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The Blare Blog

Center of the Bla Bla Galaxy

Idiot Savant of Radio

JUNE 2022


Thursday June 30, 2022 1:42 PM CDT -- Five-Day Holiday for Me --

Monday will be Independence Day in the United States, a Federal holiday, making the weekend a 3-day holiday for other citizens. As your friendly and well-regarded blog keeper I'm taking a few more days starting today and plan to spend the time tinkering around the campus here at Home School College. Many will set off firework explosions much to the terror of pets and wildlife, but we have no noisy plans.

Thursday June 30, 2022 8:47 AM CDT -- Unbalanced to Balanced Audio --

Build It

Thursday June 30, 2022 7:40 AM CDT -- Hypocrisy Shows --

Hypocrisy of Christian authoritarians is never far from the surface as in the present example removing the right of women to manage their own bodily health. These same Christians, in their schools of theology, teach that God bestowed free will upon human creation, giving His mortal creatures a choice between God and godlessness. By overriding womans' free choice the Supreme Court acts against God and so puts the Court's own majority into a state of sin.

Ultimate rulings should never be based upon a majority finding by the Supreme Court. Final and concluding decisions should require a unanimous decision of the full Court, the same standard as with lay juries.

Appointment of under-qualified judges based on political loyalties should be a criminal violation against the public good and disqualify a person from holding office.

Wednesday June 29, 2022 8:15 PM CDT --

Successful days are fine but the world turns away from them in the darkness of night
and something else happens the next day.

- So said Carl Blare as the sun set on a perfect pipe inspection

Wednesday June 29, 2022 6:42 PM CDT -- Pipes Pass Inspection --

In a continuing effort to minimize house explosions the gas company conducts periodic home pipe inspections and ours look o.k. A few years ago we decided to have gas removed from the property and go all electric, but the surrounding buildings all have gas and if any one of them blew up we'd be at ground zero anyway, so we didn't bother.

Having passed through the apathy stage in our reaction to corrupt and unAmerican courts and politics, we have moved into a more survival oriented response mode called resistance. It's a technique used throughout human history against facists, terrorists and authoritarians, and calls for obstructionsim and refusal toward their intrusions upon civil society. It calls for mocking them and in all possible ways shedding attention on their creeping trail of slime. We would be remiss to discount the valid comparisons between today's so-called 'GOP' and the rise of Nazism just slightly less then one-hundred years ago. It's worth spending time viewing many films and news reels from Germany of the 30s and 40s available on YouTube. We are witness today of Donald Trump's clear and documented attempt to be the new Hitler as revealed in the ongoing January 6th Hearings. If people of that ilk take the upper hand they settle differences quickly by a shot to the head. It is important to understand that a good many people like the notion of being able to settle their disagreements by exterminating their critics, and to speak in the extreme we note in retrospect that some folks should have been aborted, but we give newcomers a fair opportunity to exhibit themselves until we establish a clear case for or against. Being against the Republican Far Reich is warranted based on their established performance and it would be folly to permit them the same liberty they intend to strip from us. 

Wednesday June 29, 2022 7:22 AM CDT --

The evolution of radio is unending.
-David Sarnoff, radio executive

Tuesday June 28, 2022 11:36 AM CDT -- America's Favorite Song Overturned --

This Land is My Land
bOiNGbOiNG

Tuesday June 28, 2022 10:45 AM CDT -- Zella Day Drops Pro-Choice Anthem

Radio Silence
yahoo!entertainment

Tuesday June 28, 2022 10:17 AM CDT -- How Do You Get from Here to There? --

From time to time there are live video streams from which KDX would like to carry the audio. What we don't know is how to get a real-time patch from the livestream directly into Zara Automation System. Well, ya, I mean, we know how to port it from digital, out the back to an analog mixer, port it back in, re-digitize it, and patch it into Zara, but we have a sit-down strike whenever we ask myself to do it that way. What about you? Do you know a way to keep it all in the digital domain and get a good patch? Let us know and I promise to consider taking you to lunch when things aren't so busy.

Tuesday June 28, 2022 8:57 AM CDT -- Tomorrow is the Next Day --

Having listened to public radio stations across the nation we observe a sameness in the robotic scripting being delivered by their announcers with a minimized trace of individual creativity. We believe the way is being prepared for the eventual replacement of living announcers by AI speech synthesis, ending finally anything amounting to a career. Listeners will not notice any difference, as they are already accustomed to the mechanical style. So called 'student radio' and the other bastardation we know as 'community radio' will be the only reservations open to living on air hosts, the former being nothing more than play pens for between school classes and the latter a reduction of disc jockeying into a voluntary hobby. At the smallest scale part 15 type hobby stations blithely and unwittingly provide an inaccurate replication of radio's past.

Tuesday June 28, 2022 8:41 AM CDT -- Listen With Your Eyes --

Recording Sound Without a Microphone
Photography

Tuesday June 28, 2022 6:25 AM CDT -- Radio News Cut Backs --

Given the lacking coverage of part 15 and related low power radio news and publicity The Blare Blog has attempted to help fill the void by subscribing to numerous news services in an effort to gather and report on this specialized branch of the broadcast industry, but today announce that we are pulling back somewhat owing to staff shortage. Our email box has become stuffed with far more information than we have the means to sift and most of these sources are being unsubscribed as we undergo partial withdrawal from the journalistic role. At the same time The Blare Blog keeps an open path for news directly pertinent to low power radio. The contacts discontinued are general news services out of which we picked the occasional morsel. Otherwise, we leave it to part15.org, artisanradio.hopto.org, and lowpowerradio.blogspot.com to serve as the main conduits for low power radio information while we follow with occasional 'by the ways'.

Tuesday June 28, 2022 6:20 AM CDT --

Writers Guilds Condemn Decision Overturning Roe v Wade
Broadcasting+Cable

Monday June 27, 2022 10:11 AM CDT -- We Forgot the Heterosexuals --

Oh me my goodness, in thinking back on our blog of Friday titled 'Don't Forget the Asexuals' I abruptly realized that we'd completely excluded biology's most fundamental category, the heterosexual. Ah. No wonder Curry and Dvorak showcased the woman who excluded the 'H' category in her presentment of LGB as a proper framework for including the main categories. I think we would be safe in stating that the 'H's' represent the starting point in any subdividing of sexual typification, so you need to keep them in the list. It's important that we keep things filed correctly.

