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AM Frequency of the Week: 1270

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 Miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Days: Usually blank. Sometimes a very faint WWCA on the GE Superradio-II.

Nights: 1270 is one of the most quiet "regionsl" channels. Especiaally since WKBF (WHBF) went dark a couple of years ago. And given that the towers were recently dismantled, I'm not looking for them to make a comeback anytime soon...if ever.

I spent the better part of an hour twice this past week parked on 1270 with practically nothing to show for it. A low rumble of weak identifiable signals. I did catch WWCA on top once with a positive ID. I also thought I had WXYT a couple of times, but couldn't ID it.

Retro: WHBF was most likely to rise to the top in the days before it was WKBF. WXYZ was also an occasional visitor. Several 1270s within a few hundred miles of me, but they either were low power or had a night pattern that didn't favor me.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs I hear a fair WWCA during the day. At night not much to report. WWCA is in the mud. Have heard WXYT a few times.
 
In west Houston, at night KFLC in Ft. Worth dominates with Spanish sports. Mostly a mush underneath, but have heard some English sports talk, maybe WNOG? I should try harder on this frequency...

Sometimes in winter I can hear KFLC in the daytime, but usually nothing.

Retro: in Tulsa in the early 70's, semi-local daytimer KWPR in Claremore OK until sunset, then Ft. Worth (then top 40 KFJZ) was most often heard.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime it's WWCA in Gary, IN. It comes in pretty well.

Nighttime it's still usually WWCA, but there's interference from other stations then.

Critical Hours: There is sometimes a "lake-effect" station, WMKT in Charlevoix, MI which is on the northern end of the western coast of lower Michigan. It broadcasts at 27 KW during the day and before they power down I can sometimes hear them if I'm close to the lake.
 
In and around Columbus, Ohio, it's classic rock WQTT from Marysville, 30 miles northwest of downtown.
It was oldies from about 2010-18 before changing to classic rock in January 2019.
Radio Locator lists WQTT at 500 watts, although Wikipedia says 1,000. The equivalent of its main lobe to the southeast over much of the Columbus area, with another main lobe to the west over Marysville, is probably considerably more than 1,000 watts. That pattern I mention is the night pattern that WQTT has run at all hours since probably 2010.
 
WMKT is certainly one of the most powerful stations in the Daytime on 1270. It is indeed 27 kW nondirectional Days. They had a CP to go to 50 kW nondirectional Days, but they decided that the power bills were prohibitive. They are very punctual with their power reductions. WXYT was interfering with the CH and Night signal. The interfering signal was as high as 10 mV/m at times. WXYT claimed that they were operating as licensed. Meanwhile, they got two 250 watt translators close to 900-1000 feet HAAT, and they actually have good signals, so there is really no need for more power Day or Night. They could have put up another row of towers and been close to 20 kW Night, but with the translators, there's really no need for it now.
 
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I remember WQTT being built as WUCO with something like 6 towers. Is it still a multi-tower directional? Even in the 70s, Mid-America could have built 6 FMs for the cost of that directional AM.


schmave said:
In and around Columbus, Ohio, it's classic rock WQTT from Marysville, 30 miles northwest of downtown.
It was oldies from about 2010-18 before changing to classic rock in January 2019.
Radio Locator lists WQTT at 500 watts, although Wikipedia says 1,000. The equivalent of its main lobe to the southeast over much of the Columbus area, with another main lobe to the west over Marysville, is probably considerably more than 1,000 watts. That pattern I mention is the night pattern that WQTT has run at all hours since probably 2010.
Click to expand...
 
East Tennessee--Daytime, WLIK, Newport TN.
Night: (monitoring off the Knoxville SDR) A hodgepodge of WBOJ "Boomer 102.5", WLIK, WQTT and something in Spanish. This evening WBOJ dominates.
In the past WXYT has snuck down here near sunset.

Retro/other: WLIK makes it to the Central Indiana SDR often, especially before sunset.
 
When WXYT was 5 kW DA-N, the pattern had one of the two symmetrical maxima close to South, so it was actually in the "ERP" range of 10 kW to the South at Night. That was one reason why they could go to 50 kW Night, they were a primary contributor to just about any station, except to the West toward WHBF/WKBF. They just had to reduce 10% in field toward those stations. And of course, to the North other than toward WMKT, the sky is the limit.

