Category: Internet radio Page 1 of 2

This post pertains to Como Audio music system owners. I’m trying to get a message sent to all Como Audio radios worldwide through the station aggregator. If I’m successful, then you’re reading this because you saw the message directing you to this website for more information, or I’ve replied to your email query directing you here.

The point of this post is to educate Como Audio users who have no idea what’s been going on with their Internet radio and podcast service and why they can’t access My Favorites. Also, to let you know about a helpful resource.

The Internet radio service was dropped by Frontier Silicon, the Wi-Fi module supplier, due to the cost of maintaining their legacy Wi-Fi modules. The service was taken over by the station aggregator. The aggregator required all audio brands (not just Como Audio) with radios using these older modules to pay an annual fee to continue the Internet radio and podcast service for those radios or else the service would be discontinued on October 31, 2024. Several brands opted not to pay the fee and those users unfortunately have no recourse to have their service restored.  

Since Como Audio went out of business 18 months ago and was therefore unable to pay it’s $5,000 fee, I didn’t want Como’s customers to be amongst those that had their Internet radio and podcast service disabled. As Como’s former General Manager and a multiple Como radio owner myself, I launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $5,000. I did my best to try to get the word out but I’m only one person and my resources were limited. That said, we successfully raised the $5,000 for the first year’s fee, then we raised another $5k for the second year, plus an additional $1,000 towards year #3’s fee. All of the money was wire transferred to the aggregator who confirmed receipt in late September. Images of those documents were posted to the GFM campaign as well as on Patreon for Como Elite members. The remaining balance of $4,000 for year #3 will be due by October 31, 2026. I expect to start a new GFM campaign to raise that money as we approach that deadline. Also as that deadline approaches I should know more about Como’s fee for 2027 and beyond.

Whether you contributed to the GFM campaign or not, your Como radio will continue to have Internet radio and podcast service until October 31^st, 2026, as it was an all or nothing proposition. There was no way to disable service to radios of Como owners who didn’t contribute to the fund.

In addition to Internet radio and podcast service continuing, the My Favorites feature, which allows an almost unlimited storage of your favorite Internet stations and podcasts, has also been transferred to the aggregator. Plus, a new smart radio web portal has been built, both of which would’ve been disabled along with Internet radio and podcasts had the fee not been paid. Frontier Silicon no longer has control over the 75,000 Internet radio stations, 100+k podcasts, My Favorites, or the smart radio portal. As of 10/31/24, these services and features are entirely the responsibility of the station aggregator which is why you cannot access My Favorites.

If you weren’t aware of this Internet radio service situation, you probably also don’t know about Patreon. Please allow me a moment to explain. Around the time Como Audio went away, I started a service on Patreon to report news on the kinds of issues important to Como customers along with other exclusive content, as well as to provide unlimited 24/7/365 tech support, knowing that there would be zero support once Como Audio closed. Having product managed every Como Audio model, no one knows more about Como’s products than I do. There are currently several hundred Como customers taking advantage of this unique resource. The service costs $3 per month and the small income helps me pay a few bills since being let go by Como Audio after 7+ years with the company. There is also a $1/month tier but that doesn’t get you Como news and support.

If you’re not a Como Elite Patreon member, here are some of the topics you’ve missed: GoFundMe updates, an exclusive Q&A with the station aggregator, Como items for sale like Amica speakers and accessories, never before published frequency response specifications for every Como model, product FAQs, features you didn’t know about, tuning HD Radio stations, improving FM reception, how to deal with gremlins, the top Internet stations Como customers are listening to, what happened to the Como Control app and what you can do, the new Musica that almost was, how to tune iHeart radio stations, which universal remote works with Como models, and much more. My 10/30 Patreon post reveals the URL of the new station portal and instructions on how to transfer My Favorites from the Nuvola smart portal to the new portal. If you’re not interested in joining Patreon on a monthly basis, you can purchase just that single post. I also wrote a few posts on Patreon addressing issues some users have experienced (including yours truly) with podcasts, stations not tuning, and issues with the registration code all caused by the transition.

With Como Audio gone, there’s no other source for this kind of information or for technical support. To be perfectly clear, you don’t have to be a Patreon member for your radio to work, but you do have to be a member to access this kind of content and support.

I’m also going to take a few seconds to plug my new YouTube channel while I still have your attention. It’s a fun look back at things like 8 track tapes and other analog music formats as well as vintage audio equipment.

Enjoy your Internet radio and podcast service for the next two years. I hope you’ll contribute to year # 3’s fee when the time comes, especially if you’re getting the next two years for free.

Peter Skiera

Links:

Patreon

YouTube

09.10.2024 update: The GFM campaign reached its goal and is no longer accepting contributions. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Last month I launched a GoFundMe campaign. No, it isn’t to benefit me. The purpose is to keep Como Audio’s Internet radio and podcast service alive, along with the smart radio portal and the popular My Favorites feature which allows storing an almost unlimited number of Internet stations.

You see, those services and features are being taken over by the station aggregator, Airable, because the platform provider, Frontier Silicon, will no longer cover the costs to maintain them. Accordingly, the aggregator is charging the audio companies that use Frontier Silicon’s legacy Wi-Fi modules to continue the service. Those brands that don’t or can’t pay will have their radios’ service disabled on October 31, 2024.

This placed Como Audio customers in a precarious position because Como isn’t around to pay it’s $5,000 fee since it went out of business 18 months ago. As I had a long-term relationship with both Frontier Silicon and the station aggregator, I intervened and launched a GoFundMe campaign last month following an agreement with the aggregator. No one asked me to do this and I wasn’t required to, but if I didn’t act, the service would be terminated on all Como radios.

Thanks to the generosity of Como users, the GoFundMe campaign met the $5,000 goal in less than 30 hours. There was no way to disable service only for radios of owners who didn’t contribute. That means every Como Audio radio around the world will retain it’s service until October 31, 2025 whether you contributed anything or not.

If you’re a Como Audio user and didn’t contribute, considering you’ll be getting free service for 12 months, please do your part for year #2’s $5,000 fee. The GoFundMe campaign is currently accepting contributions for year #2, and although we’ve made excellent progress, we’re still several thousand dollars short for year two.

One friendly piece of advice if you contribute. GoFundMe automatically adds a generous tip for themselves to every donation. This money doesn’t go to the campaign but to GoFundMe. Believe me, they’re making enough money, they don’t need a tip. Use the tip bar to adjust the donation figure down to zero before you submit your donation. If you’re feeling especially generous, instead of tipping GoFundMe, you might consider buying me a coffee or making a PayPal donation for my time and effort on everyone’s behalf.

If/when the second year’s goal is reached, I shall close out the campaign and if possible, pay the second year’s fee in advance. As the date gets closer I will consider launching a new GFM campaign in August of 2026 to raise funds for the third year’s fee.

Paying a fee to keep our service alive isn’t a scenario I or anyone else envisioned and I’m sorry we have to go through this. Thank you to those who have contributed. If you’re a Como Audio music system owner or just appreciate music, I hope you’ll reward my voluntary efforts and support our cause. I can’t imagine life without music.

Thank you again,

Peter Skiera

We Americans love our hobbies. A survey conducted by Statista.com released this year revealed the surprising finding that amongst 18-64 year olds, the most popular hobby was baking. This was followed by reading, pets, and video games (respondents could pick more than 1 hobby). “Radio”, “audio”, and “music” weren’t categories, though “making music” was.

Also not an option was collecting radio station bumper stickers, yet that’s exactly what Phil Bytheway does. By the way, that’s his real legal last name. It’s British and it’s pronounced just as you think. Since I try to focus on radio and vintage music related topics, I thought this subject, which combines both radio and something vintage, would be perfect for this month’s blog article.

