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AM Frequency of the Week: 1250

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 or so miles northwest of Chicago.....

Days: WSSP From Milwaukee (sports talk). 5kw aimed mostly north (away from me). So where I am about 60 miles southwest of their site, the result is a weak signal.

Nights: WSSP goes to an even tighter pattern and disappears. Back in the days when the Milwaukee 1250 was WEMP and the channel was less crowded, the night signal was fairly reliable. I also think the night pattern may have also been tweaked a bit since then.

Retro: I used to sometimes hear WREN from Topeka and then-WTAE from Pittsburgh, but not recently. The Topeka 1250 has since been re-located to Kansas City and now operates as a Spanish language station.

I also heard CHWO from Oakville, Ontario (Toronto Metro) a couple of times. That station wound up winning control of 740 in Toronto, and eventually changed call letters to CFZM. The CBC migrated CBL/740 to FM, and 23 applicants applied to take over the frequency, The prize went to CBL after the CRTC ruled that listeners over age 50 were the largest under-served demo in the market.

Other Location: WSSP was heard on the Arctic SDR on multiple occasions this past winter. 5kw aimed north is obviously enough to make the hop from Milwaukee to arctic Norway.
 
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Here in Kansas City area, this frequency is dominated 24/7 by KYYS, licensed to Kansas City, Kansas with a daytime power of 25 kW and a nighttime power of 3.7 kW, both directional arrays. The daytime signal is very strong as I am 21 miles from their transmitter site. At night, I do hear some signals underneath them but to date, none have been identified.

Back during the Topeka location days, this station was indeed WREN. A "W" station west of the Mississippi...

Bob
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs during the day it's a very weak WSSP. Along with it being weak, I get some splash from WSBC.
At night it's hard to make out anything. In the past I've heard Pittsburgh.

Other: On the arctic receiver this past winter I heard WSSP several times after cyberdad told me he had caught it. Some nights it had a pretty good signal.
 
Chicago by the lakefront:

This is one of the hardest frequencies for me. During the daytime, I usually can't hear anything. The exception is if I'm right on Lake Michigan I can get a faint WSSP in Milwaukee.

At night it isn't much better. I've logged WPGP Pittsburgh a couple of times. I probably have heard WSSP at night too but I'm not 100 percent sure of this. Most of the time though there's not much on this frequency.
 
East Tennessee" Days-A weak WNTT, Tazewell TN
Night-have to be honest and say I haven't really explored this one.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio area. WCHO, Washington Courthouse, Ohio as a semi-local. Nights, maybe a whiff of WGL and I remember WTAE being semi-regular.


MichaelTheZ said:
Chicago by the lakefront:

This is one of the hardest frequencies for me. During the daytime, I usually can't hear anything. The exception is if I'm right on Lake Michigan I can get a faint WSSP in Milwaukee.

At night it isn't much better. I've logged WPGP Pittsburgh a couple of times. I probably have heard WSSP at night too but I'm not 100 percent sure of this. Most of the time though there's not much on this frequency.
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West Central Georgia

Days: WZOB Fort Payne. AL 5000/122 Classic Country music - weak

Nights: Have heard WPGP Pittsburgh PA 5000 News/Talk occasionally
 
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)
 
Here in Phoenix it is a weak KHIL from Willcox Arizona with classic country. 5000 watts day and 196 watts at night from a single tower.
It comes in better at night with some fading. There has been a few times I could here what sounded like ESPN sports. Possibly KZDC in San Antonio, TX with 25kW-D and 0.92kW-N.
 
WCJ said:
Orange County, TX-KDEI Port Arthur, TX. Have received KZDC San Antonio when KDEI is off the air.
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Over in Houston, KDEI is weak during the day. In the winter, both KDEI and KZDC can be heard in the daytime. Otherwise, not much here but an indistinct jumble. I've heard a snippet of popish music, maybe KFOG in Little Rock? Also something in Spanish, but I've never ID'd anything.

Retro, from Tulsa, I remember hearing WREN in Topeka, IIRC one of two "W" stations in Topeka (WIBW the other).

Add me to those that heard WSSP on the Arctic receiver last winter (as well as an Iceland SDR).
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day/Sunset: Local 25 kW ESPN station KZDC.

Night: KZDC drops to 920 watts, and I can get a tight but pretty good null of it by aiming NE/SW. KDEI in Port Arthur, TX, is most often heard there, sometimes with a good signal. Also, KZHN in Paris, TX, and XEDK in Guadalajara can occasionally be heard mixing in weakly. To the NW/SE, underneath KZDC I can sometimes hear a weak KHIL in Willcox, AZ.

Sunrise: Similar to nighttime but with KDEI steadier and KZHN and XEDK heard less often.

DX/RETRO: Stations I've heard just once include WKBL in Covington, TN; KRRD in Fayetteville, AR; KFOG in Little Rock, AR (when it was KPZK); KIKZ in Seminole, TX (when KZDC was off air); and XESJ in Saltillo (now retired).
 
jim-satx said:
From NW San Antonio:

Day/Sunset: Local 25 kW ESPN station KZDC.

Night: KZDC drops to 920 watts, and I can get a tight but pretty good null of it by aiming NE/SW. KDEI in Port Arthur, TX, is most often heard there, sometimes with a good signal. Also, KZHN in Paris, TX, and XEDK in Guadalajara can occasionally be heard mixing in weakly. To the NW/SE, underneath KZDC I can sometimes hear a weak KHIL in Willcox, AZ.

Sunrise: Similar to nighttime but with KDEI steadier and KZHN and XEDK heard less often.

DX/RETRO: Stations I've heard just once include WKBL in Covington, TN; KRRD in Fayetteville, AR; KFOG in Little Rock, AR (when it was KPZK); KIKZ in Seminole, TX (when KZDC was off air); and XESJ in Saltillo (now retired).
Click to expand...

Smith County Texas, 5 miles from Tyler:
The aforementioned KZHN Paris is the usual occupant here, but given they send a lobe more towards Dallas than to me, I hear the Port Arthur station nearly as often. Once in awhile, San Antonio's KZDC will show up, but it's more of a rarity.

I'm impressed that you have KPZK Little Rock noted in your log, Jim. Nary a whiff of them up here in ETX. With that wicked four tower directional array, there are parts of Little Rock itself in which 1250 is very weak or completely missing from the dial.
 
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