Monday June 27, 2022 9:42 AM CDT -- Stages of Grief --

Since yesterday's blog about the 'lack of caring' over humanity's ongoing slide into failure it entered my thoughts that apathy in this case might be a stage of grievance. According to the 1969 book "On Death and Dying", written by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, there are 5-stages of grief following deeply disturbing loss, those being denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In another recent blog Artisan Radio covered similar ground by reporting 'sadness' at the poor showing by the decline of the United States. Do either of us match one of the 'stages' put forward by Kubler-Ross? Frankly, I don't see an easy fit, as 'apathy' doesn't appear to equate with any of the stages and although sadness would stand as an obvious response to perceived loss it is technically not the same as 'depression'. I would further argue that 'acceptance' is not the same as 'resignation', which is a more probable final step in adapting to loss. To me, the emotion 'sadness' contains small hope that circumstances could be better, whereas 'apathy' is more of a 'resignation' in realizing that conditions will never be better and are hopelessly ill-fated. Nihilism comes to mind.

Monday June 27, 2022 7:04 AM CDT -- Q. How Can You Know if You Are Out of Your Mind? --

A. When a man has answers to questions to which he does not know the answer.
Example: Religion

Sunday June 26, 2022 11:02 AM CDT -- I Don't Care --

My reaction to everything that's happening in human affairs is a state of apathy. Nothing matters and I don't care about any of it. That makes my radio station a pointless venture, as it was originally founded upon the virtuous desire to inform and illuminate the listening population with truth and beneficial knowledge, but there's no sign that any of our effort has done much to prevent society's slide into the sludge of ignorance and a fervent determination to be be stupid. Well, yes, there are well informed and sensible people but they don't need to be told what they already know, so the most that KDX can do is assure them they are not alone in being reasonable, correctly informed and outnumbered. The voting public has been too permissive in allowing immature thugs into positions of power where they're dismantling and defacing what's been accomplished by more temperate administrations of the past. The slaughtering of women's personal health autonomy does more than force unwanted and needless breeding, it establishes a new slavery in which a handful of rogue jurists impose their cultish brutality upon the whole in complete disregard for the protocols of the high court. What errant bar association allowed these robed phonies to pass the exam? None, probably, because it's more likely these impostors passed the bar by giving correct answers they had no intention of applying later on. Down the road they are going to expand their tyrannical vision of God's Kingdom in which they themselves are the god-kings and we'll find ourselves under arrest for skipping Sunday church. The apathetic response is not a surrender but is a detachment. A divorce, of sorts.

Saturday June 25, 2022 10:34 AM CDT -- What Do You Do? --

There are times in life when we must tell people 'what we do'. This is true in the case of applying for banking services, filing taxes, and for that matter seeking employment. Over the years I have done many things and could have listed any number of professions under 'what I do'. Most lately I'm inclined to say that I do 'thinking'. I am a 'thinker'. There is a lot of work to be done but it will have to wait because I have thinking to do. The best one-line job title was put forth by R. Buckminster Fuller who called himself a 'comprehensivist' comparing himself to seafarers who traditionally needed to be capable of handling any job aboard ship so that ocean voyages were undertaken with minimum risk of going off course due to short-handedness. As I see it the entire planet is kept on course because of excellent thinking by those of us who 'know the way' and keep check of orbital navigation. The banks and the tax collectors might not be so lenient as to allow a profession of 'thinking' by dint of the fact that, for the most part, thought produces no revenue and might therefore be classed as a 'hobby' and those institutions exist to help themselves to the earnings of 'doers'. The tax pamphlet 'Who Must File' stresses rules requiring criminals to dutifully report income gained from illicit activity. We assume that the 'Profession' line in such case would be put as 'Crook'. Bankers who rob themselves put 'Banker'. For the moment I don't know where I'm going with this, but I'll give it more thought.

Saturday June 25, 2022 7:10 AM CDT -- Signals from Bruce (Brooooce) --
Bruce (Brooooce) writes:

Uncle Carl!
Attached is a picture of the very good Eton-Grundig Field "Edition" model 550 that I acquired a year or two back.  As mentioned, this radio arrived from a friend who didn't need it.
550

It was not stable and only worked on the FM band - but not all the time.  Nevertheless, I received KUWA, 91.9, Wyoming -1750 miles away.  (A rare E layer ionospheric double hop.) The RDS display lit up with the callsign without any problem.  And this radio was in the house on a table - it was not outside.
(It was next to a big window, though.)
So after all my trials and tribulations working on this thing for a year and a half - it is now stable and working correctly on all bands.
But I cannot find the screws that hold the back panel on the radio (hopefully I will) so the back panel is duct taped on.  The 4 D batteries don't always connect because the proper force doesn't exist on the back of the battery holders - but this is not a big deal to me. AND I was going to buy the newer and even better current version of this radio, but now I might not have to do that.
I had also owned an earlier similar Eton-Grundig radio - the Grundig S350 and it's slightly larger brother the S350DL.  I had those radios for 10 or 15 years at the very least.  I drove them both "into the ground" to the point where they were so worn-out that they were unrepairable.  They were quite inferior to the radio I'm talking about now, but I wish I had kept at least one of them - it would have been a wonderful display piece.
BTW - if you look up Grundig S-350 or S-350DL, you will be able to see what those earlier portables looked like.
I guess that's it for now.
Best Wishes
- Brooooce (Bruce)

Second message from Bruce (Brooooce) - Additional on Grundig Radio

So Uncle Carl - this Grundig radio I talked about is not equipped for morse code/single sideband reception. 
I decided to look for Beat Frequency Oscillators on the internet.
There is a guy in Italy who sells BFO kits for a reasonable price so I ordered one.
When it eventually gets here I will put it together and see if it works.
That would be really great because this radio has outstanding audio.
So we will see.
Very Best Wishes
Brooooce (Bruce)

Friday June 24. 2022 11:12 AM CDT -- Don't Forget the Asexuals --

Today's 'No Agenda' with Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak played back the voice of a woman explaining why we only need the letters LGB when referencing the sexual preferences of particular subgroups. If I'd been paying closer attention I'd know the woman's identity and why the subject came up, but I was concentrating on a video showing a subway ride underneath New York City. Reacting to the little bit I heard I'd generally have to agree, the abbreviation referring to Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual. The only thing I'd add is an 'A' for Asexuals, people who have no interest one way, the other, nor both.

Friday June 24, 2022 11:09 AM CDT -- Saying Something --

Why is it that most people have nothing to say while a select few have a lot to say?
If I knew the answer to that I'd say something.
- Carl Blare, fully believing himself to be an intellectual

Friday June 24, 2022 6:19 AM CDT -- Guns, Mental Illness, and the Elephant --

Following so many mass shootings all the talkers on right wing and left wing radio have been going on about 'gun control' and mental illness. No one has mentioned the full-grown adult elephant that just stands there. One conversation on NPR uncovered a lesser point that should have removed mental illness as part of the equation: a mental health professional said that it is very improbable that the mentally ill would ever express themselves by use of guns; it is more likely they would be victims of gun violence. Ya, but all the other talkers stay with the original notion that mentally ill people do the shooting and ignore the revealation that the mentally ill are only scapegoats. Here's what you won't hear...

