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AM Frequency of the Week: 1290

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cyberdad

cyberdad

(Travel day for me Sunday, so I'm posting a bit early)

Crystal Lake, IL.....

Day: 1290 is almost....but not quite...empty. Usually, I get a very weak signal from WZTI, Milwaukee. On a really good day in winter, WIRL has been known to come in.

Night: WIRL rules. But WHIO is also present as often as not. More likely to overtake WIRL from time to time at sunrise when they power up. I've also heard CJBK from London, ON in the mix on very rare occasions. WKLJ from Sparta, WI at sunrise on 5kw day power on even more rare occasions.

Retro: I used to hear KOIL from Omaha mixing with WIRL on a fairly regular nighttime basis. But not for at least 25-30 years.
 
I seem to know more about 1290 than most of the other regionals.
East Tennessee: Days---nothing but at any hint of daytime skip, plus the sunrise and sunset times, it's WHKY, Hickory, NC but sometimes WHIO, Dayton.
Night-----it's almost all WHKC. I've also logged WDZY, Virginia

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio area. WHIO was my local in the Dayton area, nut with a propensity for stations to be on day facilities at night part or full time, several stations have been heard underneath, especially in nulls.
WHKY was easy to hear underneath, and likely more so now. I had also caught WIRL underneath WHIO on a number of occasions.
WKLB, Manchester KY would make it through.....especially with an apparent error on its license allowing them to sign on with full power at 5:30am in December. (Their "weather" jingle stood out under WHIO if you couldn't hear the rest of the audio. WDZY, Colonial Heights, VA (one-time Radio Disney station) also made pre-sunrise appearances, WCBL, Benton, KY, also was a frequent catch (just heard it on the Edinburgh IN SDR). Catching WHIO off once near sunset, WOMP in Bellaire OH made an appearance.

WHIO can get out. I've heard it at night in Lafayette IN, mixed with WIRL and others. On.a particularly good winter daytime skip day, I heard WHIO in Nashville (2pm Central) along with WHIO-1410.
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

1290 is a tough frequency for me thanks to the nearby WRDZ 4.2 kW transmitter on 1300. But when it was WTAQ, 1 kW and a few miles more distant, WIRL Peoria, Ill., was an occasional visitor, as was WHIO Dayton, Ohio. At least once, I caught KOIL Omaha.

Since the power upgrade, the only times I've heard WIRL and WHIO on a night in 2015 when 1300 was off during a protracted ownership change.
 
South Mississippi:

Day: nothing. WTYL Tylertown, MS is a 1kw daytimer playing a country format, but I've never heard them, even at sunrise/sunset.
Night: WHKY Hickory, NC, and sometimes WCBL Benton, KY
 
From Pickerington, Ohio, a very listenable WHIO daytime and jumble at night. They throw a deep null almost exactly in my direction at night.
It's easy to tell driving between Cincinnati and Columbus at night when you're going in and out of their nulls, even that close to Dayton. It can completely disappear and then return within the span of just a few miles.
 
Sometimes during the day I can hear a very weak KIVY Crockett TX. At sunset, the frequency gets busier - KIVY is still there and KRGE Weslaco TX often dominates. I've also heard KJEF Jennings LA, and KWFS in Wichita Falls TX. At night a jumble with KRGE, KIVY, and KWFS sometimes coming to the top. I've also ID'd WHKY a couple of times (maybe on day power).
 
wildthangjim said:
Sometimes during the day I can hear a very weak KIVY Crockett TX. At sunset, the frequency gets busier - KIVY is still there and KRGE Weslaco TX often dominates. I've also heard KJEF Jennings LA, and KWFS in Wichita Falls TX. At night a jumble with KRGE, KIVY, and KWFS sometimes coming to the top. I've also ID'd WHKY a couple of times (maybe on day power).
Click to expand...
I've never heard KIVY in Tennessee, but I've been to Crockett and stayed at a motel where I could see the tower. I took a photo of the station but can't put my hands on it right now.
 
DFW, Texas

Daytime: A fair KWFS Wichita Falls, TX with news/talk.
Sunset: KWFS disappears and I can sometimes hear KRGE Weslaco, TX R. Vida.
Nights: KIVY Crockett, TX is the usual occupant of the channel with standards/oldies. Can also hear KOIL Omaha regularly. I have logged WHKY Hickory, NC a few times, likely on day power.
 
