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An artistic illustration of an antique radio in the foreground with a stylized view of the Earth behind it, showing radio waves or magnetic field lines arcing across the globe from a point on the surface. The radio is a classic, brown wooden model with two large knobs, a tuning dial, and a retractable antenna. The Earth is depicted with swirling shades of green and tan continents against a dark blue ocean, set against a star-filled background with glowing, golden-orange lines flowing from its surface. The image evokes the concept of "skywave" radio propagation.
July 23, 2025

Why AM Reception Can Get Worse in the Summer – And Tips on What to Do About It

If your AM radio reception seems worse in the summer, you’re not imagining things. Between long daylight hours, more interference, and changing atmospheric conditions, summer can throw a wrench into even the best listening setups.

Whether you’re parked at a rest stop trying to catch your favorite talk show, listening in bed at home, or sitting in your garage workshop with the radio on, those familiar fades and static bursts might be showing up more often.

Here’s why that happens – and what you can do about it.

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October 22, 2024

The Power of Radio in the Face of Disaster

Every year, we try to write an updated blog post about being prepared for an emergency. This year, we’ve decided to do something a little differently. As we witness the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, the importance of reliable communication tools becomes clearer than ever. Our friend Thomas Witherspoon from SWLing recently shared a powerful firsthand account of the role radio played during Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, NC.

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November 2, 2023

Why Is AM Radio Important?

A Message From Bob Crane, Founder of C. Crane

Probably because it is a “community” for the U.S. and much of the world. It is free and travels better at night than FM. I still listen to “AM” every day, but I listen via streams over the internet on a CC Radio-3 through the FM Transmitter 3 with a CC WiFi 3 most of the time. It makes no difference to me how I listen. I love my stations and continually learn valuable tidbits that change my life, and it is entertaining.

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May 15, 2023

40 Years of Providing Radios to Radio Enthusiasts

Select-A-Tenna AM Antenna

C. Crane started in 1983 selling AM antennas. After starting to gain momentum selling mostly antennas and radio accessories, we received our first real technological challenge when customers started asking for recommendations on the best radio. It was easy to select the Sangean 803A as the first radio we offered to our customers. Tuning was precise and voice audio was sharper and more legible than most other radios on the market. With the Select-A-Tenna that we sold, it turned into one of the best radios made for reception. It was a little complex to use as a regular daily radio, but it met many customer’s needs. We also carried the GE Super Radio which was much easier to use but lacked some of the functionality customers wanted and supply was erratic. It seemed that there wasn’t a good blend of features, performance, and ease of use.

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May 31, 2022

The Voice of Baseball’s Play by Play – by Jessica Crotty

Watching youth baseball and softball has reminded me how much love there is for this game. I’ve seen the girls on my daughter’s team practicing with their parents, learning the game, and having fun. It feels great to be in person again. 

One thing I would love but have noticed isn’t present, is play-by-play for youth sports. One of the fondest memories many of you have shared is the announcers for baseball games that you’ve listened to on the radio. I started to wonder at what age play-by-play announcing starts. I know when my son played youth football, there were announcers. It also made me wonder how many announcers in the pros started out this way.

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November 7, 2017

Thank You for Protecting Our Freedom

We want to take a moment to honor anyone who has served or who is currently serving in our U.S. Military. Everyone here at C. Crane is so grateful for your service and the freedoms that it protects. These words from Coulby Dunn’s Veterans Day speech Nov 7, 2007 will hopefully give you pause in […]

October 27, 2017

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Halloween is Almost Here If the real world isn’t scary enough, there are plenty of shows that are willing to help spook you into staying awake all night. Coast to Coast will offer their legendary Ghost to Ghost show, you can view some archives here NPR has some Halloween tricks and audio treats we love […]

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