The elephant is computer games. There are hundreds of popular computer games based on themes of shooting human avatars that pop up on the screen and need to be killed before they can fire first. Quarry is seen everywhere hiding, running, sneaking around, needing to be shot as soon as possible. Killing everybody in the shortest time possible amounts to winning. Millions of excellent shooters are busy shooting thousands of enemies at all times of the day and night and the computer game industry is stronger than the gun lobby, silently denying their elephantine presence standing in the spotlight of guilt. 

Thursday June 23, 2022 11:42 AM CDT -- Information Station Newsletter --

Carl

Here are brief stories in The Source newsletter that you might find helpful:

One Wildfire Is Bad Enough
How can “misinformation” be minimized when seconds count?  Emergency managers in California will soon use satellite links to directly disseminate evacuation instructions to car radios and outdoor warning speakers.  Find out more.

Pow Wow to Be Broadcast Live on New Tribal Radio Station
Pine Creek Indian Reservation in Michigan has a new radio service for use in emergencies.  But it’s also going to come in handy for this weekend’s Pow Wow event that draws thousands to Southern Michigan.  More here.

Let me know your thoughts, if you have time. Your feedback is always welcome.

Thanks.

Bill Baker
Information Station Specialists
theRADIOsource.com
616.772.2300 x102

Founded in 1983, Information Station Specialists is the USA's best-known source for information radio station equipment, advisory signage and related technical products and services.

Our Reply to Bill Baker:

Hello Bill Baker:

Thank you always for providing the latest RESOURCE NEWS.

I share with you what could be a large promotional idea for sale of part 15 transmitters...

It is my strong belief that all podcasters could benefit from having part 15 radio signals by which to audit, produce and distribute their podcast work within their own facilities.

The same benefit would apply to independent radio streamers who would certainly enjoy putting their stream on the dial of home or workplace radios.

All the best,

Carl Blare
kdxworldround radio

Wednesday June 22, 2022 8:32 PM CDT -- A Shocker of a Movie --

Free on YouTube. What if Germany had won the Second World War?
Vaterland

Wednesday June 22, 2022 2:23 PM CDT -- Poised At the Point of Decision --

The question is raised whether KDX should close it's website due to excess heat, or brave through and man up. It is easy to sit here and debate among ourself, more trouble to actually organize a shut down. Indecision amounts to spare time and that opens way for other meandering thoughts, such as dipping the ears into the pleasant audio wallpaper of air conditioner and fan droning onward with feint radio voices somewhere on a desk. Overhead sunrays shafting into windows and irradiating the rooms while the keyboard responds to think-fingers describing the world in alphabet sized pixels. Poetic outpourings can be doused in snacks if only it were easier to overcome slumping posture. Gutteral utterances taken as dictation from the director's chair while blog readers strain to have an inkling why anyone would post this on an international public commons. I often wonder the same thing.

Wednesday June 22, 2022 12:25 NOON CDT -- Free Ideas While Supply Lasts --

Like you or anyone else I pay some attention to personal health and so view food advice YouTube videos with the intention of smartning the diet. Is my English o.k.? I've been out in the sun and think some of my brain has evaporated. Honey became the object of research since I drip it into my coffee and experience a desire to have more. Having more coffee might be good because they say it enhances heart health and prolongs life. I know why it prolongs life. Coffee stimulates a high pee priority above any other task. If the house catches fire you can't call the fire department until pee is taken care of. If death comes for you it can't be dealt with immediately because first one must pee, thus prolonging life. But the real question we're asking is whether honey is a healthy food. They have always said it is. But a YouTube video claims to have run scientific measurements of three kinds of sweetner and shows by graphic charts that honey is no different than any other sugar. Not easily convinced, I explored further and found that ordinary grocery store honey is processed in a way that removes the dietary benefits that one finds with more expensive raw honey. Our own lab experiment found that raw honey doesn't stir into cold coffee slumping as it does into a glob at the bottom of the cup, whereas the common processed honey stirs into the mix perfectly thus giving us a less than winning choice. Raw honey reminds me of apple jelly. I would say, in conclusion, that everything throughout life is inconclusive. See what I did there?

Wednesday June 22, 2022 5:53 AM CDT -- Some Doings from Around Here --

Talking to you from inside the Internet Building on the campus of Home School College, this is Carl Blare, the titular leader of KDX Worldround Radio now webbing again after yesterday's shutdown in 100o sweltering heat. Sunrise temperature is in the upper 70s and we look forword to a high in the low 90s with no decision yet as to whether we will shut down again to protect our dainty equipment from being too hot. Meanwhile, as the website and the radio stream hum along our other work-station computer has been undergoing a transformation into a gaming machine so Carl can enjoy railroad simulations, but we've uncovered a defect in the firmware which so far impedes progress. The computer doesn't always boot. Yesterday it refused all day to boot, and after dark started to boot but stalled. It's a refurbished computer in need of refurbishment. Never to be daunted, we will today send away for another refurbish. We all need a good furbish once in awhile.

Tuesday June 21, 2022 5:13 AM CDT --

THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

Monday June 20, 2022 10:54 PM CDT -- Short Nighted --

I arise to be with you on this shortest night of the year with the Summer Solstice due to happen at 5:13 AM Central Daylight Time this coming morning just minutes before sunrise, ushering in the longest day of the year and official start of the Summer Season in the northern hemisphere of earth. We also have entered another heat alert with temperatures this week near 100 on some days. Accordingly, although not accompanied by accordian, our website and radio servers will be closing at intervals to protect vital equipment in the wake of blazing conditions. While we're here I started the KHZ TowerTime Clock Service available to the public on our Radio Player in the upper left of this page. A nightcap would be good. Do you have any caps?

Monday June 20, 2022 7:25 AM CDT -- I Wasn't Finished --

So, I was blogging about morning radio and the first day of summer and I happened to hear a radio announcer mention "Juneteenth" the new federal holiday declared a year ago by President Joseph Biden which occurred yesterday on top of father's day. That confluence of festive days was unintentional, as father's day always falls on a Sunday whereas Juneteenth sticks to June 19th which floats through days of the week as years go by. But while we can't raise questions about Black fatherhood we might note that the main Emancipation Proclamation was made on January 1, 1863 by Republican President Abraham Lincoln while June 19th was a day when Texas became the final state to emancipate black slaves, not at all a federal event but made so by a Democratic president. It's all very scrambled. "June" isn't a number, so you can't tack a "teenth" on it because "teenth" is a numeric expression but frivolity makes way for poetic license so go ahead anyway. It's a back-handed way of saying that ex-slaves aren't all that literate. The southern gentry use such veiled references to politely demean the lower of society. Also known as a put-down.