Bumper stickers are indeed vintage. You don’t see them as often as you used to, perhaps because newer cars don’t have bumpers, or at least not like how bumpers used to be. According to radiostationpromotions.com, “the bumper sticker as we know it today can be traced back to a screen printer in Kansas City, Mo., named Forrest P. Gill. In the 1940s, he had a surplus of two wartime technologies: adhesive-backed paper and fluorescent paint. He combined the two, and the bumper sticker was born. His new creation significantly improved handmade signs that were easily worn down or fell off cars…Radio Stations began using bumper stickers in the 1950s and 1960s to promote their stations to listeners, often with a contest.”

Bytheway, a retired electrical engineer, has been collecting radio station bumper stickers for nearly 35 years. I emailed him at his home in Washington state to learn more about his hobby, which is as unusual as his last name.

Peter: When did you start collecting radio station bumper stickers? I imagine it’s not a very expensive hobby compared to others.

Phil: “I have been seriously collecting since 1991 when I purchased a collection from a long-time collector. He had some 20 boxes of radio promo items… mostly paper (which has since been recycled).

Check out the prices for stickers on eBay… they can be pretty expensive… but I don’t bid on singles… usually collections, so I increase my collection and my traders.”

Peter: What was the genesis behind this unusual hobby?

Phil: “When I was in Jr High (1968), I got interested in tuning my AM radio for distant stations. I started collecting verifications of the stations I heard, which required me to tabulate program details for around 15 minutes and sent a letter asking for confirmations. Some of the stations would include a sticker with the verification… and I started collecting them. Eventually, I started writing stations asking for stickers. Once the internet became available, I started searching for websites and emailing the stations. Much quicker, and occasionally I send an SASE.”

Peter: How many stickers are in your collection?

Phil: “I have around 50,000 US and Canadian stickers…an unknown number of foreign ones and around 100,000 extras for trade…”

Peter: What’s the most unusual item you have?

Phil: “I have a stuffed Tookie Tookie bird (from George of the Jungle fame) from a station on the east coast.”

Peter: What’s your favorite sticker in your collection?

Phil: “Tough question. Many stickers from Hawaii are the most colorful ones. Favorites I guess would be stickers from stations I’ve heard on the AM band… there are many. Kinda nice to have a visible representation of the stations I’ve heard. Note, not every station will verify reception, nor is it always possible to get enough program information to ask for one!”

Peter: What’s the most distant radio station you have a bumper sticker from?

Phil: “Many from Australia/New Zealand. Also, quite a few from Europe/Asia. I don’t do distance, so not really sure the farthest. Maybe I should add a column [in my spreadsheet] for distance?”

Peter: What’s the oldest sticker in your collection?

Phil: “I presume many of the stickers are from the 60s or 70s… although not many. Same is true for the air checks… although there are a few from the late 50s.”

Peter: Is there a station you really wanted a bumper sticker from that didn’t cooperate?

Phil: “Can’t think of any. Most stations today do not do stickers… the popularity amongst the “normal” folks has dropped off dramatically. I really don’t see many on cars anymore… and the ones I DO see tend to be older. I think there is a different focus for stickers now. There are many that are smaller than what would work on a car, so I think they are intended for laptops or cell phones… not sure though.”

Peter: What’s your success rate when you ask for items from radio stations?

Phil: “I do exclusively email now… and get around 5-10% response… of those, around 10% say they are going to send something, but don’t (very frustrating). I really wish they would be honest with me. I do keep track of stations that say they are going to send something, and when I get the items in the mail, I always send a thank you. And, I have sent a follow up request from time to time… but the response to those is really small!”

Peter: What do your friends and relatives think of your hobby?

Phil: “[They think] it’s weird… and I have no one in the family to pass my collection on to!! Then again, a lot of folks collect sports cards… and I think that is odd (our son collects them). Sports cards are worth something though… and stickers don’t tend to be worth much, even though folks on eBay tend to think they are worth a lot.”

Peter: You have a little radio experience, right?

Phil: “I did the news at UW’s KCMU (now KEXP) when I was in college during the summer once. That’s my only on-the-air experience although folks seem to think I have a “radio voice”. I volunteered at KING-FM, but only did clerical work. I was hoping to go into radio as my second career, but health issues prevent me from holding down a full-time job now…. I’m not much of an ad lib person, except for an occasional joke… so being a DJ would not work too well.”

Peter: What are some of your favorite radio stations?

Phil: “I enjoy classical music… and listen to [Seattle’s] KING-FM a lot… also other classical music stations on the internet. No real favorites though… I enjoy the variety radio has. I guess I enjoy listening to older top 40 stations… so I’m starting to collect air checks.” 

Peter: You also have some vintage air check tapes (recordings of DJ patter). Do you have any plans to post them on the net for people to hear?

Phil: “I recently acquired a large collection of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, CDs and DVDs from a former collector in California who passed away. I am in the process of inventorying them, so I can offer them for trade. Posting on the internet might also be possible if I can figure out how to do it. There are 24 boxes, so it’s going to take a while. So far, I’ve inventoried the CDs and DVDs… but there are a lot of cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes to go. Will also need to figure out how to “convert” them to .mp3 before posting… that’s going to take a while. And I thought I could take it easy when I retired!!!”

Peter: Bytheway…that’s your legal last name. You must take a lot of ribbing.

Phil: “Yes. We’re from the UK, where someone lived on the road… and thus they were ‘by-the-way’. Mostly, folks don’t believe it… and I’ve had to get out my driver’s license a few times! I learned to not get upset when folks kidded me… a bit of armor reinforcement.”

Peter: What’s your professional background?

Phil: “I was an Electrical Engineer for 36 years, working for Honeywell, Alliant Techsystems, Hughes, Raytheon and Technologic (a consulting firm). I designed circuit boards and eventually ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) which were used on the boards I designed. I participated in the design and check out of a series of testers that use software and cables to test various modules. My last job was debugging and repairing circuit boards returned for repair. I did quite a bit of traveling around the US to integrate and debug many of my designs… a few times being sent last minute to help fix a problem.”

Peter: Any final thoughts, Phil?

Phil: “I did design the “W” for UW [University of Washington] football helmet while I was a student manager for the UW football team (5 years in college). Guess that fueled my interest in stickers!! Given that I designed a large number of electronics… the “W” is really the only thing that has lasted… electronics are usually obsolete soon after they are on the market!! I am clearly a football nut… having played co-ed flag football for a number of years with the Underdog Sports group. Had to stop doing that when my medical issues prevented it!!”

In addition to growing his bumper sticker collection, Bytheway is also involved with a couple of extensive monthly newsletters that take deep dives into radio stations and tuning distant AM stations.

I worked in commercial radio for almost 7 years. I was even a Promotions Director at one point at a classic rock station in New Hampshire. Yet I never amassed a collection of station stickers, T-shirts, or coffee mugs. I worked with a guy at one station who had an extra JB105 bumper sticker. JB105 was a very popular hit music station in Rhode Island when I was a kid. He promised to give me his extra sticker, but he never did. I definitely would’ve put that on my car.

Although I spot plenty of political stickers (which, unfortunately, are mostly offensive), rarely do I see radio station bumper stickers on cars. As Bytheway pointed out, fewer and fewer radio stations offer bumper stickers even though they’d likely receive a lot more exposure than other promotional items and are cheaper than T-shirts. With the cost of new cars today, I think people are more reluctant to permanently stick things on their cars. In any event, it’s nice to know there are still people in the world who appreciate radio station bumper stickers. Keep sticking it to them, Phil.

Trivia (from clashgraphics.com): ”In 1991, a Georgia resident was charged with violating a state law prohibiting automobile owners from attaching “any sticker, decal, emblem, or other device containing profane or lewd words.” In Cunningham v. the State, the owner successfully argued this law was unconstitutional. The court agreed with him, ruling that the law violated the 1st and 14th Amendments. As such, the bumper sticker was now protected by freedom of speech.”

Trivia: January is National Hobby Month.

Trivia: According to a June 2023 Gallup poll, 66% of adults aged 18-34 said their hobbies and recreational activities were “extremely or very important”. That dipped to 61% among 35-54 year olds, and 59% for the 55 and over crowd.

Trivia: This website honors a different radio station bumper sticker every day.

