on that.
Over to 103.7 where a "103.7 the Q" slogan rolled over the usual RI station. It's WQEN, Birmingham, AL, ' http://1037theq.iheart.com/ '.
104.5 was kind of a choppy mess at first and then an advert with "in Hattiesburg" popped up. WXRR is the call for that Mississippian, ' http://www.rock104fm.com/ '.
Only a few seconds after that came through, the skip shifted and a clear "WOKV Jacksonville" ID was heard. Of course that Floridian is well known from its Mighty 690 on the AM side.
104.9 had an advert for a law firm, "I'm Frampton Harper", phone number 843-524-8595. Googling that got me to Beaufort, SC. Radio-Locator.com gives WLHH, Ridgeland, SC in that market. Website ' http://www.1049thesurf.com/ '.
105.5 came through with pseudo-ID "105.5 The Dove, continuous light favorites". Web search finds ' http://www.wduv.com/ ', WDUV, St. Petersburg, FL.
107.7 had "Fox 107.7" slogan and advert for Southern Alabama Gas, so WFXX, Andalusia, AL, ' http://www.kokosuniverse.com/radio_stations/wfxx.htm '.
What was interesting was how some channels were a blob of signals one minute and a sharp clear dominant a minute later. Or vice versa. And just because one station was clearly atop one moment didn't guarantee that something entirely different wouldn't be 'inbooming' a few minutes later on the same channel.
By about 2:10 p.m. EST (1910 UTC), the opening was largely over.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA