• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

AM Frequency of the Week: 1510

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest suburbs of Chicago....

Days: A very weak WWHN from Joliet, IL. On a few occasions earlier this year, I heard WWRD from Waukesha, WI (Milwaukee market) a few times. 23kw from about 60 miles away, but I'm right in the center of a very deep null.

Night: WLAC rules. Alone with a good signal. I'm not quite in the "sweet spot" of their northern nighttime lobe, but obviously close enough for a good result at my location.

Other Location/Retro: During my college days in southeast Iowa, WLAC was a "go to" for a lot of my friends who tuned in to John R. and his overnight R&B show. Signal was fairly comparable to what it is here.

Fast forward to more recent times. During the solar eclipse a year or two back, WLAC was in during the midday event via skywave.
 
Near the Chicago lakefront..

Daytime it's WWHN, a local station. One time, and with great difficulty, I managed to identify WRRD in the Milwaukee area, but clearly WWHN dominates where I am.

At night it's WLAC in Nashville. A few times around sunset I also got KIFG in Iowa Falls, IA before they signed off.
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Near the Chicago lakefront..
One time, and with great difficulty, I managed to identify WRRD in the Milwaukee area, but clearly WWHN dominates where I am.
Click to expand...
When I heard WRRD it was for a few consecutive days. Very weak. I think either their pattern was "leaking" or they were running non-directional at reduced power.
 
in Laramie, WY.. KCKK day and night.

sometimes at sunset, I can hear KFNN from the Phoenix area. I;ve heard KGA when KCKK was off or dead carrier. I've heard KMSD twice.
 
cyberdad said:
When I heard WRRD it was for a few consecutive days. Very weak. I think either their pattern was "leaking" or they were running non-directional at reduced power.
Click to expand...

I've tried for WRRD a few times in the past, but never heard it in the near north Chicago burbs.
 
Sometimes there seems to be little explanation as to what is heard and not heard during Daytime Skywave. I think the modeling would involve what I might label "Sporadic D" or "D Skip" ion clouds, due to their short range compared to normal E skip. I think longstanding notions of layers of the ionosphere are not well understood.

The inverse field to the NE and East for WRRD is in the over 50000 watt level. Those high inverse field directions are more likely to be heard during Daytime Skywave.
 
Last edited:
Orange County, TX Days KBED Nederland, TX, Nights WLAC. I have logged KROB Robstown, TX a couple times.
 
I had my 1510 stuff on another thread. It might even've been on mine, hi.

The quirky thing about WRNJ Hackettstown NJ is that they showed up #12 in the Allentown book several years ago. They were Oldies at the time. That showing was BEFORE they had all those translators, too. I figured they must've had quite a few responses from Warren County NJ. That's the only NJ county considered as part of the Allentown survey area.

Another oddity: I have yet to hear one of those translators out here. I've only heard the 1510 AM.

W224AS 92.7 FM Washington, NJ (150 watts)
W284AQ 104.7 FM Hackettstown, NJ (250 watts)
W289CR 105.7 FM Glen Gardner, NJ (218 watts)

They form a sort of triangle around Hackettstown.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WWHN. WRRD heard in daytime but not common
Nightime: WLAC with solid signal

Retro/DX: despite WLAC and their solid signal at night some DX was heard over the years such as KCCV (independence, MO), KIFG (Iowa Falls, IA), KCKK (Littleton, CO), WWZN (Boston, MA), WJCO (Jackson, MI), CKOT (Tillsonburg, ON), CJRS (Sherbrook, PQ), XEQI (Monterrey, Mexico), and my two most recent logs on this frequency: WCAZ (Macomb, IL) and WWSM (Anville-Cleona, PA)
 
West Central Georgia

Night: WLAC loud and clear

Day: During colder months, frequency is clear for WLAC to be heard most of the morning and in late afternoon. Have occasionally heard WWBC in Cocoa/Melbourne Florida (50kW Days - news/talk) at dusk
 
From west Houston, during the daytime it's a mix. At various times I've heard KBED Nederland, TX, KROB Robstown TX, and KAGC in Bryan TX. After sunset it's mostly WLAC mixing with XEQI in Monterrey. XEQI is very distinctive with their "Opus 1510" format of mostly classical music.

A couple of times last winter at sunset I heard classic rock music, maybe KCKK, but never ID'd.
 