If you like discovering new Internet radio stations, or would like to help support articles like this on my website blog, please consider becoming a Patreon member today for as little as $1.

Do you have unusual music-related hobby or would like to suggest a subject for an article? Let me know about it: stationsguy@gmail.com

Website: https://www.smruconsulting.com/lime-kiln-live-hydrophone

Stream URL: https://proxy.tpa-01.stream101.com/proxy/smrucons?mp=/;stream

Radio Rewind is a random “pop-up” series that looks back at a Hitchhiker Station (a strange radio station) from the past. As last month’s post was 2 years since my last “Rewind”, I’m making up for it by posting another.

The historic lighthouse in Lime Kiln Point State Park on the west side of San Juan Island in Washington State is an impressive sight. But the 200,000 people who visit every year mainly go to see killer whales, gray whales, sea lions, and porpoises swimming along the shoreline. The Park claims to be “one of the best whale-watching spots on earth.” So much so, it’s nicknamed “Whale Watch Park”.

One reason why it’s such an ideal location for whale watching is because the ocean floor drops to 960 feet just a mere 25 feet off shore. This gives the whales plenty of room, yet at the same time, puts them very close to the shore resulting in ideal whale watching. The area is also rich in cod and salmon which the whales feed on.

Besides being a killer whale research hub, the site also includes a hydrophone node (an underwater microphone). The sounds from the microphone are streamed live, 24/7, over the Lime Kiln Hydrophone Internet station. Yes, this is an Internet radio station that plays nothing but sounds from an underwater microphone. No hits, none of the time.

Submerged in twenty-three feet of water southwest of the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, the hydrophone was installed 8 years ago and is maintained by The Whale Museum and SMRU (Sea Mammal Research Unit). Tune in and at any given time you’ll hear what sounds like either water running furiously in a bathtub or white noise (it’s very low 32 kbps streaming bit rate doesn’t help). However, the sub-aquatic stereo microphone has, on occasion, picked up whale calls and sounds of Orcas crunching fish bones. Yum.

“Yes, this is an Internet radio station that plays nothing but sounds from an underwater microphone.”

Lime Kiln was recently “off the air” for a week due to Internet equipment failures, but they fixed the problems and it’s back on. Those of you who need your underwater fix can rejoice again.

If you want to get closer to nature, or you would like to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade, tune Lime Kiln Hydrophone…a Hitchhiker Station that’s underwater.

Trivia (from lighthousepreservation.org/history/): “One of the first known lighthouses was also the greatest and most famous of all lighthouses. It was built in 285 BC at Alexandria, Egypt, on an island at the entrance to the city’s harbor. This lighthouse, called the Pharos of Alexandria, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was over 440 ft tall and stood for 1500 years, until it was destroyed by an earthquake.”

Website: https://wavefarm.org/ta/archive/works/g7yqrm

Stream URL: https://audio.wavefarm.org/weatherwarlock.mp3

Radio Rewind is a random “pop-up” series that looks back at a Hitchhiker Station (a strange radio station) from the past. It’s been 2 years since my last Radio Rewind, so I’m long overdue for another edition, and this one’s a doozy.

In September of 2021, I wrote about a bizarre Internet radio station with an equally bizarre name: Weather Warlock Quintronics. The Weather Warlock device is connected to outdoor sensors located at a place called Wave Farm in New York’s Upper Hudson Valley. The sensors measure wind, precipitation, temperature, and sunlight. Makes sense. So, what’s the Weather Warlock and why is it bizarre?

The Weather Warlock is a custom-built analog synthesizer…a musical instrument of sorts, that’s “played” by the weather. It doesn’t display readings from the sensors like a traditional weather base station. Instead, it converts the weather data it receives from the sensors into electronic sounds and streams them live over Wave Farm’s Internet station. It’s a musical instrument and Mother Nature is the musician.

The more complicated Mother Nature gets, the more complex the sounds. The Weather Warlock is most active at sunrise and sunset, though a lightning storm or a very bright moon would also trigger dramatic sounds. Tune this Internet station and you’ll essentially hear the weather. “Quintron” (Robert Rolston), the inventor of the Weather Warlock, would love to have Weather Warlocks installed all over the world “so that listeners may experience musical interpretations of a variety of different climates and time zones – from Iceland to the Amazon.” In addition to the Weather Warlock at Wave Farm in New York, there’s a second Weather Warlock located in New Orleans where Quintron makes his home.

Constantly Vibrating

Why craft music from weather? As Quintron explains on bandcamp.com, “the resulting music was designed for self-hypnosis and healing. I wanted something with movement and changes, but completely devoid of human organization – like a fire, or a lake reflecting moonlight. Constantly vibrating with change but also very still.” Okay.

Try and Catch the Wind

I’ve mentioned Wave Farm several times so an explanation is in order. Wave Farm is based in Acra, New York, and was founded in 1997 as a non-profit organization dedicated to experimentation with airwaves and broadcast media. You’ve probably never heard of it before, yet it’s been around for almost 30 years. According to their website, Wave Farm is “an international transmission arts organization driven by experimentation with the electromagnetic spectrum. We cultivate creative practices in radio and support artists and nonprofits in their cultural endeavors.” Their slogan is “Radio for Open Ears”. They feel strongly that airwaves should be used for creative and experimentation purposes and accessible to the public.

Made Possible by Andy Warhol

As I mentioned, the Weather Warlock was invented by Quintron in 2014 and was made possible in part by support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Exactly who or what is Quintron? I was afraid you’d ask that. Grab my hand and let’s jump down another rabbit hole.

The Spit Machine

Quintron is a New Orleans-based, one-man band, organ player, music club proprietor, and inventor with several patents to his name. If you think the Weather Warlock is odd, hold on to your umbrella. Building on the theme, Quintron created “Traffic Saxx”. The device transforms the “noise of tire traffic on NY 23 into a signal that can be mutated and manipulated by DJs” on Wave Farm’s radio station.

Another of his inventions is the “Drum Buddy”, a light-activated drum machine that uses a rotating empty tin can with a light inside it. According to Wikipedia, “as the can rotates, its holes pass the Drum Buddy’s photoelectric cells, firing drum-like tones and theremin or Moog synthesizer-like chirps or buzzes.”

“Bath Buddy”, yet another Quintron invention, is described as a “water conservation device” which sold for $65 and came in 3 exciting colors. It had a long, wired sensor that activated an alarm when your bath tub reached the desired level to prevent accidental overflowing.

My favorite invention, however, is Quintron’s “Spit Machine” which uses human saliva as a tuning conductor. Pause for laughter. Quintron described its operation on Wikipedia: “You had to spit on a stick, like a paint stir stick, and you had two metal leads that you would touch to either end of the line of spit and then you would move the leads closer together – higher pitch – and farther apart – lower pitch.” I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

Sleazy Nightclubs

Quintron’s wife, Panacea Pussycat (aka “Miss Pussycat”), is also an inventor. According to their website, she created “an inflatable puppet theater which fits into her purse.” Besides her “technicolor puppet shows”, Miss Pussycat also sings backup vocals and plays the maracas in her husband’s band. They describe their music as “barely controlled electronic chaos, ‘Swamp-Tech’ dance beats, small explosions, incredible clothes, and entertaining puppet stories.” Jane, stop this crazy thing. Quintron has recorded more than 20 albums and performs live using a Weather Warlock and/or several Drum Buddies as musical instruments. The band has performed in clubs all over the world, but according to their agent’s website, is equally at home in “sleazy nightclubs, pizza restaurants, and university lecture halls.” They’re available for private bookings should you feel so inclined.

I know all of this was a lot for you to digest…weather music, spit machines, light activated drum sounds, bath tub alarms, inflatable puppet shows, sleazy nightclubs, etc., but that’s what my Hitchhiker Stations are all about, and you won’t hear about them anywhere else. I love shining a Drum Buddy light on strange stations you never knew existed. Discover more fun and interesting Internet radio stations on my Patreon site and help support my website blog at the same time. Thanks to my 300+ Patreon members for making this blog possible, and thanks to Quintron and Miss Pussycat for keeping Internet radio interesting.

