The strange things you hear on AM radio, Part 2!

I tuned in 1070 AM after sunset and heard daytime-only station WKMB on the air and broadcasting what appears to be a tape of a preacher being played too slowly and backwards.

[@vwestlife]

Look up "1070 WKMB now broadcasting 24/7?" on Radio-Info; they indeed have done this before. As the rumor goes, when the station engineer's paycheck bounces, he starts playing tricks like this until he gets his money. One time it went so far that he removed tubes from the transmitter until he got paid!

[@upliftingsiren]

Lol

[@UnchainTheNight1]

I actually bothered to reverse that portion at the end. "In other words, listen to me. When you sin as a Christian, with a new (man?), your spirit (man?) does not participate..." Definitely preaching.

[@theeamericanempire2279]

I reversed it myself and it does say exactly that and it is a bit bothersome if u ask me

[@davidgrimmel9426]

I did also. Sounds like T.D. Jakes?

[@vwestlife]

No, it was WKMB's disgruntled engineer messing around with the transmitter until he got paid.

[@markemanuele1929]

Not so, see my reply earlier in the thread.

[@LakeNipissing]

In the late 80s, there was a low power small-town FM station at 103,3 which had a pretty decent variety format. The problem was it was quite routine for them to play LPs at 45 RPM, or singles at 33 RPM. On some occasions they would notice and correct the turntable speed mid-song, but other times the entire song would play like the chipmunks or darth vader. They were also good at bumping the turntable and causing the record to scratch or jump, or for records to skip and get stuck play the same 2 seconds of a song for ten minutes or longer. The bizarre antics of the station made it quite entertaining.

[@Luna312ful]

Where was it?

[@markemanuele1929]

I once heard an AM station out in the middle of nowhere (actually in the farmlands of the Eastern Shore of Maryland) that was using a record changer for an automation system. I almost ran my car off the road because I was laughing so hard when the stack of records got too big, and the record started dragging. One time the record got stuck and played the same 2 seconds over and over for about 3 hours...

[@gabrielv.4358]

LMAO that seems too funny !! i wish I could hear that

[@LakeNipissing]

@@gabrielv.4358 The 'fun' is gone... LP-103 (CKLP 103,3 Parry Sound) is now just part of a network of stations called 'Moose FM'.

[@jeromeglick]

@@LakeNipissing "Moose FM" sounds wacky enough, they should start inserting the sound of moose at random intervals.

[@vwestlife]

Actually WKMB has a post-sunset authorization of 50 watts... and this was definitely full daytime power, not the low-power signal. One night when they were doing this, I drove over 30 miles away from Stirling and yet their signal was still coming in loud and clear.

[@vwestlife]

Daytime-only stations are allowed by the FCC to periodically go on the air after sunset for testing purposes, such as to adjust the transmitter, as long as they don't play any commercials or regular programming... and this certainly isn't regular programming!

[@58stevenb]

Sounds like a very unhappy employee trying to make problems.

[@markemanuele1929]

These people owe every engineer in the state money. NO ONE will do any work for them without getting paid in advance IN CASH! They bounce checks all the time, and from time to time they even forge checks!! (they have done that to me.. They paid me on a phoney check once where the bank was non-existent ) By the way, this station is owned by a CHURCH!!! You would think that they would at least be honest about their business dealings. They have a screwed-up automation system that is meant for a club DJ NOT for a broadcast application, and their mouse has an intermittent fault where the cursor moves along the screen by itself. If it drags over the speed slider it will change the speed and even reverse the playback. Couple that with a Sine Systems Remote control that is all screwed up as well that turns the transmitter on at all hours of the night. We used to joke when the audio ran so slow that it was the MGM lion roaring. The transmitter is on a farm where "Leo" the MGM Lion is burried!

[@mikey7290]

Wikipedia says that WKMB's license was cancelled by the FCC on June 14th of 2017 for not paying debts it owed to them. That prevented renewal of their license. Apparently all was straightened out and WKMB returned to the air on July 1, 2017.

[@markemanuele1929]

@@mikey7290 Mike, I was a good friend of Rod Coppola (God Rest His Soul). I think you worked with him at Thirteen.

[@REXXSEVEN]

Wow.

[@BlizzardSnostormOG]

This sounds like Satan makes dubstep

[@aeonicbutterfly9662]

Reminds me of the goof one of our local broadcasters, then 103.9, did in the 90's. Somehow the reverse button was triggered, and it quickly went through the day's program backwards. Was kind of hilarious.

