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AM Frequency of the week: 1450

cyberdad

cyberdad

Our next to last "graveyard" channel.....

Days: A weak, but reliable WRLL from Cicero, IL. I can null it, and sometimes hear WKEI, from Kewanee, IL...or at least I could before they dropped to 500 watts day power.

Nighs: Usual graveyard slop. My best identifiable catch was then-WLAY from Mussel Shoals, AL. I've also heard WDLB from Marshfield, WI, WCVS from Springfield, IL and KFIZ from Fon Du Lac, WI.

Retro: When the Cicero (Chicago) 1450 was off for a time during an ownership change during the late '70s, I'd occasionally hear KFIZ. Presumably via daytime skywave.

But the 800-pound gorilla on the channel....or should I say 10kw gorilla....was CHUC from Coburg, Ontario. They've long since migrated to FM, but I used to hear CHUC on a fairly frequent basis sunrise/sunset while they were on 10kw day power. I think they dropped only to 5kw at night. Directional, of course. But I don't recall having ever hearing them here.
 
Near north Chicago suburbs:

WRLL fair signal days: at night a much weaker WRLL in a big mess of stations.

Retro: When WVON was on this frequency their night signal was better at my location.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WRLL/WCEV with fair signal
Nightime: usual graveyard mess and WRLL/WCEV weak signal

DX/RETRO/ETC: I vaguely remember that back in 1979/1980 WFMT used to be on this frequency. After that the WCEV/WVON frequency sharing commenced. That must have been at the end of 1980.
DX wise before they moved to AM 1560 I used to hear WPAD (Paducah, KY). Some other DX includes WHTC (Holland, MI), WEZR (Ft. Wayne, IN)
 
When I moved to here in the mid 90's, the now-dark WPAM 1450 Pottsville was the second-closest local. It's stick next to Nativity HS is ~ 7-8 miles south. But because of some undeniably-adept (yeah, right) turning of the antenna at sunrise and at night, I was able to get
WCTC NJ (SRS).....WCTC has a pretty big signal for a GYer; always did.
WTHU MD (SRS on the same day as WCTC)
WTBO MD (SRS on the same day). I have an ID taped from them
WMAJ PA was atop one night.

These were with WPAM Pottsville still on the air at full wattage.
I'm still searching for the elusive Eastern PA station WYNY from Milford, right there on the Delaware. No luck so far.

(I've mentioned this elsewhere .... WPAM normally came in here terribly at night. It sounded as though every one of 150-or-so 1450 stations were chewing away at them. But -- when WPAM was coming in here clear at night -- no other stations evident: it was Aurora Hour.)

* * * * * * *

In the retro days back near JFK Airport, WFPG Atlantic City was louder than WNAB Bridgeport plus WCTC in the day. But 1450 was a generous DX frequency overnights, especially Monday Mornings. In metro NYC 1450 was nicely placed between locals on 1430 and 1480. WOL 1450 Washington DC was usually the main occupant, with WENZ from Richmond often going back and forth with them. I wound up with like 20-something stations logged on 1450 from back then.
(I guess France on 1457 doesn't count, huh? :- )
After for a while back then, Cyberdad's favorite station CHUC was a sunrise catch.
 
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Steve Green NEPA said:
(I guess France on 1457 doesn't count, huh? :- )
After for a while back then, Cyberdad's favorite station CHUC was a sunrise catch.
Click to expand...

Maybe if we decide to "round up numbers", we can talk about 1457 next week. :) IIRC, there is (or was) an ethnic station there on 1457 in London, but I've never heard it as DX. Not even elsewhere in the UK.

As for CHUC, I have no idea of what the 10kw day pattern looked like. Other than obviously very directional. Less than an hour to the west via the 401 freeway, it was missing by the time you got to Toronto. The weak signals from 1440 in Buffalo and 1460 CJOY from Guelph, ON could be heard without 1450 splatter.

And finally @CADXER, I remember when WFMT was on 1450 in Chicago. Not only did the signal fail to completely cover the city, but it was an extremely poor choice for classical music. During the quiet passages in the music, the slop underneath would intrude....even in areas where the signal was otherwise good. Like being in a concert hall, where everyone in the audience is talking through the symphony!
 
Part 2: Retro/other: I've lived in 2 markets with local 1450s, Lafayette, IN (WASK) and Fort Wayne IN (WLYV/WEZR/WLYV again). My ex-in-laws were so close to WASK it came in on their phone. Logansport IN would bring primarily Lafayette but it was nullable for Fort Wayne. In the Dayton, OH area WMOH, Hamilto OH would make it in
 
cyberdad said:
And finally @CADXER, I remember when WFMT was on 1450 in Chicago. Not only did the signal fail to completely cover the city, but it was an extremely poor choice for classical music. During the quiet passages in the music, the slop underneath would intrude....even in areas where the signal was otherwise good. Like being in a concert hall, where everyone in the audience is talking through the symphony!
Click to expand...

cyberdad do you know the location of their transmitter site? Was it the same stick as WCEV/WVON at 3350 S. Kedzie Avenue?
 
CADXER said:
cyberdad do you know the location of their transmitter site? Was it the same stick as WCEV/WVON at 3350 S. Kedzie Avenue?
Click to expand...

That's probably where it was, but I'm not sure. WVON was the main occupant of 1450 before WFMT took over for a time. 3350 South Kedzie was ideal for WVON's audience. But the "flip side" is that the signal was not particularly competitive on the north and northwest side, where WFMT's target demos were/are.
 
I don't mean to swerve this to another GY channel, Cyberdad. It's something that you mentioned, though, about 1450 not reaching all of Chicago.....