Here's the Archived record of the old WXYT pattern from the Cavell Mertz website.

https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngin...pe=Appl&sAppIDNumber=69496&sHours=N&Archive=Y
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: weak WWCA
Nightime: WXYT or WLIK most likely stations besides very weak WWCA

DX/RETRO: others heard in the past include WKZT (Fulton, KY), WNLS (Talahassee, FL), WMKT (Charlevoix, MI), XERPL (Leon, Mexico), Radio Reloj, (Camaguey, Cuba)
 
gr8oldies said:
I remember WQTT being built as WUCO with something like 6 towers. Is it still a multi-tower directional? Even in the 70s, Mid-America could have built 6 FMs for the cost of that directional AM.
Click to expand...

They're still directional, yes. Given that they've been running the night pattern at all hours for roughly a decade, I don't know how any towers actually are in use. If the info at Radio Locator that says the night pattern uses two of their six towers is correct, then we have our answer.
I remember hearing WUCO in St. Marys back in the early 90s when they were running the day pattern and in their first run with the oldies format. It was weak, but there, and that's about a 60-mile haul. No idea how well they carry in that direction with the current pattern, but the maps make it look like they throw a decent null out that way.
 
WLBR from Lebanon, the Pennsylvania Lebanon, hi, some 30-35 miles to the south of here, is the daytime occupant.

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WLBR&service=AM&h=D

The listening den here is north of Pottsville on that map, right at that purple contour.

Odd ; one day I was taking a break outside some house job and fooling around on the GE SR 2. The frequency was 1270. I was maybe a mile north of the location where the tower of both WPAM 1450 and the five towers of WPPA 1360 bookend Route 61. The arrays themselves can't be more than a mile apart.
Someone under the award winning full-service regional WLBR was playing this grunge music. On a guess, I tuned to WPAM 1450. Yup. They were the station underneath WLBR.
I figure that the 1270 spur was some mixing result of WPAM 1450 minus WPPA 1360 = 1270. Yet there was no sign of WPPA. Just audio from WPAM.

Nighttimes I have just one additional 1270. That's CJTN from one November. Nice taped ID from 'em, too.
 
West Central Georgia:

Days: Local WBOJ Columbus GA 5000/188 Oldies strong signal

Nights: Weaker WBOJ, also have heard WLIK Newport TN 5000/500 Oldies and WQKR Portland TN 1000/43 news/talk/oldies
 
radioman148 said:
Goodbye to WKBF
Click to expand...

Sad. 94 years of broadcasting. Best AM signal in the market. Part of an AM/FM/TV combo afilliated with CBS. I worked there for four years in the mid-70s. Mostly on the radio side doing morning drive news with Paul Meincke. We had a great group there, most of whom went on to bigger and better things. In addition to Paul, we also had Catherine Johns and Greg Schulte (Arizona Diamondbacks/Cardinals PBP) in the house. I was part of a 7-person news team. Dedicated just to the radio side.

Unfortunately the combo was eventually split up, and while WHBF-TV, channel 4, continues to do reasonably well, WHBF-AM (WKBF) was unable to survive ownership and format changes. I honestly thought their last flip to Spanish Programming on a that good signal might work, but obviously it did not
 
cyberdad said:
Sad. 94 years of broadcasting. Best AM signal in the market. Part of an AM/FM/TV combo afilliated with CBS. I worked there for four years in the mid-70s. Mostly on the radio side doing morning drive news with Paul Meincke. We had a great group there, most of whom went on to bigger and better things. In addition to Paul, we also had Catherine Johns and Greg Schulte (Arizona Diamondbacks/Cardinals PBP) in the house. I was part of a 7-person news team. Dedicated just to the radio side.

Unfortunately the combo was eventually split up, and while WHBF-TV, channel 4, continues to do reasonably well, WHBF-AM (WKBF) was unable to survive ownership and format changes. I honestly thought their last flip to Spanish Programming on a that good signal might work, but obviously it did not
Click to expand...

Some good people at that station including yourself. It's sad watching the demise of the AM band that we grew up listening to.
 
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