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AM Frequency of the week: 1360

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest sburban Chicago....

Day: WLBK from DeKalb, IL. 1kw non-directional. Its about 30 miles from me, and I'd describe the signal as somewhere between fair and good. Probably closet to "fair".

Night: WLBK goes to 20 watts and vanishes. 1360 becomes a typical "regional channel" jumble, with WTAQ from Green Bay most likely to rise on top. Note that this WTAQ is not to be confused with the former WTAQ in LaGrange, IL, which morphed into the Chicago outlet for R. Disney. AFAIK, there's absolutely no connection.

I've also heard WSAI a few times. Presumably on day power.

Then there's the matter of WMOB in Mobile, AL. Two or three years ago (or whenever), they were presumably cheating and running their 9kw day pattern at night. (As opposed to their authorized 200 watts). They were blasting into here on a nightly basis, and many of you guys were hearing them also. In fact, they still may not completely "on the level". I've heard religion on top of 1360 from time to time, which so far, I haven't been able to identify. It may be WMOB, but if it is, it's not as strong as it was a few years ago.

Retro: Back to the Green Bay 1360. Back when they were operating as WGEE in the 60s and early 70s, they were a fairly reliable nighttime catch around here.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs WLBK is a fair copy at best during the day. At night it disappears and the station I most often have heard is Green Bay. As Cyberdad mentioned way back it was WGEE and that's when I first heard it. I don't remember hearing much else on this frequency that I could identify from this location.
 
Orange County, Texas days - KWWJ Baytown, nights crowded with KKTX Corpus Christi usually on top and KMNY Hurst, TX (DFW Metroplex) popping up at times.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WLBK with fair signal
Nightime: mostly WTAQ Green bay

DX/RETRO: DX wise this is a fairly productive frequency for me with over 20 stations heard, including three stations from Texas (KBUK, KRYS, KAHZ). Besides the more common WSAI, WKMI, KCSJ, WIBK, also hear KHNC (Johnstown, CO), WXKY (Milan, TN), WWBZ (Vineland, NJ), WIXZ (McKeesport, PA). Heard WMOB as well thanks to them cheating as cyberdad mentions above.
 
1360 in these parts, Anthracite Country PA, houses the only 'local' signal within 25 miles. That's WPPA Pottsville. In the day they are mildly E-W directional, 5000 watts. In many areas of Schuylkill County I consider them basically Omni.
At night it's a different story. They drop to 500 watts ... pull it in away from Cincinnati plus Hartford .... and send maybe 300 of those watts south.
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WPPA&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

That nighttime depiction is quite rose-tinted. No way they send a red contour past us and up into Shenandoah.

And at night, naturally, I've gotten both WSAI and WDRC here. And, through the means Cyberdad mentioned, the infamous WMOB was heard at one 10PM.

For a while at sunset, there often was this Baltimore-area station on 1360, // with WASA 1330 from MD's Havre de Grace. Them I have taped.

One early afternoon, though, I arranged this evil null of the local WPPA on a barefoot GE SR II -- or enough of one to catch a foreign-language station behind them. I never IDed them. It was probably the Baltimore-area station.
 
East Tennessee: Day, a weak WBLC, Lenoir City, TN with the 7th day Adventist "Life Talk Radio". They seem to break with that network for the evangelical "New Life Life" from 1 to 2pm.
Night" Various including WSAI.

From the Central Indiana SDR: Days. WSAI. Sunset/night/weird skip: WWOW, Conneaut OH and WMOB, Mobile AL
 
That makes sense about WMOB cyberdad, I live close to WSAI's nighttime null and I've heard WMOB take over in areas where WSAI should be weak but still audible.

WSAI dominates during the day obviously. At night, the ionosphere does its thing and sometimes WSAI's nighttime pattern falls over my house, and sometimes it doesn't. I haven't heard WMOB in a while, at the moment I'm hearing WWOW Conneaut really clear, and long enough for the entirety of "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers. Something's wrong because 35 watts from the opposite corner of the state should not be blowing WSAI out of the water like it is right now.
 
1360 here is a very weak WCGL, Jacksonville. I believe they are a gospel station. At 5kw day it can be heard here. At night, 1360 is usually a jumble. Cincinnati is probably most heard here.
 
Wow (no pun intended) ... surprised to see such widespread instances of WWOW being heard. They do cover their local area quite well, day and night (I've only heard it because my in-laws live in Conneaut), and are non-directional unlike a lot of stations in that region who will send most of their night power across the lake toward Canada. I've never heard them here around Columbus, nor should I with 35 watts of power after dark, and those 5,000 watts don't come remotely close to making it here daytime either, but maybe I'll try tonight.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Daytime: Heavy splatter from local 1350 KCOR.