[@vwestlife]

WKMB's current format is aimed at the city of Plainfield, and 3 or 5 watts wouldn't be enough to reach there with a listenable signal at night. Another nearby daytimer, 1170 WWTR, also doesn't use their PSRA/PSSA (I believe they were authorized for 10 watts, at least before they upgraded their daytime power from 243 to 600 watts).

[@andrewkaye2108]

Man, I dont remember weird broadcasts like this when I used to listen to AM stations! I missed the good stuff! 😮

[@scottbailey1560]

I hope that everyone that has been reading this thread between myself and the poster of this video. There are many AM Daytimers across the U.S. I happen to own one with my family. In emergencies, when the Internet, Cell Phones, Land Lines & even TV Stations go down, the local AM Daytimer can be there, even at night, the AM Daytimer can sign & serve it's community. I thank this gentleman for posting about WKMB. I hope one day I can go visit WKMB & thank them for hanging in there with the station!

[@imrustyokay]

reminds me about a year ago back in late 2019, one of the local FM Oldies stations in my area (and the only station that is licenced to the part of the county I live in) had managed to play a song at very slow speed. Of course it was like around 7pm when it happened and it's one of those Autopilot stations that is cheap to run and always feel a little bit detatched as a result, although they do play weather and ABC News bulletins on the top of the hour or close to the top of the hour, and they even do radio calls for the local high school football and basketball teams, which is nice, unless they catch you selling charm bracelets loudly to help your robotics team while a player is injured...and then getting pissy when someone tells you to shut up...without realizing a player got injured, then you'd get roasted. Ah, freshman year is always fun, isn't it?

[@vwestlife]

WKMB is a Gospel music station. They don't do sports. They only have a few advertisers and survive mostly on donations to the church which owns them.

[@vwestlife]

It is impossible to play a "cart" backwards, since they are an infinite loop, just like an 8-track.

[@scottbailey1560]

I have worked for many Daytime Only Stations. Not unusal at all. If the transmitter site was seperate from the studios & offices, and the remote control was out of wack, it turned the transmitter back on, people playing around in the studio didn't know it. As an Engineer, if I had to test the transmitter with programming after sign off, I would play something (songs) the station normally would not play. These days many AM Daytimers now have low nighttime "flea power" and use it.

[@vwestlife]

Yes, locally I can receive two AM Stereo stations, 1350 WHWH and 1450 WCTC.

[@Camelotsmoon]

Sounds like something Akira Yamaoka would put as background ambiance in a silent hill game.

[@scottbailey1560]

I looked up the Post Sunset Authority that WKMB has. For the first hour after local sunset, it's 5 Watts. The Second hour of PSSA is 3 Watts. Their Broadcast Electronics 500A transmitter will go that low. Being the station is on 1070, almost the middle of the dial, and what interference thay comes in on this Canadian Clear Frequency all depends on how good it covers. Looks like Canada has let go of the 1070 protection, so WKMB *might* could apply for some night power, but that is up to them.

[@vwestlife]

I have not heard any AM station around here do high school sports since 1997. It sounds like you're in a rural area where such a thing would be commonly heard on the radio, but not here in NJ. Also there are enough stations on the dial that each one can choose a specific format without needing to appeal to all listeners. Obviously in a town with only 1 or 2 local stations, then the situation would be different!

[@markemanuele1929]

We at WIFI AM 1460 cover the Florence NJ HS team all football season and get quite a bit of local support.

[@ReshiLuna]

600 wsjs has sports coverage. (I flip thru am stations trying to find wierd things, the weirdest thing I ever found was a completely silent station. Like no static at all silent. Really wierd for am.)

[@scottbailey1560]

OK, I looked up WKMB in the FCC Database. WKMB has 250 watts daytime, and a Post Sunset Power of 5 watts, and can be used 2 hours after local sunset. Now 5 watts many not be much, but with no skywave, it will do more that you think it will do. There is a Daytimer near me on 1070 that has 18 watts at night. This frequency is a Canadian Clear with a 50 KW Station to protect. WDIA in Memphis, TN is on 1070, with 5,000 watts at night & using 6 towers to protect the Canadian Station CBA at night.

[@scottbailey1560]

They may have a transmitter that can't go that low of power, or just don't bother to use it. Their tower is short for 1070 KHz. It's only 142 ft. At 1070, the tower should be right around 210 ft., so the reason why their PSSA power is so low is because the tower is too short for the frequency, causing a high angle of radiation at night. They should apply for the nighttime power of 3 watts. I am an AM Activist & my thought is WKMB would be worth more with the 3 watt nightime power.