East Tennessee (Knoxville/Sevierville). Daytime: Nothing unless WLAC makes it in via daytime skip. Night is all WLAC.

Retro-other: WLAC had and still has a strong signal into Ohio and Indiana. They were one of my choices for top 40 at night. I remember Ernie's Record Mart but must have missed John R. I also remember the days when the minute afternoon drive was over, it was the Fire and Brimstone hour all night.

WLAC was my go-to to learn of winter daytime skip. I remember driving through north central Indiana with WLAC blasting in during the 2pm EST hour, covering the WKUZ, Wabash (I wasn't that close to Wabash but it was typically audible where I was.

I was a little surprised that when I would visit my Dad in Crossville, WLAC was nowhere to be found. On a trip from Knoxville to Nashville, I happened on a great winter all-day skip event and had interference underneath WLAC even in Davidson County.

Otherwise in Ohio, WWHN was a sunset regular.
 
Update: I had to drive yesterday from Aurora, IL to my home in Crystal Lake. About 40 miles around 9:30-10:30AM. My current ride is a 2018 Equinox with a good...but not great...GM stock radio. WWHN tripped scan button for about the first 15 miles. Audible for about the next 15. Basically absent for the last 10.

Off topic: I was also monitoring 1480 for WSPY from Geneva, IL About 15 miles north of my trip origin in Aurora. Last I heard, WSPY was running on an STA from a longwire antenna. I started hearing them about ten minutes into my journey, and then they became unlistenable on the southern outskirts of Elgin, IL,,,,about 10 miles north of Geneva. I'm unclear what power they're running, but even with a longwire, it can't be a lot. Before I even left the COL, WSPY was getting splattered by WPNA (1490) from Oak Park, IL and WMBD (1470) from Peoria (a surprise, but probably daytime skywave).
 
cyberdad said:
Update:
Off topic: I was also monitoring 1480 for WSPY from Geneva, IL About 15 miles north of my trip origin in Aurora. Last I heard, WSPY was running on an STA from a longwire antenna. I started hearing them about ten minutes into my journey, and then they became unlistenable on the southern outskirts of Elgin, IL,,,,about 10 miles north of Geneva. I'm unclear what power they're running, but even with a longwire, it can't be a lot. Before I even left the COL, WSPY was getting splattered by WPNA (1490) from Oak Park, IL and WMBD (1470) from Peoria (a surprise, but probably daytime skywave).
Click to expand...

Isn't the station in Geneva the one that Jack Brickhouse once owned?
 
cyberdad said:
Off topic: I was also monitoring 1480 for WSPY from Geneva, IL About 15 miles north of my trip origin in Aurora. Last I heard, WSPY was running on an STA from a longwire antenna. I started hearing them about ten minutes into my journey, and then they became unlistenable on the southern outskirts of Elgin, IL,,,,about 10 miles north of Geneva. I'm unclear what power they're running, but even with a longwire, it can't be a lot. Before I even left the COL, WSPY was getting splattered by WPNA (1490) from Oak Park, IL and WMBD (1470) from Peoria (a surprise, but probably daytime skywave).
Click to expand...

I get WSPY at home on my receiver (Drake R8) and loop antenna with weak signal. Hearing it in the car (also Equinox) is a different story. It's there, but I also get splash over from WPNA. I am surprised that FCC has been granting them the STA all these years. It was first granted back in 2002 and renewed as recently as July 2019. According to their application they are using a long wire antenna with 125 watts of power. The other interesting thing is the Batavia SDR, which I suspect is operated by the same person that runs WSPY. The WSPY signal on that SDR is very strong, while other local stations are much weaker, including the big 50kW blowtorches. The link to that SDR is http://w9xa.us:8073/
 
radioman148 said:
Isn't the station in Geneva the one that Jack Brickhouse once owned?
Click to expand...

Correct. Although IIRC, "Brickhouse Broadcasting" was in his (first) wife's name as owner. Years ago, I knew a guy who had worked there. He told me it was a threadbare operation, but the wife, Nelda, was pretty much hands-on. Larry Nelson runs it now, but unlike some of this other properties, he obviously isn't putting any money into it. Nostalgia music programming off the bird, No local commercials during the breaks (same PSAs repeating), and awful audio to go along with the pathetic signal.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom