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This video shows the latest technology for radio receivers. It’s software – defined radio. There are two receivers operating, picking up communications like a police scanner. One of the receivers called Airspy can be programmed as a scanner and I set it to receive two banks of frequencies. One I named “other” for general communications like taxi drivers, tow companies, contractors, heating and cooling companies, plumbers, trains, and general public services that are radio dispatched. Since Seattle is in a building boom, there are a lot of crane operators, too. The other bank of frequencies are exclusively school bus drivers. I picked school bus drivers because like the “other” category most of those radios are analog and need no special decoding software to hear them. The software for Airspy is called SDR# or SDRSharp. SDRSharp will operate different types of hardware, such as some of the many “dongles.” The other receiver called SDRplay RSP2 doesn’t scan, but it can receive everything that Airspy can and more, such AM and FM broadcast and shortwave. SDRplay uses software called SDRuno which can be set to have audio on left or right only and I selected audio out left channel only. While Airspy scanned I manually changed frequencies on SDR Uno (later in the video) and sometimes both radios would be on the same frequency creating an echo or  phase shifting effect.

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From my collection of open reel tapes, here is another radio commercial for White Front, a discount department store from the 1960’s. This one from my other reel of White Front radio spots is a little longer than 50 seconds. It is also from 1971. By the 1970s, White Front stores were in bankruptcy and these radio spots, at least to me, signal the beginning of the end for White Front. Go here for another White Front radio ad.
It’s very likely the words “Very Wierd” with “weird” being misspelled was not on the box originally.

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From my collection of open reel tapes, here is a 30 second radio commercial for White Front, a discount department store from the 1960’s. My parents and I regularly visited the Pleasant Hill, California store on Contra Costa Boulevard. More about White Front here, here, and here.