Ancient History/KGU Question

[Kalalau]

The other day I happened to glance at some old Broadcasting mag archives and there was KGU listed as far back as 1940 as Limited by WJR. Why would owners ever have chosen a daytime only frequency so long ago when so many fulltime frequencies were available? Was the limit just technical, just on paper, or did KGU actually have to sign off at Honolulu sunset? And considering that Hawai'i is not a part of North America, why was it ever included under the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, if it was at all? And finally, was there ever a KGU-TV?

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

There has been KHON, KULA, KGMB radio (maybe KONA) and of course tv too. I don't recall a KGU tv call letters.

Perhaps in order to have a FCC license you had to be included under the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

There has been KHON, KULA, KGMB radio (maybe KONA) and of course tv too. I don't recall a KGU tv call letters.

Nope. There never was a KGU-TV that went on the air.

And considering that Hawai'i is not a part of North America, why was it ever included under the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, if it was at all?

Perhaps in order to have a FCC license you had to be included under the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement.

It was probably the case. Even though Hawaii was geographically isolated from other countries as far as AM radio signals went, the islands were still a territory of the US and weren't exempt from federal broadcasting regulations.

BTW, even though NARBA was so named, it didn't just apply to radio stations in North America. It was also enforced in the Caribbean region. And boy, was it ever needed there! The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti all are within close proximity and needed to be under some form of agreement when it came to frequency assignment.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

KGU never had a TV license. If I'm not mistaken (and I've been proven to be wrong before ) The sun up to sun down issue was because of the station's power relative to it's geographical location. At sun down there is less interference in the upper atmosphere so weaker stations could broadcast farther at night causing interference to distant radio stations.

During WWII, the Japanese used KGU's broadcast signal to home in on the islands when they launched their attack on Pearl Harbor. If Japanese warships could launch their planes under the cover of night a stronger AM signal could aid in their approach. By shutting down during evening hours, this limits their chances of attacking during the night.

Is that the reason? I dunno, but it made sense for the time.

[Kalalau]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

Hmmm, interesting! Nighttime radio signals do travel a lot farther, on a simple transistor radio on eastern Maui I have gotten many mainland stations, some from as far away as Dallas, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio, and one from Australia. In the lore around the Pearl Harbor attack the station they homed in on was KGMB at 590, and old Broadcasting mags from the late '30's show KGMB touting their new lkw transmitter--not a strong signal, but they may have boosted to 5kw by 1941.

[DaleP]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

Hmmm, interesting! Nighttime radio signals do travel a lot farther, on a simple transistor radio on eastern Maui I have gotten many mainland stations, some from as far away as Dallas, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio, and one from Australia. In the lore around the Pearl Harbor attack the station they homed in on was KGMB at 590, and old Broadcasting mags from the late '30's show KGMB touting their new lkw transmitter--not a strong signal, but they may have boosted to 5kw by 1941.

One night in December 1987, I was able to pick up WNBC Radio in New York City at 660 khz while I was in Kipahulu in East Maui. I also received WLW (710 khz) from Cincinnati and WOR (710 khz) from New York. WOR was fading in and out with KIRO in Seattle.

A friend told me a few years ago that one afternoon, for about 45 minutes, he was able to pick up West Coast FM stations from his home in East Maui. That's a phenomenon known as E-skip, which is usually limited to about 1400 miles, but a double-hop is not uncommon.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

At nights my car radio picks up KFI in Los Angeles clear as a bell. And I'm on the Big Island over 2,000 miles away.

[mel]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

When I was living on the Big Island, I could also pick up KFI, KFRC, KTNQ, and KDAY clear as a bell on AM in the 1970s... haven't tried lately on trips back. Also could hear KSL once in a while... Of course today you want to listen to those stations and many others, just find their website or look through the iTunes radio section.

[DaleP]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

When I was living on the Big Island, I could also pick up KFI, KFRC, KTNQ, and KDAY clear as a bell on AM in the 1970s... haven't tried lately on trips back. Also could hear KSL once in a while... Of course today you want to listen to those stations and many others, just find their website or look through the iTunes radio section.

I know we've slipped off-topic here, but Mel, your post makes me wonder about the fate of broadcast radio stations as Internet radios become more available in vehicles. I read that Ford may be offering a free upgrade this year for its radios equipped with Microsoft Sync that will allow for Internet radio apps such as Pandora.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

At nights my car radio picks up KFI in Los Angeles clear as a bell. And I'm on the Big Island over 2,000 miles away.

I remember moving out to Ka'a'awa in 1980 and tuning around the radio hoping to find anything to help me go to sleep while listening to something interesting and got KFI pretty good. Of course it was only the news, but being 5 years outta LA and quasi-homesick this was a kick.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

I love my Blackberry. When I drive home at night from my Lions meetings, it gets to a point where I can't pick up the local talk radio station (KPUA-AM 670) in Hilo. So I set my BlackBerry to stream KFI in LA and I listen to Coast to Coast AM until I get home thru Clear Channel's I(Heart)Radio.

Funny though when I do get home I can pick up KFI on my AM radio again but vaguely while driving.

[Kalalau]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

Aah, DX radio. I discovered it as a kid, liked listening to Padres games from Seattle on KOMO, KOMO came in like a local station at night, it was incredible. My farthest DX was WBZ Boston, got WABC and WCBS from NYC, WCAU 1210 Philadelphia, KDKA in Pittsburgh, all the big clear channel 50 kw stations in the east except WLW, WNBC, WSB, WSM. I listened to live coverage of a hurricane in New Orleans on WWL. Rarest was WPVL in Plainsville, Ohio, but also got WHK when it was on 1430, tho never the big Cleveland 1100. Its fun on long distance drives at night to see what comes in. I have never gotten a Hawai'i station on the mainland though KPUA supposedly can be heard in Santa Barbara at night. When SD's KCBQ went to 50kw-day about 1960 it did a DX contest, the winner was in the Philippines. When KFI went to 50kw back in the mid 30's it did a DX contest and the winner was in Spain. It looks like AM is a dying technology. Canada has made a move toward moving everything onto FM, some big AM stations, big historic powerful Canadian AM stations have simply pulled the plug, its nothing I ever expected, but technology does move on.

[Kimo]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

Used to hear KMOX St. Louis (Cardinal baseball!) frequently when I was afirst grader MANY MANY years ago - living along Kahala Avenue.

[mel]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

About 10 years ago someone wrote or called KHVH radio in Honolulu and told them that they were listening from Norway or one of those countries way up in Northern Europe.

[Kalalau]

Re: Ancient History/KGU Question

I think letting AM die or killing it off is a mistake. Nothing can cover wide open spaces as well, its a huge advantage to be able to cover vast areas, its important to keep rural areas and isolated areas in contact and in emergencies its vitally important.

It turns out that salt water is one of the best conductors of radio signals so once a signal from Dallas or Minneapolis makes it to the Pacific it isn't going to weaken very much bouncing to Hawai'i.