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AM Frequency of the Week: 950

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest Chicago suburbs....

Day: WNTD, Catholic Radio from Chicago, Fair signal at best. I've felt for a long time that the 1kw signal slightly underperforms what might be expected. But that may be explained by loads or urban development in the area.

Night: WNTD moves to a site on the south side of the city and goes to a highly directional pattern aimed almost entirely north. For all practical purposes at my location, this usually sets up a fight with WWJ, with WWJ usually getting the better of it. KOEL (Oelwein, Iowa) sometimes sneaks in. And during the last 2-3 CFAM (Manitoba-North Dakota Border)) has also been a very occasional visitor.

Retro: The Chicago 950 has a storied history, despite having never been a major fore in the market. From 1922 to 1967, it operated as WAAF, a daytimer with a jazz music format. Locaal legend "Daddy-O Daylie" was the feature attraction Following that, 950 spent a couple of decades as a top 40 formatted R&B outlet. First as WGRT (W-great), and then as WJPC (Johnson Publishing C0.) Same 1kw daytime as previously.

950 has also been a fairly productive DX spot for me down through the years. KOEL was an easier nighttime catch until fairly recently. If I'm not mistaken, they were running 1kw nights until they dropped that to 500 watts. Other fairly common catches "back in the day" included KIMN (Denver), KFSA (Fort Smith, Arkansas), and WKAZ, Charleston, WV).
 
Pretty much the same result as cyberdad, daytime WNTD with a pretty good signal in my area of the near north Chicago suburbs. At night it's a weaker WNTD in a mix with WWJ and others. Years ago I have heard Denver at night.

Retro: When the calls were WAAF Daddy-O Daylie and Jerry Leighton were two DJs who I remember. Leighton was quite funny at times.
In 1967 when the calls changed to WGRT Larry O'Brien later with WCFL and Pittsburgh fame worked there for awhile.
 
Day and night, it's 50kW KJR Sesttle for me. Just occasionally around sunrise KOZE Lewiston ID (5/1) will be heard in the background, low.
 
East Tennessee: Not much of anything by day, around sunset and at night it's mostly WORD, Spartanburg SC.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio, the last breath of WXLW.
Lafayette, IN: Northwest side (West Lafayette area), the Aurora station (whatever it was at the time). South side of town it was WXLW.
 
I'm surprised that before WAAF...WNTD went full-time, you didn't hear WWJ more. It basically had two 1 kW nulls toward WPEN Philadelphia and KPRC Houston, and the equivalent of about 5 kW toward Chicago.

WAAF...WNTD is one of the 50 oldest stations in the United States. They were too close to WWJ to even be 500 watts Night before DAs. And with the top of building antenna, it was difficult to be directional without a second site and might not have been allowed.
 
Orange County, TX Days KPRC Houston, nights mostly KPRC with the Cuban time pips, which I haven't heard in quite some time.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
I'm surprised that before WAAF...WNTD went full-time, you didn't hear WWJ more. It basically had two 1 kW nulls toward WPEN Philadelphia and KPRC Houston, and the equivalent of about 5 kW toward Chicago.

WAAF...WNTD is one of the 50 oldest stations in the United States. They were too close to WWJ to even be 500 watts Night before DAs. And with the top of building antenna, it was difficult to be directional without a second site and might not have been allowed.
Click to expand...

Before the Chicago 950 went full time I did hear WWJ ocassionally, but I heard others in the mix too.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WNTD with good signal
Nightime: WNTD with fair signal

DX/RETRO: the 1kW site at Western Av. and 15th St. is one of the local stations that have their tower on top of a building. At night they switch to the 6-tower site in Burnham, IL with kW. I can null them at night, but strangely never spent much time DXing the frequency. As a result I have only heard two other stations on this frequency: WWJ and KWOS.
 

No 950 in the Bay...however, I can get KAHI (5 Kw) in Auburn, a small town outside Sacramento. It's mostly local talk, with a decent signal. I think it's the only 950 in the state of California. At night, XEKAM (20 Kw, 5 Kw) out of Tijuana goes toe to toe with KAHI, producing tons of static.
 