Trivia (from Wikipedia): “Quintron utilizes a custom-made Hammond organ/Fender Rhodes synthesizer combo which he has had outfitted to resemble the body of a car, complete with working headlights and a Louisiana license plate which reads ‘Quintron’.”

When I was a kid, my parents owned a primitive beach cottage in southern Rhode Island. Don’t picture anything extravagant. After they bought the one room cabin, they hung a up bed sheet to create a “private” room. The sink had a hand pump that went to a well in the back of the house. There was no TV, no telephone, and no bathroom. Our neighbor across the street let us use their shower until we finally installed one of our own in the shed. It may have been primitive, but it was our little slice of paradise for some 17 summers. My mother nicknamed the cottage “Peace of Mind”. I drove by it last year and the original cottage is long gone, replaced by some monstrosity with central air on tall concrete pilings.

Its location is important to my story because it explains how I was able to pick up AM radio stations from New York. Along with Rhode Island beautiful music station WLKW, I credit these stations for sparking my interest in a career in radio broadcasting. The three NY stations I listened to were WNBC 660AM, WINS 1010AM, and WNEW 1130AM. All 3 are still around today in one form or another.

1. WNBC 66AM

When I was a wee listener, WNBC-AM was a talk and “adult top 40” music station. It was the flagship radio station of the NBC radio network. I was around 12 or 13 years old at the time. This station was my gateway drug to Don Imus and Howard Stern, both of whom went on to become national shock jocks. One WNBC poster pictured Stern and Imus with the slogan, “If we weren’t so bad, we wouldn’t be so good.” If my mother had known I was listening to them she would’ve confiscated my radio!

In 1988, General Electric, who had purchased the NBC network, sold off all of NBC’s radio stations per FCC regulations during that time (one company couldn’t own both television and radio stations in the same market for fear of a monopoly). WNBC-AM was sold off and became WFAN-AM, the world’s first 24/7 sports station. WFAN still resides today at 660 on the NY AM dial (I use the word “dial” knowing radio “dials” don’t exist anymore).

Thanks to the miracle of Internet radio, you can listen to original WNBC-AM broadcasts, sans Don Imus and Howard Stern, courtesy of Time Warp Radio out of NY. The station streams at 128 kbps in MP3 but I must warn you, the sound quality of some of the recordings is sub-par. The source material is aircheck tapes. Back in the day, air check tapes were cassettes a DJ would use to record his air shift. The station’s Program Director used the tapes to critique the announcer’s performance. The tapes were typically “scoped”, only capturing the DJ’s chatter (the tape machine automatically went into record mode every time the microphone was turned on), not the music or commercials. However, the quality of such tapes is much better than some of what I’ve heard on this station. I have an aircheck tape from my time in radio and the quality is very good. Perhaps some of these tapes were late generation copies of the originals and/or were in poor condition.

You’ll hear the original announcers (with plenty of reverb, making them sound like they’re broadcasting from deep inside the Bat Cave), news, station jingles, and the original commercials. You’ll hear the music as well, but since these are aircheck tapes, there will also be segments where all you hear is the DJ introducing the songs and speaking at the tail end of songs. In other words, no music. You’ve heard the slogan, “all music, all the time”. During those segments, it’s all DJ’s, all the time. There are also segments where the program ends abruptly, presumably marking the point when the aircheck tape reached its end and stopped recording.

If you’d like a sound quality upgrade and more music, try 66 WNBC. It’s a tribute Internet radio station streaming out of NY that replicates WNBC’s playlists from the late 1970’s to the early 80’s with an occasional original station jingle but no announcers (and no annoying reverb). The first time I tuned in they were playing the top 66 (for “66” WNBC) songs of 1976. Another time they were running down the top 66 songs of 1982. Sweet.

If you want to relive the days when AM radio was still a primary source for listening to music, check out WNBC 660 Time Warp Radio and 66 WNBC. I’ve included the streaming links at the end of this article.

2. WINS 1010AM

WINS was one of the first all-news radio stations in the US and it still exists today on the AM and FM dials and on the Internet. In fact, I was in New Jersey briefly a couple of months ago and rented a car to get to my destination. I punched up WINS 1010 AM on the car’s radio and it instantly brought back memories of listening to WINS at our R.I. beach cottage all those years ago. After WINS switched to an all-news format in 1965, it had the sounds of teletype machines running in the background while the news was being reported. Originally, they had a live microphone stationed at the machines in the newsroom to capture the sound. Sadly, they stopped the teletype SFX several years ago which is a shame. Fast forward many years later when I read the news live on WPRO-AM, I played the sounds of a dot matrix printer in the background.

Be that as it may, if you don’t reside in the tri-state area, you can tune WINS on the Internet and hear what’s going on in New York and around the world. Give them 22 minutes and they’ll give you the world. Unfortunately, your imagination will have to supply the teletype sounds in the background.

3. WNEW 1130AM

WNEW-AM was a massively popular radio station primarily playing music from the great American Songbook (not to be confused with WNEW-FM or WNEW-TV). So why, at 12 years old, was I listening to this AM music station? What can I say? I was a strange child.

I well remember WNEW’s wonderful specialty shows like Tony Bennett Time (Bennett actually recorded a jingle for the station), The Make-Believe Ballroom, and Sinatra Saturdays. Legendary WNEW DJ William B. Williams has been credited as the first to nickname Sinatra the “Chairman of the Board”. I also remember some of the DJ’s occasionally going off the rails and slipping in a Beatles, Bee Gees, or Stevie Wonder hit or some other song that had nothing at all to do with the great American songbook. I never understood that. Don’t get me wrong. I love music as much as the next person, but I also appreciate structure, and WNEW-AM wasn’t a free-form radio station. As a listener, it was like sitting comfortably on a train going 100 MPH and the engineer suddenly hitting the brakes without warning.

The station wasn’t only known for its music. It spent a fortune building a first-class radio news team. At its height, WNEW’s newsroom had more than 26 reporters and writers. It was said to be the first music radio station that broadcast local newscasts every hour. According to writer Paul Colford, WNEW’s reporters roamed the country and the world, traveling “to Africa to interview Albert Schweitzer, they roamed the South to size up the civil rights movement, they broadcast from Vatican Square and Cape Canaveral.” 

As time went on, the station began to show its age, as did its listeners, who ranged from 80 to dead. Such an audience was not appealing to advertisers. Fewer advertisers resulted in reduced revenue. This, combined with the fact that the days of AM radio stations playing music were all but over, resulted in WNEW’s death. Colford wrote this obituary: “WNEW-AM / 1130, the 58-year-old outlet for the music of Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Mel Torme, and America’s greatest songwriters, died today after a long illness marked by financial losses, anemic rating, schizophrenic programming, and the dismissal of practically every personality who made it special.”

The new owners, Bloomberg, changed the call letters and put in place an all-financial format. As the New York Times put it, WNEW went from Sinatra records to stock reports. It was the end of a slow, painful death. Prior to that, the station had been sold in 1986 and the owner’s cut costs and screwed around with the programming, adding talk shows and gutting the newsroom. It marked the beginning of the end…the Titanic started taking on water. The station changed hands again in 1988 and the new owners further contributed to its decline. In December of 1992, WNEW 1130 gently slipped below the airwaves. It’s hard to believe the station has been gone for more than 30 years and that makes me feel old and irrelevant.

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. WNEW-AM is back! Well, sort of. Time Warp Radio, the same Internet radio network that brings you vintage 66AM WNBC broadcasts, also streams old WNEW-AM broadcasts. As with the WNBC stream, WNEW 1130 Time Machine’s sound quality at times leaves a little something to be desired, though it streams at an above average bit rate of 192 kbps. It also relies on airchecks, meaning there will be segments where you’ll only hear the announcer and no music.

