Correct. Specifically Northeastern Philadelphia county.
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AM Frequency of the week: 620
- Thread starter cyberdad
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Correct. Specifically Northeastern Philadelphia county.
WTMJ old tower site was in actually in Brookfield near Bluemond and Calhoun Roads https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0345276,-88.1311668,538m/data=!3m1!1e3 (the open area is where I believe the the tower site was) The towers were taken down several years ago. The area has been so built up in the last 20 years that even if they could stay there (WTMJ couldn't when the FCC approved the power increase because Journal didn't have enough land) the signal would have probably degraded. WTMJ current site in Union Grove is primarily surrounded by marsh and farm fields.
I don't think the TV station ever used that tower, I believe they started at the studio site on Capital Dr. the original TV tower was taken down in the last couple of years.
In Lake County Illinois WTMJ has a very good daytime signal and ok nightime, sometimes at night there are other stations underneath. WTMJ is listenable in central Illinois between Bloomington and Springfield, around 200 miles from the transmitter site. Not too bad when around 5kw is going to the south southwest in that direction.
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Yes, I had my fields mixed up. Looked at Hx Card and they had several descriptions of the site over the years. The Rural Routes changed numbers over the years, making it even more confusing.
The station Hx cards often have TL redescriptions, sometimes when the access roads changed the addresses. Road names changed. New roads were built, making shorter access roads from new roads possible, etc. Have to know a lot of Hx to read the Hx Cards! Only locals usually know these details, and the younger people don't. Many older personnel story tellers have sadly passed away.
The station Hx cards often have TL redescriptions, sometimes when the access roads changed the addresses. Road names changed. New roads were built, making shorter access roads from new roads possible, etc. Have to know a lot of Hx to read the Hx Cards! Only locals usually know these details, and the younger people don't. Many older personnel story tellers have sadly passed away.
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I know this thread is almost a month old, but no one from California mentioned any stations on 620. I'm in Los Angeles, and by day, mostly on my car radio, I can get a weak but listenable signal with a slight hiss underneath it from ESPN Deportes Radio-affiliated XESS in Puerto Nuevo, Baja California. By night, XESS dukes it out with ESPN Radio-affiliated KTAR in Phoenix, AZ.
I got into So-Cal regularly on biz trips for a period spanning about 30 years. Still get out there every so often. IME KTAR is/was a regular at night in both the Los Angeles and San Diego areas. Daytime in San Diego county, it was usually a Mexican station with a fair-weak signal.
Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):
Daytime: WTMJ
Nightime: WTMJ - used to be nullable in old days, but not anymore.
DX catches/retro: In the old days WTMJ was fairly easy to null at night producing some nice DX catches. in 1980's, 1990's this frequency was the best bet to hear the state of Vermont on AM here in Chicago area. Heard WVMT (Burlington, VT) few times in those days. Other catches include WSUN, St. Petersburg, FL), WSKQ (Newark, NJ), WHEN (Syracuse, NY), WRJZ (Knoxville, TN), KWFT (Wichita Falls, TX), CFCL (Timmins, ON), CKRM (Regina, SK). The most common station in those days with WTMJ nulled used to be Radio Rebelde from Cuba. Once they increased their power and started using IBOC, I was not able to null them anymore. They stopped using IBOC in late 2014, but still I am not possible to null WTMJ.
Daytime: WTMJ
Nightime: WTMJ - used to be nullable in old days, but not anymore.
DX catches/retro: In the old days WTMJ was fairly easy to null at night producing some nice DX catches. in 1980's, 1990's this frequency was the best bet to hear the state of Vermont on AM here in Chicago area. Heard WVMT (Burlington, VT) few times in those days. Other catches include WSUN, St. Petersburg, FL), WSKQ (Newark, NJ), WHEN (Syracuse, NY), WRJZ (Knoxville, TN), KWFT (Wichita Falls, TX), CFCL (Timmins, ON), CKRM (Regina, SK). The most common station in those days with WTMJ nulled used to be Radio Rebelde from Cuba. Once they increased their power and started using IBOC, I was not able to null them anymore. They stopped using IBOC in late 2014, but still I am not possible to null WTMJ.
In the 80's and 90's 620 in Regina was CKCK, and CKRM was on 980. CKCK was a fine top 40 station, and CKRM was (and still is) country. CKCK traded the license in for an FM one, and CKRM moved down to 620, with 1300 CJME taking over CKRM's 980 frequency.
This one is pretty easy. In Phoenix, Arizona:
Daytime and Nighttime: KTAR-AM Phoenix. Local station, strong day and night. At night, you can sometimes hear behind KTAR the background noise of the aforementioned Mexican radio station, XESS-AM. It’s a shame KTAR isn’t more powerful at night, it is probably the strongest Phoenix area night-time station now that 1580 AM out of Phoenix is no longer 50,000 watts at night.
Daytime and Nighttime: KTAR-AM Phoenix. Local station, strong day and night. At night, you can sometimes hear behind KTAR the background noise of the aforementioned Mexican radio station, XESS-AM. It’s a shame KTAR isn’t more powerful at night, it is probably the strongest Phoenix area night-time station now that 1580 AM out of Phoenix is no longer 50,000 watts at night.
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