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AM Freqqency of the Week: 1630

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest suburban Chicago....

Days: Not unusual in winter to hear KCJJ from Iowa City via daytime skywave. Otherwise, 1630 is blank.

Nights: KCJJ has historically been one of the stronger X-band nighttime signals around these parts. But for some reason the night signal seems to have lost something lately. I still hear it. Sometimes mixing with other signals.

Most recently, I checked 1630 this past week at sunrise. KCJJ was weak, and only occasionally on top. Then they powered up to 10KW, and took "full ownership" of the channel.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs KCJJ is there at night, although I haven't checked lately so I can't comment on whether their night signal is weaker.
In the winter their signal is very good well into the daylight morning hours.

Retro: in the late fall & winter months I used to listen to Captain Steve Bridges and his partner quite often. They were usually a fun listen in the morning. When I first heard KCJJ in the morning in the late 90s it was "The Captain and Anthony" a pretty entertaining morning show.
 
East Tennessee---on any given day (particularly winter) I can catch WRDW Augusta GA (which according to the Dirt Band is no place to be), KKGM Fort Worth or KCJJ in Iowa City. I caught WRDW on eclipse day last year just after peak. I probably would have received KCJJ had I tuned into 1630 just before peak as I had KXEL. From trying to watch the eclipse, take a selfie with my wife at peak and DX, time was limited.

Retro/other: KCJJ is sometimes known to stay in all day in Western Ohio on winter days. BTW Steve Bridges is known to be in one of the AM oriented Facebook groups.
 
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I've got two 1630's logged here in NE, both nighttime.

KCJJ was somewhat of an easy-enough catch.
KDIA Oakland might have been a previous catch to KCJJ signing on. I have KDIA counted on 1640, too, but I don't know which I heard first.

(Good Eclipse Day DX there, Gr8Oldies!)
 
radioman148 said:
They were usually a fun listen in the morning. When I first heard KCJJ in the morning in the late 90s it was "The Captain and Anthony" a pretty entertaining morning show.
Click to expand...

Of course, "Captain Steve" can call himself whatever he wants. He owns the place!

I'm an admirer. He's a true self-made man who built his radio station...and then upgraded it....with lots of hard work and determination. Our paths nearly crossed once...but not quite...in the 1970s in Iowa. I'm not sure, but I think he may have actually replaced me.
 
Here in the greater Seattle area I receive on 1630 ostly splash day and night from the local on 1620. But loggings I recall off the top of my head are KRND Cheyenne WY with ranchero and XEUT Tijuana BCN with awesome alt music at night. I with XEUT came in better and more often.
 
I've heard KCJJ a few times here in central Ohio. One winter night a few years ago, I remember hearing a high school basketball game they were carrying.
Several years ago, we had a low-power informational station on 1630 from ... wait ... the local dump. WPYF-783 transmitted from Grove City, Ohio, maybe 15 miles west-southwest of me, courtesy the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio. I could hear it weakly here in the east suburbs during the day; totally gone at night (it might not even have been on the air at night for all I know). It's been off the air for a while. Looking at some old posts on this very site, maybe it's been gone since early this decade.
 
Day - nothing
Night - mostly KRND Fox Farm WY (Regional Mexican), sometimes XEUT Tijuana (UABC Radio).
I've only heard KCJJ Iowa City once or twice (Hot AC), and last year finally logged KKGM Fort Worth (Southern Gospel). The only full-power 1630 I still need in the U.S. is WRDW Augusta, GA. I've heard NC on 1660, so who knows!
 
@ Schmave : I got a kick out of that story about the Solid Waste Station station.

First song of the morning would be 'I Told Every Little Star', the very opening lyric of which is 'Dump'.
What the devil did WPYF-783 program? Cautionary reminders to 'use the left lane when entering'? Ads for things like Hefty trash bags and Toledo Scales? Snippets from the Happy Homemaker? Live coverage of Kick The Can games?

Of course, at the end of the day: 'The Dump now leaves the air. We will return tomorrow morning'
♫ Oh, say, can you see .... ♫

Some of those TIS and HAR stations can be a lot of fun on long car trips.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: This days it is the O'Hare Airport TIS WQHE741 with good signal. Before the O'Hare TIS moved to this frequency from 800 kHz I used to get the METRA TIS (WPGE863) from Roselle, IL
Nightime: still get the O'Hare TIS weakly, but with a null KCJJ usually dominates the frequency.

