Friday, March 20, 2015

Planes, trains, 800 numbers, and the RNI Mailbag on WWCR

November 11, 1990 was Veteran's Day in the USA and Armistice Day in France.  Tina and I were still in the throes of our initial infatuation, and I was hosting the RNI Mailbag each second and fourth Sunday via WWCR's 100,000 watt 7,520 kHz blowtorch.

Al Gore had not yet invented the commercial internet, 800 toll free service only worked within the US and most of Canada, and the cellphone was still in its infancy. Shortwave was still a viable international communications medium and we received letters from all over the world, which I read on the air. The TSA had not yet been invented to dehumanize our air travel experience nor had the Euro been invented to tax the Europeans wallets and inflate prices.

This episode features a story of how we almost missed the show because of an airline ticketing error -- and how, with the help of a wonderful KLM representative in Amsterdam, we were home in time anyway -- much to the dismay of a Parisian bureaucrat.  It also features commercials for Offshore Echoes, Monitoring Times, and Radio For Peace International.  Listeners call in with their travel stories, letters from around the world are read and there is a brief mention of our visit to the Veronica radio ship "Nordernay" which was anchored in Maastricht.  I also confuse the legendary PCJ callsign, predecessor of Radio Netherlands, with PJB, which was the 800 kHz callsign of Trans World Radio in Bonaire.  Ah, hindsight!

Enjoy as you listen to this RNI Mailbag flashback from 25 years ago!

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