Monday, March 28, 2011
Return to the original
Systematic licensing of broadcast radio stations began in the '20s, and derived its legal basis from an existing set of navigation beacons. These beacon stations, something like radio-wave lighthouses, were built along the coasts to provide identifiable direction points for ships and aircraft.
The Pacific beacons had three-letter call signals beginning with K, and the Atlantic/Gulf coast beacons began with W. Running literally by clockwork, they simply sent their own call sign over and over and over all day long in Morse. KAB KAB KAB KAB KAB KAB KAB....
And now we've come full circle. Though it's no longer Morse, each AM broadcaster has returned to automatic beacon service.
The leftward-polarized beacons automatically repeat:
SARAH PALIN IS DUMB SARAH PALIN IS DUMB SARAH PALIN IS DUMB ....
And the rightward-polarized beacons automatically repeat:
ZERO ZIP NADA TAXES ZERO ZIP NADA TAXES ZERO ZIP NADA TAXES.....
¶ 10:32 AM
The Pacific beacons had three-letter call signals beginning with K, and the Atlantic/Gulf coast beacons began with W. Running literally by clockwork, they simply sent their own call sign over and over and over all day long in Morse. KAB KAB KAB KAB KAB KAB KAB....
And now we've come full circle. Though it's no longer Morse, each AM broadcaster has returned to automatic beacon service.
The leftward-polarized beacons automatically repeat:
SARAH PALIN IS DUMB SARAH PALIN IS DUMB SARAH PALIN IS DUMB ....
And the rightward-polarized beacons automatically repeat:
ZERO ZIP NADA TAXES ZERO ZIP NADA TAXES ZERO ZIP NADA TAXES.....
¶ 10:32 AM
