am 740

[ddsparxx]

I think I once heard KRMG under Toronto earlier this year at night in VA but couldn't prove it was the Tulsa station.

 

[jd]

PS I will say the last time I was in Dallas, about three weeks ago, 740 was its usual jumble. I barely could make out KTRH - surprisingly even with its northern null, a patient listen and a close ear often can pull KTRH out of the slop there - and maybe KRMG was somewhere else there, but I couldn't tell.

There's another possible station, KCMC Texarkana. With their narrow 1,000 watt east/west pattern to protect KRMG and KTRH, they can occasionally be heard in Dallas. I'd imagine the same thing could happen to the east, too, like over into Mississippi or maybe a little further if conditions were right.

 

[schmave]

PS I will say the last time I was in Dallas, about three weeks ago, 740 was its usual jumble. I barely could make out KTRH - surprisingly even with its northern null, a patient listen and a close ear often can pull KTRH out of the slop there - and maybe KRMG was somewhere else there, but I couldn't tell.

There's another possible station, KCMC Texarkana. With their narrow 1,000 watt east/west pattern to protect KRMG and KTRH, they can occasionally be heard in Dallas. I'd imagine the same thing could happen to the east, too, like over into Mississippi or maybe a little further if conditions were right.

This is true. Can anyone from east Texas attest to how narrow the pattern is toward Houston? I've been told KTRH can be heard with a decent signal daytime as far north as Tyler and Longview. I am guessing KCMC would disappear pretty quickly to the south in that case. I personally have heard KTRH with a decent signal as far north as Ennis, only 40 miles south of downtown Dallas.

 

[jd]

Can anyone from east Texas attest to how narrow the pattern is toward Houston? I've been told KTRH can be heard with a decent signal daytime as far north as Tyler and Longview. I am guessing KCMC would disappear pretty quickly to the south in that case. I personally have heard KTRH with a decent signal as far north as Ennis, only 40 miles south of downtown Dallas.

See for yourself here: http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/305362-2501.pdf The KCMC signal drops drastically just a few miles north and south of the site, which is about four miles west of the Texas/Louisiana state line.

As for the KTRH signal in the Tyler/Longview area, it's there, but I'd call it "listenable" during the day on a car radio, nothing really spectacular. At night (with the pattern change) it drops well below that level and it gets stepped on by a number of other signals, including what seems to be maybe two (or more) from Mexico. It's a real mess, with KTRH rarely in the clear.

The strongest Houston area signal in Tyler-Longview is often KGOW by a wide margin, especially in the morning until at least a couple of hours past sunrise. The same thing happens in the afternoon until they hit the night pattern and virtually disappear, just like KTRH. In the winter in East Texas KGOW is basically listenable all day long, but unlike KTRH the signal strength can vary wildly throughout the day. During the times I mentioned, a car radio set to scan will usually stop on 1560, and at times it seems like a [strong] local. Not so with KTRH.

 

[JohnnyOhJohnny]

Does anyone know why WPAQ 740 Mt. Airy signs off at night? what station is it protecting? that is not a bad station. It makes me think of Mayberry.

 

[LibertyNT]

KGOW comes in pretty good In the Dallas Area. Its Pretty solid right now.
as for KTRH I've only heard them once.

 

[cyberdad]

I live about 350km (220 miles) east of Toronto and sometimes have VOCM sneak in here. Here in Canada, everybody knows that Newfoundlanders generally like to be heard! 

~BG

My daughter learned that first hand when she spent a semester at Laval University in Quebec City to study in French, and had a Newfie roomate. That would have been Chantal O'Driscoll, who's finest hour was on St. Patrick's day.  That's when the two girls  found themselves being locked out of their dorm on account of getting back too late from partying!  They stood outside singing until someone got annoyed enough to let them in!  ;D

Anyway back on topic... At home northwest of Chicago, CFZM rules with a very strong nighttime signal.  When they fade, KRMG is usually what sneaks in.  This week I'm back at the place where we go on the beach in Pensacola.  740 is a jumble here at night, but KRMG winds up on top more often than KTRH....which has always struck me as a little odd.  During the daytime, 740 from Montgomery (WLWI?) is barely audible, but alone on the channel.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I am just curious if zoomer radio 740, KTRH. and KCBS Interfere with each other anywhere in the country?