Monday June 20, 2022 6:28 AM CDT -- In Tents with Porpoises --

For all intents and purposes we are into the solstice region of earth's orbit, what with the actual moment of topping things off set to happen in vast silence at 5:13 AM CDT tomorrow, and if you try to view the event symetrically that puts us there, although you could go about measuring today and comparing it to tomorrow if you wish, but you'd be fussing over a matter of seconds and with this much daylight what difference does it make? I don't mean to start things off with an argument this early, but I was listening to one of those morning drive-time wake-up programs on radio and they flood the ears with extraneous information quickly undoing all the benefits of a good night's sleep and leading to exhaustion by mid-morning. What the world needs is slow-going, calm, easy-as-you-go, un-rushed, soft-spoken morning radio leaving room for the listener's own awakening to the world with whatever residual thoughts he might be harboring from the day before mixed with remnants of dream influence together with current plans and ambitions. My radio station does that. There's a player just up in the left hand corner of this page if you care to sample what's happening now. I don't talk over it anymore, I leave that to other generous broadcasters who give of their time to share what they bring to the air while I show the courtesy of hearing what they think and say. My preaching has moved here to the Blog where I tell others how to live their lives. It's slicker than a YouTube video.

Sunday June 19 2022 Sunday 5:03 AM CDT --

If you are part of history you won't find out about it until 50-years later.
- C. Blare, author "History is Nothing New"

Saturday June 18, 2022 Saturday 10:04 AM CDT -- Juneteenth --
Tomorrow, June 19th, is a U.S. Federal Holiday known as 'Juneteenth'.
About Juneteenth

Friday June 17, 2022 8:16 AM CDT -- Rough Start --

It began with the sound of metal hitting a hard surface. Before that it was deep dream city but loud sounds trigger a survival response and a normal person wakes up fast and starts calculating the degree of danger, and what I was able to discern was blowing wind and tinkling rain. It was 5 AM in the Central Time Zone so we tuned to the local farm program and became informed as to severe storms popping up all over the region. A peek out the door revealed the cause of the banging sound; an aluminum ladder had blown over from its position laid sideways along the deck railing. After making the rounds and arranging a cup of coffee the storm seemed to have calmed so we started the office computer but hit an error message that put us in a start-over restart loop that went on for over an hour. Last night at sign off we happened to notice a message in the task bar that Windows needed to restart to install updates. That made Windows our scapegoat and attributed the errors to Microsoft's slap dash way of making their operating systems buggy and difficult to manage. At long last we were fully booted and all the more bitter that we can't have an honest and honorable system instead of Microsoft's badness; 'Made in America' turned negative. So, it would have been time to turn on the servers and start being the day's part 15 mecca, but a loud sky boom signaled the return of storming and we take as few chances as possible, knowing that costly damage could be one lightning bolt away, so sign on was further delayed.

Tuesday June 14, 2022 7:56 AM CDT -- New Age Album Created Aboard an Amtrak Train Trip --
The Roundhouse

Monday June 13, 2022 1:14 PM CDT -- Al Franken's FM Station --

Silly title. The Franken FM question being pondered by the FCC has nothing to do with the former Congressman. As you likely know, it's a question of whether digital Channel 6 TV stations might also generate hybrid FM signals at 87.7 MHz. You can find current articles about it inside RADIOWORLD. Our only interest is that we'd like to see the FCC edit the 15.395 rule to enable Part 15 broadcasting on 87.7 and 87.9. We know that if more FM stations are allowed they will be just as dull and boring as the stations we already have. Yet, at the same time, everybody deserves a chance to be dull.

Monday June 13, 2022 1:07 PM CDT -- Listen Faster --
Speed Listening

Sunday June 12, 2022 3:21 PM CDT --
Jan. 6 Rioters' Rights Fragrantly Violated
bOiNGbOiNG

Sunday June 12, 2022 2:53 PM CDT -- I Have Signed Up for the Charlie Rose Newsletter --
Website

Sunday June 12, 2022 12:11 NOON CDT -- Concertos of Schedrin --

The other day KDX brought all six piano concertos of Rodion Schedrin, the 6th having a novel and quirky ending that we'll hear again today followed by his Oboe Concerto. Very nice break from all the jibber jabber. 

Sunday June 12, 2022 11:52 AM CDT -- Charlie Rose Comeback Hopes --

Charlie Rose Would Like to Resume Interviewing at Age 80
AIR MAIL

Sunday June 12, 2022 8:40 AM CDT -- Heat Advisory --

We have 81o F this morning with predicted high of 94o. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be more serious with expected 101o both days. This limits outdoor activity where there's always campus landscaping in need of doing.

Sunday June 12, 2022 7:46 AM CDT -- The Missing Frequencies --

Every Saturday a HAM radio operator in a nearby town transmits amateur radio programs all day at 1830 kHz, and I finally remembered to tune it in and listen, so I grabbed the handy TECSUN PL-310 and tapped in the numbers 1-8-3-0, but the radio spit back the numbers and defaulted to 13560 kHz where it was previously set. Huh?, was my thinking-man's reaction so I grabbed the manual and paged to the back cover where the shortwave band is listed as 2300 - 21950 kHz. Wha?, another thinker's utterance as I couldn't believe that a fabulous radio would get away with skipping a lower chunk of frequencies. But it's true and it does.

Saturday June 11, 2022 3:11 PM CDT -- I Must Have Dozed --

Within the last few days I recollect Artisan Radio announcing that his blog would be off for awhile. Now, moments ago, I took a look and see that Blog 5.0 has already been running for a few days. Unfavorable mentions of Windows 10 match my general gut feel about that unwanted OS, although I've not yet tried to use it for radio streaming, but do use it for office management where it has all the lackluster charm of a casino themed cruiseship under quarantine during a pandemic. Also, B.U.T.T. Encoder has been causing interruptions for Artisan, while ours is running without fail over on the Windows 7 machine. What else has happened while I looked the other way?

Saturday June 11, 2022  5:57 AM CDT -- Redressing Our Grievance --

When the government agency responsible for overseeing a minority special interest becomes detached and unrepresentative, as the FCC has in the case of Part 15 radio station operation, it comes time to petition Congress to order that agency to wake up and provide equal and fair representation, or lose the privilege of so doing and be replaced by a new and independent agency staffed by members of the under-represented group. Becoming activists in our own interest could have been the task of the former ALPB had that not been the personal claim to life-achievement by its hostile taker-overer RamBob who still soils its remains by defiantly sitting in the imaginary Ex Chair. Deposed member RF Burns advocated for such a purpose during formative sessions of the ALPB. As well, the task of salvaging the Great Radio Hobby is shaded and shadowed by subversive elements masquerading as insiders and of its last scattered and disorganized legitimate players a lack of community spirit. It's all very nihilistic with no Phoenix Bird in the ashes nor savior down from heaven.

