Today’s Live Search Maps bird’s eye view of antenna farms takes us to 40°57’39.0″ N, 73°55’21.0″ W, which is the location of another historic radio site: Edwin Armstrong’s tower in Alpine, NJ. (Click on the photo to magnify it.)

Thanksgiving Day, the family took a bus trip to New York City to view the Macy’s T-Day parade. On the way home, the bus traveled north on I-87, which provided an opportunity to view Armstrong’s tower in person. I quickly spotted the immense tower even though it was over four miles away at the closest point. I was duly impressed!

Here are some pertinent links regarding this impressive edifice:

• Fybush.com’s “The Birthplace of FM Broadcasting, Alpine, N.J.“

• Wikipedia’s take on the Armstrong Tower

• Wikipedia’s take on Edwin Howard Armstrong

By the way, if you want to view the tower yourself on Microsoft’s Live Search Maps, use the coordinates 40°57’39.0″ N, 73°55’21.0″ W. (I could not find a street address for the tower, but I found the coordinates and they work just as well as a street address.)

After writing my last Surfin’ column about using Microsoft’s Live Search Maps to get bird’s eye views of antenna farms, I began my exploration of radio sites.

West Peak in Meriden, CT, is about 8 miles away (across the Quinnipiac River valley) from my home. It is a historic radio site and one of the oldest commercial radio antenna farms in the area.

The photo above is the west side of West Peak, which is 1,024 feet ASL. Its profile is imposing because its vertical cliffs stand tall above the valley 700 feet below.

According to Wikipedia, “Edwin Howard Armstrong, who invented FM radio and who was a network radio pioneer, used West Peak for the location of one of the first FM radio broadcasts in 1939. His original 70′ tall radio mast is still there.”

I may be mistaken, but I believe that Armstrong’s tower is located in the photo above is located directly in front of the building with the flat white roof. (Click on the photo to magnify it.)

WDRC went on the air in 1939 as the first commercial FM broadcast station in the US. Franklin Doolittle, who founded the station, renamed it WDRC for Doolittle Radio Corporation.

Doolittle’s daughter wrote me after I wrote a Surfin’ column that mentioned the history of WDRC.

“Bless your heart for your loyalty to WDRC-FM. My name is Lydia Johnson and I am Franklin M. Doolittle’s daughter. I read your article on the history of FM radio and it was most interesting.

“I lived through that era of my father’s innovative life and used to drive up the old dirt road up the side of Meriden Mountain (CT) with him as the station came to life under his direction. FM was a labor of love for him. WDRC-OBG is a remarkable Web site that details the history of my Dad’s stations. I am so glad you found it.

“My father was a wonderful, humble man, who was truly a pioneer in the development of radio. He was never one to blow his own horn, a gentle, quiet man who had the first patent on binaural sound, and helped to start FM radio on the long and sometimes rocky road to popularity,”

Thank you so much for holding those memories of the past, and bringing back some memories for me.”

Check out the WDRCOBG Web site for more about Doolittle and his radio station that still pumps out oldies, but goodies 24/7.

Currently, FM broadcast stations WHCN, WKSS, WPKT, WWYZ, and WZMX, also transmit from West Peak, as do NOAA with a weather broadcast station (WXJ42) on 162.4 MHz, and Amateur Radio station W1ECH with repeaters operating on 2 meters and 440 MHz.

When I was a teenager, I was an avid listener of AM radio station WABC in New York City. Day and night, it was loud and clear in The Brass City and my radio was tuned to 770 kc most of the time.

I recently purchased a DVD titled 1960′s WABC Radio Airchecks. In addition to airchecks, the DVD contains 75 hours of pure nostalgia from 77 WABC including “Actual Broadcasts By Big Dan Ingram, ‘Cousin Brucie’ Bruce Morrow, Ron Lundy, Scott Muni, Chuck Leonard & More,” like the Cousin Brucie theme song sung by The Four Seasons or the old Palisades Amusement Park commercial.

Seventy-five hours is a little much to listen to in one sitting, so I loaded the contents of the DVD into my iPod (by way of iTunes) and I hear random selections during my daily commute.

Yesterday, I heard a 16-minute segment from October 7, 1964, with Dan Ingram spinning the platters. It was very entertaining and enlightening.

Here are some items of note from the broadcast:

• Telephone numbers still used two-letter alphabetical prefices, for example, “PL 5-1516″ instead of “755-1516″ (in this example, the “PL” was short for “plaza”).

• Mailing addresses still used one or two-number postal zones instead of ZIP Codes, for example, “Waterbury 6, Connecticut” instead of “Waterbury, Connecticut 06706.”

• Firestone advertised snow tires: $24.24 for a pair.

• During the broadcast, Dan Ingram announced score updates from the World Series. On the air, he admitted rooting for St. Louis (against the hometown Yankees). Can you imagine an on-the-air personality rooting against the hometown team today? (I can’t.)

• This broadcast was during the height of Beatlemania and there were two commercials in a row: one for a contest to win a Beatles poster, followed by a commercial for the Beatles’ appearance on Shindig! Both commercials used snippets from the Beatles’ hit “She Loves You.” Following the commercials, Ingram says, “Well, I guess it was inevitable” and the next song you hear him play was “She Loves You.”

Fun, fun, fun!

This week’s Surfin’ considers the final courtesy of a radio contact: The QSL card.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

It is very nostalgic!

Last night was the first time I listened to LNG during the drive home from work. I was very surprised when I heard the voice of the DJ spinning the platters during the drive time. It sounded just like Rusty Potz, who used to be a DJ on local Connecticut radio stations 30 years ago. When the DJ announced his name, it turned out that it was Rusty Potz. I was shocked.

It is very very nostalgic!

How could I resist!

The e-mail was from Haband and in order to get the free radio, all I had to do was buy something from them online.

I figured that there must be something I needed. One thing led to another (as it often does on the Internet) and I came across a pair of women’s boots on sale for $19.99; a pair just like the ones my wife had been looking for. I showed my wife the boots and she agreed, so I ordered a pair and wait for the radio.

I don’t expect much, but the price was right and you ever know, I might be surprised. You can expect a full report here after the radio arrives.