Logged new Canada station and two new "home town" stations

[jim-satx]

On the night of the 8th, I logged my second Canadian station: 1690 CHTO in Toronto at 11:31 p.m. CT. They were playing what sounded like Greek music, and the broadcast matched the station's stream on Simple Radio. I've never heard a trace of this station before, so propagation must've been really strong.

On the morning of the 11th, I logged two new stations on 950, both of which use a variation of the "Home Town radio" slogan. The first, at 5:46 a.m. CT, was WAKM in Franklin, TN. They were playing Keith Urban's "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16," which was followed by Dolly Parton's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

At 6 a.m. CT I heard a traditional instrumental version of the national anthem mixing in and was then confused for a second when I heard a different "Hometown Radio" ID. This turned out to be KXJK in Forrest City, AR. They followed with a local weather forecast, an ad for the Arkansas Farm Bureau Insurance, and news.

In regard to WAKM, when you hear a station play Dolly's version of the national anthem, you know it's true down-home country.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Neat stuff, Jim.

I haven't been anywhere as active a DX as I used to be (too much else on the schedule) but the most rewarding days -- the earlier days -- usually meant DXing on the 'regional' channels. Even in NYC (near JFK Airport) a good radio easily could pull in listenable stuff between the local frequency sequences of, say, 570 to 620, 930-970, 1280-1330, 1330-1380, 1380-1430, and 1430- 1480.

950, of course, was one of those swell 'regional' frequencies, nicely removed from the splash of locals. Daytimes it was WHVW from near Poughkeepsie NY mixing with WPEN Philly. Nighttimes were better too .... Detroit, Orlando, and even Denver got logged.
When WPEN was off for transmitter work, a few DXers in the Northeast here heard one from either Arizona or New Mexico at sunset EST. I missed that one! If I remember correctly, that was around 1970. Perhaps you could pull that one in, if you haven'e already -- and if it's still on the air.

* * * * * * *

There's a Hometown Station here in the vicinity, too. Only WLSH 1410 doesn't play Country; they're mainly Oldies. A real hometown touch they are, with swap shops, polkas on Saturday morning, and a request show at lunch hour.
They're a strict daytimer; no nighttime wattage; they sign off.

But they should be an easy catch for you. It's only 1495 miles. And they're 5000 watts with a nice SW lobe.
So at some SRS here in Coal Country PA ..... still dark in San Antonio .... if you hear if you hear an actual national anthem go off on 1410, you could be pulling in another Hometown Station plus another version of the SSB for your collection, hi.

 

[CTListener]

On the night of the 8th, I logged my second Canadian station: 1690 CHTO in Toronto at 11:31 p.m. CT. They were playing what sounded like Greek music, and the broadcast matched the station's stream on Simple Radio. I've never heard a trace of this station before, so propagation must've been really strong.

On the morning of the 11th, I logged two new stations on 950, both of which use a variation of the "Home Town radio" slogan. The first, at 5:46 a.m. CT, was WAKM in Franklin, TN. They were playing Keith Urban's "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16," which was followed by Dolly Parton's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

At 6 a.m. CT I heard a traditional instrumental version of the national anthem mixing in and was then confused for a second when I heard a different "Hometown Radio" ID. This turned out to be KXJK in Forrest City, AR. They followed with a local weather forecast, an ad for the Arkansas Farm Bureau Insurance, and news.

In regard to WAKM, when you hear a station play Dolly's version of the national anthem, you know it's true down-home country.

Check out Dolly's version of "America" -- an uptempo, bluegrass romp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I2E1HCSCfk

Also, I lived in Arkansas for three years in the late '70s and listened to KXJK often. It was a real down-home sounding station, which even had a regular Sunday morning feature consisting of obituaries read from the local paper. One time, the DJ decided to come out of the obits with the Statler Brothers' "I'll Go to My Grave (Loving You)"! I hope his boss appreciated it as much as I did.

There was another Arkansas station -- can't remember the call letters, sadly -- that would sign off with an instrumental version of "Dixie." I gather this was common in the South at some point, as Hank Williams Jr. complained in a song that radio stations up North didn't sign off with "Dixie," but 1978-79 seemed a bit late for that sort of thing to be going on, at least to a Northerner like me.

 

[jim-satx]

CT Listener - thanks for the link. Dolly's bluegrass version of "America" is really nice. I always enjoy hearing stations with a real home-town flavor like you described with KXJK in the '70s. I have some semi-locals that are still like that, such as 1580 KWED in Seguin.

Steve - thanks. I'll have to try for that 950 Philly station. Since my return to DXing last year, the only PA station I've heard so far is KDKA, and that was just briefly twice. My loggings from the NE USA have been very few and far between. Except for KDKA and a brief logging of a very weak WBZ in May 2014, I've yet to hear any stations from VA/WV or further northeast.

 

[gar hi]

Neat stuff, Jim.

I haven't been anywhere as active a DX as I used to be (too much else on the schedule) but the most rewarding days -- the earlier days -- usually meant DXing on the 'regional' channels. Even in NYC (near JFK Airport) a good radio easily could pull in listenable stuff between the local frequency sequences of, say, 570 to 620, 930-970, 1280-1330, 1330-1380, 1380-1430, and 1430- 1480.

950, of course, was one of those swell 'regional' frequencies, nicely removed from the splash of locals. Daytimes it was WHVW from near Poughkeepsie NY mixing with WPEN Philly. Nighttimes were better too .... Detroit, Orlando, and even Denver got logged.
When WPEN was off for transmitter work, a few DXers in the Northeast here heard one from either Arizona or New Mexico at sunset EST. I missed that one! If I remember correctly, that was around 1970. Perhaps you could pull that one in, if you haven'e already -- and if it's still on the air.

* * * * * * *

There's a Hometown Station here in the vicinity, too. Only WLSH 1410 doesn't play Country; they're mainly Oldies. A real hometown touch they are, with swap shops, polkas on Saturday morning, and a request show at lunch hour.
They're a strict daytimer; no nighttime wattage; they sign off.

But they should be an easy catch for you. It's only 1495 miles. And they're 5000 watts with a nice SW lobe.
So at some SRS here in Coal Country PA ..... still dark in San Antonio .... if you hear if you hear an actual national anthem go off on 1410, you could be pulling in another Hometown Station plus another version of the SSB for your collection, hi.

Getting catches on regional frequencies seemed more rewarding than DXing the clear channels.

I was wondering if you've ever heard 790 from South Miami at your location near JFK airport. It's considered a regional frequency even though it's 25 kw.

Never forget the time I heard the old 790 WFUN near the Jersey shore around dusk in early 1975. They were playing the song Don't Call Us We'll Call You by Sugarloaf right before they gave the station ID.

I listened for it again night after night once I was back home near Philly and I thought I had it at first but it turned out to be WAEB from Allentown.