KTRH often interferes with Zoomer here in the Nashville area. Tulsa (KRMG) is usually the larger source of interference. KCBS is not part of the picture around here.

You can pull in any semblance of KTRH in Nashville? Pretty impressive considering they send less than 200 watts ERP in your direction at night. I've never been behind their pattern at night (at least in the local area; I now am in Ohio and in a direct line between Houston and Toronto), but I assume it's a pretty impressive directional array considering all the juice they put over metro Houston after dark.
Here are my observations from 740 in other areas I've lived or visited. It's a channel I almost always make sure to check out as it's one of the more interesting ones for DXers:
Columbus - As in most of this part of the country, Toronto owns this channel at night. A blanket signal to the point you can't hear anything else even in the rare times it fades.
Dallas - Depending on the night, you can hear KTRH but it's mostly jumble. When I stayed in Fort Worth during Hurricane Ike, I couldn't listen to KTRH day or night.
Florida panhandle - I haven't been there for about six years, but KTRH owns the channel around Panama City after dark. By no means it is a killer signal - at times it's pretty strong while at other times it fades fairly deep - but I don't remember any other signal being dependable at all.
Memphis - Stopped there for a night while moving home from Houston last November, and I think it was KRMG putting in a decent signal (4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 10). Not surprisingly, no KTRH, but I think Toronto makes its presence known that far south on occasion.

I heard Toronto in Sarasota,FL in the rental car in January.

 

[quadraphonic]

Does anyone know why WPAQ 740 Mt. Airy signs off at night?

7 watts = $?
0 watts = $0

Plus they been spinning the wax and serving the community all day, they need a break! ;D

 

[schmave]

I am just curious if zoomer radio 740, KTRH. and KCBS Interfere with each other anywhere in the country?

KTRH often interferes with Zoomer here in the Nashville area. Tulsa (KRMG) is usually the larger source of interference. KCBS is not part of the picture around here.

You can pull in any semblance of KTRH in Nashville? Pretty impressive considering they send less than 200 watts ERP in your direction at night. I've never been behind their pattern at night (at least in the local area; I now am in Ohio and in a direct line between Houston and Toronto), but I assume it's a pretty impressive directional array considering all the juice they put over metro Houston after dark.
Here are my observations from 740 in other areas I've lived or visited. It's a channel I almost always make sure to check out as it's one of the more interesting ones for DXers:
Columbus - As in most of this part of the country, Toronto owns this channel at night. A blanket signal to the point you can't hear anything else even in the rare times it fades.
Dallas - Depending on the night, you can hear KTRH but it's mostly jumble. When I stayed in Fort Worth during Hurricane Ike, I couldn't listen to KTRH day or night.
Florida panhandle - I haven't been there for about six years, but KTRH owns the channel around Panama City after dark. By no means it is a killer signal - at times it's pretty strong while at other times it fades fairly deep - but I don't remember any other signal being dependable at all.
Memphis - Stopped there for a night while moving home from Houston last November, and I think it was KRMG putting in a decent signal (4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 10). Not surprisingly, no KTRH, but I think Toronto makes its presence known that far south on occasion.

I heard Toronto in Sarasota,FL in the rental car in January.

Nice pickuip, especially considering all else available on 740 in that part of the country. Of course, January is part of the best time of the year for skywave.

 

[gar hi]

I woke up early this morning because I couldn't sleep, so I got the radio out to see what I could get. This was around 6 am.

So I ended up on 740 because that third station in addition to WYGM and KTRH was coming in almost as good as KTRH at times. WYGM is still the dominant station though even when it's nulled but KTRH is still strong enough to get their IDs.

This third unidentified station was definitely newstalk. KRMG from Tulsa seems to be the most likely only because it's closest. I looked at their signal pattern map and they do send an equal amount of signal to the east and west. But if you look at the nighttime signal of KCBS, it seems they throw most all their signal to the SE in a big lobe which definitely still favors the direction of Florida though we're not in the exact direction.

