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AM Frequency of the Week: 800

cyberdad

cyberdad

What do you guys hear on 800? For me in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago....

Days: Pretty much blank. Except on my GE SR-2, which can snag a very weak, but perfectly audible KXIC from Iowa City. 1kw from over 150 miles away.

Night: Usually a mess, with CKLW most likely to be on top (if sometimes only briefly). "Back in the Day" PJB (Bonaire) and XEROK were both fairly reliable.
 
CKLW day and night. PJB and XEROK in the region back in the 60s and 70s at night. It used to be 5000 watts nondirectional day and night. When they went to 50000 watts directional back in the 1940s, they essentially kept the equivalent of 5000 watts or more even in the nulls day and night. There's one direction where it falls a little below in one or both the day and night patterns.
 
Very little around Columbus, Ohio at night. It's usually just a bunch of jumble with CKLW peeking through if anything.
Less than 100 miles north, it's all CKLW, and along the Lake Erie shoreline, they dominate even in their nulls.
 
Near north Chicago suburbs it's nothing during the day & a mess at night with CKLW rising up more than anything else.
Years ago it was a weak CKLW day and at night a mix of CKLW, PJB, & XEROK.
 
The mighty KXIC Iowa City (a local), day and night. KXIC used to leave the air at night years ago, and at various times I could hear CKLW, XEROK, and the 500 kw powerhouse from the Netherlands Antilles. That last one is by far the most exotic signal I've ever received.

Sometimes I can null KXIC at night and still hear CKLW or XEROK.
 
When I was in college 45 miles south of Iowa City (at Mount Pleasant in the late '60s), KXIC was a daytimer. After they signed off, CKLW was the most common visitor at night, but hardly a regular. I always stand to be corrected, but I don't think XEROK was around then, and whatever was there before them wasn't yet "on steroids"
 
The Big 8 CKLW!
Growing up in West Central Ohio between Fort Wayne and Dayton, CKLW was a daytime blaster. When I moved to my small town in 1967, my first exposure to CKLW was through the loudspeakers at the park and pool. CKLW was stronger and louder than WJR (they equalized around Lima) At night, the pattern changed, CKLW got weaker and PJB would come blasting in with an occasional surfacing of XEROK. Around sunrise and sunset, WKEE, another top 40 in Huntington WV would mix with CKLW.
Locally in East Tennessee, by day WDEH in Sweetwater with various and sundry stations at night, sometimes CKLW or PJB will surface (PJB if aurora cleans things out)
 
In Ottawa, CJAD is very dominant during the day, especially during winter. In some parts of the city they are as strong as or stronger than some local signals. At night they mix with CKLW and CJBQ. Under auroral conditions, it's only CJAD.
 
gr8oldies said:
The Big 8 CKLW!
Growing up in West Central Ohio between Fort Wayne and Dayton, CKLW was a daytime blaster. When I moved to my small town in 1967, my first exposure to CKLW was through the loudspeakers at the park and pool. CKLW was stronger and louder than WJR (they equalized around Lima) At night, the pattern changed, CKLW got weaker and PJB would come blasting in with an occasional surfacing of XEROK. Around sunrise and sunset, WKEE, another top 40 in Huntington WV would mix with CKLW.
Locally in East Tennessee, by day WDEH in Sweetwater with various and sundry stations at night, sometimes CKLW or PJB will surface (PJB if aurora cleans things out)
Click to expand...

Forgive me if I've asked you this in previous discussions, but was CKLW completely gone at night around Celina back in the 1960s? I know I've mentioned that some of my relatives who grew up in St. Marys listened to CKLW along with WOWO, and I know CKLW still comes in very well in that area daytime, but I've never really checked at night (and nowadays, PJB and XEROK are not around in this region to create issues).
When I used to drive between Columbus and Toledo when I was in college, CKLW usually was pretty dependable at night until maybe Findlay on 75, but then if I was headed to Columbus I'd head out of their pattern and lose it entirely.
 
