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AM Frequency of the week: 1480

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 Miles northwest of downtown Chicago.....

Days: Basically, 1480 is empty during the daytime. Most recently, it has been a fair signal from 1kw WSPY from Geneva, IL. About 25 miles to my south. As has been discussed recently, WSPY had been broadcasting on an STA using a longwire antenna, and held a CP to relocate to nearby town. Now, as near as I can tell, they're off the air completely. They no longer appear in Radio-Locator, although they're still showing in at least one other frequently-updated database. Stay tuned!

Nights: Another channel with a jumble of usually-unidentifiable weak signals. Most likely to surface is WGVU (ex-WMAX) from Grand Rapids Michigan....especially around sunrise, Less likely is the Madison, WI 1480 (ex WISM, WTDY).
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs I have the same results as cyberdad. Nothing really during the day. At night WGVU is most likely to rise to the top.

Retro: Back in the early 70s when the station in Geneva, Il was owned by Jack Brickhouse, he was in the process of selling it. They were giving away all their records. I stopped there and helped myself to a batch of 78RPMs.
 
Chicago by the lakefront:

Daytime: On Lakeshore Drive you can hear WGVU in the Grand Rapids area, but it dissipates pretty fast as you go inland. I'm only a few blocks from the lake right now and there's no trace of it on my radio.

Critical Hours: In my south facing window, I've logged WHVO in Hopkinsville, KY and WDJO in Cincinnati. All three of the above stations have the same oldies format and at any given time I really have no idea which station is playing.

Nighttime: One of the jumble-iest frequencies. I don't think I've ever heard an ID much after sunset, not even WGVU.
 
Despite the fact that WMAX was 5 kW at minimum efficiency of roughly 630 mV/m inverse field at 1 mile, WGVU moved the Day facility from the Butterworth Dump Toxic Waste Site area. it's only 2 kW nondirectional Days now at the Night Site. The NIF is very high, and they had to change the COL to Kentwood, as it doesn't cover Grand Rapids that well.
 
Here in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, it's the same story as elsewhere in the area.

Once upon a time, WGSB Geneva IL was a usual suspect running 1 kw days, less usual at 500 w nights. I really have to work to get successor WSPY with the backyard 125 w longwire. Haven't gotten an ID recently, but there was a station barely detectable on Thursday afternoon.

Farther afield, Memphis (as WMQM and WBBP) has been caught, along with one visit by WHBC Canton OH about a year ago. Both stations were IDed during the day. At night, 1480 is radio stew.
 
East Tennessee (Knoxville-Sevierville): Daytime: Semi-local WJFC, Jefferson City, whose 500 watts of rare savage power barely makes it to either location. Daytime winter skip or sunset skip brings in WHBC, Canton, OH (I've mentioned that I have a pipeline to Northeast Ohio at the top of the dial). Night---a hodge-podge of signals, and last time I did an extended listen (via the Knoxville SDR, between Knoxville and Oak Ridge), WDJO would surface to the top. I have also received it in the car. For 300 watts at night, WDJO manages to get out and be heard at times further southeast in NC and SC, for example.

Retro/other: The long-time WCIN (now WDJO)'s 5000 watts were prominent at sunset in Western Ohio around sunset. In the Dayton area, WDJO is there, but not as well as it was when it was leasing 1160. WHBC skips all over the place, and is very often audible in Dayton. I caught WHBC covering WDJO a couple of hours after sunrise as close to Cincinnati as Middletown. I've even caught WHBC faintly in the background behind WDJO on the Edinburgh, IN SDR during the day.
 
Last edited:
Days nothing, now that local WYZE has gone dark. At night, its WABF skipping in from Mobile ALA. They run 5Kw days and 4400 nights.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: Checked this morning and WSPY is still there. Weak but there with their 0.125 kw and a long wire antenna.
Nightime: nothing dominant at night. WLMV Madison, WI and WGVU Kentwood, MI on occasions.