The station’s playlist includes music from the 1920’s and 30’s, which makes no sense to me. All of that said, I’ll take it over nothing at all. In a way, the quality makes it even more authentic since music over AM radio wasn’t exactly high fidelity. It’s a gas to hear the original WNEW announcers, station jingles, weather, news (I heard a story on Watergate), and even the commercials the station played back then (Gimbels, Barneys, ShopRite, etc.).

Here’s a thought- How about WNEW-FM creating an HD2 station for WNEW-AM? WNEW-FM has had a string of failed HD sub-channels…all Christmas music, Smooth Jazz, and even a Russian language station (pause to scratch scalp). I would think a WNEW-AM HD2 channel would be a no brainer.

Other Options

I’m pleased to report there’s another option with consistently better sound quality: Metromedia Radio out of New York City. Metromedia was the company that owned WNEW-AM from 1956 until 1986. Metromedia officially closed in 2014 and Metromedia Radio, launched in 2010, operates with its blessing.

The station features former WNEW announcers and original jingles, yet the shows were recorded after WNEW went silent, which confused me. The station’s description says it streams “in the tradition of WNEW 1130…the world’s greatest radio station…with the help of former WNEW-AM and Metromedia Radio talent and executives.”

I got a hold of Joe Fay, Metromedia Radio’s General Manager, to help me understand what I was listening to. “About 12 years ago”, Fay explained to me in an email, “I was able to buy a large collection of various surviving reel-to-reel tapes from the WNEW-AM archive (about 200). The tapes were largely WNEW jingle packs, various promotional materials, and actual pre-recorded shows such as WNEW Music Spectaculars. I digitized everything and started the Metromedia Radio stream back in 2010. As I digitized, I also edited content, resulting in WNEW bumpers and the voiceovers of [WNEW announcers] Jim Lowe, Ted Brown, and William B Williams. It’s been really fun crafting this station. Thankfully, I have had the support of the Brown and Williams famil[ies].

“I also started a Facebook group”, Fay continued. “Via the group, I met up with former WNEW talent such as Bill Quinn, Dick Carr, and Marty Wilson. In 2014 we started producing radio shows for syndication. Unfortunately, that did not work out, but those shows were put into our Metromedia Radio library. Bill Quinn is still producing shows for us on a weekly basis. Additionally, I was able to connect with Sid Mark, Mark Suduck (former Metromedia Los Angeles) and Jason Wall along with other DJ’s who were interested [in] airing content on the station. Most recently I have been able to find and digitize about 100 mid 1970’s show[s] produced by William B. Williams.” 

As to the origin of the music and the format, Fay told me, “The automated stream of music is from my personal collection. Our streaming of automated music is model[ed] after the Dick Carr, Middle of the Road format. Dick was the Station Manager at WNEW from 1967 through 1969. [The programming] is consistent with the music WNEW played from 1955-1985. Within the archive, I have old tapes labeled ‘Non-Stop Music Hours’ that also served as a source for building out my person music collection and would naturally be added to the automated stream. Artists like David Allen or Jane Morgan [was] unknown to me, until I listened to some of the old tapes. They are now on the playlist.”

That playlist remains much more faithful to the great American Songbook than the WNEW Time Machine stream, but lacks the authentic vibe WNEW 1130 Time Machine provides. You’re listening to actual WNEW-AM broadcasts on the Time Machine, whereas Metromedia Radio is more of a tribute station with Live365 commercials. Still, a high-quality copy can be almost as satisfying as the original, and that’s certainly the case here.

The last WNEW related Internet radio station I’ll mention is The Jonathan Station, named after famed WNEW-AM announcer Jonathan Schwartz. His is the only name (and voice) I remember from those summers listening from Rhode Island so long ago.

If his name sounds familiar, it should. Schwartz is the son of composer Arthur Schwartz (That’s Entertainment, You and the Night and the Music, Dancing In The Dark, and By Myself). He’s written several books including an autobiography and recorded a handful of albums. He was on the radio for nearly 60 years, most of that time on WNEW and later, WNYC. He also had a stint at Siriux/XM radio on their Sinatra channel.

Schwartz at the mic in 2018. Photo from Schwartz’s facebook page.

Schwartz’s on-air delivery was unique to say the least. He would talk for lengthy periods with frequent pauses, both of which are third rails for most DJs. He would recount stories of famous singers and songwriters, including Frank Sinatra. According to Wikipedia, “Sinatra himself was amazed by Schwartz’s knowledge of every song he had ever recorded.” Schwartz wrote the liner notes for the Sinatra release, The Voice- The Columbia Years 1943-1952, for which he won a Grammy for Best Album Notes in 1986.

Five years ago on Father’s Day, at the age of 80, Schwartz launched his own Internet radio station called The Jonathan Station. As you might have surmised from Schwartz’s background, it features music from the great American songbook. Surprisingly, Schwartz’s color commentary is nonexistent. You’d think he’d be all over the station since he named it after himself and has the name recognition. He didn’t even record any station IDs. It’s as if he went out of his way not to be on the air, yet his vast knowledge and gentle voice was exactly what I wanted and expected to hear. The Jonathan Station’s website says the station is “the home of Jonathan Schwartz”, yet whenever I tuned in, Jonathan wasn’t home. Schwartz did host live weekend programs on his station before he retired in 2021, but so far, I’ve yet to hear repeats of those shows. Individual shows are accessible for playback on The Jonathan Station website, but I wanted to hear them on my Internet radio as part of the station, not from a computer. After all, it’s The Jonathan Station, not The Jonathan Computer.

Instead, what I did hear was a show called “The Penthouse”. At first, I thought I had tuned the wrong station or that the station’s metadata was incorrect. Strangely, The Jonathan Station’s website makes absolutely no mention of “The Penthouse”. Likewise, The Penthouse’s website makes no reference whatever to The Jonathan Station! I donned my detective’s fedora and requested clarification from The Jonathan Station’s Program Director, Bob Perry, who coincidentally, also happens to be President of the company behind “The Penthouse”. Weeks have passed and I’ve yet to hear back but will certainly update this section if/when I do.

Legend has it, the last Sinatra song WNEW-AM played before going off the air was Frank’s cover of We’ll Meet Again. Thanks to WNEW 1130 Time Machine and Metromedia Radio, we have.

Tony Bennett Time

One major drawback to such “set and forget” Internet stations is that they rarely break from their standard programming. However, a few days after his passing, Metromedia Radio played an old William B. Williams radio show that featured an excellent interview the announcer did with Bennett along with lots of his music. At least one station was paying attention.

You now have a plethora of stations that will give you a blast from the past. I’ve listed all their streaming links below for your convenience. If you’re a Recommended Stations supporter, your support helps to keep this blog and these kinds of articles going. To become a supporter and discover even more interesting stations, join today for just $1 and get my Recommended Station in your in box every month.

Trivia: During one of his radio shows, Jonathan Schwartz gave a negative review of the third record in Frank Santra’s “Trilogy” album. Unfortunately for Schwartz, Sinatra knew the man who owned the radio station and had Schwartz fired.

Trivia: Both 66 WNBC and 1130 WNEW were advertised as broadcasting in stereo. How could mono AM radio stations be in two channel stereo? In the 1980’s, some AM stations broadcast in stereo using 1 of 5 different competing systems, each requiring dedicated hardware to decode the stereo signal. The FCC adopted Motorola’s C-Quam (Compatible Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) system in 1992 as the AM stereo standard. That standard had already been employed years earlier in Canada, Australia, Mexico, and Japan. According to Wikipedia, there are 43 AM radio stations in the US still broadcasting in stereo using the Motorola system, most of which are small, independent stations.  

Trivia: In 1966 and 67, WNEW-AM partnered with the Superior Match Company to feature WNEW announcers on matchbook covers. Inside each matchbook was a coupon for free entry into NJ’s Palisades Amusement Park, which at the time cost 40 cents.