Changes in the operations of PJB and XEROK were factors in whether you could hear it at night. Now, daytime only stations who are now allowed up to 500 watts at night are a factor. When neither of these situations were factors, you probably could hear it better at night. One of the amazing things about the pattern is how well CKLW did in Detroit Metro even though it had a null to the Northwest toward a large part of the population. I suppose that that gave WKNR 1310 an opening to serve the areas CKLW did not serve as well better, and explains their ratings. WKNR didn't give up until WCAR The Giant 1130 went Top 40. It didn't last long, but between that and the rise of WDRQ and other FM Top 40 formats, WKNR quickly changed formats to WNIC. WKNR went straight North up Telegraph Rd. with a narrow lobe at night, and that is probably where the target demographic lived at the time.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Changes in the operations of PJB and XEROK were factors in whether you could hear it at night. Now, daytime only stations who are now allowed up to 500 watts at night are a factor. When neither of these situations were factors, you probably could hear it better at night. One of the amazing things about the pattern is how well CKLW did in Detroit Metro even though it had a null to the Northwest toward a large part of the population. I suppose that that gave WKNR 1310 an opening to serve the areas CKLW did not serve as well better, and explains their ratings. WKNR didn't give up until WCAR The Giant 1130 went Top 40. It didn't last long, but between that and the rise of WDRQ and other FM Top 40 formats, WKNR quickly changed formats to WNIC. WKNR went straight North up Telegraph Rd. with a narrow lobe at night, and that is probably where the target demographic lived at the time.
Click to expand...

Class D daytimers now with night power can only run up to 249/250watts max; depending on antenna efficiency....not 500 watts....Most are usually lower than that.

XEROK has had transmitter issues since the loss of revenue from the American operations in the 70s and early 80s as XROCK80. I think they are at much lower power than they are licensed for.
Lets face it, with PC and other electronics noise as well as the power lines nosier than ever due to lack of enforcement by the FCC (and the power companies know it and don't care anymore), OTA reception of MW AM is rough period
 
I didn't make myself clear. Stations like WDUX Waupaca, WI WERE daytimers before the US stations on Mexican Clear Channels were given permission to operate at night. Some stations were so far from the Mexican border, and far enough from stations in Canada, to use MORE than 249 watts nighttime with their existing daytime facilities. Those stations automatically became Class B, even though some of them didn't put an NIF contour over the City of License. WDUX got authorization to use the full 500 watts at night. The stations that were authorized the equivalent of 249 watts or less were still considered daytimers, which are Class D. So it was more complex than it would appear.
 
In 1971, I worked at WOKL, in Eau Claire, WI. 1kw daytimer with a 500 watt PSA on 1050, which was a Mexican channel. Now, as Catholic Radio, they're running 260 watts (ND) at night from the same site as when I was there. I think at one point, they might have had more power than that, but I'm not really sure.
 
Iowa City's KXIC needed all of its 199 watts at night on 800 as I remember from living there in the late 80s. The other high power inhabitants on 800 made for a really noisy channel for KXIC that would receive interference even 5 miles out.
 
Located in W. Washington.

Usually I hear CKOR Penticton with the EZ Rock format. Sometimes it's blasting in, other times not so much.
KPDQ Portland with religion is usually in there, too. Have heard XEROK at least once.
 
We were driving through Arkansas last night, and CKLW was sitting on top. It was past sunset, so that surprised me. Would have though the OK station would be the strong signal where we were.

Back home, days it's CKLW, with a signal sometimes equaling WJR. Nights, I've heard at least a dozen stations during sunrise/sunset.

Last time I heard Bonaire was back in 2009. As many know, when they directed their 500 KW signal north at night, Bonaire used to boom into the Eastern US. In my area, it sometimes overpowered CKLW.
 
US stations operating on 730, 800, 900, 1050, 1220, and 1570 tend to have fairly high NIF contours if computed in the normal way. Often, Mexican or Canadian stations that didn't have to protect anything in the United States are grandfathered with those facilities. Regardless of power or Class, those stations tend not to have much of a service area. 1050 New York City and 1220 Cleveland are special NARBA treaty exceptions which allowed one 50000 watt station far from the Mexican border to operate directionally at night. Many other treaty provisions limited power to 1000 or 5000 watts daytime on those frequencies. Although these restrictions have been lifted somewhat, the general malaise of the AM band prevents economically sensible improvement of those facilities. That is why most US stations on Mexican Clear Channels don't have very good signals.

CKLW was another exception which allowed 50000 watts on 800. The SW lobe in the daytime pattern is roughly equivalent in IDF to a Class A 50000 watt station. CKLW has always been Class B/Class II, not a Clear Channel station in the traditional sense.
 
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