DX/RETRO: others heard include WTHI (Terre Haute, IN), WHBC (Canton, OH), WDJO (Cinconnati, OH), WMQM (Memphis, TN), WAME (Charlotte, NC), WNKY (Neon, KY), WRSW (Warsaw, IN), WJBM (Jerseyville, IL), and WRCK (Remsen, NY) with a DX test.

Concerning WSPY. They have been on STA with 0.125 kW long wire antenna since 2002. Apparently the people behind WSPY are running the Batavia SDR, which only receives WSPY. The link is http://w9xa.us:8073/
WSPY has a CP for a 250 Watt daytime transmitter licensed to Somonauk, IL. The proposed new site is close to the WSPY FM transmitter site.
 
West Central Georgia:

Day: Weak signal from WMMA Irondale/Birmingham AL Catholic Radio 5000/28

Night: Good signal from WABF Mobile AL 5000/4400 with nice mix of old rock and standards
 
West Houston, daytime is KLVL in Pasadena (Houston) with brokered Spanish. At sunset, I've heard KNGO Viet Radio in Dallas, something in Spanish (probably either XETKR or XEVIC but haven't ID'd), and a thusfar unID Gospel station. At night I've also heard newstalk KQAM in Wichita. Otherwise mostly a jumble as WCJ mentioned.
 
CADXER said:
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: Checked this morning and WSPY is still there. Weak but there with their 0.125 kw and a long wire antenna.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. I don't even get a trace of it at my location. Not even on the SuperadioII. Eighteen years on an STA must be some sort of record.

I knew about their CP, and even saw the proposed coverage map on Radio-locator. But as of when I checked a couple of days ago, WSPY...present and future....wasn't there.

I also haven't checked the Batavia SDR for quite a while. I simply thought it was pretty useless. But now I know that it's good for somethingt. Listening to WSPY! :)
 
Is this SDR just a cheap way for WSDR to stream?




cyberdad said:
Thanks for the update. I don't even get a trace of it at my location. Not even on the SuperadioII. Eighteen years


on an STA must be some sort of record.

I knew about their CP, and even saw the proposed coverage map on Radio-locator. But as of when I checked a couple of days ago, WSPY...present and future....wasn't there.

I also haven't checked the Batavia SDR for quite a while. I simply thought it was pretty useless. But now I know that it's good for somethingt. Listening to WSPY! :)
Click to expand...
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: Local 2.5 kW urban gospel station KCHL.

Sunset: KCHL can be nulled fairly well by aiming NE/SW. In that null, KNGO in Dallas comes up, and KQAM in Wichita, KS, can usually be heard weakly.

Night: KCHL drops to 90 watts and is still there but weak. I've never heard anything else from the NW/SE, but to the NE/SW nighttime is a mix of KNGO, KLVL in Pasadena, TX, XEZJ in Guadalajara, and XETKR "La TKR" in Guadalupe.

Sunrise: KNGO and KLVL are noticeably stronger when they go to day power and are heard the most in the KCHL null.

DX/RETRO: Prior to the '90s, KCHL was KAPE, the only r&b/soul/funk AM station in San Antonio.
 
There is an update on WSPY - Geneva, Illinois

First they changed their call sign to WDYS on May 1, 2021

They still have a CP for 250 Watt daytime only and new COL for Somonauk, Illinois. Apparently they are currently constructing the new antenna tower.

And now they have applied with FCC to add a nighttime coverage with 140 Watts from the same location as the daytime CP.
 
Thanks for the update. I'm not sure how viable this will be, but I give Larry Nelson credit for trying something rather than taking the station dark. If anyone can make a go of it, it's probably Larry. He's moving to a rapidly growing area on the western/southwestern edge of the Chicago area, and undoubtedly will be able to keep overhead to a minimum by drawing on his other assets in the area. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds......,but unfortunately I probably won't be able to follow it TOO closely, because I'll probably be on the extreme fringe of their daytime coverage area.
 
I checked 1480 this past Saturday (5/30) just before 8am CDT and heard a very weak signal with oldies. With the TOH ID it turned out to be WGVU from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. Probably on daytime skywave. No other signals present that I could detect.
 
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