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AM Frequency of the week: 1590

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest suburban Chicago....

Days: WCGO, Evanston, IL. 10kw ND from about 30 miles ESE of me. Weak, which IMHO is rather pathetic, IMHO.

Nights: WCGO becomes yet another station in a north suburban Chicago location that powers down and throws more signal at the fish in Lake Michigan than towards humans on dry land. So whatever is left of their 2.5kw night pattern doesn't reach me at all.

WAKR is historically the station that rises to the top here, but not as regularly now as "back in the day". This morning, just before sunrise, I was hearing WNTS from the Indianapolis area. Obviously on 5kw day power.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs WCGO is fairly strong during the day. At night they become a bit weaker and I can sometimes hear something underneath them. I suspect that it's WAKR as that is what I used to hear at night when WCGO, then WNMP was a daytime station.

Retro: Before WCGO/WNMP was 24 hrs, WAKR and sometimes WTVB could be heard here.
 
East Tennessee: A hodgepodge of stuff and junk. Close by is WBHN, Bryson NC but WKTP, Jonesborough TN (Tri-Cities market) makes it in frequently. WABV, Abbeville SC also skips in some days, and a regular wintertime visitor on winter daytime skip is WAKR, Akron.

Retro/other: I've heard WAKR in the Lafayette, IN area.
 
Middays here, it's now a weak but steady and religious WHGT from near the MD-PA border. One afternoon in their close-to-90° null, in came WPWA Chester PA -- the former WEEZ. Also in the log book is WCBG Chambersburg PA, a late afternoon catch. I'm pretty sure that they and WHGT are/were separate facilities despite their closeness. WGGO Salamanca NY was another.

See, *local* WMIM Mt Carmel PA, tower and all, went to the boneyard over 10 years ago. For 1000 watts omni they used to be readable up I-81 to Hazleton and even east on I-80. At night, this former daytimer's 22 or so watts had difficulty getting out of Mt. Carmel itself. Even with them 'on' at night, from about 10 miles as the crow coughs, I'd get WAKR over them.

'Nighttime' catches here, meaning around 9 to 10 PM, are WJRO Glen Burnie MD and WFTH from Richmond. WFTH probably was not broadcasting faithfully on their 19 nighttime watts. Their 5000-watt omni daytime signal used to blast into Central Jersey and up to Long Island at sunset.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WCGO with good signal
Nightime: weak WCGO with WAKR sometimes making it through

DX/RETRO: some other catches include WNTS (Beech Groove, IN), WAWA (West Allist, WI), WCCL (Jackson, MS), WAIK (Galesburg, IL), WTVB (Coldwater, MI)
 
Re the frequent WAKR mentions here, a bit of 'retro.

I was a high school freshie in '63 when we vacationed at the place of some cousins. All I had with me was one of those little GE clock radios, identical to the one atop the fridge in Happy Days.

In Norfolk VA.

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WAKR-AM&h=N

For the few nights I DXed there, WAKR was quite the regular on 1590. Back then, of course, there were far fewer stations on regional frequencies at night. On a thumbnail guess I'd suggest that WFTH Richmond makes its way to Norfolk in the day. But when WFTH reduces to 19 watts after sundown, WAKR probably is still heard in Norfolk via that southeast signal tongue they sent out

As far as I know, that WAKR night pattern hasn't changed in decades. And I'm figuring that the null away from the northeast was to protect Waterbury CT (which reciprocally pulled it in away from Akron). But WBRY/WQQW/Whatever/Waterbury has been off the air for over 20 years.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
WAKR was quite the regular on 1590......

...As far as I know, that WAKR night pattern hasn't changed in decades. .
Click to expand...

For decades, I was under the impression that WAKR's night pattern was aimed straight west. Then Radio-Locator comes on the scene with the maps, and it turns out to be a marble shooter (more like a mushroom, actually) that's more to the northwest. Whatever, in the era of less crowded "regional channels" with dominant 5kw stations, it was right up there with the other high end of the dial "regionals" that were very reliable in the Chicago area at night WIL and WIRE (1430), KSO (1460), and WMBD (1470).

I don't remember WAKR during my time in Iowa, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't there. Just I don't specifically remember it. After all, if I was heading up the top end of the dial, there were three really good places to stop. 1510 (WLAC, and John R.), 1520 (KOMA, Charlie Tuna, Dale Weeba and Co.), 1570 (XERF, Wolfman Jack, and the guy selling live baby chicks via mail order, Garner Ted Armstrong and all the assorted, pitchmen).
 
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1590 days - usually nothing, sometimes a very weak KLFE Seattle (The Answer).
Night - KLFE mixing with KTIL Tillamook OR (Oldies) and sometimes KLIV San Jose, CA (Classic Country). Once in a while I will hear KVGB Great Bend KS (News/Talk), and once during Au, KVTA Ventura (News/Talk).

Wanted...
KVTR Victorville CA (500w, very difficult even on aurora, with KLIV so strong. 'Que Buena')
KGFK Grand Forks ND (1KW night, '95.7 the Forks')
WAKR Akron OH (News/Talk...almost-impossible but it sure would be awesome to hear this one)
 
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