Bring him the brandy: RIP Mike Lange

[playthrough]

I did that from my clock radio in my bedroom in Atlanta. I kept a spiral notebook with all the out-of-town stations I could hear.

Used to get WHO from Des Moines and listen to Iowa State basketball, led by the great Dean Uthoff, and WGN in Chicago, where I heard Dave Corzine and DePaul — "Dunkaroo! Corzine for two!"

I was also an Atlanta kid on late-night radio, WLW was my favorite. Would fall asleep to Marty and Joe on the Reds and when I'd wake up in the middle of the night to turn it off, the Truckin' Bozo show was on.

 

[Liut]

I did that from my clock radio in my bedroom in Atlanta. I kept a spiral notebook with all the out-of-town stations I could hear.

Used to get WHO from Des Moines and listen to Iowa State basketball, led by the great Dean Uthoff, and WGN in Chicago, where I heard Dave Corzine and DePaul — "Dunkaroo! Corzine for two!"

FWIW, Corzine is the current DePaul radio analyst on 670-The Score (the former WMAQ signal).
Back to Mike Lange, at one point due to the Penguins' frequent financial issues, the games aired on KQV-AM which seemed to have the same wattage as the AM daytimer I broke in with during high school.
Maybe it was a directional signal, but nothing like KDKA.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

WBT in Charlotte for Hornets basketball
WKNR in Cleveland for Indians baseball and Geoff Sindelar
WWWE in Cleveland for Sindelar and Indians before the move.
WLUP in Chicago for Chet Koppock and whatever sport they were airing.
WJR in Detroit for Tigers baseball.
WFAN in New York.
WCAU in Philadelphia for Phillies baseball and Frank Rizzo.
WLW in Cincinnati for Reds baseball.
KMOX in St. Louis for Cardinals baseball.
WWL came in clear as a bell during Katrina.
WSB in Atlanta for whatever was on.
WBZ in Boston.

I think St Louis is as far west as I got. Always tried to fish in WTMJ for Uecker but I never could.

One time I was able to pick up an Edmonton Oilers game late at night some years back. I'm in the Northeast.
I would add:

WGR - Buffalo
CKTB - Toronto
WTAM - Cleveland

Yes, I was a lonely kid.

 

[dixiehack]

The holy trinity of out-of-town SEC football then and now:

WSB - Georgia
WWL - LSU
WHAS - Kentucky

WWL has shifted men's basketball to a sister station in town in favor of Pelicans games but still carries LSU baseball I believe.

WLAC was practically local to me so I didn't count it, but it still comes in clear now that I live 200 miles from Nashville. But after years of bouncing back and forth between contracts for Tennessee and Vanderbilt it now has neither.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

There was a movement, or maybe a trend would be better, where the big, clear channel (small c) stations were bypashed for stations with smaller signals. That was the case in baseball and some CFB teams as well.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Isn't Mr. Lange the guy who'd bellow, "Scratch my back with a hacksaw!"

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

The holy trinity of out-of-town SEC football then and now:

WSB - Georgia
WWL - LSU
WHAS - Kentucky

WWL has shifted men's basketball to a sister station in town in favor of Pelicans games but still carries LSU baseball I believe.

WLAC was practically local to me so I didn't count it, but it still comes in clear now that I live 200 miles from Nashville. But after years of bouncing back and forth between contracts for Tennessee and Vanderbilt it now has neither.

Pelicans are back on WWL-AM, 870, at least for now. LSU's SEC games are on WWL-AM, maybe the games with Tulane, UNO, Louisiana-Lafayette.

It's still a Saints town, a football state. Always will be.

 

[Typist Clerk]

Heard Mike Lange thanks to the 50,000 watts of KDKA. As noted earlier, games in every league are on the blowtorches less often now, bad for fans. It was magic when you could pick up KFI 640 at Los Angeles sunset all the way in Chicago and hear Vin Scully from Dodger Stadium in the summer or Jiggs McDonald from the Forum in the winter.

 

[HanSenSE]

When the Dodgers moved from KFI to KABC, when I wanted to hear the Dodgers, the station of choice became KDWN out of Las Vegas. When the Rockies came into existence, it was KOA. Especially fun driving home after putting the paper out and there'd been a long rain delay, hearing a game in the fourth or fifth inning after midnight.

 

[justgladtobehere]

There was a movement, or maybe a trend would be better, where the big, clear channel (small c) stations were bypashed for stations with smaller signals. That was the case in baseball and some CFB teams as well.

There is a move to FM also. All the teams in Boston are on FM stations.

 

[dixiehack]

Someone mentioned WHO upthread. Don't know if this is still a thing or if they even still have the rights to Hawkeye football, but they used to replay that day's broadcast after midnight. More than one overnight drive from Tuscaloosa back to South Georgia was made safer by me being engrossed in a time-shifted Pam Ward special minus the Pam Ward.

 

[Typist Clerk]

Someone mentioned WHO upthread. Don't know if this is still a thing or if they even still have the rights to Hawkeye football, but they used to replay that day's broadcast after midnight. More than one overnight drive from Tuscaloosa back to South Georgia was made safer by me being engrossed in a time-shifted Pam Ward special minus the Pam Ward.

WHO still has Hawkeyes football, including the late-night replay. Gary Dolphin on the call.