DX/RETRO: logged KXBT from Vallejo, CA back in 1997 before they returned to their current frequency of 1640 kHz as KDIA. Besides KCJJ other logged were KRND (Fox Farm, WY), WRDW (Augusta, GA), and KKGM (Ft., Worth, TX). Also heard the Midway Airport TIS at muy location once when the O'hare TIS was apparently off the air.
 
@ CADXER : Thanks for clearing that up for me. So 'KDIA', or whatever they were, signed on 1630 first, then moved to 1640. Got a question. Did the 'KDIA' 1630 I have logged sign on before KCJJ signed on?

* * * * * * *

(Programming tip for WPYF-783, for if and when they return:
Start the hour with the Drake logo and a tympani roll. Then, 'Ladies and gentlemen! You're listening to a Solid Waste Weekend! Featuring the greatest trash of ***all*** time!')
 
Wimpy wimpy wimpy!
Stinky stinky stinky!
Hefty hefty hefty! ;-)

Albeit we don't have any real interesting TIS stations around here. Most are WSDOT with construction info and (in winter) pass information. Our 1610 in Union Gap gets out like a flamethrower at night, I hear them often in western WA and they are also heard in BC.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
@ CADXER : Thanks for clearing that up for me. So 'KDIA', or whatever they were, signed on 1630 first, then moved to 1640. Got a question. Did the 'KDIA' 1630 I have logged sign on before KCJJ signed on?
Click to expand...

I am not exactly sure on the timeline for KDIA. I remember first hearing them as KXBT on 1640 in March of 1996. Then they switched 1630 for a short period of time, where I heard them in February 1997. After that I logged them as KDIA on 1640 couple years later.
 
CADXER said:
I am not exactly sure on the timeline for KDIA. I remember first hearing them as KXBT on 1640 in March of 1996. Then they switched 1630 for a short period of time, where I heard them in February 1997. After that I logged them as KDIA on 1640 couple years later.
Click to expand...

When I first heard KDIA/KXBT it was Dec 96 and they were on 1630.
 
Steve, they should have taken your suggestions. :D
From what I remember, it was basically a TIS. Procedures for what could and could not go into the county landfill, directions on how to get there, costs, hours, etc. Might have been more but it's been several years. So I can see it served a purpose, but quite a limited one ...
 
FWIW....

When I first heard KDIA it was on 1640. Night and around sunrise in So-Cal with a good signal.
 
cyberdad said:
FWIW....

When I first heard KDIA it was on 1640. Night and around sunrise in So-Cal with a good signal.
Click to expand...

I should've clarified my earlier post. When I first heard KDIA it was here in the Chicago area. It was the first EB station I heard. They were running a music show and I called the DJ to find out if they were really in California. Anyway he said he was in Dallas working for a satellite network, but indeed KDIA was carrying the show. It's amazing what 1KW can do on what was then a clear channel.
 
>> ' ...It's amazing what 1KW can do on what was then a clear channel....' <<

Yessir, Radioman.

Although regional 1150 was never a 'clear' channel, it certainly *could* be on Monday mornings.
I never caught the calls of the Mexican station that was always there on 1150 overnight -- I have them listed simply as 'Mexico' -- but 'Lo' : there was scheduled a DX test from KIIS Los Angeles one MM. That would've been back in the late 60's.
According to an old National Radio Club logbook, KIIS was 5000 omni day and 1000 omni night at the time. So hearing that gosh-darned 1150 CALIFORNIA test broadcast from the den near Kennedy Airport in Queens was almost as effortless as tuning in WPOP 1410 Hartford, or WHHH 1440 from Ohio, or WVMT 620 Vermont, or any other regional fringe station.

IIrc, about halfway through the 1/2 hour test, KIIS 1150 dropped to 1000 watts.
And they were STILL there! They were weaker, yes, but still suitably readable.
1000 watts. From California to NYC.

So those X-band stations -- 1000 watts omni at night -- got out really fine.
 
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