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AM Frequency of the Week: 1520

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest suburban Chicago (Crystal Lake, IL).

Days: Very weak WLUV from Loves Park, iL. 500 watts ND from about 40 miles to my west.

Nights: Lately, 1520 has become something of a mess. KOKC and KRHW...both weak....typically fight it out for the top spot. For a while when on STA, KOKC was the stronger of the two. I'm not sure if the STA is still going, but lately it's been hard to tell which station currently has the upper hand above the slop at my location.

Retro/Other Location: As I've posted in other threads, KOMA was a nighttime go-to during my four years of college in the late 1960s. My location in southeast Iowa was probably only getting about 5kw worth of signal, but KOMA still came in fairly well with only minimal fading. To my amazement then as well as now, WKBW was sometimes audible in the background. Sometimes around sunset, KOLM, a10kw top-40 station from Rochester, MN, would sometimes briefly take over the channel. When it did, you had to wonder if the record you were hearing was KOMA or KOLM.

Finally, radioman mentioned that "back in the way" KOMA still had a decent signal here in the Chicago area. True, but it got squeezed from both first adjacents, WLAC and WCKY, which were/are each significantly stronger. The time to listen to KOMA around here was after midnight Sunday night/Monday morning when the adjacent pests were off.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs daytime is virtually nothing, maybe a weak WKVI. At night a messy battle mostly between KOKC and KRHW.

Retro: During it's Top 40 days KOMA was in most nights with a pretty good signal even though we were on the east edge of their pattern. As cyberdad pointed out sometimes KOMA was squeezed by WLAC and WCKY but on a good radio KOMA usually came through pretty well although it was subject to some fading because I was not directly in their pattern. Very rarely did I hear WKBW although I tried.
 
East Tennessee: Had an oldies station in today on 1520, no ID and nothing nearby seemed go match. It was in the 3pm Eastern hour. Otherwise, nothing days.
Night: not much

Ohio: Only one reception of WWKB, coincidentally when both they and WCKY were playing oldies. I used to get Sikeston regularly. KOMA was a pre-sunset regular in the top 40 era.

1520 is the home of 4 (now 3) tightly wound directional stations in Northern Ohio, 2 of them withing 30 miles of each other. WQCT (ex-WBNO), Bryan OH, the present day WPAY (at one time WTTO, which was the springboard for one Jim Davis to hit the big time at The Big 8 as Jim Edwards), WKNT, Kent, OH (defunct) and WINW, Canton, OH. All had extremely tight directional patterns. Toledo, in one of its incarnations, made the trip to Dayton at least once.
 
gr8oldies said:

1520 is the home of 4 (now 3) tightly wound directional stations in Northern Ohio, 2 of them withing 30 miles of each other. WQCT (ex-WBNO), Bryan OH, the present day WPAY (at one time WTTO, which was the springboard for one Jim Davis to hit the big time at The Big 8 as Jim Edwards), WKNT, Kent, OH (defunct) and WINW, Canton, OH. All had extremely tight directional patterns. Toledo, in one of its incarnations, made the trip to Dayton at least once.
Click to expand...
Wasn't there also a 1520 in (or near) Ashtabula, OH on Lake Erie? That place was only a little more than two hours' drive from the WKBW (WWKB) stick. But right in the DA-1 null. Maybe I'm thinking of something else.
 
From near the Chicago lakefront..

This is one of the more complicated frequencies for me, and the one where I've identified the most stations (six)

Daytime: Usually very little. If I'm driving around on the south side of town I can sometimes barely pick up WKVI in Knox IN which is about 70 miles to the ESE.

Critical Hours: A couple of times I've identified WHOW in Clinton IL, which is maybe 170 miles to the SW.

Nighttime: KOKC in Oklahoma City is the most common. I last heard it today in fact. A few times I have also heard KRHW in Sikeston, MO. This usually happens early in the evening, maybe because KOKC isn't coming in as strongly yet. If I go right up to the lake, I can sometimes hear WWKB in Buffalo, NY. Lastly, one time I inexplicably heard KOLM in Rochester MN. When I heard the ID I remember thinking "this can't be, I've never heard it before and it's coming in so strongly". But that's what it was, and I haven't heard it before or since.
 
From 20 miles NE of Seattle-

Days. It's all about KKXA, Snohomish WA. Not shocking, as I am about 8 miles away (almost due south) from the ND 50kW signal.

Nights. KKXA is still 50kW at night, but very directional to protect KQRR in Oregon City (Portland) market. And I suppose it also is protecting an LA market station and KOKC as well. Bottom line, the null is so hard and clean, that I usually pick up the Portland station nearly in the clear or with only minimal interference.
 
West Dennis, Cape Cod:

Day: Nothing.

Night: All WWKB all the time

Retro: St. Peters, MO

Day: Mix of WHOW and KRHW

Night: Good mix of KOKC and KRHW, with 'RHW winning out most of the time.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: Very weak WLUV (Loves Park, IL) on few occasions back in 1980's-1990's, but not since
Nightime: KOKC or WWBK

DX/RETRO: Some catches in the past include KWHW (Sikeston, MO), KOLM (Rochester, MN), WHOW (Clinton, IL), WCHE (West Chester, PA), WHIC (Hardinsburg, KY), WSVl (Shelbyville, IN), WIDD (Elizabeth, TN). Foreign catches include Radio Minuto, Barranquilla, Colombia and the clandestine station Radio Liberacion which was rumored to be from El Salvador.