[@ryanpause]

You know what. Now that I've listened over and over again, you're right. I was only guessing. Keep the up the great videos!

[@asdf_]

1070, I'll see if it does this in Pennsylvania at night. Then again, I hope my amp will go up to 1070.

[@century3horizons]

I sampled this recording, reversed it and then sped it up. It does sound like either the engineer on-duty at the station was desperately trying to get a message across to listeners who might hear this or this was some sort of a prank. I don't see how audio that slowed down and reversed would have been in any way helpful in setting the station equipment and sound processing because it does not have the tone that normal programming would have.

[@ericwood3709]

+century3horizons Yeah, the sped-up bit at the end, when reversed, is some kind of goofy Christian-sounding preaching. Interesting choice of after-hours broadcasting!

[@canadianpsycho1867]

Sometimes WHLI stays on the air way past sunset. Just recently on April 1-2 they continued broadcasting all through the night.

[@spicypeppers2019]

MW and SW always have the weirdest broadcasts lol

[@vwestlife]

It does what it says on the box!

[@amandamakin1542]

This video, unlike the last AM Radio video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4XcdZSwiN-satk) is definitely different. The last video was hilarious, but this one is pure Nightmare Fuel.

[@FortyMilesOfBadAcid]

Ah, alright. Just throwing that out there. That night time reflective ionosphere phenomenon can be a doozy for am. Pretty interesting, all the same!

[@alexmckenna1171]

Preachers sound much more intelligent this way. Hopefully it will catch on with all the others.

[@tempjohn1111]

Old school "automation", where the station might be unattended, used reel-to-reel for sustained program material ... maybe someone used a "tails-out" reel without rewinding it, and ran it at 3.75ips instead of 7.5 (or 7.5 instead of 15). If they were testing, it wouldn't matter since they are just wanting audio to hit the transmitter. Just a guess. You do find the coolest stuff.

[@markemanuele1929]

I once heard a college station play an entire tape backward. The DJ on duty was obviously new and you could hear him fumbling with the tape putting it on the reel to reel player. When he announced the show, he said "This is a new show from NPR called "Tails Out"". I guess he didn't realize that that was not the name of the show, but an instruction that he was supposed to rewind it before playing it. Analog audiotapes were normally stored Tails Out so the audio which is stored as a magnetic field on the tape wouldn't print thru and give the audio a "reverse reverb" effect.

[@scottbailey1560]

As I said, that engineer doing that because he/she did not get paid, in some states, can be busted by local law enforcement. That is why we have "Civil Courts". If you want to get nasty about it, take them in front of Judge Judy. The owner/operator will be embarrassed on TV! As an small AM Owner, I do my own engineering work & if I need help, I'll pay somebody help me fix the problem. I have done engineering work for other small AM Stations, I have been throught the "Not Getting Paid Problem"!

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Wow, that would weird me out if I tuned across that on the AM dial. Interesting that's it the protest of a disgruntled station engineer...!

[@MadMamluk88]

This is more hilarious than creepy

[@scottbailey1560]

Spanish Formatted Radio Stations are all over the country on AM now. In our market, there is one AM Station that has an FM Translator that is Spanish from 6 PM until 6 AM the next morning. The AM Station's daytime format is talk and nostalgia music, in English. It won't be long before a FM Station changes to Spanish in our market. Where I am at, we have the largest Hispanic Population on this side of the U.S.

[@angelowusky4788]

Lol did you heard that the guy said sony at 1:42

[@TheGamerWithMore]

Satan approves of the quality of Sony products.

[@scottbailey1560]

WKMB's Transmitter Site & Studios are seperate. Sometimes, remote controls, like the one from Sine Systems, (which is a popular remote control for stations) for some reason, turn the transmitter back on, lower or raise power by itself. In this condition, it's always best to make sure the transmitter is OFF or on LOW POWER before leaving the studios. I have run into this problem before working on other AM Daytime Stations. Sounds like they didn't know the the carrier was on.

[@vwestlife]

No, this was definitely a local station, as I explained.

[@scottbailey1560]

They may have had 50 watts PSSA Power at one time, but back several years ago, 2008, the FCC recalculated the numbers for AM Stations using Post Sunset Authority. They screwed it up, many stations go lower PSSA Power than their authorized nighttime power. Mine didn't change. 1070 is in the middle of the MW Band, so if we had an FIM, we could measure what power they were running. I have no respect for any owner/operator running higher power at night than what is called for in their license.

