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AM Frequency of the Week: 1280

cyberdad

cyberdad

Crystal Lake, IL.....

Day: WBIG, a suburban rimshot from Aurora, IL. 1kw directional running Fox Sports. 30 miles south of me with a pattern that's "less than favorable" for my location. The result is a fair signal.

Night: WBIG becomes "less big" by dropping to 500 watts and a pattern even less favorable to my QTH. So it disappears completely. A battle between WNAM (Neenah, WI...Near Green Bay), and WGBF (Evansville, IN). Both 5kw. WGBF usually gets the better of it, but not by much. WNAM used to be less common here than it is now, so I suspect their DA is "leaking".

Other Locations. I heard WNAM a couple of times this past winter on the Arctic SDR from Norway. Pattern is aimed straight northeast.

At our vacation spot near Pensacola, I used to be able to get a daily very weak signal from WTMY from Sarasota. 500 watts non-directional was enough to make the long hop across the Gulf of Mexico!
 
Near north Chicago suburbs WBIG has a fair/decent signal during the day. At night a weaker WBIG with competition from WNAM and sometimes WGBF. I've also heard WWTC a few times.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime: It's WBIG in Aurora like for the other locals, but the signal is not too "big" where I am. Away from the taller buildings it's strong enough to listen to however.

Nighttime: In my south-facing apartment, WGBF in Evansville is the strongest. There's some fading but the signal can be quite good. Other that that, I've gotten WNAM in Menasha, WI and WONW in Defiance, OH. Around sunset I'm more likely to hear WONW, but later on it's more likely to be WNAM. I don't believe I've ever heard WBIG at night even though they still broadcast with a weaker signal (and away from me).
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Chicago by the lakeshore.....

Nighttime: I've ever heard WBIG at night even though they still broadcast with a weaker signal (and away from me).
Click to expand...
Yep....most of WBIG's night signal goes southwest.

Radioman mentioned WWTC. I've heard them a few times at my location, but it's been at least 15 or 20 years. In the 80s, when I was in the Twin Cities they were one of the best oldies stations out there. And my usual go-to in the car between appointments. They covered the metro quite well 24/7, but they tended to fade very quickly once you got beyond the suburbs, they faded rather quickly.
 
East Tennessee: Daytime-not a lot. Weak signal from WALI, Dayton, TN
Night: Really just a hodge-podge of jumbled signals. WGBF around sunset

Retro/other: Western Ohio. Where I grew up it was WONW during the day but its night signal didn't make it. Instead it was a rockin' top 40 WGBF at the time.
 
cyberdad said:
Yep....most of WBIG's night signal goes southwest.

Radioman mentioned WWTC. I've heard them a few times at my location, but it's been at least 15 or 20 years. In the 80s, when I was in the Twin Cities they were one of the best oldies stations out there. And my usual go-to in the car between appointments. They covered the metro quite well 24/7, but they tended to fade very quickly once you got beyond the suburbs, they faded rather quickly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for jogging my memory Cyberdad. In the 80s when my wife and I would drive up to Northern Minnesota to visit our daughter at summer camp, we often tuned in WWTC on our way past the Twin Cities.
 
Here in Smith County, Texas, 1280 was once the home of the legendary Top 40 KLUE in nearby Longview. The major event of historical note was the station led burning of all things Beatles in 1966. This, of course, being the direct result of John Lennon's famous "We're bigger than Jesus" line. Also involved in this was sister Top 40 KMHT in Marshall. The burning went as planned, with the townspeople turning out in droves to attend and participate. The next day, a storm rolled through south Longview, struck the Signal Hill tower, damaged several pieces of equipment, and knocked News Director Phil Ransom out, resulting in serious burns and hospitalization. Some say that was the beginning of the end for KLUE, but it carried on after the lightning strike for another 20 years, through many formats, finally ending with Gospel. Through a series of control transfers that were never filed with the FCC, the license was revoked, leaving only the memory of what was, a beautiful Blaw-Knox tower still erected in south Longview, and a DKARW call sign listed amongst all of the deleted facilities.

