• 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: 1430:

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 miles northwest of Chicago, 60 miles southwest of Milwaukee, 10 miles north of Sleepy Hollow.....

Days: A very weak WEEF from Highland Park, IL. 1600 watts with a pattern that sends most of its signal over Lake Michigan. Distance is about 30 miles. WCMY, from Ottawa, IL is sometimes audible underneath. 500 watts ND. About 75 miles to my southwest.

Nights: At present 1430 is slightly less crowded here than most of the (former) "regional" channels. Still a jumble. WXNT, Indianapoilis, most likely to rise to the top,,,but not all that often.

Retro: Until earlier this year, KZQZ, St. Louis, dominated 1430 here at night. But they were shut down by the FCC, due to legal issues involving the owner, Back in the 60s and 70s when KZQZ and WXNT were WIL and WIRE respectively, those two fought it out on a nightly basis. Sometimesl KELI from Tulsa would intrude on the donnybrook.

Other location: A year ago this month, I was staying at a hotel in Collinsville, IL. Saint Louis metro area about 15 miles east-northeast of downtown Saint Louis. I was in the car coming back from dinner, when I caught the KZQZ pattern change, One minute it was "50kw monster". Next minute it wasc totally vanished. I do mean TOTALLY. i can't recall ever encountering anything like that involving a signal that strong with that much power im its primary coverage area going to absolutely nothing. Then, of course, the next morning, the complete reversed happened.
 
Last edited:
In the near north Chicago suburbs it's all WEEF from Highland Park, Il. I'm less than 10 miles from their towers. Daytime they're totally dominant. At night a bit weaker, but still there and hard to null completely.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime it's the local WEEF. Nighttime it's a mix, usually with a sports station on top. I've identified WXNT Indianapolis but I suppose there could be others... for some reason this frequency gets a lot of fading for me so I am not sure if I'm hearing other stations or it's just WXNT fading in and out.

Critical Hours: I have gotten KZQZ and didn't realize they were gone. They came in pretty strong around sunset. Also there's WION in Ionia, Michigan (western part of the state) which I can sometimes hear before they power down for the night.
 
Baldwin County, AL...

Daytime: Nothing
Night: WYKG Carrollton, GA; KSHJ Houston, TX; WLTG Panama City, FL.

None of them are in enough to be considered regulars at night, despite WLTG apparently throwing a nice lobe my way.
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Chicago by the lakeshore:

. Also there's WION in Ionia, Michigan (western part of the state) which I can sometimes hear before they power down for the night.
Click to expand...

Forgot about WION. With KZQZ gone, WION is fairly regular around sunrise at my location when they power up to 5kw.
 
I was not able to hear KZQZ over the air because WEEF dominates at my location. However, back in the day WIL was a good listen at night.
 
East Tennessee: Daytime. Not much of anything. The closest station of any kind is WCWC, Williamsburg KY, which can drift into extreme northern parts of the area. Night, among the mess that is 1430, WXNT makes it to the top most often. I caught a Classic Hits station tonight on the Knoxville SDR, but no ID.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio area. Daytime: All WIRE/WXNT days. Nights, KZQZ was regular last I was there and could pay attention. Also remember CKFH.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WEEF - not the best of signals, but listenable
Nightime: very weak WEEF mixing with others, WXNT common catch

DX/RETRO: KELI (Tulsa, OK), WXNT (Indianapolis, IN), WCMY (Ottawa, IL), WWWQ (Panama City, FL), WWHK (Mt. Clemens, MI), WDIC (Clinchco, OH), WZQZ (St. Louis, MO) and the lone Canadian CJCL (ex-CKFH) (Toronto, ON)

Speaking of WEEF their previous transmitter site (before they move and diplexed with WKTA) was at the intersection of Aptakisic Rd. and Weiland Rd. in Prairie View, IL. Back in 1980/1990's I used to worked for a company located in Lincolnshire, IL just half a mile from their Prairie View site. WEEF's signal used to create severe interference with our electronic experiments and equipment in our MRI lab. We had to do extensive shielding in order to cut down the interference from WEEF.

BTW the current city of license is Deerfield, IL even though in the past they IDed as WEEF Highland Park - Deerfield at the top of the hour. Their current transmitter site is in Northbrook, IL (I-294 & Dundee Road). Thier original transmitter site was at Lake Cook Road and Pfingsten Rd in Deerfield, IL before they moved to Prairie View site sometimes in 1987.
 
West Central Georgia:

Days: Nothing - adjacent frequency to local 1420 WRCG Columbus GA

Critical Hours: Have heard WDAL Dalton GA 2500/72 Bulldog Country and WRMG Red Bay AL 1000D Classic country

Nights: Hints of many stations but no clear IDs caught yet
 
In the Phoenix area this week, KLO comes in well at night. So far I haven’t been able to identify specific other signals underneath it. In the daytime all I get is bleed-over from 1440, a strong local.