Sunset: KMNY, Spanish-language Christian in Hurst, TX, comes up weakly through the splatter until it goes to night power.

Night: Most dominant through the (lesser) KCOR splatter is urban gospel KWWJ in Baytown, TX. Traditional gospel WMOB in Mobile pops up every once in a while.

Aiming more NW/SE, news/sports KKTX in Corpus Christi is usually heard the most, followed by another news talker, KACT, in Andrews, TX. Also, classic hits station KBUY in Ruidoso, NM, comes up every now and then.

Sunrise: KWWJ usually dominates until KMNY goes back to 50 kW of day power. KCOR takes out everything when it goes back to non-directional.

Retro: I haven't heard either KHNC "The Lion" in Johnstown, CO, or Catholic station KHPN in El Dorado, KS, in quite a while.
 
@schmave and @gr8oldies... WOWW may be the mouse that roared. Or cheated. I noted on my numerous drives from Toronto-Detroit/Windsor along the 401 on the other side of Lake Erie that they had a rather impressive daytime signal. Usually good for at least an hour of the drive. Sometimes more.
 
cyberdad said:
@schmave and @gr8oldies... WOWW may be the mouse that roared. Or cheated. I noted on my numerous drives from Toronto-Detroit/Windsor along the 401 on the other side of Lake Erie that they had a rather impressive daytime signal. Usually good for at least an hour of the drive. Sometimes more.
Click to expand...

That is pretty impressive. Decent ground conductivity and the signal has nothing to impede it once it hits Lake Erie, so I think it's quite believable. But even at night, I think they run a little more than 35 watts. My in-laws live maybe four miles due west of the 1360 tower, which is just off I-90 south of Conneaut (for anyone who drives that stretch, it's about halfway between the Route 7 exit and the Pa./Ohio border), and I can't null their night signal no matter how I turn the radio. Even that close, I would think there'd be some skywave traffic over a 35-watt signal that high on the dial.
Nonetheless, it's nice that that size a town has its own radio station serving the area. They carry a lot of local programming, including the Conneaut Spartans football games, and also happen to be a Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate (I believe the farthest-flung station that carries them).
 
schmave said:
That is pretty impressive. Decent ground conductivity and the signal has nothing to impede it once it hits Lake Erie, so I think it's quite believable. But even at night, I think they run a little more than 35 watts. My in-laws live maybe four miles due west of the 1360 tower, which is just off I-90 south of Conneaut (for anyone who drives that stretch, it's about halfway between the Route 7 exit and the Pa./Ohio border), and I can't null their night signal no matter how I turn the radio. Even that close, I would think there'd be some skywave traffic over a 35-watt signal that high on the dial.
Nonetheless, it's nice that that size a town has its own radio station serving the area. They carry a lot of local programming, including the Conneaut Spartans football games, and also happen to be a Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate (I believe the farthest-flung station that carries them).
Click to expand...

I've never heard WOWW at night either here at home or even in London, Ontario, where I've spent numerous nights when doing the run between Detroit and Toronto. It's pretty much a straight shot across the l from Conneaut. So if they've got a little "hamburger helper" going on, it probably isn't too extreme.

And yes...I also know the strertch of I-90 that you're talking about. I had a customer in Ashtabula.

@Tomservo: At least WMOB can point to a reason for getting out very well in their local area. Their towers....as you probably know....are in a swamp adjacent to Mobile Bay just off I-10.
 
cyberdad said:
@Tomservo: At least WMOB can point to a reason for getting out very well in their local area. Their towers....as you probably know....are in a swamp adjacent to Mobile Bay just off I-10.
Click to expand...

That's true, it more or less makes up for the laughably bad ground conductivity around here. They could probably claim to be the only Mobile station heard in Honduras during the day, with the amount of energy that goes south down Mobile Bay, too.
 
tomservo said:
That's true, it more or less makes up for the laughably bad ground conductivity around here. They could probably claim to be the only Mobile station heard in Honduras during the day, with the amount of energy that goes south down Mobile Bay, too.
Click to expand...

WMOB is a borderline daytime pest for WCOA/1370 (Pensacola) at our usual beach getaway spot. There, next door to the Florabama, WCOA is stronger, but not by much.
 
gr8oldies said:
I never caught WWOW in Western Ohio.
Click to expand...

Nor have I around Columbus. I've actually never read a report on here mentioning WWOW being heard at night anywhere beyond the immediate area.
I don't think they're running much more than 35 watts, if in fact they're running more at all, but they just have a good night signal in the local area for having that little power.
 
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