Station streams:

WNBC Time Machine

66WNBC

WINS 1010AM

WNEW 1130AM Time Machine

Metromedia Radio

The Jonathan Station

Direct URL stream: http://atosradio.com:8001/;stream/1

Station website: https://atosradio.org/atosradio/landings.html

ATOS website: https://www.atos.org/

I profiled this Hitchhiker Station in January of 2020 when I was writing Recommended Stations for Como Audio’s blog. Theater Organ Radio is the kind of station name that gets my attention. To be honest, when I think organ music, I think of being at a hockey or baseball game, in church, or riding a vintage carousel. ATOS Radio, however, is not that kind of station.

The American Theater Organ Society funds and runs ATOS Theater Organ Radio. The ATOS is focused on the preservation and promotion of the theater pipe organ and its music. Founded in 1955, the non-profit has over 60 chapters worldwide with over 3,000 members. I wonder if their members are organ donors as well. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

It’s hard for us to imagine going into a movie theater today and seeing and hearing a live organ, but in the 1920s and 30s when films were silent, the mighty organ provided the soundtrack. According to Wikipedia, there were over 7,000 organs in US cinemas between 1915-1933. Wurlitzer was perhaps the best-known theater organ and the company built more than 2,000 of them into the early 1940s. According to Smithsonian Magazine, in 1926 at its height, Wurlitzer shipped an organ a day. After the early 1930s, many theater organs were sold or scrapped. Less than 40 organs remain in their original venues today.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

Since I wrote about this station 3 years ago, there have been some important changes. For one thing, ATOS Theater Organ Radio now streams at 128 kbps in the AAC codec instead of MP3, so the sound quality is even better. Secondly, the station has added more music to their library which now includes 6,000 CD tracks, 2,500 vinyl remasters, 1,200 live concert recordings, 500 archival tracks (78’s etc.), and exclusive content drawn from their archives. There’s even a new station logo.

What will you hear on ATOS Radio? The selections are surprisingly diverse. Here’s a sampling of songs that were piped into my ears during my listening sessions: On the Sunny Side of the Street, My Heart Will Go On, Brahms Lullaby, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, We’ll Meet Again, The White Cliffs of Dover, The Way You Look Tonight, Send In the Clowns, Shaking the Blues Away, How Great Thou Art, As Time Goes By, Baby Elephant Walk, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Ebb Tide, The Man I Love, Send a Little Love My Way, and Puttin’ on the Ritz.

You won’t hear commercials (the station is funded via listener donations) though there are occasional public service announcements for ATOS sponsored events. There’s only one announcer- Steve Ashley- host of the specialty show, “Hot Pipes”. There’s also two “curated” specialty shows from two of ATOS’ chapters, Dickinson and Eastern Mass.

Summer Camp

ATOS sponsors a kind of annual organ summer camp mid-this month “designed for young theater organ enthusiasts who are interested in learning, developing, or refining their skills with the theater organ.” That should make for an interesting “what I did over my summer vacation” essay!

ATOS sponsors a kind of annual organ summer camp mid-this month “designed for young theater organ enthusiasts who are interested in learning, developing, or refining their skills with the theater organ.” That should make for a unique “what I did over my summer vacation” essay!

I reached out via email to Steve Worthington who recently retired after 30 years as ATOS Theater Organ Radio Producer, to get the story behind the station:

Peter: When did ATOS Radio first start streaming?

Steve: “The original stream was ‘Theater Organ Replay’ which featured older vinyl records and started in 2000 on live365. ATOS radio started in 2008.”

Peter: What decades does your music library span? What qualifies as “theater music”?

Steve: “Our library runs from 1920’s thru today, so basically 100 years. Theater organ music really spans a mix of entertainment played on the unit orchestra as built by Robert Hope Jones and Wurlitzer and refined by a number of other builders such as Barton, Kimball, Morton, Möller, etc.”

Peter: Do you play any rare recordings?

Steve: “Yes, we have a number of 78 [RPM] and acetate records in the playlist. Some of the most famous are those of Jesse and Helen Crawford.”

Peter: Are the recordings strictly solo organ or do some pieces include other instruments or vocals?

Steve: “There are lots of tracks that include more than just organ, be it vocals or more – examples are Billy Thorburn’s The Organ, The Dance Band & Me or recordings featuring Buddy Cole with [his] orchestra or big band, or Bob Hunter records with orchestra. Another example I’d [cite is] Gerhard Gregor with military bands.”

Peter: Do you know what and where the rarest working organ in the USA is?

Steve: “No such thing – lots of operational organs – there are remnants of one of the earliest Wurlitzer organs from Seattle in a Church in Spokane.”

Peter: Does ATOS Radio broadcast any live concerts?

Steve: “We have looked into live broadcasts of concerts but this is now mainly done through YouTube as video is as important as audio. All the concert material is recorded.”

Peter: Why do you encourage people to see organs in action?

Steve: “Not so much see as hear. Pipe Organs are about a presence that needs to be felt not just heard!”

Peter: Is there anything about organs or organ music that most people don’t know?

Steve: “Theater organs and church organs are very different and the repertoire is also different. Theater organs are about entertainment and a wow factor that can only be understood by attending a live theater organ event.”

William Gelhaus sits on ATOS’ board and took over administration of the radio station in January of this year. I hit him up with a few more questions:

Peter: What’s the purpose of the ATOS Theater Organ Radio stream? 

Bill: “To promote Theater Pipe Organs, to make people aware of them and the wide variety of music they can provide. It also provides background music for those that want a more-gentle sound.” 

Peter: What are the top 3 countries where the bulk of your listeners are based?

Bill: “USA, England, Australia.” 

Peter: Are there any particular recordings you’re very fond of?

Bill: “As to favorites, with 12,000 items in the library, it is really hard to pick one. I do tend to enjoy some of the more current interpretations of music from the 60s on. The fun thing is that the Theater Pipe Organ can play almost any type of music with a little work and imagination by the artist.

“One example is one of the younger artists records ‘backing’ tracks with full drums, synthesizer, and other ‘sounds’ and uses that to add to the experience. Others do duets with various instrument and vocalist, one even did several songs with full harp, not something you would expect to see or hear.”

Peter: Do you know how low some of the recordings go? For example, 20Hz? Audiophiles and people with subwoofers will be interested!

Bill: “It depends on when and how the original recordings were made, and on which instrument. The pipe organ has a frequency range of 8Hz or below with sub-harmonics from a 64 ft pipe like those on the Atlantic City organ (typically most have 16 ft pipes with some larger instrument having 32 ft or equivalent) to 20kHz and above with the shortest pipe and their overtones (also the tuned percussion like bells, chimes, and the like, have very high harmonics). The instrument can also have a dynamic range of over 120db depending on the size of the instrument and its blower(s) and the voicing. You don’t want to spend a lot of time in a chamber when it’s being played. Of course, the older the recording, the less of a range, but it is surprising as to their quality.

“On the original recordings I’ve made to digital you can definitely see the subwoofer pumping. What’s interesting is if you are listening without it, you might not miss it, and then turn it on and you may not realize it’s there, but when you turn it off it’s like the floor disappeared. With today’s microphones and digital recorder[s] you can capture the full sound of the instrument.”

Peter: Back in the day, live organ music in a movie theater was standard, right?

Bill: “They were designed to accompany silent movies. That’s the reason they have what’s known as traps, percussion, and a toy counter. Today they are used still to accompany silent movies, along with walk-in/out music and stand-alone concerts.”

Peter: Anything else to add, Bill?

Bill: “If it’s in the online library you can request the system to play it, as long as it does not violate any of the streaming rules that exist.

“There are thousands more recordings that need to be saved, restored and transferred to digital in our archive. You can donate to its support at: https://membership.atos.org/donate/by-program

“Much of the current library has been ‘encoded’ over a 30-year period under various standards, requiring us to either re-in-code or ‘re-level’ the online library if the original source material is no longer available. 

“We are also in the process of updating the software and website but it’s going to take a while.”

After the early 1930s, many theater organs were sold or scrapped. Less than 40 organs remain in their original venues today.

If you love the organ, or the theater, or just want to close your eyes and imagine how it felt to sit in a cinema 100 years ago, tune in ATOS Theater Organ Radio…and go ahead and turn up the bass a few notches!

