Greetings From A Listener

"Bud,

Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how very much I have enjoyed all the posts on KAAY. I grew up in Gulfport, MS and every night after sunset, I would tune to The Mighty 1090. KAAY is an old friend that was always there for me in the 70’s. It is so sad to see this giant fall to the wayside. It makes you wish that we could get a group of investors together to buy the whole station and revive the warm wonderful sound of AM like it used to be. I remember the KAAY ID Jingles and the sound of reverb applied.

The sad thing is that kids of this generation will never know what that’s all about. I have had so many on air discussions about the good old days and I always mention KAAY when talking to other Hams about AM stations we grew up with. I sure would like to meet you on the air sometime, I bet our QSO could go on for hours about this great icon. Thank you so much for keeping the soul of the flame-thrower alive. Your photos and information bring back such warm memories.

Best of 73’s sir,

N5YCN Tim"

Thank YOU, Tim, for also keeping the memories alive!  I have also been in on-air discussions that went on and on about our favorite radio stations untill the wee hours and we were all yawning into the mics!  One deejay/newsman here in our area is in the process of writing his biography of on-the-air experiences here in Mobile and in Pensacola and I'll be proof-reading it for him...I'm so excited!

And you're correct, Tim, in that kids nowadays don't know the warmth and depth of a properly-processed AM station;  All they know is cramped audio from teeny-tiny cell phones, iPods and mp3 players.  We Hams still remember and many broadcast technicians and others still in the industry who have their Ham "ticket" have some wonderful-sounding stations.  I have mentioned before where some get together and rescue an otherwise to-be-scrapped 1 kW or 5 kW AM transmitter, get it home, rebuild it and set it up for the Ham bands.  With good audio equipment and an exciter ahead of it, they sound better than many stations on the air today!

Dear reader, if you notice "N5YCN" next to Tim's name, that is a Ham radio callsign...mine is KC4HGH.  And "73" means "best regards", coming from the days of Morse Code when Hams would abbreviate much of their transmission to get as much across in a little space.  It's what we call "Ham-speak".

Tim, we're looking forward to more memories and comments from you in the future!  As I've said before, nothing is unimportant, every memory is precious!  Keep 'em coming, folks!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)