I'm currently on a road trip with my youngest son doing what amounts to a circle route across the Western Great Lakes. Saturday night (9/3) was a stop in Thunder Bay, Ontario. 1290 was CFRW (Winnipeg) with WIRL audible at times underneath. Then last night, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, it was CJBK (London, ON) and WZTI (Milwaukee) doing battling it out. Both had pretty good signals, but CJBK was getting the better of it.

I've never heard WZTI at my home location at night, but there it was in the Canadian north woods, more than 100 miles north of Lake Superior. (I seem to have found the gathering place for highly directional nighttime signals that are elusive almost everywhere else).
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: nothing
Nightime: WIRL or WHIO

DX/RETRO: others heard in the past include KOIL (Omaha, NE), KTRN (Wichita Falls, TX), KIVY (Crockett, TX), WNIL (Niles, MI), WZTI (Greenfield, WI), WCBL (Benton, KY), WKLB (Manchester, KY), WHKY (Hickory, NC)
 
A lot of those regionals used to rotate and come into Queens NYC circa the Sixties at night and early hours ....
WHIO, KOIL, WIRL Peoria, WICE Rhode Island, etc.
The most intriguing, though, was the daytime reception of uber-directional WGLI on Long Island -- the closest 1290 to me of them all. I once had a copy of their engineering map that showed them sending some laser through the COL village of Babylon and then pre-heating seafood all the way to Bermuda.
In the daytime. Really.
 
tvnut said:
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

1290 is a tough frequency for me thanks to the nearby WRDZ 4.2 kW transmitter on 1300. But when it was WTAQ, 1 kW and a few miles more distant, WIRL Peoria, Ill., was an occasional visitor, as was WHIO Dayton, Ohio. At least once, I caught KOIL Omaha.

Since the power upgrade, the only times I've heard WIRL and WHIO on a night in 2015 when 1300 was off during a protracted ownership change.
Click to expand...
Update: Under heavy hash from 1300 WRDZ, 1290 WHIO Dayton is making its way here this overnight. Bottom-of-hour local news and ID very clear for a change. There’s a hint of at least one other station as well. Enhanced conditions tonight for a bit compared to the last few.
 
Huntsville, AL - Daytime is a weak but audible WBTG, Sheffield, AL. During critical hours have heard WHKY, Hickory, NC, at times very strong. At night have heard a variety of signals, including WHIO.

Of note - During the peak of the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 I was also dxing AM and WHKY came in loud and clear here on day power for approximately 30 minutes. Also KMOX and numerous other stations were saturating the dial on day power during this event, which wouldn't normally be heard.
 
Ke4kls said:
Huntsville, AL - Daytime is a weak but audible WBTG, Sheffield, AL. During critical hours have heard WHKY, Hickory, NC, at times very strong. At night have heard a variety of signals, including WHIO.

Of note - During the peak of the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 I was also dxing AM and WHKY came in loud and clear here on day power for approximately 30 minutes. Also KMOX and numerous other stations were saturating the dial on day power during this event, which wouldn't normally be heard.
Click to expand...
I had that same experience with the eclipse in totality in East Tennessee with several stations, but didn't check 1290
 
Here in the Seattle area it's generally KUMA, Pendleton OR at night, mixing with a generally weaker KGVO, Missoula, MT. I've logged KPAY Chico and KAZA Gilroy CA in the past.

KUMA is a powerhouse of sorts. Generally a strong signal for a regional that's 200 miles to the east, plus on the other side of the Cascades. It was really cool hearing them during the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: Normally just splatter from nearby local pest 1350 KXTN. During winter daytime skywave I've heard KIVY in Crockett, TX, and KRGE in Weslaco, TX.

Sunset: KRGE is usually first to appear, followed by KIVY and later KWFS in Wichita Falls, TX.

Night: KWFS is most dominant. Aiming NE, KIVY is in/out. Aiming E/W, KJEF is occasionally heard. KRGE only pops up on rare occasions.

Sunrise: KIVY comes to the fore when it goes to day power. A few times I've heard weak Spanish-language talk and music underneath, which might be XEIX in Jiquilpan de Juárez. Later, KRGE dominates when it goes to daytime pattern, and KWFS comes back into the mix briefly at day power.

DX: One-time loggings include KCUB in Tuscson (nighttime - sports), KDMS in El Dorado, AR (sunset - southern gospel), and WNBN in Meridian, MS (sunset - soul/r&b - now retired). Also, I sometimes used to hear XEFAC "La Poderosa" in Salvatierra at sunrise before it was retired.
 
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