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AM Frequency of the Week: 890

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far norhwest suburban Chicago...;\

Day: All WLS with a good signal 53 miles NNW of their 85-year tower near Tinley Park, IL.

Night: Similar to daytime, but on rare occasions, I.veheard UNID Spanish underneath,

Other Location: On the Gulf near Pensacola WLS and R. Progreso from Cuba. More often than not, Progreso gets the better of it. But sometimes WLS stays on top all evening. WLS used to be relatively easy on the west coast, until KDXU and others came on. And, as posted previously, I heard WLS on a car radio at Kaena Point on Oahu, Hawaii. (About 38 miles NW of Honolulu.

Also heard WLS a few times on the now-defunct Arctic SDR in Norway,
 
Kw - Melbourne FL

890 - CMBC - Chambas - Radio Progreso - "La Onda de la Alegria" 2023

890 - WLS - Chicago IL - AM 890 - News, talk - last noted in 2017
 
Old location (Oakland, CA) - Daytime, a weak but audible KVMX Olivehurst, CA, serving the Sacramento market. I don't remember much nighttime activity in Oakland on this channel.

New location (Denver, CO) - Daytime, nothing. Nighttime, WLS at moderate levels of strength, though often having to deal with a little spillover from 880 KRVN, which often is like a local at night.

Eclipse location from last weekend (Farmington, NM) - Nothing daytime; nighttime, WLS and KDXU fighting it out like two tomcats in a sack.
 
Near north Chicago suburbs: days WLS with a good signal, night same. On my trips to the west coast WLS used to have the best signal of any of the Chicago clears. That ended when KDXU signed on. I’ve also heard them in Hawaii in 1978 and more recently on the arctic SDR.
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago (and about eight miles from a certain transmitter) ...

Day, night and in-between, it's WLS. Can't remember their last silent period. Have never heard anything but the Big 89.
 
Wilmington Delaware

Days - Nothing

Nights - WLS if I point my radio W. Radio Progreso if I point it S. Other directions is a mix of the 2 stations.
 
tvnut said:
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago (and about eight miles from a certain transmitter) ...

Day, night and in-between, it's WLS. Can't remember their last silent period. Have never heard anything but the Big 89.
Click to expand...
I remember them being silent during my college days, but nothing coming through. Either at home in the Chicago area or in school in southeast Iowa. KOMA staying on until 2am in those days was a Godsend!
 
Into the 1970s, WLS ran public affairs programs overnight Sunday into Monday. Must have been silent before that, in the day when only WGN was on overnight Sunday into Monday in Chicago (and was off Monday into Tuesday).
 
East Tennessee: Daytime-NADA. Nights-WLS and/or the Cuban. WBAJ in Blythewood SC could be a sunset possibility with 50000 watts day and 8500 critical hours. Seems the Chicago clears all have a counterpart daytime in the Carolinas.

Retro/other: Dayton/Western Ohio: WLS with a weak daytime signal, suffering splatter from WRFD. As a teen I noted WABC actually had a better night signal as WLS and WCFL had cancellation issues. I ended up getting my nighttime top 40 fix from WABC (CKLW went to night pattern and we were excluded as I've mentioned before)/

Lafayette IN area: WLS was the only Chicago station that stopped the scan, Outside of the Lafayette stations themselves it was the strongest daytime signal. There was a News-Talker in Laurel MS that I would often hear in the morning underneath WLS, and would note the Rush Limaugh morning update. This station is apparently long-gone after a boatload of changes, and silent since 2008. Normal nighttime signal was pretty solid with some WCBS splatter, until Cuba launched Radio Taino in English with a tourism format which even caused problems for WLS as close in as Lafayette. This facility is now Radio Progreso, listed at 200kW but doubtful of that power now, but not then.

Finally Quincy, IL with a daytime signal that equalled reception in Ohio, but crossing the Mississppi sounded like suddenly your radio antenna had been reconnected.
 
From Pickerington, Ohio, nothing daytime next to local WRFD and all WLS at night. Signal is usually quite strong, including at this moment.
I haven't heard the Cuban giving WLS a hard time in quite a while. I don't remember it blotting out WLS as much as the Cuban on 670 would clobber WMAQ/WSCR, but it's definitely played a factor this far north.
As far as daytime, I've never checked where WLS' groundwave begins to break through WRFD slop. My guess is somewhere between Bellefontaine and Lima.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WLS
Nighttime: WLS

DX/Retro: WLS rules the frequency, but being the farthest of the Chicago 50 kW blow torches from me their signal is not as solid. In fact sometimes I can get a partial null, which weakens the signal enough for other stations to be audible under the WLS signal. So far the only stations I could hear with WLS on are CADZ Radio Progreso from Cuba, KQLX (Lisbon, ND), WYAM (Hartselle, AL) and KBYE (Oklahoma City, OK) during a special DX test back in 1981. With WLS being off the air I managed to log KVOZ (Laredo, TX), KDXU (St. George, UT), and HJPM Radio Galeon, Colombia.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

WLS day and night.

In the 80s I'd also occasionally hear WLS while I was in Northern California. I also have KDXU in St George, Utah listed from then, but I believe its signal was weaker than the 10 KW it has now, so that WLS could get through.
 
890 khz In Myrtle Beach SC.
Days.. faint carrier present that might be WBAJ Blythewood SC. (840 khz Spanish from Columbia SC is intelligible however; if local WNMB 900 ever gets back on the air, 890 will likely be gone but not holding my breath on that)
Nights.. typically wavery Cuban station, probably Radio Progreso, with WLS sometimes heard underneath.
 
If there was anyone left from back home in Queens NYC to write, they might be idly interested to know that 890 here in NEPA has more loggings than back there near JFK Airport.
Three logs here ; two there, hi.
890 is vacant here days -- the whole noisy &@#$#!! AM dial is vacant, in fact -- and it's WLS at night. A R.Reloj pops in every so often, and there was a tentative Venezuelan one eve. Best bet here for a 'fourth' log note is probably that 25,000 watter from outside Boston around SRS ; they send a lobe this way.
* * * * *
Back home it was WLS, only at night, of course. And an HJCE 'La Voz de Bogota' was IDed. The logbook says that one was 10,000 watts.
* * * * *
It was odd, living in NYC, maybe within a dozen air miles of 50,000-watt omni WCBS 880, to've grown up back then hearing a lot of WLS. Upon looking at their coverage and their location, WLS had to've been one of the most-listened to nighttime stations in America back in the 60's in terms of sheer numbers. I'd guess that in the Top 40 years they were well-placed among stations such as WABC, WKBW, WBZ and others like WSM, KMOX and WHAS.
 
I get that ground conductivity in the NYC area isn't good, but WLS really came in that well right next to WCBS? Skywave can do funny things.
 
Clifton, New Jersey

Days: Nothing

Nights: It's usually WLS Chicago, IL. I can also get Radio Progreso from Cuba depending on propagation. I have also received daytimer WKNV Fairlawn, VA when their local sunset is later than mine.
 
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