Friday June 10, 2022 6:11 PM CDT -- Let's Get Horizontal --

Many well intentioned plans don't get followed through on, such as our idea of using only horizontal polarization for our FM signals. The idea is back in the forefront... back in front... you know what I mean. It makes sense because we can then aim signals straight through the building for our own monitoring purposes while putting households on either side in the nulls since we are not broadcasting for their benefit. There's no public comment period, I just decide these things and avoid doing them until later.

Friday June 10, 2022 5:48 PM CDT -- Obsessions Don't Tend to Stop --

Despite a spending freeze I'm caught up in the heady inertia of delving into the heretofore ignored field of computer gaming, which opens up an entire universe of 'higher end' computer sophistry that comes in the middle of upward inflation, but upgrades lead to more upgrades and there's no end to the newly found acronyms and trademarked names, like HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, HDCP, DirectX, Open GL, PCI Express and Low Profile cards. To exacerbate the tension I thought I heard the low throated growl of a mountain lion in the backwoods and have been barricaded indoors in hopes it will go away, unless it's imaginary, in which case I hope it stops growling.

Friday June 10, 2022 2:30 PM CST -- Small Disappointment --

At various places in general literature one may find comments and postulations as to the striking differences ordinarily heard between male and female voices. Fully expecting to encounter something said on the subject I've returned empty handed from reading "Of Women" by Arthur Schopenhauer. He certainly considered most other aspects and perspectives in his treatment of the subject, but nothing on how they sound.

Friday June 10, 2022 1:16 PM CDT -- Work Area Please Stand Back 5-Feet --

When not sure of one thing, work on another. I wasn't sure what to do about our computer graphics situation, so I opened my copy of "The Essays of Schopenhauer" because I want to page around in his essay "Of Women" looking for mention of their general voice quality. I'm half-way through and not yet certain when I'll be ready to blog, so I took a new interest in KDX which provides listening fare in between YouTube sessions where I try to become better educated by viewing many subject areas from faucet repair to raw honey.

Recalling a Donald Duck cartoon from years ago... Donald wanted Daisy Duck to show more interest, so he tried the 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' approach but when Daisy continued her indifference, Donald was reminded of the other axiom, 'out of sight out of mind'. Here's what that has to do with KDX: I've been ignoring it given my new obsession with railroad simulation, but being slowed by the graphics problem KDX has come back into prominence and I am very proud to have it.I'm hearing about last night's January 6th Hearing.

The railroad game I purchased renders fairly well on a plain office computer, I'm able to log into the mountainous forest of 1886 where various industries will depend on rail service that I need to build, but with only system RAM the picture shares memory with jerky motion, still allowing me to scout around in the hills and valleys plotting future routes. I spent most of yesterday stuck in a pit, but was eventually able to climb out. I'm studying graphic card possibilities but am held back by a spending freeze on new equipment imposed on myself.

Schopenhauer continues to ride a crest of popularity because of the strong appeal of his writing style which, even translated from the German is clearly within the grasp of ordinary readers, unlike so much of the cryptic philosophy by the academically 'acceptable' notables. It can also be said that his criticism of Christianity explains why religious schools shun him. His "Of Women" is universally rejected by female students but I'm not altogether sure they are being fair and may perhaps be defensively blocking out his meaning. We live in a time when women demand equal footing with men despite obvious differences that are set aside as superfluous and subjective. There is a simplistic sense that difference is the same as lesser, and that doesn't necessarily follow. It is perfectly reasonable to find that different sets of physical and mental systems meld perfectly into a compatible and complimentary whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Before wading any deeper let me restate that for the moment we are only concerned with voices and it remains to discover what we might have to add.

Friday June 10, 2022 10:39 AM CDT -- We Were Just Talking About This --
FCC Thinks About Offshore Wireless

Thursday June 9, 2022 9:36 AM CDT -- Bridging the Ocean --

This morning I expanded my radio station conglomeration into the Worldround Radio Railroad, with plans to build sea bridges connecting North America to other world continents. When first announced, my plans were first ridiculed as evidence that I was loonier than Elon Musk, but I set them straight by linking to this video.
China's Mega Ocean Bridge Projects
Because of the extreme length of these vast bridges they will support permanent residential colonies with facilities to harbor the world's homeless and assign them as lifetime bridge maintenance workers. A network of part 15 style radio stations will provide communications to these offshore encampments, providing additional work assignments as technicians and air talent. Because most of our massive bridge complexes will exist beyond the jurisdiction of land governments we have established our own administrative authority with me serving as life-long Emperor keeping part-time hours on Saturday. All Blog readers are entitled to unlimited passes to travel aboard our fleet of trains.

Tuesday June 7, 2022 3:38 PM CDT -- Summer Is Yet to Come --

It's understandable that so many people believe Memorial Day (U.S.) is the start of summer, but official summer begins on Tuesday June 21 at 5:13 AM CDT, the longest day of the year! Daytime radio stations love it because they have more hours on the air for a whole month. I think their summer began June 1st. Is there still a bill in the senate to keep daylight time all year? Apparently daytime licensees will lose hours if that passes, and KDX wants AM stations to get the best opportunities to survive, so our stand on time standards is whatever their's is.
Leave Time Alone
Paul McClane. Editor - RADIOWORLD

Tuesday June 7, 2022 10:25 AM CDT -- Reflections On Earlier Reflections --

I can admit that if I had a marriage today I'd let it slide because of the train games. It's no doubt also true that if I was still actively employed I'd find ways to skimp on duties to further my attempt at starting the steam locomotive. If I ended up in therapy I'd ask the therapist if she'd ever thought about what goes into transportation. And I'm able to see the irony in having so much undone yard work because there are so many virtual trees to clear to make way for track. Life gets you no matter how you go about it, but none the less, as Albert Camus said, we live it anyway. Was there anything you wanted to add?

