E-SKIP FM DX!!
BELOW is yet another E-Skip DX, which was received in the summer of 2008 (July 14, 2008) during a particularly active point in time, according to some fellow DXers from Arizona!
If you see any errors, let me know via email. wilkinspeak @ yahoo.com. Remove the spaces before and after the @ when you use this address. Thanks!
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E-SKIP DX! - JULY 14, 2008
Interstate 80 from Evanston to Little America, WY
On 7/14/08, I was driving home from Salt Lake City to Green River, when just before Evanston (particularly right before Wahsatch, Utah on the state line) I started picking up some spurious signals as I was tuning around the FM band. What had happened was I had lost the station I was listening to and decided to find Evanston's relay of KUER as they had a neat program on. I tuned to 90.3 thinking I was hearing it when I heard an ID for WQUB and the start of a program called "Take It Easy". The time was exactly 7:00 PM MST. I knew something was up because the station would be clear for quite some time (again I was driving) and then completely disappear. I listened longer and heard the DJ ID WQUB several times and he stated the program again, "Take It Easy." After playing a lead in song, the announcer said that it was movie soundtracks night and they were going to play tracks off of the Austin Powers Soundtrack. He started playing a few songs and I pulled into a truck stop to buy a pen to write the station down. Below is details on the station.
Illinois!!!
| CALL | FREQ | TX CITY | POWER D/N | Ant type | FORMAT |
| WQUB | 90.3 | Quincy (Originally mentioned Hannibal, MO) | 28kw | Not DIR | University of Quincy Public Radio |
A little while later, I was tuning around 94.9 (after receiving the Wisc Station), and I heard the clear ID of KRNA from Iowa City, IA. They were playing a Red Hot Chili Peppers song and then said "Eastern Iowa's Real Rock KRNA". This station was heard around 7:30 or so, a little farther towards Green River on I-80. I'd say pretty close to that truck stop on top of the three sisters area.
Iowa!!
| CALL | FREQ | TX CITY | POWER D/N | Ant type | FORMAT |
| KRNA | 94.9 | Iowa City (Eastern Iowa's Real Rock) | 100kw | Not DIR | Rock (Mixed) |
While I was trying to nail down the station from Wisconsin below, at roughly the same time the commercials ended, I heard a promo for "Nights With Alice Cooper" and he said the ID which I thought at the time was WMMJ but I couldn't hear the J very well as the station went out. Long behold, after doing a search on Radio-Locator and by checking the programming on the station, I found it to be WMMQ, not J. I know for sure I heard the WMM part but like I said, I have WMMJ written down, which is non-existent.
Michigan!!!
| CALL | FREQ | TX CITY | POWER D/N | Ant type | FORMAT |
| WMMQ | 94.9 | East Lansing (Has Nights With Alice Cooper) | 50kw | Not DIR | Classic Rock |
As with last year's E-SKIP, if that's what this was, I was able to get a station from Missouri. This time, Kansas City. I heard a Midas commercial followed by a Rite Aid and a GPS commercial for some SUV that the car was complaining about (it was weird). I then clearly heard them say something about Kansas City. I then heard an ID for a station I thought was KCLO but apparently was KCMO. It was playing oldies songs, for example: Rod Stewart - Forever Young. 94.9 was a particularly active frequency, with each station competing and going out and in at different intervals.
Missouri!!
| CALL | FREQ | TX CITY | POWER D/N | Ant type | FORMAT |
| KCMO | 94.9 | Kansas City | 100kw | Not DIR | Oldies |
Prior to hearing the Iowa station I kept hearing a bunch of commercials on 94.9 for businesses in Madison, Wisconsin. The first commercial was for a place called Spring Harbor, and they said Madison. The second commercial was for a local tire store known as Manzetti, who was having their ten year anniversary. These commercials started playing at around 7:23 PM. The third commercial was for Geico and they mentioned for people to visit the local office in Madison. I didn't hear an ID because another station came in (see Michigan) but I later found out from a phone call to my Utah helper (Kenzie) that it was WOLX from Baraboo Wisconsin, which is 27 miles from Madison (the tx is anyway).
Wisconsin!!!!!
| CALL | FREQ | TX CITY | POWER D/N | Ant type | FORMAT |
| WOLX | 94.9 | Baraboo (Madison) | 37kw | Not DIR | Oldies |
There are a few unidentified stations I have yet to figure out, as they either never IDed or went out too quickly. I can tell you where I was, the format, the freq, but the rest is a mystery.
| CALL | FREQ | TX CITY | POWER D/N | Ant type | FORMAT |
| ???? | 92.7 | ??? - 8:04 PM | ??? | ??? | Religious (SRN news?) - Little America. |
| ???? | 93.5 | ??? - 7:46 PM | ??? | ??? | NPR (heard near Exit 33 on I-80 in WY) |
| ???? | 106.7 | ??? - 7:40 PM | ??? | ??? | Mexican station? Near Lyman exit |
Below are my guesses for these stations:
The 106.7 one might be WPPL Des Plaines IL, seeing as how the stations today were coming from the Midwest. The 93.5 one is a mystery. The 92.7 one might be a religious translator or something? If you know, email me using the address above. Thanks ahead of time!
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