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AM Frequency of the week: 1230

cyberdad

cyberdad

Let's do a graveyard channel this week. What have you guys been hearing lately on 1230?

For me, northwest of Chicago daytime, It's mostly WCLO from Janesville, WI with a fair signal. Underneath WCLO, a weaker WJOB from Hammond, IN is almost always audible. I can't null either one effectively, because my QTH is pretty much situated on a straight line between the two. WCLO is about 45 miles from me, WJOB about 60.

Nights, it's the usual jumble. WCLO is able to rise to the top during auroral conditions. Otherwise, I think my best catch has been WBHP from Huntsville, AL a few years back. That's probably about 600 miles.
 
In SE Michigan, you mainly hear WMPC Lapeer, MI. In some areas, you can null out WMPC and hear WCWA Toledo, OH. When WMPC used to sign off early, you could sometimes hear WJEF/WCUZ/WTKG Grand Rapids, MI. I did hear WGRY Grayling, MI once on skywave when it was the same Adult Standards format as nearby WCBY 1240 Cheboygan, MI. You Chicago area DXers may remember that the WGRY call letters were once on WLTH 1370 Gary, IN, whose day tower remains along the railroad track next to the expressway. BTW, WJOB's tower is about a half mile from where Jean Shepherd, the real life Ralphie, really lived, and apparently the first radio station where he worked.
 
In Tampa during the day, it's nothing but strong spill over from 1250 WHNZ only a couple miles away.

I would guess WONN in Lakeland would be slightly audible away from this part of town in the daytime.

At night, it's just a chorus of who knows how many weak stations with no one in particular standing above the noise long enough to be able to ID.

I never spend enough time with graveyard stations as opposed to the others but it would be interesting to see if I can snag an ID on 1230 at night if I get the time.
 
gar fla said:
I would guess WONN in Lakeland would be slightly audible away from this part of town in the daytime.

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Click to expand...

It seems to me, I heard WONN somewhere when I was down there this past January. Maybe it was Honeymoon Island mixing with WDWR (Pensacola), that vaguely rings a bell. Or maybe I'm thinking of something else. One thing I do know for certain is that WHNZ is as major pest. Certainly where we stay at Treasure Island.
 
I'm sure you noticed too that out on Honeymoon Island, even many stations from inland Florida sound a lot better out there than they do on the mainland. I haven't been there in years so I don't recall what I got on 1230 now but no doubt you heard WONN and WDWR

Since this is so far a dud season for FM E Skip, I've been listening to some AM tonight and spent some time on 1230.

One station briefly rose above the roar of the others and I clearly heard "1230 The Fan". I Googled that and the only station with that name it can be is WFOM from the Atlanta area.

That's a 417 mile catch.

Also, I seem to recall from the 'North American Radio and TV Station Guide' book I had in the 70's that graveyard frequencies then were 1000 watts daytime and only 250 watts nighttime.


And cyberdad, speaking of sports, the next couple weeks look to be exciting for us, huh?

Our Lightning vs your Blackhawks.

Go Bolts!
 
That is a good catch. Here, 1230 is a mix. Sometimes it is WSOK Savannah with gospel, and other times it is WSBB New Smyrna Beach (near Daytona) with standards. Usually WSBB wins out closer to the water. On Folly Beach it can often be a jumbled mix.
 
We've got a local on the frequency, with its transmitter/tower just east of Cincinnati downtown.

Although I'm single digits from the transmitter, their night signal is weak and often just a bit above the threshold.

That's OK. Other than DX'ing or a sports event, I've not interest in night time AM.
 
gar fla said:
I'm sure you noticed too that out on Honeymoon Island, even many stations from inland Florida sound a lot better out there than they do on the mainland. I haven't been there in years so I don't recall what I got on 1230 now but no doubt you heard WONN and WDWR

Since this is so far a dud season for FM E Skip, I've been listening to some AM tonight and spent some time on 1230.

One station briefly rose above the roar of the others and I clearly heard "1230 The Fan". I Googled that and the only station with that name it can be is WFOM from the Atlanta area.

That's a 417 mile catch.

Also, I seem to recall from the 'North American Radio and TV Station Guide' book I had in the 70's that graveyard frequencies then were 1000 watts daytime and only 250 watts nighttime.


And cyberdad, speaking of sports, the next couple weeks look to be exciting for us, huh?

Our Lightning vs your Blackhawks.

Go Bolts!
Click to expand...

Nice catch on 1230 from the Atlanta area. I haven't spent a lot of time over the years on the GY channels, but 400-500 miles IME seems to be normally about the max. But certainly from time to time, conditions permit farther catches than that. Of course in the daytime with the saltwater path, the hop between Pensacola and Tampa Bay is quite reliable. I'm guessing that's about 400 miles. I hear WTAN on the beach there on a daily basis (we're planning to be back in August).

As for your guidebook (I assume that's the Vane Jones book, which was excellent)...In the 1960s when I started DXing in junior high school, stations had just been permitted to go to 1kw daytime/250 watts night. Prior to that, they were 250 watts fulltime. I think they went to 1kw fulltime in the mid-late 70s. I'm guessing someone on this board knows for sure when those two changes went into place.

And finally, yes, the next week or so should be fun. Most of our St. Pete area friends are fans of both teams, but Hawks first. Around here it's insane. Go Hawks! :)
 
In the St. Louis area, daytime on 1230 gets you WHCO Sparta, IL, and at night it is a jumble, with WHCO barely making it through.
 
