800 KHZ

In late 1967, I had just begun the sixth grade at my school in Davie (near Hollywood, south Florida). Although I was a very fast runner and was generally healthy then, I had a tendency to get sick as well. I spent a good deal of time at the beginning of that school year at home bedridden, recuperating from illness.

It’s no fun being stuck in bed like that. But I had a radio I could fiddle around with. During the daytime, I noticed that I could pick up AM radio stations that I thought were relatively far away (like in West Palm Beach or Belle Glade). But when nighttime came, this revelation exploded into wonder when I found I could listen to stations hundreds of miles away like 1110/WBT/Charlotte, 750/WSB/Atlanta, 650/WSM/Nashville, and 770/WABC/New York. One of my favorite local stations, 790/WFUN, was difficult to pick up at night. One night I thought I was tuned in to it, but I was picking up a very strong signal. And they were broadcasting religious Christian programming. At the intermission, station ID was given: Trans World Radio, broadcasting from the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles (in the southern Caribbean). That was my first English-language foreign radio station (there were “tons” of powerful Spanish-language Cuban stations I could hear around the clock), and to this date it remains my favorite (although I have difficulty picking it up here in Gainesville).

Trans World Radio would broadcast on 800 kHz as station PJB with a booming, overpowering 500,000 watt signal. By contrast, American AM stations can only broadcast on certain frequencies with a maximum 50,000 watts. I never heard this station identify itself by its call letters on the air, but a station directory nevertheless gave them as being PJB. Later I discovered that this station also served as a relay station for Radio Nederland, playing shows in the early evening in Dutch and English (and, if memory serves me correctly, in Spanish). My favorite show of Radio Nederland, as I remember it, was The Happy Station. There was also Spanish-language religious programming just before and after the English bloc of religious shows, which would begin at 9 p.m..

Back then, the Christianity on those radio programs was a gentler brand, emphasizing God’s love and mercy while avoiding the strident, overbearing, and heavily political tone that today’s radio gurus tend to use. My favorite programs were Back to the Bible and Music and You. Back in 1967-69, Back to the Bible had a very pleasant-sounding host who presented the inherently very confusing Gospel message in such a way that made me WANT to believe it. But I was more captivated by the tone of his presentation than by its contents. And the traditional music was so soothing. Ditto, musically speaking, for the late evening program Music and You, which was a Trans World Radio production.

By contrast, the “teacher” in today’s version of Back to the Bible seems has, to me, a pedantic, overbearing style that is grating to my spirit. Sometimes I want to just kick the radio when I hear him speak!

Eventually, in 1969, I wrote a reception report to this station and received a souvenir QSL card(verification from the station that I heard it) in response. It was my first QSL card.

Later I discovered, that when PJB went off the air late at night, two other powerful stations from more distant lands would surface: rocker CKLW in Windsor, Ontario and XELO (later XEROK) in Chihuahua, Mexico. Usually I got XELO, which then in the late sixties broadcast in English. I especially enjoyed their endearing show titled Record Roost in which listeners’ requests were played, accompanied by a cast of on-air characters and special-effects talking animals. Lots of fun! In early 1970, I wrote a reception report to them as well (including in it a song request for Aquarius by the Fifth Dimension). The “QSL” card I received really didn’t verify that I had heard them, but I treated it as such anyway. And it showed the Record Roost cast! Did they ever play my song? Who knows, but I still felt like I was a part of "the family" anyway.

Up here in Gainesville, I would have thought that it wouldn’t be all that difficult to hear Trans World Radio on 800 kHz, but it is. Usually 800 kHz just sounds completely muddled on my radio, and that’s a shame. I wish they would bring back the peaceful tone they used to have on some of those old Christian shows. A gentle, caring voice and some beautiful music are what I need to soothe my sometimes troubled soul, not ridiculously convoluted doctrine barked out in a manner similar to the teacher in Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall!

Oh, one other thing: the lead-in theme music for the Radio Nederland relay station segment was a beautiful Caribbean-style instrumental piece dominated by a flute and an acoustic guitar. I never was able to identify it and continue to keep looking for what this "mystery piece" was.