For years I have been hearing a het on 1521 kHz, presumably from Saudi Arabia here in the Chicago area, but was never able to pull audio to get an ID. Back in 2005 while visiting Boston I was able to listen to a good signal from Saudi Arabia on the car radio even though the radio could only tune to 1520 kHz.
 
From 25 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City:

Daytime: Splatter from local KCTE on 1510 kHz.

Critical Hours: KOKC or on occasion, KRHW in Sikeston, MO.

Night: KOKC. However, I am on edge of a null. The signal varies greatly with frequent and phasey fading and does not remain listenable for long. However, travel 70 miles west to Topeka, KS. and the nighttime signal is much stronger, more stable and quite listenable.

Retro: I loved KOMA during the golden age of AM Top 40 radio but I never lived in a location with a highly listenable signal. These locations included Peoria and Macomb, IL. On family vacations west, KOMA boomed into the plains and mountain states with almost no fading, no adjacent channel interference and no competition on the frequency. I once listened to KOMA non-stop on a drive from Denver, Colorado to Manhattan, Kansas where the signal disappeared, a distance of 450 miles.

Bob
 
From west Houston, local KYND is only on intermittently, usually running announcements seeking someone to lease time. When they're off, there's something there but too weak to make out, possibly KFXZ in Lafayette LA. It may also be KQQB over in Stockdale TX (near San Antonio), but I understand they're in the same shape as KYND so may not be on the air.

Nights are all KOKC, seemingly not as strong as in yesteryear. I believe I read they stayed at 10kw ND after their towers were destroyed in a tornado a few years ago.
 
There isn't one that immediately comes to mind but it's quite possible. More likely on the PA or NY side.

cyberdad said:
Wasn't there also a 1520 in (or near) Ashtabula, OH on Lake Erie? That place was only a little more than two hours' drive from the WKBW (WWKB) stick. But right in the DA-1 null. Maybe I'm thinking of something else.
Click to expand...
 
Ellensburg WA

If anything, 1520 is a very weak mix of KKXA Snohomish WA (Country) and KQRR Portland (Russian) days.
Nights is usually the same. KOKC Oklahoma City (News/Talk) rarely gets in through both, but they are difficult these days. KFAQ is easier for Oklahoma.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Daytime: Nothing, but I've heard KOKC a few times during winter daytime skywave.

Sunset: KOKC comes up fairly strong. If I aim E/W, the signal is less strong and a weak KRHW can often be heard fading in/out underneath.

Night: Very similar to sunset except KFXZ "El Sabor" in Lafayette, LA, occasionally pops up in that E/W partial null. KRHW is heard much more rarely.

Sunrise: Similar to nighttime with KFXZ a bit stronger.

DX/Retro: One night back in February 2015 I logged a weak WXYB from Indian Rocks Beach, FL, playing Greek music in that partial KOKC null. Two months later when KOKC was off air because of tower damage, I logged the now-defunct XEART in Jojutla de Juárez.

Back when KYND was on the air, I could hear it weakly during the day and better at sunset and sign-on. Semi-local daytimer KQQB in Stockdale has hardly been on air in the last several years. The most I heard them was for a few months last year and early this year when they (like KYND) were running that loop statement seeking someone to lease time.
 
crainbebo said:
Ellensburg WA

If anything, 1520 is a very weak mix of KKXA Snohomish WA (Country) and KQRR Portland (Russian) days.
Nights is usually the same. KOKC Oklahoma City (News/Talk) rarely gets in through both, but they are difficult these days. KFAQ is easier for Oklahoma.
Click to expand...

KFAQ really gets out. When I was in Hawaii about 10 years ago KFAQ was in most nights. I could even hear it on the rental car radio.
 
Orange County, TX usually a weak KFXZ Lafayette, LA days since KYND is off air. Nights KOKC. When KOKC was off air I was able to log KRHW, WWKB and WRZW Apopka, FL
 
Days, in Atlanta, its WDCY out of Douglasville, GA running 2.5 KW with a religious format.
Nights, its splatter from WLAC (1510)and WCKY (1530).
 
West Central Georgia

Day: WTLM Opelika AL 1.0kW Day/0.65kW Critical

Night: KOKC Oklahoma City OK 50kW - Weak to moderate signal at best

Never hear WWKB Buffalo NY
 
In Los Angeles, CA:

Days: KKZZ from Port Hueneme (coastal Ventura County, CA; northwest of me) which carries a Spanish-language news/talk/sports format, branded as “La Voz” (“The Voice”, for those on here who don’t know Spanish) with the sports programming originating from TUDN Radio. Previously, it simulcasted hip-hop-formatted sister KCAQ-FM 95.9, licensed to Camarillo; and before that it aired an unbranded variety music format.

Nights: A different Spanish-language station I haven’t been able to identify. Any Californians/West Coasters on here have a guess as to what it might be? I’ve already ruled out KKZZ, since their night signal doesn’t reach me, being only 1 kW, compared to its daytime power of 10 kW.
 
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