In SW Lexington, KY WHIR (Danville, KY) dominates 1230 during the day, but is barely audible at night getting lost in the 1230 graveyard.
 
Here in Pickerington, Ohio, it's local WYTS (ex-WCOL) all the time. I'm about 12 miles east of downtown and get a solid signal day and night, but there is definitely flutter underneath at night here even this close in, and all around the fringes of the metro area. 15 miles farther out, WYTS is still there but buried deep in the mud.
 
In San Antonio it's a fairly strong KERV in Kerrville during the day when aiming northwest.

At night it's almost like a graveyard, with KERV getting buried and only occasionally popping up. The other stations I've received from S.A. at night are all in Texas or Mexico: KSIX in Corpus Christi (sports), KWTX in Waco (news/talk), KLTO in Del Rio (current Spanish and some English pop hits), and XEIZ in Monterrey (Fórmula Noticias). They all pop in and out, with XEIZ appearing the most.

Back in February I had a nice sunrise logging of XETVH in Tabasco, 877 miles away, playing classic Mexican pop (e.g., Los Jaibos).
 
In northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, it's WKLK from Cloquet, Minnesota. Mainly "America's Best Music" and AP news; but the station is owned by a regional Chippewa tribal council and does a great deal of local programming too. Local news mostly in the mornings, a two-hour auction/swap meet show Wednesdays, lots of high school sports, a "round table" talk show and obscure oldies Saturdays; on Sundays, two morning church services, an afternoon polka party, and evening old time radio drama. They even sell announcement time for obits and rummage-sale notices. A good small-town station; reception OK in the daytime but usually turns to mush at night.
 
Roughly, from memory, the heritage WCOL 1230, now WYTS, has a 246 mV/m @ 1 mile inverse field. The NIF of most Class C stations in that area of the country is about 25 mV/m. So even with perfect conductivity, the NIF can't go out more than 10 miles. With 8 mS/m conductivity, it would go out about 5 miles. So your observations are consistent, since you SHOULD be able to hear a signal a ways beyond the NIF, since the NIF is supposed to be 20:1 (26 dB) or more D/U no more than 10% of the time. It's pretty dependable, because the other cochannel stations can't stay on day pattern and power like some Class Bs and Class Ds often do with their "Friday Night Lights STAs", as Class Cs have the same night power, nondirectional pattern and efficiency, usually. And if most Class Cs with reduced efficiency stayed on day input power, the interference from them would be less.
 
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Whether it's the time of day, the second to the last day of the year, or the dial position on a radio, I always think of this song when I see 1230.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1xa7NWRJjPQ

How's this for cross promotion of your frequency? "Twelve Thirty" debuts at #32 on the WCOL 1230 Music Survey!

http://www.las-solanas.com/surveys/WCOL/WCOL_1967-08-28_1.gif

And an obvious Pop Tops lyric verse.

I used to live in West Columbus,
Everything there was college football,
Upon my dresser was a radio,
With a dial that always read twelve thirty.
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
Whether it's the time of day, the second to the last day of the year, or the dial position on a radio, I always think of this song when I see 1230.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1xa7NWRJjPQ

How's this for cross promotion of your frequency? "Twelve Thirty" debuts at #32 on the WCOL 1230 Music Survey!

http://www.las-solanas.com/surveys/WCOL/WCOL_1967-08-28_1.gif

And an obvious Pop Tops lyric verse.

I used to live in West Columbus,
Everything there was college football,
Upon my dresser was a radio,
With a dial that always read twelve thirty.
Click to expand...

Young girls going to the canyon???

Great post. ROFL!
 
The WCOL playlist was an interesting mix. Seems 1967 was one of those awkward years when rock was once again transforming itself. Ahh, how fast popular music can change.

A bit of trivia. For a while, I dated #28 on the HITLINE, one of 2 anyway.
 
Icangelp said:
The WCOL playlist was an interesting mix. Seems 1967 was one of those awkward years when rock was once again transforming itself. Ahh, how fast popular music can change.

A bit of trivia. For a while, I dated #28 on the HITLINE, one of 2 anyway.
Click to expand...

WCOL appears to have been one of the stations that added songs very early. This was typical of college towns, especially ones close to larger markets. In those days, they were probably trying to break out there to get Cleveland airplay. Stations like WNHC New Haven, CT (college town close to NYC), and WPAG Ann Arbor, MI (college town close to Detroit) and WILS Lansing, MI (nearby East Lansing is a college town close to Detroit) were others that broke new records trying to get them to catch on in the larger markets. The thought was probably that the college age crowd would try new songs and things.

This survey is typical of the medium sized markets of that time, with a lot of local garage bands, regional garage bands like the Critters from NJ, Joey Levine and the Ohio Express (which was really from NYC but tried to present itself as an Ohio based band) plus the related Third Rail, and Bob Seger and The Last Heard from Michigan. Even when the records were eventually considered "stiffs" they were often very good. "Don't Let The Rain Fall Down On Me" by the Critters is a good example. "Twelve Thirty" probably stiffed at #20 nationally because the NYC PDs didn't like the negativity about NYC.
 
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KFJB Marshalltown, IA. Years ago, it was a split between KFJB and WFXN Moline, IL (formerly WQUA). You could clearly hear both signals; both are about 65 miles away. Now, I think the WFXN signal has degraded and I think hearing it is a rarity.
 
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