AM Frequency of the week: 1250:

[cyberdad]

On to the "regional channels" for the next several weeks. First up 1250. At my home location in far northwest suburban Chicago.....

Days: A weak WSSP from Milwaukee. 5kw directional with a null in my direction.

Nights: WSSP actually sends a minor lobe directly south, but I'm a little too far west to benefit from it, so it typically gets swallowed up.

Retro: The now-defunct WREN from Topeka, KS used to be a fairly frequent nighttime visitor. Taking turns with Milwaukee (as WEMP) on top.

Other Location: Here where I am this month near Pensacola, WHNZ from Tampa, easily makes the daytime hop across the gulf, 25kw with a favorable pattern over saltwater tends to accomplish that sort of thing.

 

[radioman148]

In the near north Chicago suburbs it’s a weak WSSP Milwaukee. When I first heard them way back the calls were WEMP.
At night Milwaukee is weak in a mix of other stations.

 

[schmave]

Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
* Daytime: WCHO playing oldies from Washington Court House, roughly 45 miles southwest of me between Columbus and Cincinnati. Not a great signal but listenable.
* Nighttime: Graveyard jumble.

 

[charlestondxman]

In Charleston, 1250 is about the only AM anybody listens to anymore here, WTMA. It is news-talk now, but was one of the most historic top 40 stations in the country in the 60s and the 70s.

It still has probably the 2nd-best AM signal in the market behind 730, 5kw daytime and 1kw night. The daytime signal carries well into FL.

At critical hours, even though I’m probably 10 miles form WTMA’s transmitter, I have been able to null WTMA and hear WHNZ. I remember one time being about 30-40 miles out from WTMA at night and hearing whatever Pittsburgh was at the time.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Loggings here in NE PA are the standard-issue York PA (closest), Pittsburgh, WMTR Morristown NJ (SSS), WPEL from PA,
and CHWO.

@ Charleston DxMan: One night up in NYC we were driving along Queens Boulevard, toward Manhattan for some reason. Apparently there was a huge aurora. We were able to take WGBB on Long Island into the Midtown Tunnel. Normally, WGBB didn't reach the Queens-Nassau county borderline.

On the way back east, we tuned the car radio around a bit. Voila -- WTMA was there! There was no WTAE Pittsburgh. WTAE was lost to the Aurora.

 

[WCJ]

Central Orange County, TX KDEI Port Arthur, TX Radio Maria 24/7. Have logged KZDC San Antonio a couple times at night when KDEI was off the air.

 

[CADXER]

Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WSSP Milawaukee with weak signal.
Nightime: Besides WSSP the other semi-common station is WGL (Ft. Wayne, IN). WPGP (ex WTAE, Pittsburgh, PA) also a frequent log on this frequency.

DX/RETRO: Some of the DX catches on this frequency in the past include KBRF (fergus Falls, MN), WRAY (Princeton, IN). Two Canadians also logged: CHWO (Oakville, ON), CBOF (Ottawa, ON)

 

[joebtsflk1]

Colorado Springs is usually a mess 24/7 from adjacent local 1240 KRDO. But as our locals go, KRDO has fairly clean sidebands. Clean enough that I was able to snag KYYS 1250 Kansas City on their 25 kW day pattern one late afternoon recently, about 10 miles from KRDO.

 

[gr8oldies]

WNTT, Tazewell TN and WRKQ, Madisonville TN are weak during the day. Nothing stands out at night, I had an unidentified country station on the way home.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio was WCHO by day and WPGP (the old WTAE) by night for the most part.

 

[kf4rca]

Daytime nothing. Late afternoons WTMA Charleston rolls in. (I once worked there for a brief time in the 70's) Not only was it #1 in the market, it was the top biller in the state!
I remember hearing that the money was falling off the table.
After the east coast sunset, WZOB Ft Payne Alabama rolls in till their (central) local sunset.
After that, it's graveyard jumble.

 

[icybluelake]

Daytime: KCFI, Cedar Falls, IA

Nighttime: Mostly hash. WGL Fort Wayne occasionally. WPGP Pittsburgh once or twice (a station that can't stop changing its call letters).

 

[MarioMania]

Citrus Heights CA

Daytime: Slop from KCVV 1240 Sacramento

Nighttime: I think KKDZ Seattle, WA

Vallejo, CA

Daytime: Nothing

Nighttime: KLLK, Willits, CA

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Meantime, back in the JFK Airport days .....

I managed to hear WDAE Tampa.

Once.

Perhaps there were Auroral conditions afoot. It was overnight and it was quite weak. They were also alone. The old pattern book from the NRC has them sending next to nothing to the north.
Oddly, WLCY 1380 and WSUN, with similar regional nighttime patterns as WTAE's, were frequent catches. WLCY was often there on Sunday mornings when NYC time-share stations WBNX and WAWZ decided that silence was golden.
And when local WVNJ 620 signed off, WSUN reception was no problem. They were all alone on the channel.

I only caught WDAE that one time, though.

* * * * * * *

I kidded my DX pal Vinny a few times -- still do, hi -- about his not having 'WMTR Morristown NJ' dotted off as a catch on his NRC logbook. They were the closest 1250 station, a daytime semi-local, to where we all hung out and spun dial.
Come to think of it, I'll call him later to pester him again about * his * toughest 1250 quarry, hi.

 

[charlestondxman]

It’s like me. I always try for WTMA whenever I am out of town. Sometimes I get them, depending on where I am. Their nighttime signal is directional toward the populated areas of Charleston at night and the fish at sea. I did hear WTMA one time about a year or two ago at night in Delaware. It was very weak, but it was there.

Even in critical hours, that signal is tight. as I said, I’ve heard WHNZ within 10 miles of TMA’s transmitter with my loop antenna. Most people have better luck with 1390 (now WSPO) and even 910 (which was WTMA’s sister station for a while playing standards).

910 with 500 watts I’ve heard in Asheville, Athens, GA, and well down in FL.