Tuesday June 7, 2022 10:21 AM CDT --

Before you can let sleeping dogs lie you've got to get them asleep.
- said by Carl Blare for no particular reason

Tuesday June 7, 2022 8:36 AM CDT -- Baltimore Property Owner Gets a Letter from the FCC --
The Story
RADIOWORLD

Monday June 6, 2022 2:30 PM CDT -- Inside Scoop --

That's a dog's name for sure. "Here, Scoop!" For awhile yesterday we were offline and didn't realize it. Today we think we are online at kdxradio.com but unless you realize it, we aren't sure. As Newt Gingrich once said, "By all technical standards, water-boarding isn't torture". There are all kinds of categories at the porn site, and Newt's viewing preferences are his own business. In a related story Donald Trump is believed to have asked an aide whether there was video of Amber Heard messing Johnny Depp's bed, but the story hasn't been verified. My own thoughts are far from all that as I've been installing and testing my first computer simulation game. I'm getting closer every few hours to actually playing the game. KDX has been streaming, but I've been ignoring it while I try to throw wood into the firebox to build steam pressure, not stream pressure. Oh, and give me one more paragraph to say something else.

As promised we have renewed all contracts, agreements, and codicils related to providing this website and The Blare Blog, as requested by our readers. Because I rushed we accidentally renewed everything for 2-years instead of the promised 1-year, so I'll still be doing this in 2024 when we're next set to expire.

Monday June 6, 2022 5:39 AM CDT --
Philosophy for the Mind

Sunday June 5, 2022 6:48 PM CDT -- It's Time Now for...
Nobody Asked for My Opinion But I'm Giving It Anyway
Starring Carl Blare in the Leading Role
with Cackling Kamala Harris and Bit Player Bitter Amber Heard
Brought to You By Train Games Which Come With Real Tickets Good for Rides to Big Cities
Powered by Smoking Engines and the Strong Engineers Who Rode the Rails 
Hello everyone and welcome to his week's show. Well, I did it. I purchased my first paid railroad game and learned the first hard lesson... these serious simulation adventures need real computing power which I apparently don't have enough of. But I have a nephew who's bought many games and has offered to guide me into the weeds of treachery so we can provide streamlined transportation and earn virtual money. It all began in the early 50s when I'd walk down the street around the corner to the Star Theatre for that week's Republic Serial Episode of "The Roar of the Iron Horse" starring Jack Mahoney.
Episode 9
It cost only a quarter to attend the Saturday afternoon matinee and today we pay many times the amount to recreate the thrill through virtual reality and I was surprised when the game store asked if I wanted adult themed games and although I declined the offer I remember back when I was an adult and am not opposed to you or any one else exploring the far reaches of the game of life. There's hard-drive space to be filled and it's up to us. So long until next time!

Sunday June 5, 2022 11:01 AM CDT -- Chalk Up a Sale! --
Artisan Radio follows through:

Based on your links, I ended up getting a Tecsun PL-365.  It's a little older than the 368, but uses standard AA batteries.  It was also cheaper.  Doesn't have the keypad, but there are ways around that, and besides, real SWL'ers don't need no stinkin' keypad!

- Artisan Radio

Sunday June 5, 2022 8:05 AM CDT -- The State of Media in Russia --
Is shortwave still the way to bypass censored Russian media? An enlightening commentary by Paul Thurst.
Russian Media Today
Engineering Radio

Saturday June 4, 2022 7:58 PM CDT -- Chewing the Radio Rag --
Radio Rag

Saturday June 4, 2022 7:48 PM CDT -- More Recent TECSUN Models --

The PL-360 and PL-368 are mentioned as more recent than the models I listed from years back.
TECSUN PL-368

Saturday June 4, 2022 6:50 PM CDT -- The TECSUN PL-330 --
Radio Jay Allen Review
I do believe this is the model I have in mind for an update to the previously mentioned model. I researched this awhile back and will be looking for my notes before acting.

Saturday June 4, 2021 6:17 PM CDT -- Cancel the AMBER ALERT for the TECSUN --

Wanting to reference the model number of our tiny TECSUN radio, I reached for it but it wasn't in the usual place. So I looked in the other two places where it sometimes resides, but no radio. To be sure I checked the same locations about ten times before thinking back to the last time I remember seeing it. It was over 24-hours ago when I hung it on a bamboo branch while I trimmed the bushes. I was unwilling to believe that it got left behind, but I took a walk and not only was it still out there it was still playing and the batteries show full! By good luck it didn't rain last night. I have it now and the model is PL-310. These are not only good radios but they have a signal-strength readout made-to-order for small radio stations.

Saturday June 4, 2021 8:26 AM CDT -- What Would a Life Coach Say? --

A few years ago a friend of mine said she was going into business as a 'life coach' and I eagerly asked to sign up as one of her first clients. I'd never heard of 'life coaches' before that, but it seemed like something worth having, like a subscription to 'Consumers Reports'; a way of putting one's decisions and policies to the test before implementing them, but she never got back to me about it and I still don't know what life coaches do or how they happen to know anything about what you do. Managing my own affairs has not been too much of a catastrophe, but I will admit that my management skills go somewhat slowly. I'm only now beginning to figure out what people like about the popular music of the late 1960s, yet ironically I was hired to host it on radio stations of the time. I suppose that, like politics, you don't have to know what the job is if you get hired to do it. But I diverge.

During the past week I reached a new plateau in my role as both a radio listener and programmer. As I've said, I tend toward talk radio as a preference but it gets to me how the hosts and guests keep yammering endlessly all day, all evening, all night, even though much of what they say is a repeat of something they've already said or which is too trivial to bother saying; they just never shut up. What I'd like to hear are lapses in conversation, room noise. This is important. Room noise is essential in reassuring the listener they are not being blocked. A silent carrier would be a snub, but a live microphone comes across as politeness and inclusion in whatever is happening. The hosts and their guests could take a break, even leave the studio for awhile, but if you could hear building sounds like the hum of ventilator fans or distant lawn equipment, you'd still be at the table and eventually somebody would return with some further palaver.

And I'll share an inside secret that's been concealed for a couple decades, but might work again for a radio station wanting to win the ratings race. In those days I noticed there was one radio station always dominant in the market, while the other stations somehow always scheduled duller, less attractive programming, yet seemed perfectly content and untroubled by their low ratings. The trick, which I suspect but can't prove, was to pay the managers of the lesser stations to 'tone down' what he did with his schedule. A few times these badly rated stations inadvertantly picked up some popularity but whichever talented staff member achieved the improvement was either fired or hired away and side-tracked by the bigger station. Of course this doesn't go on today because people are more honest than they were and attend regular church. Who am I kidding.

Um, want to hear one more thing? This might matter. I may have been wrong for a long time in commentating on the deceptions, false beliefs, lies and phoniness found throughout human systems, from religious and commercial corporate affairs, civilian and military politics, and neighbor relations. Although what I've said is all true, I may have been missing the real reason behind all of it. The success and survival of our species of life is founded on deception. It is the principle contribution we make to the planet. We are nature's frauds and have refined and sophisticated dishonesty to the degree that non-truth is essential to keeping it all going. That's why there's so much money in it. And money is symbolic of it. All money is counterfeit, just like us. All things outside of our fantasy realm are considered to be 'the wilderness'.