Trivia (from Yamaha.com):“The biggest pipe organ in the world is the organ in the main auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, United States. It is so big that the number of pipes is not accurately known. Published documentation suggests there are 33,114 pipes, and it is said that there are at least 32,000.”

Trivia (from Smithsonian Magazine): “The Smithsonian’s instrument is a rare, completely original Wurlitzer donated by the estate of Lowell Ayars, a New Jersey music teacher, in 1993. Ayars kept it in museum-quality condition during the 30-some years it was played in his home. When Ayars died in 1992, he willed it to his friend Brantley Duddy, and Duddy contacted the Smithsonian, which gratefully accepted it for the musical instrument collection of the National Museum of American History. For now, it sits in storage, its burnished white-and-gold console protected by a sheet of plastic. But there are plans to restore it to glory.”

Did you enjoy this article? Learn about other stand-out and unique Internet radio stations every month by becoming a Recommended Stations supporter today for just $1!

A couple of months ago I debuted the first Patreon Profile, where I spotlighted a Recommended Stations Elite Supporter. That supporter ran his own beautiful music Internet radio station, WJST, and used to be a truck driver.

In this Profile, I introduce you to charter supporter and Como Audio customer Catherine Rahal. When Como Audio still existed, Catherine would contact me directly when she had issues or questions about her music systems. She became one of my closest acquaintances over the years and I thought it would be interesting for all of us to get to know this author, mother, former financial advisor, and fellow Internet radio enthusiast a little better.

Peter: I’ll start with a rapid-fire round. Where were you born? How many siblings do you have? Do you have children? 

Catherine: I was born in Berlin, a few years after the end of the war. We left for the US when I was about 3 ½ months old. I have a younger brother – he is currently working on a great product – the Velo Chair – for people who have use of their legs but cannot stand or walk for very long. I have two sons, a writer and a chef, who are now in their 40s.

Peter: You recently added “author” to your resume with If You Love Them Leave Them Lists. In a nutshell, what’s your book about?

Catherine: The book is a guide to help people put together in one place the information that will be needed by their power of attorney, their healthcare and financial proxies, and their executor. Particularly important is noting the location of documents and what you want done with your “stuff”.

Peter: You write in your book that you lost your husband in an Air Canada plane accident when you were just 33 years old. To add to the pain, you received a sizable award following a lawsuit against the airline but someone you trusted stole the money from you. Was that part of the motivation for your book?

Catherine: I think that financial loss was the catalyst for becoming a financial advisor, which I was for almost 30 years. I focused on making sure that I educated my clients as much as I could so that what happened to me would not happen to any of them.

When my husband died, we were just starting out and hadn’t accumulated much. A few years later his brother died, also way too young, and he left a notebook for his wife with all of the information she would need to carry on. That stuck with me.

Peter: It’s not easy planning for future health or financial issues or for death. These can be uncomfortable conversations to have with family or friends but they’re important. 

Catherine: Most people don’t like confronting their mortality, and those conversations have been considered taboo in some families. My mother categorically forbade me to discuss anything death related with my father in his last years. With her, I forced the issue, though I admit it made me feel that I was being a bit harsh with her.  My parents lived through the second war in Germany, and were forced to confront their own mortality on a daily basis for several years. Perhaps that explains their reluctance to revisit that subject.

Peter: You describe the various documents or lists in an easy-to-understand way. Does your advice apply equally to readers in the USA or just in Canada?

Catherine: I think the book is somewhat universal – most people living in developed countries have broadly similar assets, insurance policies, investments, residences, and our digital footprint crosses all sorts of borders – and is larger than most of us reckon with. Someone has to take care of things when you go, and these lists are the place to let them know what you would like done.

Yes, there are references to Canada, and we have also noted things particular to the US. One thing I learned though, is that even across the US, different states have different requirements. It can even vary from one county to the next, as I have seen in settling my parents’ estates.

Peter: What was it like to write your first book?

Catherine: I have been writing for a long time, but this was my first book for publication. I was blessed indeed to have a wonderful collaborator and designer in Wendy Moenig. Not only is she a top- notch graphic designer, but she was enormously helpful in how the book came together – And she designed the lists.

I have learned a lot about self publishing. I have learned how crucial it is to have distribution, and that you have to put yourself out there to sell books.
I have learned a lot about self publishing. I have learned how crucial it is to have distribution, and that you have to put yourself out there to sell books.

Peter: How can someone buy a copy?

Catherine: The book is available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indigo (in Canada), and for now, a few local bookstores in Montreal, Quebec and Almonte, Ontario. We are hoping to expand the reach. It is available in print as a large paperback and as an ebook. The easiest way to find it is by going to my website – all of the sales options are there: www.catherinerahal.com

Peter: Changing gears- What kind of radio programs did you listen to when you were growing up in Canada?

Catherine: I actually grew up in the US and only moved to Canada in 1982. My parents were classical music listeners (Elvis and the Beatles were not allowed – until I got my own radio in my room) so we listened to the local classical stations, notably WQXR in New York. We also listened to the various radio series like Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Our Miss Brooks, My Little Susie, The Jack Benny Show, and so on.

We were also fans of WBAI (Pacifica Radio) in the 1960s and 1970s. My father had eclectic taste in music. While he loved Mozart, Beethoven and Bach as much as my mother did, he also listened to everything from the Red Army Chorus to Olatunji, with sprinklings of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem and other folk artists thrown in. WBAI offered a lot of that. We also listened to the Goon Show

When I was in high school, a friend turned me on to raconteur Jean Shepherd, who broadcast weeknights at 11 on WOR in New York, and from the Limelight in the Village on Saturday nights. You can hear the old broadcasts these days at Insomnia Theater.

I also listened to The Radio Reader, which came out of Michigan State University and offered 30 minutes on weekday mornings of whatever book host Dick Estell decided to read. Kept me sane while driving kiddie carpool!

My introduction to Canadian radio was the CBC – The Royal Canadian Air Farce, The Max Ferguson Show, and Allan McFee’s Eclectic Circus – not to mention Disc Drive with Jurgen Gothe (who was, like me, Berlin born).

Peter: How did you become interested in Internet radio?

Catherine: I had discovered that I could listen to radio stations on my computer and did that for a while. When Como began its Kickstarter campaign, and when I realized they would be of a quality similar to or better than [the owner’s previous company], I was hooked. I bought a Duetto and a Solo so that I could have one at each end of my apartment. It is so nice to be able to have it all go smoothly with no lag between devices. I bought one for my mother, but she was beyond the point where she could manage it on her own, so I ended up taking back and now have one in each room. It is wonderful. My orchids particularly seem to love baroque music, so when I am away it plays 24/7. I was gone for two weeks – when I came back, they were all in bloom or about to bloom (I have 9 orchids now).

Peter: What are a few of your favorite Internet radio stations?

Catherine: Because each of my Como radios allow 6 presets, I have 18 of them available, as well as favourites. I tend to listen a lot to WQXR, Radio Klassik from Hamburg, CBC in Montreal (and the French Radio Canada as well). I also have Insomnia Theater pre-set, which, paradoxically, I put on when I sneak a mid afternoon nap – this may be because I listened to Jean Shepherd at night when I was in bed in my high school years, so there may be a vestigial Pavlovian component there. I further have several PBS stations set because if I miss a broadcast on one of them, I can easily flip to a different time zone and catch it there. I have a few oldies stations saved as favourites for when I am feeling nostalgic. Every once in a while I go exploring and have come across some other interesting stations. I also listen to a few podcasts – Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, The Moth, Fast Politics and others.

Peter: You became acquainted with Recommended Stations through Como Audio?

Catherine: I did, and I have been following along and checking out different recommendations.

…a friend turned me on to raconteur Jean Shepherd, who broadcast weeknights at 11 on WOR in New York, and from the Limelight in the Village on Saturday nights.

Peter: For someone unfamiliar with the Recommended Stations articles via Patreon, how would you describe what it’s about and what you personally get out of it?