[@vwestlife]

The last time I ever heard WKMB use their PSSA was in December 2002, just before they changed ownership. The current owners never use it.

[@thatpersonwithamlpiconwhos2861]

Welcome back! This is Satan, and your listening to hell radio

[@krist0sh]

Wow. What came into my mind was that someone indeed forgot to turn of the tape, but that it was a batterypowered tape player.

[@scottbailey1560]

WKMB is Dark! The FCC Revoked the license because World Harvest forgot to renew the license. That really makes me angry as all get out because I wanted to buy the station, I have the money to, and return it to a Classic Country Format! The World Harvest Ministry does not need to be in the radio business! The Commission now won't let me buy it. License Cancelled and Call Sign Deleted. I would have gone in with Tony Dee to buy WKMB!

[@vwestlife]

Where have you been? That was due to a paperwork mixup a year ago, and the FCC reinstated WKMB's license. They've been back on the air since then.

[@taygadesign]

I listen to this radio where after 12am they still play music eventhough there are no DJs there anymore.

[@BlizzardSnostormOG]

they probably used some CD they might have a billion and something puts them in the CD player and the song plays

[@TheGamerWithMore]

They may use a AutoDJ system

[@ddplayerfromgodknowswhere7492]

100.7 star from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania has an automated system that just plays music and commercials throughout the night from midnight until 6 AM when The Morning Show starts up

[@matthewrichards88]

I have just reversed this - very strange. It sure sounds like a preacher 'in other words listen to me, when you sin as a christian etc...' very strange why they did this. I like scanning through the bands and the SW bands too :)

[@JohnBrettmore]

it's HAUNTED!

[@ddplayerfromgodknowswhere7492]

This was very scary! I don’t think I’m gonna be able to listen to anyone with deep voices for a while

[@scottbailey1560]

I took a look at another video here on You Tube, which was an air check with pictures of the tower/transmitter site for WKMB. I see what you're saying now. This station kinda is close into the NYC Market. Our situation is different. We are a part of the Nashville Market, but we are out far enough that we can do things like H.S. Football, and serve the community. I heard the aircheck of when the station was playing country music under the former ownership. They sounded great.

[@scottbailey1560]

It may not cover the entire city well at night, but they can do High School Football, in season (live) & make money. On 1070, 5 watts would do better than some think. WWTR is another situation to be looked at. The FCC is very aware of the limitations of these "Class D" Daytime Stations. I forget what Class of channel 1170 is off the top of my head. I'll look at it. If you know somebody at WKMB, my suggestion is to get the "flea power" authorization at night. Makes the station more vaulable.

[@wilkes85]

Oooooh, looks like someone is getting a fine!

[@AussieTVMusic]

hE'S SAYING "fREDDIE IS A dEVIL"

[@TrapperAaron]

The slow one Sounds like the tape they played in house of 1000 corpses when they lowered the girl in the bunny suit in a coffin down the mine shaft to Dr.Satan.

[@ddplayerfromgodknowswhere7492]

Simba you have forgotten me. I seriously thought that was Mufasa at the very beginning of the video! I reversed that one part of the video and it is definitely something that was snipped from someone’s sermon. Not sure who it was it wasn’t any of the super popular dudes that are on all of the Syndicated Christian radio stations

[@coondogtheman]

That's weird.

[@barrygeary1890]

From studio to the trasnmitter for day time broadcasting

[@xmaddict]

Only in NY lol. Almost sounded out of phase like on

[@scottbailey1560]

Oh Yea, been there, done that. Don't believe anything Radio-Info says, now know as Radio Discussions. Rumors, Lies, and Want-a-Be's post there. The station can claim to be a 24 hour operation if it streams on the web. I know of some AM Daytimers that do that. We'll most small AM Operators don't use tube transmitters anymore, they are solid state now. In some state, if an engineer does pranks like that because they didn't get paid, they could get busted by local law enforcement.

[@AMDXplusplus]

Someone at WKMB 1070 is overbored of AM radio DXers

[@scottbailey1560]

This is just my opinion, it doesn't matter what programming during the daytime hours they do, but doing just High School Football (in season) is Public Service to the Community. That what my little AM Station does. Outside of High School Football, my station does not do sports either. My station's format is Pop Music during the week, & Gospel Programs all day on Sunday. My station plays Gospel Music on Sunday Afternoons with a live DJ that likes that music. It's about serving the community.

