There was a time when Radio meant AM, and Top 40 was THE format. It was also the days when transmitters needed weekly preventative maintenance. Although there were a few exceptions -- those stations with alternate transmitters and a few who picked Saturday night -- the vast majority of stations signed off soon after midnight Sunday night.
The few that stayed on the air could be heard far and wide. WING-1410 in Dayton, Ohio, was a 5000 watt station that may well have been the only station on the 1410 frequency during that weekly period. I even heard kids in my Vancouver area high school talk about listening to WING and KCPX-1320 Salt Lake City after CKLG, CFUN and CHQM signed off Sunday night.
This all came up as reelradio debuted their first WING aircheck yesterday morning. The discussion in the comment thread -- divided between the DX'ers and non-DX'ers -- is almost as interesting as the aircheck itself.
WING Comments