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AM Frequency of the Week: 1210

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago skyscrapers....

Days: Splatter from WRTO (1200)

Nights: WPHT from Philly is a reliable regular. Usually with a fair signal. KOKK from South Dakota sometimes appears around sunset. More common is KGYN from Guymon, OK when they "forget" to power down. I'm a little surprised the FCC hasn't sent them something by now to refresh their memory. But the question that remains is "does anybody care"?

Retro: The late WKNX from Saginaw, MI used to sneak in on daytime skywave from time to time in winter. But that was before WRTO came on. WKNX is gone, but there's another 1210 that's on the other side of the Michigan's lower peninsula. WJNL from the Traverse City area. It's a 50kw ND daytimer. I havken't heard them, but I also haven't really tried.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs during the day it's WRTO splatter. At night it's all WPHT. When I first heard this station it was WCAU.
WPHT rules the frequency at night, but sometimes I hear KGYN during critical hours.
 
East Tennessee: WSBI, Static, TN may sneak in some days. Otherwise daytime is "static", though the now-silent Dahlonega, GA station made it in occasionally. Nighttime: KGYN sometimes but usually WPHT. I've not heard WDAO, Dayton OH here but it should be do-able around sunrise or sunset.

Retro/other: In Dayton, Ohio, the daytime airwaves are dominated by WDAO with its 1000 watt daytime signal tied into sunrise in Philadelphia. Unless that has changed in recent years or since adding a translator, they sign off in summer months no later than 8pm even though they can stay on until 9:15pm in June and July. Nighttime is WPHT or sometimes KGYN.

Back home in West Central Ohio, KGYN was pretty frequent. For a time in the 1980s, after WDGN, Dahlonega GA signed on either a glitch in their license or the station mis-reading its license had management thinking they had full time, rather than daytime operation, and their 10K was widely heard and wreaking havoc with (at the time) WCAU.
 
Chicago by the lakefront:

Nothing during the day, and KPHT Philadelphia at night. Comes in pretty well, normally.

A few times around sunset I've heard WJNL in Kingsley MI. There's a lot of interference from WRTO when this happens but it can be listenable to some degree.

Haven't heard KGYN here. But I remember it well from when I was growing up in California in the 80's, it was one of the farthest stations that you could listen to consistently at night without heavy fading.
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Chicago by the lakefront:
Haven't heard KGYN here. But I remember it well from when I was growing up in California in the 80's, it was one of the farthest stations that you could listen to consistently at night without heavy fading.
Click to expand...

IME, KGYN seems to be present mostly during pre-dawn hours. (Although I have heard them at other times). With the late sunrises now upon us, these next few months might be a good time of year to see if you can pull them out from under WRTO.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: These days just splatter from WRTO.
Nightime: WPHT and KGYN are the two common ones with WPHT being the more reliable one.

DX/RETRO: Prior to WRTO comming on, WILY (Centralia, IL) was possible during daytime when conditions were good. Other notable DX in the past: WKNX (Saginaw, MI), WDGR (Dahlonega, GA), WSBI (Static, TN), WDAO (Dayton, OH), WGSF (Arlington, TN), WBIU (Denham Springs, LA), WQLS (Ozark, AL). On the foreign front: Radio Coro (Venezuela) and Radio Reloj (Colombia). Also one trans-atlantic DX on 1215kHz: Virgin Radio, England in 1997.
 
West Central Georgia:

Day: Weak WTXK "The Ticket" Montgomery AL Sports 10kW

Night: Weak WPHT Philadelphia

Other stations heard: KGYN Guymon OK 10 kW, KUBR San Juan TX 10kW, Radio Nacional Cuba 10kW?
 
CADXER said:
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: These days just splatter from WRTO.
Nightime: WPHT and KGYN are the two common ones with WPHT being the more reliable one.

DX/RETRO: Prior to WRTO comming on, WILY (Centralia, IL) was possible during daytime when conditions were good. Other notable DX in the past: WKNX (Saginaw, MI), WDGR (Dahlonega, GA), WSBI (Static, TN), WDAO (Dayton, OH), WGSF (Arlington, TN), WBIU (Denham Springs, LA), WQLS (Ozark, AL). On the foreign front: Radio Coro (Venezuela) and Radio Reloj (Colombia). Also one trans-atlantic DX on 1215kHz: Virgin Radio, England in 1997.
Click to expand...

Thanks for reminding me of WKNX I had forgotten about it. I also heard it before WRTO came on.
 
Day
Very weak KMIA Auburn WA (Regional Mexican) if anything, but often where I'm at KXLE will bleed down to the upper half of 1210. I'm 1/2 mile from their xmitter.

Nights
KHAT Laramie WY (Country) is usually on top, but sometimes 1210 is nothing but soup. CFYM Kindersley SK (Classic Hits) fades up often, and once in a while KMIA on night power. Other logs include KHKR Washington UT (ESPN), KGYN Guymon OK (Talk/Sports, ex-Country) and KRSV Afton WY (Country).

