WXR

From Lostpedia

WXR was the call sign of the radio station heard by Hurley and Sayid in "The Long Con". Late in the episode they are seen on a beach at night listening to a radio (the same one found in The Arrow) using a pole as a makeshift antenna. Transcript excerpt below:

“

HURLEY: Hold it, stop! Do you hear that! RADIO ANNOUNCER: [with spotty reception] That was the old classic "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, featuring Cootie Williams on the trumpet. Up next on WXR, the Glenn Miller Orchestra with "Moonlight Serenade". [The song begins to play with good reception] HURLEY: Whoa, you hear how clear that is? It's got to be close, right? SAYID: Radio waves at this frequency bounce off the ionosphere. They can travel thousands of miles. It could be coming from anywhere. HURLEY: Or, anytime. (beat) Just kidding, dude.

”

Notes

• The station was playing 1940’s era big band jazz music, specifically "Moonlight Serenade", a song that was heard again in "A Tale of Two Cities".
• In 1944 a plane carrying Glenn Miller and two other army officers mysteriously disappeared over the English Channel. The aircraft has never been found, nor have any bodies.
• WXR appears to be a public-service station operated by the US Army. Under International protocols the prefix W is assigned to the United States, and combinations from WUA to WVZ and WXA to WZZ are reserved for the stations of the Army of the United States. [1] Interestingly WXR was the call sign used by the US Army base in Kodiak, Alaska in 1945. [2], [3]
• The announcer mentions the song "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin" by Duke Ellington. In "The Man Behind the Curtain", Jacob appears to be sitting and rocking in a rocking chair. "An aged rocking chair" appears on a list of furnishings that are inside the dilapidated cabin.
• When signals of the type picked up by the radio (short-wave, high frequency) impinge upon the ionosphere, they are largely reflected back toward the earth. With one or more reflections between the earth and the ionosphere, a short-wave radio signal can be received at long distances from the transmitter. Furthermore, reception may be particularly good at night for certain shortwave frequencies because the reflective properties of the ionosphere tend to be greater without the interference of the sun.
• Although it is known that the Looking Glass was blocking all communications signals up to December 23, 2004, it is unknown if the jamming had started by November 17, when Hurley and Sayid picked up the station.
• In the Find 815 ARG, the main character Sam is on a salvage boat in the Indian Ocean. He is listening to an analog radio, and hears a broadcast from 1937 reporting the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. However this radio station is not explicitly identified as WXR.