A discussion a few weeks ago about long-range AM radio stations reminded me of how I used to tune in distant stations in my 20s and 30s. The stations I remember listening to the most were all-news KNX 1070 in Los Angeles and oldies KOMA 1520 in Oklahoma City. I liked KNX for actually reporting news during non-drive-time hours. With KOMA (now talk station KOKC,) I would hear the station after a local daytimer at 1530 signed off for the night. Recently, I tuned into two Chicago stations, news WBBM 780 and talk WLS 890. Colorado Springs had two stations on those frequencies (KCEG and KJME) beginning in 2012, but they are off the air as they look for a new tower site.

A few nights later, I could just barely pull in KNX and KOKC. The former local daytimer on 1530 (KQSC) now operates at night with just 15 watts, so that station causes some interference with KOKC. Some of the other distant stations I received were KRLD 1080 Dallas, WHO 1040 Des Moines and WOAI 1200 San Antonio.

I just hooked up my portable DVR to my TV. Now I can watch the shows I recorded off Denver TV in August. I don't receive the Antenna TV channel locally, so it was nice to see complete episodes of Johnny Carson again. In a 1986 episode, Johnny showed off some of the items from the NBC Store at the time. With all the inflation since then, it was amusing to hear Johnny get shocked at some of the prices ("TEN BUCKS FOR A T-SHIRT?!") He also mentioned Pink Lady and Jeff when talking about canceled shows.