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AM Frequency of the Week 1690

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cyberdad

cyberdad

(Due to special arrangements with my friend the Easter Bunny, I'm posting a day earlier than usual this weed....)

Far northwest suburbs of Chicago,,,,,

Days: 1690 is a fair signal (at best) from WVON from a transmitter site onthe south side of Chicago. 47 miles from me.

Night WVON stays audible but interference prone. The "usual culprits" are WPTX (Maryland0 and WMLB (Georgia). One morning earlier this week CHTQ from Toronto on day power (or critical hours 3kw) was blowing out WVON at my location.

Other Location. WVON does have a decent nighttime skywave signal. I heard it several times this past February around Pensacola and New Orleans on the Gulf coast.
 
In west Houston Texas, days sometimes I can hear a hint of something, assumed a TIS around here but never strong enough to pick out. At sunset I've heard WVON, WMLB, and (at their sunset) KDMT. At night, mostly WMLB but nothing particularly strong. At sunrise WMLB is usually on top when they go to day power.
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

Normally 1690 is all WVON (previously WRLL) all the time, as it's only a few miles from me. But a few Saturdays ago, they dropped audio early in the morning, and that silent carrier allowed me to hear CJLO Montreal and WMLB Avondale Heights, Ga., in that order, before the switch was thrown. Two nice surprises.
 
East Tennessee: WMLB, weakly, days. WVON often near sunset, and/or WPTX. I received WVON during the eclipse of August 2017 shortly after totality.
Retro/other: I paid more attention to Chicago's 1690 when it was Real Oldies WRLL. It was frequently into Western Ohio, often staying in for the day, like others in the region. It had a reasonable signal in Lafayette, IN one day when I was there.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: nothing but WVON Berwyn, IL with good signal.
Nighttime: still WVON but weaker and also nullable. When I null WVON I usually hear CHTO with Greek language programming or WPTX

DX/RETRO: prior to WVON taking over the frequency WPTX (Lexington Park, MD) and KDDZ (Arvada, CO) used to be common. WMLB also used to be easily heard. Other station that I managed to hear on this frequency was the weather forecast TIS (WPUA401) from Aurora, IL but they are no longer on the air. I have not yet heard CJLO.
 
South Mississippi:

Day: nothing
Night:
WMLB Avondale Estates/Atlanta - Freedom 1690 is usually a strong signal. When WMLB was off,
WPTX Lexington Park, MD and
WVON Berwyn/Chicago would come in sometimes
 
Does KFSG in Roseville, CA, ever play soft classic hits when it's not airing brokered religious programs?

Shortly after 7 a.m. CT this morning I had the radio aimed NW/SE and heard a weak station on 1690 under KDMT playing "Faithfully" by Journey and "Penny Lover" by Lionel Richie. There was another song after that, but it was too weak to ID, and the station soon faded.

It definitely wasn't WPTX - wrong direction, no stream match, and well past sunrise over there.
 
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jim-satx said:
Does KFSG in Roseville, CA, ever play soft classic hits when it's not airing brokered religious programs?

Shortly after 7 a.m. CT this morning I had the radio aimed NW/SE and heard a weak station on 1690 under KDMT playing "Faithfully" by Journey and "Penny Lover" by Lionel Richie. There was another song after that, but it was too weak to ID, and the station soon faded.

It definitely wasn't WPTX - wrong direction, no stream match, and well past sunrise over there.
Click to expand...
I’ve heard pop music occasionally weekends at night on KFSG…never with any liners. Just a block of brokered music programming. Most likely what you were hearing.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime: The local WVON comes in pretty well.

Nighttime: Still a lot of WVON but others can emerge. CHTO in Toronto is the most likely but I've also heard WPTX in Lexington Park, MD and WMLB in Avondale Estates, GA
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: A few years ago in December I heard KDMT (formerly KDDZ “Radio Disney”) in Arvada, CO, via daytime skywave. Otherwise, 1690 is blank here.

Sunset: KDMT starts to come up.

Night: Aiming NW, KDMT is usually stronger with periods of fading. It’s sometimes still heard when I aim NE. In that semi-null, I hear a weak mix with WVON and/or WMLB. At times there is splatter in both directions from 1700 KKLF in Richardson, TX.

Sunrise: KDMT is even stronger, especially when it goes to day power.

DX/RETRO: When propagation is good, WPTX and more rarely CHTO will come up for brief bits in the partial null of KDMT.

Occasionally I’ll hear weak soft pop under KDMT when aimed NW. Per Mario’s and Big D’s comments, I presume this is KFSG.
 
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@cyberdad -- lol 'The Easter Bunny' !
The only 1690 logging here is from WMDM in Maryland. In recent times I'm negligent vis a vis the X-Band, but the recall is that they were an easy SSS catch.
I have them listed in the new Pennsyvania log (set back to 000 after I moved to here) as 'WPTX' from October 1998, and re-logged as WMDM in Januray 2015.
(Some folks here will recall when WPTX ran a widely heard DX test on their original 920 kHz one overnight in the late Sixties.)
 
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