Catherine: It is a wonderful way to get out of your usual routine and explore something new or different. Yes, I have my particular likes, but it is also great to [listen] to something completely different from the usual fare. There are so many stations that it is difficult to know where to start, so I use Recommended Stations to help me along that search.

Peter: Any parting thoughts?

Catherine: I watch TV and movies too, but for me there is nothing like radio. You can exercise your own imagination when you listen to radio drama, you can drift away on a tune, whether it is a romantic ballad, a glorious symphony or a golden oldie that you danced to in high school.

And one other note – I really enjoy your blog, and…..I am grateful to you personally for all of the help you have provided when I have had questions about my Como radios. I have learned a lot and you make it easy.

My thanks to Catherine Rahal for taking the time to answer my questions. As she mentioned, her book can be purchased from Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and Amazon.

Trivia (from tonerbuzz.com):

“According to a study conducted by Google Books, there have been 129,864,880 books published since the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1440.

There’s a catch, however. Google Books doesn’t factor in books published after 2010, nor does it include self-published book titles. Digital publishing has risen 246% since 2010, according to Bowker.”

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It’s been at least a year, possibly two, since I last published a list of the most tuned Internet radio stations by Como Audio owners around the world. As many of you know, I worked for Como for over 7 years as Vice President of Product Development, and more recently, General Manager. I found it fascinating to learn what stations our customers were listening to and enjoyed bringing these lists to you on a semi-regular basis. With the company shutting its doors literally just a couple of days ago, I thought I’d author one final article on the most popular stations amongst Como Audio users and also amongst the millions of people using the Frontier Silicone platform.

Accordingly, here are the top 50 Internet radio stations ranked from the most to least listened to by Como Audio listeners:

Radio Swiss Jazz

France Inter

WCRB Classical

Rás 1

WQXR 105.9 FM

BBC World Service

mvyradio

NPO Radio 1

BBC Radio 4

Rás 2

BBC Radio 6 Music

VRT Radio 1

WNYC 93.9 FM

Bylgjan 989

WDNA 88.9 FM

Classic FM

NPO Klassiek

France Culture

VRT Klara

FIP

RTL

Radio Swiss Classic

Deutschlandfunk

BBC Radio 3

France Musique

Radio Italia

franceinfo

Ö1

NPO Radio 5

SomaFM – Left Coast 70s

WFMU

NPO Radio 2

WBGO Jazz 88.3FM

WGBH Boston Public Radio

KQED

KEXP 90.3 FM

WBUR 90.9 FM

La Première RTBF

VRT Klara Continuo

98.7 WFMT

Classical California KUSC

BBC Radio 2

Jazz24

Classical California KDFC

VRT Studio Brussel

Hitradio Ö3

Radio Paradise

Radio 10 – 60s & 70s Hits

VRT Radio 2 Oost-Vlaanderen

In scanning through the above list, it’s not surprising to find Radio Swiss Jazz in the top spot. Anytime I’ve published this list it’s always been number one, and for good reason. Radio Swiss Jazz was stored in preset #1 in every radio we made and it was our go-to station whenever we performed product demonstrations. Streaming in the superior AAC audio codec at 100 kbps and playing a great selection of mainstream jazz, the station always sounded fantastic.

Now, here’s the list of the 50 most tuned stations by everyone using a Frontier Silicon platform-based radio of which there are millions around the world.

SWR3

Deutschlandfunk

BBC Radio 4

WDR 4

Radio Nowy Świat

RadioMv – Slavic

France Inter

NDR 1 Niedersachsen Hannover

ANTENNE BAYERN

NDR 2 Niedersachsen

SWR1 Baden-Württemberg

BBC Radio 2

BAYERN 3

Hitradio Ö3

Radio Paloma

BAYERN 1 Oberbayern

1LIVE

RTL

NPO Radio 1

Radio 357

ROCK ANTENNE

RTÉ Radio 1

radioeins

WDR 5

SWR4 Baden-Württemberg

Absolut relax

WDR 2 Rheinland

RMF FM

Klassik Radio

franceinfo

NPO Radio 2

NPO Radio 5

SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz

OLDIE ANTENNE – Oldies but Goldies

Classic FM

MDR JUMP

hr4

HIT RADIO FFH

hr1

BBC Radio 3

BR-KLASSIK

N-JOY

France Culture

Radio U1 Tirol

MDR THÜRINGEN Erfurt

Sky Radio

Bremen Eins

Radio Swiss Jazz

FIP

BR Heimat

The thing that stands out immediately to me with this list is there’s only 1 or 2 stations from the USA. That’s because the majority of these listeners reside outside the USA. Surprisingly, unlike the Como Audio list, Radio Swiss Jazz ranks almost at the very bottom.

It never fails to surprise me how many people have no idea Internet radio exists or even understand what it is. So, I get very excited when people discover it and the wealth of free entertainment it offers, regardless of what brand radio they use. Unfortunately, many users are discouraged by the amount of effort it sometimes can take to search through almost 70,000 Internet stations. That’s why I launched Recommended Stations via Patreon. With Recommended Stations, I do the searching for you and recommend a different radio station every month in addition to uncovering a bizarre station you never thought would exist. This month’s Recommended Station is unique in that it mixes two different music genres. Most radio stations are dedicated to a single genre, but not this station. Last month’s Hitchhiker Station (the name I give strange stations) is dedicated to the oral orifice. If this sounds interesting, sign up for a free trial using the link at the bottom of this article. And if you’re a Como Audio customer, join at the Elite level and I’ll be available to address any Como Audio tech support questions you might have about your music system.

I get very excited when people discover it and the wealth of free entertainment it offers, regardless of what brand radio they use.

Farewell Como Audio

As we started to wind down Como Audio last month, I personally received emails from many people thanking me for their music system(s) and for my assistance over the years. It was a lot of work developing and voicing every model while keeping to a totally unrealistic schedule. We also provided over- the-top customer service, especially for a very small company with limited resources. There were many instances where we took care of customers who were very clearly in the wrong or were downright unreasonable, but CEO Tom DeVesto always placed a very high value on customer support. We made our share of mistakes as well, but we always did our best to admit to them and to try to make them right.

The lats 2 years were difficult ones. You have no idea how hard we worked to try to keep the company going and the sacrifices that were made. As part of the cost saving measures my hours were gradually reduced to the point where I was only working 1 day per week. In November of 2022, I was forced to sell my home because I could no longer afford it. As was my luck, the red hot housing market had cooled off by then and I didn’t get the price I should have. I’ll put my violin back in it’s case now.

We were all hoping things would turn around for Como Audio but they never did. In the end, we had to face the reality that the business just wasn’t sustainable. Our most popular model, Musica, proved to be our chief downfall because we couldn’t get them in a timely manner due to parts shortages, high required order quantities, and price increases.

I may not have been a doctor saving lives or a scientist curing diseases, but it was very gratifying to bring music into people’s lives, especially during the pandemic when we were all isolated. Sadly, Como Audio is now history, but Internet radio lives on. As we were fond of saying to our customers- enjoy the music.

Trivia: Como Audio was founded 7 years ago last month and was named after beautiful Lake Como in Italy. It’s the third largest lake in Italy. Actor George Clooney owns an 18^th century, 25 room mansion on Lake Como which he bought after falling in love with the area while on holiday. He was made an honorary citizen and often spends the summer months there.

Trivia: That’s Como Audio General Manager Peter Skiera’s voice speaking the confirmations from the Como Blu Stereo system.

Trivia: The default preset Internet stations in presets #7 & 8 on Musica were hand picked by Peter Skiera.

Trivia: While brainstorming names for our first two models, Peter Skiera proposed naming them Musica 1 & Musica 2. This was rejected in favor of Solo and Duetto, but our top of the line model was named Musica. Skiera also introduced the hickory finish.

Trivia: Peter Skiera started with Como Audio before the company had an office. He would meet with Tom DeVesto at DeVesto’s home on Cape Cod or at a cafe in Hingham, MA.

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