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AM Frequency of the week: 690

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Day: WSCR (670) splatter. Before iboc, Sometimes a weak WVCY would be present....especially in winter. WVCY is 250 watts from Oshkosh, WI with a pattern that favors me. About 140 miles north of my location.

Night: As often as not, CIGM from Montreal is strong enough to break through the WSCR splatter. Signal is fair at best. Then there's the matter of one night last week when WQNO from New Orleans was in....and on top.

Retro: Sunset would frequently bring in either what was then WVOK from Birmingham or KGGF from Coffeyville, Kansas. CBF from Montreal was the nighttime regular with a better signal then than what CIGM has now. BUT...CBF signed off at midnight on a somewhat frequent basis, which sometimes would open the channel for WTIX. R. Progreso from Cuba was also a semi-regular when CBF was off.

Other location: In the 70s and early 80s when we first started vacationing on the beaches near Pensacola, WTIX was a go-to day and night thanks to the salt water path from New Orleans. Signal was good, even on the 5kw night pattern. Fast forward to the present time and following severe damage from Hurricane Katrina, WQNO has managed to restore the day signal to almost the level of what it was as WTIX. Not so the night signal. Power is now 2.1KW, and R. Progreso dominates with WQNO usually well behind it.
 
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In the near north Chicago suburbs--days nothing.
At night Montreal dominates the frequency, but as Cyberdad said not as strong as it used to when it was CBF.

Retro:Birmingham used to come in during critical hours in the fall. I've heard New Orleans from time to time especially during Hurricane Katrina when they were running full power continuously. Occasionally KGGF
 
690 in Charleston is WOKV Jacksonville, one of our most powerful AM stations. They are getting ready to change format to sports, as they are a part of a FM simulcast with 104.5 FM. The FM is staying news-talk after 1/1.

That signal is more powerful than a couple of the much closer AM stations around here. I’ve heard it as far as Cape Hatteras and the Bahamas in the daytime. I’ve heard it as far as NJ during sunset hours with their 50kw.

At nighttime it mostly disappears, and sometimes I hear Birmingham, AL.
 
Among my meagre 690 loggings here in the new digs of Northeast PA, I was surprised at the bounty. And if I'm up and about tomorrow, I might add a new daytime one. 690 has been pretty generous here.

In no particular order (most likely, all of these at SSS) :

WELD from WV, taped, 11-17-13
WOKV
A WZAP (wherever they're from)
WJOX from Alabama
WTIX New Orleans

*Just now* 6 PM, pitch dark, 12-16-18: WELD, again, from WV, with Christmas music.

* * * * * * *

I so far have not listened to hear (daytime) WPHE from Phoenixville PA. They're the closest one to me!
And for some reason (nighttime), I've yet to log the one from Montreal !

* * * * * * *

@ Charleston: A good buddy of mine, armed with his Zenith 500 transistor, heard WBZ 1030 on the Outer Banks of NC -- and your WOKV -- 'The Big Ape' then, at the same afternoon session. That must be some sort of DXer's paradise.
 
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From Phoenix, Arizona: Day - Nothing, but if I travel to the western portions of Arizona, I can sometimes pick-up a weak XEWW-AM with their monster 77,500 watt signal from Tijuana, Mexico.

Night: XEWW-AM 690 with their unusual Chinese Pop format. Usually with a fair signal, but not as strong as it used to be. I have never been able to snag Montreal from my location.
 
East Tennessee: Days: WZAP, Bristol VA. Sunset: WOKV or just after sunset, WJOX. Sometimes WQNO if auroral.

Retro/other: Lafayette IN, a weak KSTL (stronger when I lived in Quincy IL in 1985-86).
I never heard WAPE/WPDQ/WOKV in Ohio or Indiana under normal conditions, but did when they were on all night for Hurricane Hugo coverage.
 
@ gr8 ....

I have tape somewhere (cassette) from that night when that station formerly known as 'The Big Ape' went omni for Hurricane Hugo. It was off a radio in a basement apartment in Philly. Its signal was as loud as neighbours WNBC 660 and WOR 710.

* * * * *

Side note: Two guys on WBT Charlotte at that time were sort of wisecracking about Hugo. Bad idea. I had tracked the storm as it went up the coast and brushed Jacksonville, before it made landfall at Charleston SC. En route to another Charleston (WV) it paid a visit to Charlotte. I tuned back to WBT for a while, and found nothing there but an open carrier.
 
You can get WOKV probably about 60 miles inland in South Carolina. It blasts in daytime in Charleston, Myrtle and even in Wilmington.

With them flipping to sports, I might listen to them a little more because they will be carrying a couple ESPN Rado shows (Dan LeBatard and Stephen A. Smith) that are currently unavailable locally. WOKV used to broadcast the Jaguars games from their start in 1995 till 2012 or 2013.
 