West Central Georgia:

Days: Weak WZKD Montgomery AL urban contemporary 1000/45

Nights: Mush, occasionally hear WDYZ Orlando FL religious 12000/5000, WGUN Valdosta GA old school R&B 3500/63 and Radio Reloj Cuba (50000?)
 
I never realized that WNTD transmits from the top of a building (daytime). I always thought urban density was to blame for what always seemed to me to be a slightly underperforming signal.

Learn something every day. Thanks, guys for pointing that out!
 
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Middays here it's been a faint WPEN from Philly.
That's how I've always known them, anyway. The current letters are WKDN. THOSE used to be the calls of 800 before they themselves changed to WTMR.
(You almost need a spreadsheet to follow the call letter swaps. The old WIP 610 is now WTEL -- which used to be on 860 -- and 860 is now WWDB, which used to be on 95.7 FM decades ago.
Please try to at least FEIGN attention :)

Not too much nighttime stuff logged here. It's usually WWJ Detroit on top but weak, and a 'WPEN' in the secondary muddle.

One SSS brought me WROL Boston. And once, well into dark, WXGI Richmond was pretty solid for 1/2 hour. I'm inclined to think they hadn't powered down to their leftover-scraps 45 watts quite yet.
 
In west Houston, it's local KPRC 24/7.

In Tulsa in the 70's, local KAKC 970 slop was a problem, but heard KFSA in Ft Smith AR with KAKC nulled. I also remember hearing KIMN and KPRC at times. I believe I also QSL'd the Indianapolis station one Monday morning.
 
WNTD must be one of the very few AM stations with more power at night than days.

You'd think it would be economical for them to operate from that night site 24/7, and since they have 6 towers to work with they should be able to make a day decent pattern using 2 or 3 of them. Probably not worth the investment in 2020 though.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
WNTD must be one of the very few AM stations with more power at night than days.

You'd think it would be economical for them to operate from that night site 24/7, and since they have 6 towers to work with they should be able to make a day decent pattern using 2 or 3 of them. Probably not worth the investment in 2020 though.
Click to expand...
is

Just a guess, but I think this is one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" scenarios. The WNTD day signal alreadyis arguably better than the night pattern. You don't have to go very far inland to lose the night signal.

WNTD and WKBM (930) operate as a simulcast. Each with higher power at night. Between the two stations, they offer fairly adequate coverage to most of the Chicago area 24/7.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: A weak to moderate KPRC in Houston.

Sunset: KPRC is stronger. R. Reloj can be heard mixing in when aiming NW/SE, and occasionally KJTV in Lubbock will pop up.

Night: KPRC is still dominant and has some skywave/groundwave cancellation. To the NE/SW, I occasionally hear weak signals underneath from KWOS, KFSA, and XEMEX in Ciudad Guzmán. Aiming NW/SE, I sometimes hear a weak KNFT in Bayard, NM, playing oldies. Also, R. Reloj is weaker, but the time pips still come through.

Sunrise: To the NE/SW, KFSA, KWOS, and XEMEX are often heard under KPRC. To the NW/SE, KDCE in Española, NM, is a regular when it goes to day power. KJTV usually mixes in, and KNFT is usually in/out underneath. XEOJN in San Lucas Ojitlán can also sometimes be heard briefly when it goes to day power.

DX/RETRO: I used to hear XERN in Montemorelos at night before it moved to FM. Stations I've heard/IDed just once include XEMAB in Ciudad del Carmen (at night) and WAKM in Franklin, TN, KXJK in Forrest City, AR, and KKSE in Parker, CO (all at sunrise).
 
I forgot to mention that I used to listen to KLIK Jefferson City, MO after 1 AM when WWJ used to sign off on Monday Mornings. They had American Top 40 on then. They may have had an agreement with WWJ to run with Day facilities during that period.
 
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