I guess getting some ID from this unknown talk station will be my next goal.

 

[BRNout]

I woke up early this morning because I couldn't sleep, so I got the radio out to see what I could get. This was around 6 am.

So I ended up on 740 because that third station in addition to WYGM and KTRH was coming in almost as good as KTRH at times. WYGM is still the dominant station though even when it's nulled but KTRH is still strong enough to get their IDs.

This third unidentified station was definitely newstalk. KRMG from Tulsa seems to be the most likely only because it's closest. I looked at their signal pattern map and they do send an equal amount of signal to the east and west. But if you look at the nighttime signal of KCBS, it seems they throw most all their signal to the SE in a big lobe which definitely still favors the direction of Florida though we're not in the exact direction.

I guess getting some ID from this unknown talk station will be my next goal.

What you caught was most likely CFZM Toronto. Lately, they've been running talk programming late at night, including a talk show that is not unlike Coast to Coast (but even more fringe). Fell asleep listening to their light pop oldies music one night and woke up again around midnight or 1 am to this talk program. It seems that they've added this within the past few months.

Let's not forget that CFZM's big signal certainly can get into Florida at night without breaking a sweat, so they should have been part of your mix on 740.

 

[gr8oldies]

In East Tennessee, CKZM is dominant but I can get KRMG pretty often. Cox usually doesn't neglect pattern issues, though I did hear Dayton's WHIO-1290 a couple of nights last week and I usually don't.

 

[gar hi]

I was wonfering why I didn't think I could hear CFMZ in the background. Down here, they drift in now and then and they can be easily identified by their music.

Maybe that was the other talk station I heard. I'll have to listen harder again late night before midnight if that's when they do their talk format.

 

[cyberdad]

I'm in Canton, OH tonight. I drove here early today from near Toronto with the car radio on CFZM, which was clearly audible all day during my drive. Hopped in the car earlier this evening (after sunset) to run a short errand, and CFZM was getting pounded by a high school football game....broadcast over an old-fashioned telephone line. Presumably a small station somewhere that "forgot" to power down during a high school sporting event. So much for protection of a 50kw ND nighttime signal. Never caught an ID or anything else to provide insight as to what I was hearing.

 

[ddsparxx]

About 5 AM in the morning I heard Tulsa's KRMG a little over 1000 miles away when I null out CFZM.

 

[trusty]

I'm in Canton, OH tonight. I drove here early today from near Toronto with the car radio on CFZM, which was clearly audible all day during my drive. Hopped in the car earlier this evening (after sunset) to run a short errand, and CFZM was getting pounded by a high school football game....broadcast over an old-fashioned telephone line. Presumably a small station somewhere that "forgot" to power down during a high school sporting event. So much for protection of a 50kw ND nighttime signal. Never caught an ID or anything else to provide insight as to what I was hearing.

Maybe they didn't "forget" to power down. ??? There has been mention of the FCC granting "High School Football Special Temporary Authority", but I haven't had had time to research that. Comments?

 

[gr8oldies]

The FCC grants no such thing.

 

[w9wi]

Maybe they didn't "forget" to power down. ??? There has been mention of the FCC granting "High School Football Special Temporary Authority", but I haven't had had time to research that. Comments?

This seems to be a widely believed myth.

There's a provision in the rules that allows stations to use daytime facilities at night **on a non-commercial basis** in case of emergency. Tornados threaten the town, flooding, stuff like that. I've heard this kind of thing from stations that are about to be hit by hurricanes, and that's certainly the kind of thing the rules were intended to cover.

I suppose if you REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY stretch it, you could argue that the financial position of the station is an emergency condition that can be alleviated only by carrying the station's most popular program at full daytime power. But even if you're willing to go that far out on a limb, the rules still say the nighttime operation must be **non-commercial**.

 

[B Lewis]

In northeastern NC, I get 740 AM from Toronto almost like a local station most evenings after "critical hours'. That's on a car radio and on a Grundig Worldband Receiver inside the house, with nothing but the radio's internal antenna.