When I was growing up in the Bay Area, I used to listen to "The Open Line to the West Coast" on KGO, hosted by Bill Wattenburg. It seems like a different world, where teenagers would listen to AM radio shows about science and technology. My brother even got a call in once.
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AM Frequency of the Week: 810
- Thread starter cyberdad
- Start date
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:
Daytime: empty, but did hear WJPW (Rockford, MI) long time ago during daytime
Nighttime: usually WGY, sometimes WHB. WSJC (Magee, MS) and WMGC (Murfreesboro, TN) sometimes heard, but suspect they both use daytime power when they do.
DX/Retro: some DX includes KBHB (Sturgis, SD), WJJQ (Tomahawk, WI), WDDD (Johnson City, IL), WDMP (Dodgeville, WI), WCTA (Alamo, TN), WCKA (Jacksonville, AL). ZNS3 Freeport, Bahamas heard back in 1984 as was Radio Sutatenza, Bogota, Colombia with reported 120 kW. XEFW, Tampico, Mexico heard in 2002, but they are no longer on the air.
Daytime: empty, but did hear WJPW (Rockford, MI) long time ago during daytime
Nighttime: usually WGY, sometimes WHB. WSJC (Magee, MS) and WMGC (Murfreesboro, TN) sometimes heard, but suspect they both use daytime power when they do.
DX/Retro: some DX includes KBHB (Sturgis, SD), WJJQ (Tomahawk, WI), WDDD (Johnson City, IL), WDMP (Dodgeville, WI), WCTA (Alamo, TN), WCKA (Jacksonville, AL). ZNS3 Freeport, Bahamas heard back in 1984 as was Radio Sutatenza, Bogota, Colombia with reported 120 kW. XEFW, Tampico, Mexico heard in 2002, but they are no longer on the air.
I never heard Radio Sutatenza on Medium wave, but they were a cinch on 5025.
Carmichael, CA
KGO San Francisco Day & Night
At Night Nulling KGO, Just hear static
KGO San Francisco Day & Night
At Night Nulling KGO, Just hear static
Any of the Chicago DXer’s ever snag KGO back in the day? I know it’s next to impossible these days.
Back "in the day" when WGY signed off at midnight on Sunday, KGO was heard all over the East. It was actually a fairly easy catch where I was in 1960 in Cleveland, OH.
I never hear it in the Chicago area although I tried.
Would be amazing to hear KGO east of the Rockies, considering their signal is directional to the northwest and southeast.
Hawaii is in KGO's null but they can be heard there. Not real well, but it comes in.
I know it had KCMO as its legacy call letters, but a few years ago, as WHB, it was booming in one Night in Northern Michigan before Sunset in Kansas City. There wasn't a hint of WGY. It seemed to belong on the frequency with legacy three letter call letters along with WGY and KGO. WJPW/WMJH 810 Rockford, MI was heard Daytime, better in the Winter, with just 500 watts, in Genesee County. It's now 3600 watts, though maintenance at that power seems to be an issue, as it is rarely heard. It is too close to WGY to get a meaningful Class B facility. They did a couple radials on it when WAIT/WCPT increased to 5.8 kW, and before it hit Lake Michigan, the conductivity was 0.1 mS/m for quite a distance along one radial.
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They still have a fair amount of power even in the null. If 250 watt KIKI in Honolulu was well heard all over the East Coast of the US, KGO with a lot more than 250 watts to the east is not that hard a catch when WGY is off the air.
Wish I had a recording of his lengthy sign-off. 8-10 was "God's frequency".
Funny part was KGO actually helped him with the technical details to get the CP.
The 23 kW Critical Hours thing.
Yes, back in the mid 1980s. I lived about 50 miles NW of Chicago, where even the locals could be at least partially nulled out. I heard it a couple times when WGY was off.
Speaking of helping out another station in the 800s, Ed Buterbaugh (CKLW at the time, but also with WJR and WABC over the years) led an entourage to help PJB directionalize to limit interference to CKLW. But the last I heard PJB was increasing power again and in some time periods sending it North also.
Yes, I did. Super hard to receive
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