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060
05-20-2026 - 5:00 AM - Good Morning! It's Wednesday, and we still have rain in the forecast. Were you around for the good old days of the Texas "Blue Laws"? Back then (for me, it was the 1960s and 1970s), stores were restricted in what they could sell on consecutive weekend days. If a store sold "anything and everything on Saturday, it couldn't sell much more than food, medicine, and household goods on Sunday. Car dealerships may be open on either Saturday or Sunday, but not both days. Hard liquor could not be sold on Sunday, and that law remains in effect today. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:05 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7am, then a slight chance of showers between 7am and 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. North northeast wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Tonight: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. East wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
--- 5:10 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:15 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:20 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 83.9% Kemp: 93.9% Kickapoo: 85.8%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 88.6% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (84.85%) to determine drought stage.
--- 7:05 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 14,023 Megawatts.
--- 7:20 AM - Wichita Falls needs an indoor skydiving attraction, also known as a vertical wind tunnel. I'd spend a few bucks reliving my old skydiving days! Besides, we need to be known for something other than a sawed-off skyscraper, a waterfall, and a Crape Myrtle sculpture! Come on, Wichita Falls investors!
--- 7:25 AM - The Fort Worth Bureau of Engraving & Printing (Money Factory) makes for a great "day trip". This is one of two locations in the U.S. where paper money is made. (Coins are made at the Mint.) It's located just off U.S. 287, before you reach I-35, so there's no traffic hassle for Wichita Falls visitors. It's located at 9100 Blue Mound Rd in Fort Worth.
--- 7:45 AM - In 2001, agents with the Federal Communications Commission visited an address on the north side of Wichita Falls where they had tracked a station causing interference on the Amateur (ham) Radio 40-meter band. There, the occupant of the house admitted to making one-way broadcasts that interfered with the operations of other Amateur Radio operators. This person also admitted to having no Amateur (ham) Radio license. He was fined $10,000.
--- 8:20 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 10:30 AM - In the 1960s, the Wichita Falls bus station was on the southwest corner of 7th and Lamar. It then relocated to what is now the Juvenile Justice Center, located at 6th and Lamar. Then it moved to a former service station at 5th & Van Buren. From there, it moved to a metal building on 14th Street between Holliday and Broad Streets. From there, it moved to the Jolly Truck Stop in Clay County. For a long period of time, you could not get to or leave Wichita Falls by bus. It was, at least for me, quite embarrassing. I'm not sure how or why the City let us get into that situation. After the move to Jolly, a sign was placed on the door of the 14th Street location with the address to the Jolly location, but instead of Jolly or Clay County, the sign showed the address to be in Wichita Falls. This is technically correct since the Wichita Falls Post Office apparently services that location. But it's still in Clay County. This is similar to the Allred Unit (prison), which has an Iowa Park address (serviced by the IP Post Office) but is physically in Wichita Falls. No one wanted to admit that we didn't have a bus station. From Jolly, the buses moved to the new station in the 300 Block of Scott Ave.
--- 1:00 PM - Today, it's Pat's Drive Inn at 400 Scott Avenue. In the 1960s and 70s, it was the Toddle House Sandwich Shop. In the 80s, it was the Steak & Egg Restaurant. Some called it the Steak & Leg because "ladies of the evening" would take breaks there. Across 4th Street, where the bus station is now located, was the Imperial 400 motel. If the Steak & Egg was the break room, the Imperial 400 was the office.
--- 4:00 PM - Some Wichita Falls radio scanning targets: Walmart (154.570 MHz), Allred Unit (153.815 MHz), Wichita County Jail (155.520 MHz), State Hospital (154.800 MHz) city transit buses (453.5375 MHz), WFISD school buses (152.360 MHz), school handheld radios (151.940 MHz), Wichita Valley Airport (122.800 MHz), Kickapoo Airport (122.700 MHz), Wichita Falls Regional Airport / SAFB (119.750 & 122.950 MHz), and the BNSF Railroad (160.920 MHz). Find more local frequencies here!
--- 7:00 PM - The Wichita Amateur Radio Society is on the air (444.000 MHz repeater) with a “swap net”. Here, participants are invited to announce Hobby Radio-related equipment for sale, trade, or equipment wanted. Club members are, according to the Net Control Station, invited to bring equipment for sale to the club meeting that happens at 6:30 PM tomorrow, at the Hotter ‘N Hell building at 104 Scott Avenue.
--- 7:30 PM - The "superbowl" of CB Radio, Channel 6, is in full swing this evening. Those high-powered stations are awaiting their turn on the worldwide radio stage to do their thing. These are the big dogs. Earlier this evening, I heard the Local Group on Channel 23.
--- 8:15 PM - CB Radio reached a peak in usage in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One might call it somewhat of an explosion, due to the popularity of CB Radio-themed movies of the time. After the explosion of activity, CB radio began a slow decline over the next decade or so. When cell phones became affordable, CB Radio usage took a big plunge. It took a significant plunge because a substantial bubble had been created by those movies. I think usage went back to its pre-movie level. Those who came to the hobby because of those movies didn't know what pre-movie usage was, and many thought the hobby had been decimated. It had not. In my opinion, those who abandoned CB Radio weren't true radio hobbyists. If they were, they would have held onto those radios as did the rest of us. But there was still a downside. When the dust settled, there was a large percentage of post-movie operators still active who had been taught by the likes of Burt Reynolds, et al, that it was acceptable to talk like an idiot on the CB Radio. The hobby has not recovered from that damage. This is my opinion. Yours might be vastly different.
--- 9:30 PM - I just saw a headline about Google wanting to use Wichita Falls water for a data center in Archer City. Now, I'm getting a little concerned. But it's bedtime, so I'll resume my concern tomorrow. By the way, the "superbowl" on CB Radio Channel 6 is still going strong!