The Place: Norristown Pa.
The Time: Fall of 1976
The Channel: 5, the alternate "adult" channel.
Recorded With: A Sears cassette recorder from a Midland 13-885
The Notable Characters:
"Sneaky Smokey": First person heard. Vows to "borrow me a heater". Runs a classic Browning Golden Eagle Mk3 radio, along with its infamous "ping".
"Storm Queen": Her handle says it all. Is aghast that someone dares to actually bleed over her royal highness.
"Super Boomer": Member of the group on Channel 6, who are responsible for the bleed over. Asks Storm Queen if she is bleeding. Note the gruff response.
"Warlord": Heard later on asking Sneaky Smokey if he was running his Browning.
"Cap’t Kidd": Records the fiasco, but stays quiet. He is the main object of Storm Queen’s fury.
There were also a few other guys who’s names or handles I can’t recall.
Background: An example of a classic confrontation between two different groups on adjacent channels. A recipe ripe for disaster to be sure. After being asked repeatedly by several members of the channel 6 group to please "turn it down", as it were, due to the bleed she was causing (which was returned with responses like "If your radios were better you wouldn't have a problem"), Storm Queen had finally gotten a dose of her own medicine, and was not liking the taste. It actually started out quite innocently and accidentally, when I was talking to a mobile in Storm Queen's general direction and had pointed my beam that way to hear the mobile better. But once I realized that I was bothering her, I made it a point to do it more often as a payback for her attitude toward her own bleed over to the channel 6 group. A couple of the other members of the Channel 6 group took my lead and cranked up a little of their own medicine as well (Some of it is evident on the recording). All of this would escalate her fury to the point where this clip took place. The really funny part (to me anyway), was that after declaring that "it’s going to be taken care of", and that "it was nice knowing the kid", over 35 years later and I’m still here, and having fun on the radio, while Storm Queen sold out of radio about a year or two later. Such is life when your ego exceeds reality....
Noteworthy Point of Trivia: The "Shadow Base", mentioned during the exchanges, referred to the then fledgling "Shadow Traffic Network", which would later become a staple in the greater Phila. (and other market) area. The Shadow Traffic Network started out with the, then unconventional, idea of using CB radio and CB'ers to relay traffic reports, which the Shadow base would then collect and pass on to the mass media news outlets. However, there were a great many locals who were not happy with the rapidly expanding "traffic network" encroaching on "their" home channels.
Storm Queen, Approx 3.39 minutes, mp3 format.