Puerto Rico, Day 7 - WNIK

Our last day was spent relaxing and eating lunch with my grandfather-in-law (and his dog) in Arecibo.

Near his home is La Poza del Obispo (Bishop's Pool) named after a bishop who was rescued there in the 1700s. The main part of the pool seemed to stay perfectly calm while the limestone outcroppings caused some massive, crashing waves.

1230 AM WNIK is a News/Talk station licensed to Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico, Day 6 - KYTE

While walking from our hotel in Old San Juan to Morro Castle, we came upon Parque de las Palomas, a small park filled with hundreds of pigeons.

Seeing a bunch of dirty, overfed birds is probably nothing new to some city dwellers, but for me it was a unique experience.  We bought a bag of crushed corn and watched them go crazy every time we threw out a handful.  After I got back home I Googled diseases that can be transmitted by birds.  I haven't died yet from histoplasmosis or candidiasis but maybe I just got lucky.

Next we toured Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

The massive, open grounds leading up the 16th century citadel were an excellent place to fly a kite.

AM 970 in Portland, Oregon carried the call letters KYTE from 1977 to 1990.  During that time they were a Top-40 station then Country then Adult Standards.  The frequency is currently a conservative Talk station "Freedom 970" KUFO.

BCS National Championship - Notre Dame vs Alabama

Tonight's college football title game pits #1 Notre Dame against #2 Alabama.  The Crimson Tide won it all last year and is looking to win their third in the past four years.  The Fightin' Irish have won 11 National Championships but none since 1988.

 AM 690 WJOX is a Sports station in Birmingham, Alabama.  They are an affiliate of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide Sports Network.  On New Year's Day 2012, WJOX rebranded as "690 The Fan."

WSBT (W South Bend Tribune) is a News/Talk station licensed to South Bend, Indiana.  They are the flagship station for Notre Dame football games.

Puerto Rico, Day 5 - WZNT

This day was spent hiking in the El Yunque National Forest.  We hiked it last year too, but never made it to the top before running out of daylight.  Last year's hike was also dry unlike this time when it rained non-stop.  I had never experienced rain so hard and so unrelenting.  The drops hurt when they hit your face and our little ponchos eventually became useless as every square inch of our bodies were soaked clear through.  I guess it's to be expected in a tropical rainforest.

Near the top is a small structure where we ate lunch and "dried off."  We took a paved service road back down which was much shorter than the trail up but not nearly as scenic.

"Zeta 93" WZNT is a Spanish Tropical station in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico, Day 4 - WUPR

Today we drove to Utuado in the mountainous, west-central part of Puerto Rico. 

We hiked with a group through the woods of Caguana Indian Ceremonial Park, up and down steep, muddy paths and through water before finally reaching the top of a hill.

After further hiking we came upon....

an ancient cave with petroglyphs carved in the rock by Taino Indians long before Columbus "discovered" this part of the world.  Click the picture bigger to see what looks like a monkey head on my shoulder.

After more hiking we came upon upon a giant crack in the hills where we went cave tubing.

I wonder how many bats are flying around in here.....?

After about 4 hours our Utuado adventure was over.  Very tiring and very fun!

1530 AM WUPR is a Spanish News/Talk station licensed to (W) Utuado, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico, Day 3 - WMDD

The following day was spent almost entirely bumming around on Caracas Beach on the southern coast of Vieques.  While there, I made the mistake of trying to retrieve a boy's inflatable ball which had gotten away from him and was in deep water.  I started swimming towards it but the breeze kept blowing it further out and down the shoreline.  I finally realized that I didn't want to drown attempting to save a stupid $2.00 ball and returned to shore empty handed and completely out of breath.  Other than almost dying, it was a really relaxing day!

That night we took we took some kayaks to Mosquito Bay and explored the world's brightest bioluminescent body of water.  This bio-bay is full of microscopic organisms which glow in the water when touched.  It was amazing to see a million lights around the kayak, appearing with every stroke of the oar.  When you cupped some water and let it fall it was like watching stars drip out of your hands.  It was really trippy and cool!  Adding to the beauty was a clear, almost moonless sky and pitch darkness which brought out every star imaginable above us.  Pictures didn't come out unfortunately, but we did manage to get a shot of a fish that jumped onto my wife's lap which she then threw to the tour guide.

1480 AM WMDD airs a Spanish Tropical format located in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, easily within listening range of Isla de Vieques which lies about 8 miles to the east.

Puerto Rico, Day 1 & 2 - WIVV

We traveled back to Puerto Rico last spring but I'm only now going through all the pictures and remembering what a great trip it was.

After arriving in San Juan and spending the night at my mother-in-law's, we then took a small propeller plane to the island of Vieques.  The flight was only about 10 minutes long and allowed us to avoid a long and often unreliable ferry ride.

We rented a car and drove into town to a really nice guest house called Casa de Amistad.

Later we took a short drive to El Fortin Conde de Mirasol, a Spanish fort built in 1845 to defend the island against European and South American enemies.  The structure was restored in 1991 and now houses the Vieques Museum of Art and the Vieques Historic Archives.

It was lunchtime so we drove to Esperanza on the south side of the island for some eats and a beer.

On the way back we stopped at Sun Bay beach.

WIVV (West Indies Voice of Victory) is a Religious station licensed to Vieques, Puerto Rico.  It became the first full-time Christian radio station in the Caribbean when they went on the air in 1956.

Antenne Austria

Austria was the last European country to allow private radio stations, finally ending the state radio monopoly in the mid-to-late 1990s.  Antenne are a group of regional stations throughout the country playing a mix of contemporary music and oldies.

Happy KGNU Year!

KGNU AM is an independent, non-commercial, community radio station in Denver, Colorado.  KGNU-FM, licensed to Boulder, went on the air in 1978 while the 1390 AM frequency started in 2004.