Greetings Everyone,
Hope you are all having a great February 2013 so far. Yes I am still on my extended visit here in Ontario. I joined a couple of other online radio sites just before Christmas to January and it has increased my radio sales busness in the Eastern Part of North America which has always accounted for at least 60 Per Cent of my mailorder radio sales business. Anyhow really hope to get back out to British Columbia soon by early Spring at the latest. Fortunately Mrs. CFAY (Ann) is patient but I miss her and Langley Township a lot!!! I absolutely do not miss the mayor or council of Langley City which I consider far worse than Mayor Rob Ford in Toronto. Actually he is a Saint by comparison! Langley Township especially Murrayville is like Heaven on Earth though compared to Langley City! Yes Dan Aldergroove is great too after all its in Langley Township not Langley City!!!!
Anyhow the real reason for this post, I always thought our old radio programming days at CFAY in 1967 to 1971 were great and unique with Free Form Music playing artists such as the MC5, Mama Lion plus some current Top 40 Hits, Oldies and some old and new country. We played the odd classical music selection missed in from time to time. I remember we played Undun by The Guess Who first before CKLG 730 and CFUN 1410 played it. I really liked that tune by the Guess Who. I still have a lot of the old charts for CFAY that our good friend RadioFan put together way back then. Great job Ted and great memories from that time!!! I think the tune Apricot Brandy was one of the more progressive songs we played and made the cfay chart back then. Around 1969 or so.
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Well anyway I always thought C-FAY's programming was the most unique of anybody and have liked it all through the years till recently. However even though I still like what we did I must tell you that I have heard a Licensed AM radio station in the USA that just started streaming audio on the internet that is doing something similar to what we did at CFAY back in 1969 but much better. They play a wide range of what I would call Eclectic Free Form Flashbacks ranging from music from the 1930s to 1970! It is my Favorite AM Radio Station in the entire United States out of approximately 5000 stations licensed currently. The station is WHVW 950 Hyde Park, New York and it is an Independantly owned commercial radio station. They are a low budget small AM station with absolutely All Local programming and Fantastic programming!!! Even though I have known about them for years and we found their website about 2006 or 2007 I never had heard the programming until recently because they did not stream on the internet till about two weeks ago. You simply go to the website for WHVW and click online streaming and presto their it it. A unique non-repititious non-boring blend of one of the most eclectic AM radio stations in North America!!!! They Id. as "The Best Station in The Nation" and I completely agree. WHVW is a 500 watt day power station with 60 watts at night. They have been on the air since about 1960 going through several ownerships and quite a few formats. At one time in the late 1960s they were the number one rated top 40 station in the Hyde Park/Poughkeepsie, New York market. Over the years through different ownership changes the station fell on hard times in the late 1980s and almost went dark or was almost sold to some religious group. However about 1993 Pirate Joe or J.P. Ferraro bought the station and rescued it from oblivion making it one of the best programmed Am stations in the USA. They feature old blues, vintage rock and country, big band and instrumentals and lesser heard 60s and early 70s rock tunes by bands like the Rolling Stones too! WHVW even has a few specialty shows like his wide range of classical music concert which he does every weekday evening from 6 PM to 8 PM. From 3 PM to 6 PM he does the Pirate Joe Extravaganzo Show in which he is known to play music from old 78s live on the air!!!!! Old Blues, Rock and Country among other things! Its quite a listening experience to say the least. If you want the current or latest stuff by Justin Bieber or Lady Ga Ga stay away from WHVW because you probably won't like it!!!! However for the rest of us that are bored with repetitious current hit music itsa great station. Another one of their Slogans on the air is "The Heart and Soul of American Music W H V W" Yes folks they still have enough guts to use call letters too and not those crappy Jack Fm or whatever slogans that in my opinion really suck big time and make radio stations sound crappy!!!! By the way in case you are wondering why J.P. calls himself Pirate Joe its because he is a former Pirate Broadcaster growing up in Yonkers, New York and operating both Am and FM pirate radio stations there in the early 70s with his friend Allan Weiner who is also a station owner operating one of the most unique shortwave licensed stations in the world WBCQ in Monticello, Maine!!!! But WBCQ is a whole different radio story, they do have a website and have streamed audio for quite a few years on the internet. But WHVW really sounds great and I love all their programming even the classical music program. Not only is J.P. a good radio engineer he has a very good knowledge of a wide range of music!!! He sounds good on the air too, a nice easy to listen to mellow voice. Like the WHVW jingles too. They also have a few local information programs, weather and news and you won't be bombarded by many commercials, its just amazing for a commercial station!
Anyway if you want a unique radio listening experience check out WHVW 950 in the web with their brand new streaming audio! I get it on the computer but have not found them listed on my wi-fi radios yet probably because they are brand new to the internet. Yes they still broadcast over the air and I heard them a couple mornings at 5 to 7 AM here with their 500 watt signal on 950 khz. here in the Cobourg, Ontario area. There are several other radio stations operating in New York State with higher power including 950 Rochester, New York but was pleased to dx them on 950 AM in the morning a couple times.
Take care, and all the best for Valentines Day, hope you have a nice one!!!!
73s Eldon