Just as in Britain teenagers in the 1960s would listen into pirate radio stations broadcasting from ships at sea, three miles off the coast, so in the United States youngsters would tune their new personal transistor radios into powerful signals beamed from across the border in Mexico.King of the Airwaves on these Border-Blasters was Wolfman Jack, who between records of The Beatles and The Beach Boys would howl, grunt, and tell some seriously good jokes. He also built a loyal following that made the name Wolfman synonamous with Rock’n'Roll. He kept his true identity secret until 1973 when at last his audience could see him in person in the George Lucas film “American Graffiti.”
Although Wolfman Jack (real name Bob Smith,) died some ten years ago, his fans are still loyal, and for aficionados of 60s music radio stations across America are rebroadcasting some of the old shows, and American Forces Radio features some of the best. Now a Dutch company who trade in communications equipment has bought the licence to rebroadcast the Wolfman all over Europe.
So now, if you have a shortwave radio, you can tune into a transmitter in Lithuania on 6055 kHz from 2130-2230 UTC each weekday evening and relive the halcyon days of pop radio, complete with the fading and whistle characteristic of listening to a distant transmitter.
(Source: KBC Radio/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