Are you in a hurry to stop reading? KDX Worldround Radio is streaming now, and we look forward this weekend of presenting two hours of Al Franken. His first guest will be Steve Schmidt warning about 'Coming Facism', followed by Patton Oswalt on 'Serious Comedy'. Following that Seth Andrews and the 'Thinking Atheist' program will talk about the gun problem. Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor bring 'Freethought Radio' with this weeks news in the struggle to keep religion seperate from government presented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. These are programs exposing the truth which may no longer fit with my new found realization that the more elaborate the lie the more real things seem to be, but at the same time KDX is not going to program religion unless substantial monitary consideration reaches the bank. Never be deceptive for free.

Friday June 3, 2022 12:30 NOON CDT -- Media Combiner --

Of several railroad simulation games available, I am most inclined toward the newest one to appear, called RAILROADS Online. It can be played solo, as a multi-player experience, and a third option just learned about, the playing can be 'broadcast', which is to say streamed, the same as a radio station or movie. This opens an amazing world of possibilities. While generating the visual train operation we might insert KDX as the audio channel, with occasional breakaways for live comments by me as the game player. Maybe we could name the whole thing 'KDX-TV', given the fact that we've wanted to open a TV station but weren't sure what we'd show on camera. What other unexpected surprises might be around the corner?

Friday June 3, 2022 9:48 AM CDT -- Double Religion --

What we call 'religion' is, for one thing, a personal liberty, enumerated in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. But the 'business' of religion is the province of Organized Religion comprised of several mega churches (not MAGA churches) and thousands of smaller denominations, reinforced further by so-called 'non-denominational' sects. Although it is perfectly possible to be an institution-of-one by holding to an independent and personal stance, most people affiliate with one of the available membership 'congregations'. But at the end of the day, not to be confused with the end of days, each person is the product of their own 'take' on what they make out of the patch-work of beliefs tucked in their own disorganized minds. Which is to say, the laity is not required to earn a divinity degree from a theological school. The deeply religious never tolerate the calling out of glaring contradictions in their faith-fabric, thus nothing gets set straight through correction and better editing. For one example, they all pray a lot, which consists of asking God to fulfill personal requests, while at the same time cheering forth the fulfillment of 'God's Will' which would necessarily be altered to answer any prayer. But having said that, the religious are preordained from childhood brainwash to focus contempt and hatred upon anyone so heretical as to point out such flaws. The best thing for me to do is go back into hiding until the mob thins out a bit.

Friday June 3, 2022 9:14 AM CDT -- Over Heard --

YouTube is still buzzing with fallout from the Depp/Heard Case. It's being said that Amber Heard is broke and unemployable, just like I was a couple of times. She could always start her own acting school to teach students how to remain completely expressionless for days at a time.

Friday June 3, 2021 7:30 AM CDT -- Movements in the News --

Harry Schearer says it about the Olympics: "It's a movement! And we all need one, every day!" And this morning Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak, hosts of 'No Agenda' as heard on KDX, are talking about the movement that contributed to Johnny Depp's side of the bed sheet, telling us how it's unfair that some pundit referred to Amber Heard's '#ME-POO' version of #ME-TOO, since it was never proven that Ms. Heard was the donor. They didn't do a DNA test on the deposit.

Friday June 3, 2022 5:50 AM CDT -- Baby Formula --

Of course everyone knows the formula for making babies but we're more interested in the baby food question given the world shortage of baby formula, so I got to wondering, what is it and why can't we just mix up a batch of it in the kitchen?
Baby Formula
We'd be in good shape if my earlier plans had materialized. We talked about applying for a license to open a private prison for women with attached low power radio school and human milk dairy. Maybe the time has come to re-activate those plans (?)

Thursday June 2, 2022 7:58 PM CDT -- Be the First Radio Station with White Noise --
It Succeeds for Podcasters
SFGATE

Thursday June 2, 2022 2:27 PM CDT -- FCC and Respect for Us --
Mark continues the conversation:

Here's the root of the problem....Carl said..."I'd go so far as to say that the hobby needs more Marks and Peters to pull us through this very lean time when the FCC (in the U.S.) is not acknowledging us with the respect we deserve. Things look better in Canada, maybe. Hobby radio in the U.S. is like the world's smallest homeless encampment and people are nervous having us around."

Here's the problem.....as always happens with anything, the bad ones ruin it for the rest. Then everyone legal or not is looked down upon.
In Canada since pirate radio isn't common it's a little different.
Peter cited a while ago that he was quitting because of just this..the FCC crackdown and being looked upon as being "bad" for doing this. But fortunately no one bought his whole station and he was up and running again.
It's like this for comparison....some people commit crimes with guns and the legal law abiding majority are affected also.
The FCC should have made a public statement that the pirate crackdown does not include part 15 and the ones doing this legally or having an antenna 5 inches longer than 3 meters and make landlords aware there is legal operation.
I have never agreed with everyone pays/looses a privilege for the actions of a few. Don't let this be the reason you quit.

- Mark

I'll tell you what I think is really 'bad' about us, especially where the FCC is concerned. We are not 'big money'. It seems that everything they do now and every interest they protect has to do with billions of dollars.

The business of punishing all for the misdeeds of one person has always been true in police states, under marshal law, and in prisons. It demonstrates how little we are respected.

Let me say, however, that all these human shortcomings we are talking about are not the reason I contemplated withdrawal. I just think that maybe 15-years was long enough to promote a very excellent hobby. But now we're signed on for a 16th year, and anything can happen in the year ahead. This sounds like a political speech. Vote for Blare.

Thursday June 2, 2022 2:03 PM CDT -- Hanging Around --
Follow-up message from Artisan Radio:

Glad to see you've decided to stay for at least a little while longer.
Part 15 broadcasting will be better for it.

Part 15 Engineer is still  a Moderator over at the MBCF (formerly the ALPB) Forum.  I've always thought that he was one of the good guys, but a little too easily led.  The tyrants take advantage of that, and use people like him to do their dirty work, as they usually don't have the intestinal fortitude to do it all themselves.

I still find it amusing that the 'Ex-Chairman' and company were willing to tolerate a self-admitted pirate within the ALPB (along with several suspected ones).  Yet they gave others who had different viewpoints from theirs a hard time.  I still remember the infamous gun discussion, where a number of people openly lusted over the weapons that they owned.  Nothing was said then.  Yet you and I and a few others were lambasted later for supposedly posting off-topic.  The reality was that the powers that be just didn't like what was being said.