In or around 1990 or so, I lived in Northeast Philadelphia for a while. Basement apartment. Quiet AM dial.
Philly-licensed WHAT on 1340 had some 1990 form of Smooth Jazz/Quiet Storm program in afternoon drive. I enjoyed it greatly.

If I stood on the roof of the ap't building, I could've probably seen WHAT's stick. But quite often -- to my delight -- WHAT's great afternoon-drive show 'Night Flight' would not only be there but was getting chewed up around sunset by other 1340 stations. I'd guess the guiltiest intruders to be WMID Atlantic City and WRAW Reading. Those three stations were really close-spaced.

The combination of good AM music and delicious ** DX ** was too good not to've archived it. I've got 2 or 3 cassettes of WHAT's music and programming, sprinkled with that grand, leprechaun-ish titter of DX.

Sorry for the detour. Back to your regularly scheduled post .....
 
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Daytime it's just splatter from KUTI 10khz up the dial. Of course I'll list off the MANY graveyarders that have been heard by yours truly at night, both here in Yakima and in the Puget Sound area.

KONP Port Angeles WA (News/Talk - this used to be the faint daytime regular in Snohomish County, mixing with an even-fainter KSUH)
KSUH Puyallup WA (Korean)
KBKW Aberdeen WA (News/Talk)
KCLX Colfax WA (Classic Country)
KBPS Portland OR (Variety - owned by the Portland Public Schools)
KEED Eugene OR (Classic Country - logged as KLZS w/ Comedy. This was a toughie and had been elusive for years.)
KFLS Klamath Falls OR (News/Talk - semi-regular at night)
KLBM La Grande OR (News/Talk)
KTIP Porterville CA (News/Talk - probably my farthest logged 1450, over 700 miles during aurora)
KVML Sonora CA (News/Talk - well-elusive until logged during a strong Au opening in September 2017)
KBFI Bonner's Ferry ID (News/Talk)
KWEI Notus ID (Now KTRP, logged when they were Spanish Rel, then aired Tejano music and is now silent - rare to hear Tejano outside of TX!)
KVSI Montpelier ID (Adult Standards when logged in 2014, now airs country)
KMMS Bozeman MT (News/Talk)
KGRZ Missoula MT (ESPN)
KQDI Great Falls MT (News/Talk - also long-elusive until logged in October 2017, only 720W)
KHIT Reno NV (logged with ESPN Deportes, now NBC Sports)
CHOR Summerland BC (Adult Contemporary - now defunct)

Still elusive:
KEST San Francisco CA (I know I've heard Asian programs during aurora, it's just getting an ID is difficult. I have the *other* Asian GY in the Bay Area logged, KVTO-1400...)
KEZJ Twin Falls ID (Spanish Catholic // 1490-KCID. Never heard a trace of it.)
KOBO Yuba City CA (Another toughie at 500 watts, airs Punjabi)
KJCV Jackson WY (w/ Bott Radio programs, just across the border from ID)
 
crainbebo said:
Daytime it's just splatter from KUTI 10khz up the dial. Of course I'll list off the MANY graveyarders that have been heard by yours truly at night, both here in Yakima and in the Puget Sound area.

KONP Port Angeles WA (News/Talk - this used to be the faint daytime regular in Snohomish County, mixing with an even-fainter KSUH)
Click to expand...

KONP was a daytime regular for me on my biz trips to Vancouver and Victoria. But got swallowed up at night.

Once again great list, as always!

And @Steve. I always have wondered how well....or not well....WHAT covered the Philly metro. So thanks for your report. Pretty much what I would've guessed.

I DO know one 1340 that did a pretty respectable job covering its market "back in the day" 24/7. That was WRIT in Milwaukee. Well-located stick a few miles west of downtown, combined with good ground conductivity. Did a good job of covering the city and most of the suburbs
 
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Orange County, TX: KIKR Beaumont, TX. before tower problems which has taken them dark, now KSIG, Crowley, LA comes through during the day with the usual GY jumble nights
 
1450 was and still is a local signal in both my current home and in the area I grew up in, within 100 miles of each other but two different stations:

NOW (Chatham, IL outside Springfield): WFMB-AM ("Sports Radio 1450") strong 24/7. Was the legendary WCVS in its top 40 days (those calls have moved to their co-owned 96.7 allocation with COL of Virden). Interestingly, Springfield's 1450 was the first owner of the WCBS calls before CBS wanted the calls for New York.

GROWING UP (between Peoria and Galesburg): WKEI Kewanee, IL days, slop at night (until WKEI started broadcasting 24/7). Springfield's 1450 might have been barely perceptible in that area before 1952, when WKEI signed on.

1450 becomes a jumble between Kewanee and Springfield immediately once you get south of Peoria--further complicated by slop from WMBD's 1470 tower near Groveland, IL (outside Morton).
 
Tim from Springfield said:
GROWING UP (between Peoria and Galesburg): WKEI Kewanee, IL days, slop at night (until WKEI started broadcasting 24/7). Springfield's 1450 might have been barely perceptible in that area before 1952, when WKEI signed on.

1450 becomes a jumble between Kewanee and Springfield immediately once you get south of Peoria--further complicated by slop from WMBD's 1470 tower near Groveland, IL (outside Morton).
Click to expand...

When I lived in the Quad Cities (Davenport, IA area) in the mid '70s., WKEI put in a very listenable daytime signal. A guy I went to college with was working there at the time. I had put him on our campus radio station, but had no idea he was going to get into the business until I turned on the radio one afternoon and heard him!
 
From Hyannis, MA

Day: WVOM, WNBP, and someone else all duke it out. Creates interesting sounds in the static.

Night: a low rumble.
 
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