I’m going to keep trying at night, and see if I can hear anything well enough to identify during a KLO fade-out.
 
Just got another one on 1430 from my Chicago location, one which hasn't been mentioned in this thread. WPLN in Madison, TN came in quite well... so well that when they said Madison I assumed they meant the one in Wisconsin. I just heard it at 7 PM local time (which is near sunset here.) They broadcast at 15KW during the day, and I assume that's what I picked up. Anyhow, I thought I'd mention this as another station on 1430 that people could try to catch.
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Just got another one on 1430 from my Chicago location, one which hasn't been mentioned in this thread. WPLN in Madison, TN came in quite well... so well that when they said Madison I assumed they meant the one in Wisconsin. I just heard it at 7 PM local time (which is near sunset here.) They broadcast at 15KW during the day, and I assume that's what I picked up. Anyhow, I thought I'd mention this as another station on 1430 that people could try to catch.
Click to expand...

I've never heard that one, but 15kw should easily be able to make the hop into the Chicago area. Especially with KZQZ out of the way. I'll have to try for them around sunrise and/or sunset. Thanks for the tip.
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Just got another one on 1430 from my Chicago location, one which hasn't been mentioned in this thread. WPLN in Madison, TN came in quite well... so well that when they said Madison I assumed they meant the one in Wisconsin. I just heard it at 7 PM local time (which is near sunset here.) They broadcast at 15KW during the day, and I assume that's what I picked up. Anyhow, I thought I'd mention this as another station on 1430 that people could try to catch.
Click to expand...

Yes I'll have to give that one a try around sunset. Should be doable this time of year. Thanks!
 
From Carrollton, MO:
Daytime: KROL (Formerly KAOL until 2019.), Carrollton, MO.
Nighttime: Also KROL. I may have keard KZQZ, in KROL's (Then KAOL's.) null, in the evening, I'm not sure though.
 
In the good old days of the 1970s in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, it was a nightly battle between WIL St. Louis, WIRE Indianapolis, and CKFH Toronto. It was easy to tell CKFH when the Maple Leafs were playing thanks to the screechy voice of play-by-play man Foster Hewitt, the FH of CKFH. It was often atop the frequency.

Today from the same locale, it's more of a mess even with KZQZ gone, it seems. KZQZ was more dominant with its most recent directional pattern. WEEF has always been out of play at night, but it was recently overridden early one morning by WION Ionia, Mich, with 4.7 kw.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: A bit of splatter from close-by local pest 1350 KXTN. I've heard KTBZ in Tulsa a few times during winter daytime skywave.

Sunset: KSHJ in Houston to the east and KTBZ to the north/northeast. Urban gospel KEES in Gladewater, TX, and classic country KROO in Breckenridge, TX, can often be heard under KTBZ.

Night: Similar to sunset with KSHJ having a weaker and less consistent signal and KROO dropping out. Aiming northwest, XETT "Radio Tlaxcala" occassionally pops in/out.

Sunrise: Similar to nighttime but with KSHJ stronger and KROO back under KTBZ when it goes to day power. To the northwest, a weak KLO in Ogden, UT, always comes up for a while.

DX/RETRO: Back in 2016 I logged KEZW in Aurora, CO, once at sunset and both WOWW in Germantown, TN, and XERAC in Campeche (now retired) once at night. I used to hear XEWD in Ciudad Miguel Alemán around sunrise, but it must be retired.
 
WION went to 4.7 kW nondirectional Daytime a few years ago. Before it was 5 kW directional in a generally Northern direction. The 3 tower DA uses 330 watts Night. It was one of the few stations that the FCC made a Class B without applying. This despite the fact that it didn't cover it's COL with a Nighttime Interference Free signal. The NIF is quite high, and the pattern maximum is away from Ionia. The WEEF application probably shows it.

WEEF 1430 32 mV/m NIF Contour
WION 1430 35 mV/m NIF Contour
 
Last edited:
I didn't realize until rereading this thread that KZQZ had been cancelled. The correspondence says that the facility remains protected pending competitive applications or FCC auction of the facility.
 
SchButroedingers Cat said:
I didn't realize until rereading this thread that KZQZ had been cancelled. The correspondence says that the facility remains protected pending competitive applications or FCC auction of the facility.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised either way....if someone wanted it or if nobody did. It's a big signal by day, and still covers the bulk of the St. Louis metro at night, (My experience last year at a hotel directly in the KZQZ nighttime null notwithstanding). But despite the potential for far-flung coverage, St. Louis has no shortage of bigger AM signals in town.

If someone does pick it up, my guess is that it would almost certainly be an ethnic or religious broadcaster. Then the question would be would the interested party want to maintain the KZQZ footpring or downgrade to something purely local. (If I'm not mistaken, 1490 in the St. Louis market is currently available for that approach).
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom