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AM Frequency of the Week: 1490

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cyberdad

cyberdad

64km NW of downtown Chicago.....

Days: WGEZ from Beloit, WI getting the better of WEUR from Oak Park, IL. Despite the fact that WEUR is actually three miles closer to my location. I attribute the difference that WEUR's signal reaches me via a developed area to reach my location, while WGEZ;s signal is via a mostly rural path, WZOE from Princeton, IL also sometimes turns up in the mix,

Nights: Typical graveyard mess. In addition to WGEZ, WEUR (ex WPNA?WOPA), and WZOE, others heard on top recently include WDAN (Danville, IL},, KBUR (Burlington, IA), WDBQ 9Dubuque, IA), KRIB 9Mason City, IA), WLAW (Whitehall, MI), WLXR (ex WLCX) La Crosse, WI, and most noteably WIGM, Medford, WI, which was on top of 1490 for nearly a half hour between 4 and 4:30 CST earlier this month (Jan 13, IIRC).
 
Daytime
1490 WTTB - Vero Beach FL - Newsradio 1490 - News/talk - 2022 - 30 miles south

Sunset/Night
1490 WMBM - Miami Beach FL - Gospel AM 1490 - Black gospel - 2022 - 180 miles south

kw - Melbourne FL
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago ...

WEUR is 13 miles north of me and just close enough so it dominates 1490 day and night. In darkness, there's a bare hint of something underneath, but without a silent period impossible to ID just what. Cyberdad's far enough in the boonies to get all those goodies. The WEUR tower and transmitter is still atop the Oak Park Arms senior center building in Oak Park, the rare AM station still on a building, as it was when it started as WOPA.
 
East Tennessee: Local WITA in Knoxville, clear daytime but by night, the graveyard hash makes it a difficult listen (if you wanted to listen to preachers including Brother Stair) fairly close to town. Close enough in is WFXY, Middlesboro, KY and WCSV, Crossville, TN which remain my closest unheards, but are audible on the far fringes of the market.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio, a weak WKBV, Richmond IN mixed with WMRN at times. When I was still living in the Celina OH area, I wanted to hear a friend who was on the air at WMRN, and I ended up driving to the far fringes of Auglaize County to get a good signal, still with the WKBV signal in the background.
Lafayette IN was a weak signal from WDAN, Danville IL.

I never DXed WMBM, Miami but heard it very clear in downtown Miami in 1980 (Brickell area) waiting for my First Phone test the next morning. It was one of the first Urban A/C stations.
 
From the west side of Houston, Texas:

Daytime, slop from local KLVL 1480. Occasionally I hear a bit from KHVL in Huntsville TX, about 65 miles north of me (since 2022, "94.1, 104.9, The Lake" classic hits).
At sunset I've ID'd KBIX Muskogee OK (Radio Las Americas), KLNT Laredo TX (Radio Vida, SS religion), and KPLT Paris TX (Classic country).
At night, a jumble, but I've ID'd KWMC Del Rio TX (classic hits) and WHOC Philadelphia MS (classic country).
Sunrise, nothing else other than the above.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WEUR with fair signal.
Nightime: weak WEUR in the mess.

DX/RETRO: way back when WNDU (South Bend, IN) was still on the air they would be an easy catch in Chicago. Others heard on this frequency include WABJ (Adrian, MI), WGEZ (Beloit, WI) and WJMO (Cleveland, OH), WDAN (Danville, IL), WMRN (Marion, OH), and the most recent catch on this frequency WMPX (Midland, MI) in early 2022.

And as tvnut points out WEUR is one of the very few AM stations that have their antenna tower on top of a building:

1490-WPNA-2.jpg
 
Canyon Lake, TX:

Day: KJFK from Austin, TX with the Jack FM format and on its last legs.

Night: Total graveyard

Back in the day 1490 was a very popular Top 40 station with the KNOW calls; still on its last legs in Canyon Lake even back then.
 
tvnut said:
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago ...

WEUR is 13 miles north of me and just close enough so it dominates 1490 day and night. In darkness, there's a bare hint of something underneath, but without a silent period impossible to ID just what. Cyberdad's far enough in the boonies to get all those goodies. The WEUR tower and transmitter is still atop the Oak Park Arms senior center building in Oak Park, the rare AM station still on a building, as it was when it started as WOPA.
Click to expand...
The WEUR tower being on top of a building may also explain why WGEZ gets the bbetter of it at my location. Despite just a three mile difference in distance (WEUR 37 miles, WGEZ 40 miles). ....And yeah, being in the boonies of the far northwest suburbs does have a few benefits when it comes to DXing. :)
 
Urban Oldies WXTG comes in loud and clear on 1490 on the Hampton Roads, VA Peninsula. However, the AM frequency is largely de-emphasized, and the station is identified by its translator as 101.9, The Groove.
 
cyberdad said:
Quite common practise for graveyard channels.
Click to expand...

Thats common for MANY AM's who have fm counter parts, regardless of being a graveyard channel or not

My only log on 1490 that i can recall offhand here in alaska is KLOG Longview, WA.. 1750 miles away or so
 
Here in the Columbus, Ohio area, it depends on where you are. North, a decent signal from WMRN in Marion. South, a similarly but slightly weaker signal from WBEX in Chillicothe.
Both with 1,000 watts day and night, both right about 45 miles from downtown Columbus. WMRN is located in an area of considerably better ground conductivity and definitely is the one I've heard more over the years. But as interested as I am in co-channel clashes like this, I've never spent much time on 1490 to assess where and how much these two fight it out over certain parts of greater Columbus.
 
@ TvNut :
>> ''WEUR is 13 miles north of me and just close enough so it dominates 1490 day and night. In darkness, there's a bare hint of something underneath.....' <<

Very much the same here vis a vis 1490. WAZL Hazleton is 18 miles NE of me and goes kinda ker-plunk at night, They're a terrific pilot station, though. Whenever they are loud and crystal at 9-10PM, the Aurora is doing its dance and the Spanish stations from the Caribbean and South America come in across the dial.
WAZL, last I heard, has been sold and re-sold and sold numerous times -- the last price I saw was fpr $30,000. Hazleton (and thus WAZL's stick) is up high, and they used to be a sunset pest back in low, marshy Queens NYC where e DXed, despite there being 3 closer stations on 1490.
From the old PA apartment 5 miles south of here, though, WBCB Levittown PA and WLPA Lancaster PA are atop in the day, with WAZL third.
 
Chicago by the Lakeshore:

It's pretty much only WEUR Oak Park, due to their proximity. The only other log I have on 1490 is WMRN in Marion Ohio, which I recorded one day around sunset when I positioned myself to the east of a large building. WEUR is actually pretty weak in my new(er) apartment for similar reasons so I might be able to get something else there, but I haven't really tried yet.
 
In Loganville, GA

Days: WKUN-Monroe, GA

Nights: Just a mess of noise. WKUN at supposedly 1KW should come in clear but with ground conductivity being horrible here and skywave not helping from so close at night, it's basically non-existant.
 
schmave said:
Here in the Columbus, Ohio area, it depends on where you are. North, a decent signal from WMRN in Marion. South, a similarly but slightly weaker signal from WBEX in Chillicothe.
Both with 1,000 watts day and night, both right about 45 miles from downtown Columbus. WMRN is located in an area of considerably better ground conductivity and definitely is the one I've heard more over the years. But as interested as I am in co-channel clashes like this, I've never spent much time on 1490 to assess where and how much these two fight it out over certain parts of greater Columbus.
Click to expand...

Got to check out 1490 this afternoon on a trip to the dentist in Lancaster, 30 miles southeast of Columbus. WBEX was on top, but it was taking a lot of interference from what I have to assume was WMRN the whole trip. I never heard a formal ID for the latter.
Lancaster is about 35 miles from Chillicothe and 75'ish from Marion.
Both were airing Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, with the lesser signal a few seconds behind. Made for an interesting listening experience no one outside a radio enthusiast would enjoy, let alone appreciate.
I attribute this to the ground conductivity that is markedly better north of and around Columbus than south, including Chillicothe.
Makes me wonder how far south WMRN can be heard under WBEX heading straight down 23.
 
schmave said:
Got to check out 1490 this afternoon on a trip to the dentist in Lancaster, 30 miles southeast of Columbus. WBEX was on top, but it was taking a lot of interference from what I have to assume was WMRN the whole trip. I never heard a formal ID for the latter.
Lancaster is about 35 miles from Chillicothe and 75'ish from Marion.
Both were airing Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, with the lesser signal a few seconds behind. Made for an interesting listening experience no one outside a radio enthusiast would enjoy, let alone appreciate.
I attribute this to the ground conductivity that is markedly better north of and around Columbus than south, including Chillicothe.
Makes me wonder how far south WMRN can be heard under WBEX heading straight down 23.
Click to expand...
I was wondering if WMOA, Marietta might have come into play but per the map it looks doubtful
 
gr8oldies said:
I was wondering if WMOA, Marietta might have come into play but per the map it looks doubtful
Click to expand...

I only doubt WMOA because of the ground conductivity, and looking them up they are not a Clay and Buck affiliate. I was wondering about any other 1490s that could make it into my area and forgot Marietta has a station there.
I briefly wondered if daytime skywave was a factor, given that it was midday at that end of the dial, but the signals were too consistent.
 
Orange County, TX. No real winners here with KEUN Eunice, LA being the most frequent daytime visitor. and at times KJIN Houma, LA will sneak in. Sunrise/sunset at times brings in mostly KHVL, Huntsville, TX which is a semi-regular nighttime listen also. Other 1490's logged have been KLNT Laredo, TX, KWMC, Del Rio, TX, KYZS Tyler, TX and KBST Big Spring, TX.
 
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