Nevertheless, the allocation remains. Co-channel facilities continue to protect the 1280 facility in Longview that has been dead since 1994. Daytime yields nothing on 1280, nights bring a regular, but weak "Who 'dat?" from NOLA, WODT "Sports 1280" 5kW day/night.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: as noted by the others from the Chicago area WBIG Aurora, IL with decent signal
Nightime: WGBF the dominant station on this frequency

DX/RETRO: CHAM Hamilton, ON used to be common before they moved to 820 kHz in 1985. Others heard in the past include WIXI (Lancaster, KY), WWTC (Minneapolis, MN), WNAM (Neenah, WI), WADO (New York, NY), CFMB (Montreal, PQ)
 
West Central Georgia:

Days - nothing due to slop from local 1270 WBOJ Columbus GA

Nights - usually hear WODT New Orleans LA 5000 Fox Sports with pretty consistent signal, during occasional fades I can hear WMCP Columbia TN 5000/500 Country music or WMXB Tuscaloosa AL 5000/500 Urban contemporary - Still trying to catch WIHB Macon GA 5000/99 country and WPID Piedmont AL 1000/84
 
In the day here, it's WBWX* Berwick PA, over a few hills to the north. Radio-Locator lists them as 'Classic Hits'.
Come around sunset, WADO from NYC starts to nibble away at them, then completely devours them when it gets real dark out.

One night there appeared WWOK from Indiana (taped, too! :- ), and on another night one December, there was a nice surprise -- WFYC from Alma Michigan. Nice signal for about :15 minutes.
Well, I guess the reception wasn't THAT much of a veteran DX feat. Nor a surprise. See, they were running -- go figure -- some local high school basketball game.
On their 56 nighttime watts.
Okay. Sure. Gotcha.
Programming and engineering must've been chewing their nails in hopes that the game wouldn't go into triple overtime. Sales people were probably hoping for such an O/T.
I'm still counting it as an ID for the list, though, hi.

* When local WBWX was WFBS, also oldies, I took a difficult three- or four-song log one overnight from them, way, way under the smothering WADO occupancy. I called WFBS, got a machine, and left a message inquiring if it was they, on their nighttime wattage pittance. Next day the owner called me back on MY machine and in his more-than-slight South Jersey / suburban Philly accent he informed me that indeed, that song list was off WFBS. Lol -- at the end of the verbal QSL his closing sounded like the pitch off a business card. I have it as a taped file somewhere, but don't know how to post it.
The WFBS jingle package -- a good one and obviously from the 60's -- never mentioned the frequency. I eMailed the guy back and asked if the package might've come from WFBS 1450, a station outside Fort Bragg in NC. But he never returned the call.
 
CADXER said:
DX/RETRO: ....CHAM Hamilton, ON used to be common before they moved to 820 kHz in 1985.)
Click to expand...

I remember hearing the Hamilton 1280 here when they were CJJD. Fast forward to today, and the 1280 in that part of the world is now the TIS loop for the Toronto Airport. About 30 miles north-northeast of Hamilton.
 
In west Houston, daytime is KWHI in Brenham TX, about 60 miles northwest of here. Sunset and nights are dominated by WODT New Orleans. I've heard Spanish underneath WODT at sunset in the wintertime, never ID'd but maybe XEAW in Monterrey (if they're still on the air). KWHI is supposedly on at night but I've never ID'd them after dark.

On the Arctic SDR, I've heard both WNAM and WWTC.
 
From northwest San Antonio:

Day: A fair signal from KMFR in Pearsall, which is about about 55 miles to the southwest. To hear it clearly I have to null out splatter from 5 kW KXTN on 1350, which is just three miles from me.

Sunset: XEAW in Monterrey comes up, as does WODT in New Orleans.

Night: The KXTN splatter is gone. XEAW is most dominant, wiping out KMFR, which drops to 190 watts. Aiming east, I can hear WODT fairly well when XEAW isn't covering it. Aiming northwest, KSLI in Abilene, TX, is heard popping in occasionally.

Sunrise: KMFR returns and KWHI in Brenham comes up when they each go to day power. XEAW hangs in there until skywave is gone.

DX/RETRO: In years past I used to hear XEBW in Chihuahua on some mornings. I'm not hearing it at all lately, so it might be retired.
 
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