Warminster Pa(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WPHE Phoenixville PA(Spanish, ex-WYIS).
Night: usually CBF Montreal(French, Radio Canada station).
 
From 27 miles SSW of Kansas City:

Day and Critical Hours: KGGF - Coffeyville, KS - 10kW [144 miles]. Signal is strong during critical hours when they are on daytime power and pattern. Otherwise, the signal is weak but listenable during the day.

Night: As soon as KGGF goes on nighttime power and pattern, they totally disappear. XEWW - Tijuana, MX. is the only other signal logged to date.

Bob
 
In SE AZ:
690 KCEE Tucson AZ Religion D/N
690 XERG Monterrey Mexico Sports N
690 KOAQ Terrytown NE Country Music N
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: nothing now, but in the good old days WAGO (later WCKK, WLKE, WXOL, WVCY), Oshkosh, WI would make an appearance once in a while.
Nightime: CKGM Montreal most likely catch at night in the null of WSCR IBOC hash.

DX/RETRO: other catches from the past include KSTL (St. Louis, MO), KGGF (Coffeyville, KS), WVOK (Birmingham, AL), WQNO (New Orleans, LA), WZAP (Bristol, VA), WOKV (Jacksonville, FL). Then there are the various incarnation of Montral, PQ: CBF, CKDR, and the currwent CKGM. Also CINF (Verdun, PQ) before changing city of license to Montreal. On the foreign stations front, HJCZ (Bogota, Colombia), XETRA (Tijuana, Mexico), XEN (Mexico City, Mexico) as well Radio Liberacion (CMEC Santa Clara, Cuba) and radio Progreso from unknown location in Cuba.
 
Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
Pretty much nothing day or night. There might be some slop from WLW as it has a decently strong signal in Columbus, but nowhere near the slop we get on 710. Back when WLW ran IBOC, 690 was a lost cause.
Occasionally I've heard Montreal extremely weak.
Several years ago when I lived in Thornville, Ohio, roughly 20 miles east of where I am now, I heard WELD from Fisher, W. Va. when WLW's IBOC was off. Fisher is about 200 miles east-southeast, give or take a few miles. I want to say this was during the summer or fall of 2012. I remember hearing the ID and realizing it was a station I hadn't heard before ... or since.
 
Days - Getting away from noise, it's a very weak mix of KRCO Prineville OR (Country) and CBU Vancouver BC (CBC Radio One), with KRCO slightly on top.

Night - CBU Vancouver (on reduced 25KW power), CBKF-1 Gravelbourg SK (SRC) and XEWW Tijuana (Chinese) are the three mixing all night long.

Wanted
KEII Blackfoot ID (Adult Hits as Cannonball 101). I've looked for them for many years and not a peep. The 1260 has been heard several times, however.
KTSM El Paso TX (News/Talk - Day pattern at sunrise looks profitable for me.)
KOAQ Terrytown NE (Classic Country - While 1KW, the day coverage is tremendous and has a nice lobe to the NW. I've heard KNEB-960 before but never this one.)
 
In west Houston, 690 is mostly splatter from local 700 KSEV, which has a noisy signal even at their 1kw night pattern. I have heard WQNO from New Orleans a couple of times, and talk, likely KTSM El Paso, near sunset. I've heard talk in SS but unable to ID.
 
A quick mention is in order for the former KUSD 690 Vermillion SD, in the far SE corner of the state. 1 kW-D into a DA. Dated back to May of 1922 as WEAJ but moved to the KUSD calls by 1925. According to the Revolvy.com entry for South Dakota Public Broadcasting:

In 1992, a Chevrolet Suburban went on a joyride through the Vermillion Golf Course, where KUSD-AM's towers were located. The Suburban crashed into one of the AM station's towers and knocked it down. The insurance settlement was not large enough to restore full operations, and KUSD-AM went off the air for good in 1994.

KUSD-FM continues to this day as the flagship for SDPB.
 
I remember KUSD on 690. In that part of the world, a kilowatt that low on the dial gets you an impressive groundwave signal.

WNAX, less than an hour down the road in Yankton, SD covers that entire state with 5kw on 570. Along with big chunks of North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota.
 
cyberdad said:
I remember KUSD on 690. In that part of the world, a kilowatt that low on the dial gets you an impressive groundwave signal.

WNAX, less than an hour down the road in Yankton, SD covers that entire state with 5kw on 570. Along with big chunks of North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota.
Click to expand...

And, I hear WNAX every day here 27 miles south of Kansas City. In winter, the signal is actually quite listenable...

Bob
 
the valley of the jolly green giant (Lu Sueur, MN)

Daytime-KFXN Minneapolis Hmong Programming
Nighttime-mainly CKGM Montreal
 
Haven't done much listening on 690 at night but during the day I hear KSTL St. Louis, KGGF Coffeyville KS and logged WQNO New Orleans at night.
 
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