Part 15 broadcasting needs the Carl Blares of the world to keep it honest and rooted.  There literally is virtually no one else outside of Snobby Broadcaster, and we all know what they are.

- Artisan Radio

I'd forgotten about the gun discussion. But even that, like anything else, could be a topic on a talk show and that's what we're saying... only topics approved by the right-wing of what you call 'the powers that be' we're considered 'on topic'. Talking about music programming went on all day but my skeptical programs scrutinizing religion brought the executioners DELETE key. None of this was ever spelled out in policy proclamations, it was dealt with by blunt behind-the-back censorship.

No day is complete without a visit to SnobbyBroadcaster where I enjoy the mind game of trying to guess what the hell they are talking about with the veiled 'members only' non-links. I sometimes guess correctly, but more often not.

Thursday June 2, 2022 7:20 AM CDT -- Quitting --
Incoming Message from Mark:

You aren't really going to give up hobby radio are you?
Part 15 Engineer(Peter) has said this a few times with reasons at the time but never followed through.
I did the spoken Id's for his station and stream. You will hear me in the talking bits.
Anyone who quits is a loss as not many do this and it's a good hobby.
It also takes some know how to do good. Anyone can pair with a phone to a speaker but a transmitter to a radio and being your own program director and making it sound like another station along with all the others, putting all this together with jingles and programs and processing is something a select few are willing to do and have the know how to do.

We revive radio and keep it alive. Do what others(commercial stations) won't.

We are on a mission.....to make radio great again. We are a unique bunch.

- Mark, moderator part15.org

Sure, I know Part 15 Engineer (Peter), he and I were fellow moderators at the ALPB forum. In fact, when Chairman Jim Henry put out a call for moderators I recommended Peter and he did a very consciencious job in that role until he was brutally expelled in the hostile takeover. But we're talking about me. As it turns out I'm not going to quit now, maybe next year. Artisan Radio slowed me down by lobbying for a continuence of what we're doing here at kdxradio.com. We have a whole year to convince me not to quit the hobby in 2023. I'd go so far as to say that the hobby needs more Marks and Peters to pull us through this very lean time when the FCC (in the U.S.) is not acknowledging us with the respect we deserve. Things look better in Canada, maybe. Hobby radio in the U.S. is like the world's smallest homeless encampment and people are nervous having us around. We need Elon Musk to forget the Twitter thing and launch a low power radio resurgence. If enough of these micro-stations existed someone might return our phone calls.

Thursday June 2, 2022 6:45 AM CDT -- Neighborhood Radio --

With one of these low power transmitters anyone could set up a radio station broadcasting to the neighbors. What you could do is set up a little sports booth by placing a table, chair, and microphone in the bay window. You know, one of those windows protruding from the wall of the house like an observation deck peeled off the top of a Wabash passenger train car from the 1950s and attached sideways on the house. So, you'd sit there and do play by play of what the neighbors are up to. I'll go live right now and give you an example. Alright, a Fedex truck just pulled up to the brick house across the street. It's that way all the time. Everyday a parade of delivery trucks drop stuff off over there. I think someone has an uncontrolled shopping habit, probably the wife. Now the beautiful thing is everybody within a half-a-mile could tune in and hear you say this stuff. I'll do another one. There's the guy a few houses down out there running his super deluxe decibel blasting power mower while his red MAGA hat tells drivers-by where he stands politically. He owns a three-wheeled motorcycle and takes his wife for rides. Do motorcycles have radios? You'd never be able to hear it unless you stopped the engine. Nice in a parade, though. And I don't think you should be spreading this around, but I think Marge over there in the corner house is having an affair. Ya, I see her having drinks at the patio table with someone who's not her husband. Hubby is only seen toward the weekend, so maybe he works on a riverboat and is away a lot. If you see anything out your window call the listener line. Tomorrow we'll talk about Davey. As I figure he's either a member of a SWAT team or an instructor at a fitness club. Maybe both. Going by those tattoos and those abs.

Wednesday June 1, 2022 6:06 PM CDT -- Up a Mountain in Switzerland --
Captain Failure thinks he knows enough about trains to ride the Alps in an ice storm.
Can you see the tracks?

Wednesday June 1, 2022 3:58 AM CDT -- Oh No, Don't Go! --
Urgent word from the Desk of Artisan Radio

If you go, Part 15 broadcasting will lose one of its remaining sane
voices.  It'll also be lonely :-(

Of course, if you really feel burned out, then you should go where your
heart follows.  Maybe at least keep the blog going, even if it's mainly
concerned with train simulations?

- Artisan Radio

Presto! Artisan Radio is hereby appointed to a one-man Board of Director because he is recognized as one of the leading influencers in the low power radio rodeo, and based on this message I have already made a firm decision to renew the lease for at least one-year, putting this whole indecision on hold until this time in 2023. The cancelation is canceled.

Wednesday June 1, 2022 9:10 AM CDT -- The Vanity Aspect --

Thus far we've portrayed our pastime in low power radio as being either a pragmatic endeavor (strictly serving self) or a benevolent venture (provided for the benefit of others). But there's a powerful third rail not to be downplayed. Being group owner of numerous media outlets is very much like driving the right car while wearing quality shoes and a great haircut. It gets you into higher society. Nay, it makes you a figure of upper society with outsiders applying for some role for their own boost of confidence. So, one might come to believe in the hubris of it all. However, it can be dangerous to be perceived as well-to-do, as it might attract the Amber Heards with the intent of glomming onto the money stacks. Things can turn lethal when she discovers your portfolio consists only of toys.

Wednesday June 1, 2022 8:30 AM CDT -- A Seachange On Land --

KDX began programming on June 1, 2007, making today our 15th Anniversary! And, as it so happens, changes are trending. We raised the question of whether to continue as a promoter of the Most Sophisticated Hobby in the World, the operation of low power radio stations per FCC Part 15 and equivalent rules in other countries, and are inclining toward putting that part of our adventure into the realm of unrecorded history. I call attention to the opening line of this website's ABOUT page, where we declare that our radio station is a 'Home Appliance' serving the practical purpose of placing desired programming on the home dial as an anecdote to the generally poor programs otherwise heard on local radio. The whole other attempt to promote this type of broadcasting as either a hobby or small business was for us a philanthropic altruistic enterprise done out of social generosity. But now I want to switch 'mini-careers' and become a railroad simulator. Such a jump calls into question the need for maintaining this website, whose only real purpose has been to promote the radio hobby. There is no thought of establishing a railroad website in as much as YouTube does an admiral job of making train simulations plentifully available. For now the question is raised and there'll be further discussion.





May 2022 July 2022 Exit to Entrance