[@levicats123]

He said somewhere along the lines of "now listen to me when you see him as a Christian your spirit man will not participate with the sin"

[@missy4335]

Omg that's creepy!

[@filipmac1545]

its probably messages form demons

[@vwestlife]

No, I reversed it and sped it up and it is some preacher... definitely not the President.

[@waedjradi]

Do more of these

[@gadget73]

wow, that sounds really odd.

[@xboxmodder02]

You should record it and play it back the right way so we can hear it correctly.

[@gweagraff]

I looked up the station, and it's part of the "World Harvest Radio" network. Though I'm surprised they'd still be using tape!

[@NLGAMER1000]

i do hear binar like beebs on some channels when i go to the 100khz to 1000khz

[@adey88splace]

Now that is pretty weird...

[@bmals]

What the tape was saying was "In other words, listen to me! If you sin as a Christian, with a ???? man, your spirit, man, does not participate with the sin."

[@ddplayerfromgodknowswhere7492]

I actually reversed it and uploaded a video of it but it’s still unlisted on my page

[@TheGamerWithMore]

Is this a AM numbers station attempt?

[@rwagoner]

What a cool tuner! Are there any AM stereo stations in your area? Or at least wideband AM?

[@Pookatube]

Whoever did this must be smoking something good!!!!

[@wgrantha4438]

My low power radio station runs on Winamp

[@levicats123]

"Your spirit man does not participate with the sin" that's the first part he said

[@levicats123]

If you play it faster and get a camera to record it and then play it backwards you can understand what their saying I used snapchat and they were sayin someone about sins talking about Christianity

[@LOLZpersonok]

You should honestly search for numbers stations on shortwave radio. Trust me, they're probably some of the freakiest radio broadcasts out there, especially the Backwards Music Station. As a matter of fact, in the suggested videos bar there's one called "Shortwave Radio Oddities Roundup". You should check it out, it's pretty creepy. I've watched the video several times and it still creeps me out.

[@staubandy9709]

Maby they record on the day rine and let it go backwords over night and somebody exedantly turned on the transmitter? I dont know

[@DANKKrish]

In other words listen to me. When you seein' as a christian with a new layer. Your spirit man does not anticipate does not anticipate with the (sear?).

[@MichaelRaymondTornadoStooge]

My theory is they're rewinding one of the tapes while they're off the air...though why at a slow pace?

[@dontcomply5008]

I'd like to know more of why this was broadcasted.

[@FortyMilesOfBadAcid]

Not necessarily. John Lennon successfully "experimented" reversing his recordings, by putting on the record/play heads on backwards.

[@AbandonedMaine]

Maybe they're testing to see if there's any satanic messages if they play them backwards.

[@REXXSEVEN]

0:01 wow that is wierd.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

In the key of R?

[@barrygeary1890]

Thats like a bad ip link

[@INGRACEify]

Someone hijacked the transmitter so you know

[@scottbailey1560]

Yea, it was R.G. Stair, known as "Brother Stair"! Damn Pervert! Stair is running a illegal FM Station on 87.9 down in Walterboro. He said so himself! Turn Stair in to the Enforcement Bureau of the FCC!

[@taygadesign]

+Scott Bailey It was just a disgruntled engineer doing it.

[@yourdad3332]

Sounds like Korean language.

[@arthurvasey]

Now play it backwards!

[@BlizzardSnostorm]

My favorite song :)

[@NuclearToaster98]

It sounds like it's been reversed in addition to being slowed down.

[@taygadesign]

VOICE OF THE DEAD!!!! (very eerie though)

[@IamFat32]

whats with the preacher tapes at wrong sppeds recently... firt lmull3 now you...

[@gabrielv.4358]

Scary!!!! (Sorry I ruined the 123 comment mark)

[@ddplayerfromgodknowswhere7492]

I also thought this was really scary. One of my friends is a little religious and he has a bit of a deep voice and thanks to this video I don’t think I’m gonna be able to listen to him talk for a while!!!! There’s a video on my KZbin channel that has him talking really close to the camera and I don’t think I’m gonna be able to watch it for a while

[@jeepguy95]

You should reverse it so it plays at normal speed and forwards (:

[@crogeek]

Probably aliens have over taken this radio station :P

[@Windowsia777]

Creepy hijack

[@FortyMilesOfBadAcid]

Skywave, maybe?