Sunsets usually bring KRPU Rocklin CA (Punjabi). A one-time log of KQEQ Fowler CA (South Asian) was made several years ago, when 1210 Sacramento was KEBR and Family Radio.
 
It's the same here as Ryan and Sonic -- WPHT -- day and night, ♫ night and day ♫. I have nothing else logged here on 1210. If I ever manage to get up off my biscuit and spin some loop out here in NE PA, I figure that 1210 might be a fairly well-stocked fishing hole at SSS or SRS. Their stick is about 100 miles SSE of me.

* * * * * * *

On those mentions of the prolific WCLY :
It was one sunset back in Queens near JFK Airport when I had then-WCAU turned on. It MUST'VE been some idle DX thing, because at my age then I wouldn't have tuned in WCAU for entertainment any more than I'd tune in WOR.
The guy on WCAU stopped talking for a brief moment.
A 'WCNT' was a faint but clear ID in the pause. I got it taped, too. I instantly dove for the White's or Jones' Radio Log. At the time, WCNT was the call sign. Same Centralia. Maybe even the same facilities as fifty years ago.

* * * * * * * *

Beer-buddy John from across the street here in Fustville PA often would get tossed out by his wife and family for leaving empty beer cans on the floor, seemingly one after every half-inning, while watching Phillies games on TV. So he'd knock on my door, belch, and ask if I could get the games on the radio (I hardly ever watch TV).
John would have a 36-pack of Miller with him, and soon we'd have the Superadio II up and at it from WPHT. John got to be a pretty good novice DXer, swivelling and tilting the radio almost instinctually for better reception.
After a few such domestic dismissals he even got real adept at repositioning the matchbook I had stuck to operate the GE SR's on-off button.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Daytime: Splatter from local 1200 WOAI. Also, on most of my radios and to varying degrees, there is an image of 1350 KXTN, which throws 5 kW at me from just three miles away.

Night: KXTN switches to its directional pattern and the image is gone. There's still some WOAI splatter, though. I hear KGYN and KUBR, a Spanish-language Christian station in San Juan, TX. KGYN is usually most dominant.

Sunrise: Aiming E/W, I often briefly hear a weak WMPS in Bartlett, TN, playing oldies/nostalgia tunes when it signs on for the day.

DX/Retro: I once logged a weak WLRO in Denham Springs, LA, a few years ago before it went off air.
 
WJNL has to be one of the worst 50kW ND signals in the country. I can barely receive them in Manistee, less than 50 miles from its tower. 580 WTCM (50kW, but with a null in my direction) and 1310 WCCW (15kW, also with a null in my direction) are stronger. Also, they drop all the way to 2.5kW during critical hours
 
Isn't the ground conductivity pretty bad up that way though? I can see where even a 50K on 1210 would struggle at 50 miles if that's the case.
For my money, KDKA is the worst 50K in the country when it comes to groundwave. Bad phasing less than 40 miles from its tower at night and even here in Columbus, about 175 miles out, its signal is horrid day or night.
 
schmave said:
Isn't the ground conductivity pretty bad up that way though? I can see where even a 50K on 1210 would struggle at 50 miles if that's the case.
For my money, KDKA is the worst 50K in the country when it comes to groundwave. Bad phasing less than 40 miles from its tower at night and even here in Columbus, about 175 miles out, its signal is horrid day or night.
Click to expand...

Yep...ground conductivity in northern Michigan is pretty bad.

WLAC is another example of a 50kw station with groundwave issues. Their daytime non-directional signal (1510) is barely adequate to cover the entire metro. Some would argue that it doesn't.
 
The high frequency and Tennessee's horrible ground conductivity are a 1-2 punch to WLAC's local daytime signal. I was in the Nashville area a few years ago during one of those wonderful winter all-day skip days. There was interference even in Davidson County.


cyberdad said:
Yep...ground conductivity in northern Michigan is pretty bad.

WLAC is another example of a 50kw station with groundwave issues. Their daytime non-directional signal (1510) is barely adequate to cover the entire metro. Some would argue that it doesn't.
Click to expand...
 
gr8oldies said:
I was in the Nashville area a few years ago during one of those wonderful winter all-day skip days. There was interference even in Davidson County.
Click to expand...

That's WISN (1130) around where I live. 35 miles from their 50kw stick. Albeit directional. But still a pretty good day signal, that routinely gets trashed during daytime skywave events even before they power down and disappear.
 
While the WLAC daytime signal may not cover the Nashville metro well, it certainly travels well farther south, particularly as the days get shorter. Here in mid Georgia (about 275 miles away from Nashville), WLAC has a nice strong signal nearly all morning.

Is this skywave or groundwave propagation?

Now back to the thread topic: 1210 am frequency of the week.
 
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