Gerald Gaule may be retired but he’s still cranking out radio.
Based in Albany, Ore., he has — after dealing with some health complications — relaunched his old-time radio/nostalgic service on the Web.
More unusual, Gaule also broadcasts his station at 1700 kHz in his Willamette Valley town. He emphasizes that he complies with Part 15 “microbroadcaster” rules. He said this AM outlet “follows strict FCC rules and regulations, and was built with former broadcasting engineers and friends after several months of research.”
(As to content, when was the last time you heard a PD say that his station “plays a wide variety of music from 1898–1950.” That’s as in jazz, ragtime, popular and standards. He also plays old-time radio shows from 1929 to 1962, and “The CBS Radio Mystery Theater” from 1974–82.)
He calls his programming the Syncopated Radio Network and says he has 14,000 songs and 12,000 OTR archives in his collection. The station “is noncommercial and has no sports or news, just music and old-time music and nostalgia and is self-supported. All music royalties and such are paid though by registering my Part 15 station to BMI, and most recordings are public domain.”
Gaule, who also is an amateur radio operator (KE7GGV), says he’s not trying to compete with any local station.
“I just wanted to be a programming alternative and be a good broadcast provider, plus I wanted to share my passion and collection that goes back to 1898 to 1950.”
He also encourages other would-be microbroadcasters to contact him ([email protected]), saying they can re-broadcast his content at no cost.
