AM Frequency of the Week - 710 kHz

[Unregistered]

KURV Edinburg news/talk 710 kurv

 

[icybluelake]

Daytime -- a weak but sometimes barely listenable KCMO Kansas City. Nighttime, usually KCMO, sometimes WOR. Cuban station at times. I've wondered if I have ever heard WAQI Miami (highly unlikely), but regardless, unable to ID what I've heard.

 

[spiritof67]

In St. Louis, 710 kHz in the daytime gets you KCMO. At night, I usually hear HD hash from WLW, Radio Rebelde, and to a lesser degree, WOR.

 

[kilokat7]

Here's everything I've heard on 710 since 2009, sorted nearest to most distant. I use a Perseus SDR and phased BOGs (beverages on the ground) for reversible NE-SW reception. I recently built a double Kaz terminated loop, reversible from North to South. The results:

CJRN Niagra Falls (now closed), was common at night.

WDSM Superior, WI. often heard during SRS.

WTPR Paris, TN. heard occasionally during SRS.

KCMO Kansis City, MO. common towards the west.

WFNR Blacksburg, VA. can blast in here during SRS.

WOR New York, common towards the east.

KXMR Bismarck, ND., another occasional SRS visitor.

KEEL Shreveport, LA. used to be very common at night, hardly ever hear them now.

KGNC Amarillo, TX. heard during almost every SRS DXing session - very common on my SW BOGs

KNUS Denver, CO. - heard a few times but not common here.

WAQI Miami, FL. - common and the easiest Florida here on the South D-KAZ and sometimes even on the BOGs - 1,233 miles.

XEDP Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chi. - sometimes heard off-frequency during SRS, more common during auroral conditions - 1,534 miles.

Radio Rebelde Cuba - When WAQI is in, it's often mixing with Cuba.

KIRO Seattle, WA. - only heard twice here during SRS during good NW conditions, 1,769 miles.

KFIA Carmichael, CA. - heard twice from here, likely on day pattern, 1,843 miles.

You can see/hear the WAQI & KIRO receptions on my YouTube channel.

 

[radioman148]

I'm very impressed with your catch of KIRO from Michigan. Your antennas obviously make the difference.

 

[cyberdad]

It looks like they are protecting KNUS and KCMO:

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KGNC&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

Re: KGNC....

I'm not sure if they're required to protect either KNUS or KCMO. Although indeed that may be the case. My guess, however, is that they're protecting KIRO and WOR, which also has the effect of giving SOME protection to KNUS and KCMO.

When I was in college in southeastern Iowa in the late 1960s, I regularly listened to top 40 on WHB (then on 710). When they powered down and went to night pattern, KGNC frequently would take over. But only for a short while before it was KGNC's turn to go to night pattern. At that point, a much-weaker WHB would take over again. At that point, WHB would be pretty much unlistenable, but there wasn't enough left of WOR or anything else to overtake it. KEEL was also an occasional sunset visitor. I don't have any memory of hearing Cuba in those days. The current "Cuban chorus" setup may not have been in place then.

 

[schmave]

In East Tennessee, WEKC, Williamstown, KY by day, and the Cuban chorus or WOR by night

In Dayton, OH all splatter/iBoc from WLW but pre-IBOC, it was possible to get WOR at night

Was in Dayton last night for work (a football game at Welcome Stadium) and yes, WLW's IBOC completely vanquished WOR and gave WGN some problems as well. I checked a few times heading east on 70, and I couldn't hear any hint of WOR until I was almost to the west edge of Columbus.
(As a brief aside, I heard yet again how effective WTVN's westbound null was driving down 75 from St. Marys to Dayton yesterday. I was between Piqua and Tipp City at the pattern change and poof, it was absolutely gone.)

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Re: KGNC....

I'm not sure if they're required to protect either KNUS or KCMO. Although indeed that may be the case. My guess, however, is that they're protecting KIRO and WOR, which also has the effect of giving SOME protection to KNUS and KCMO.

When I was in college in southeastern Iowa in the late 1960s, I regularly listened to top 40 on WHB (then on 710). When they powered down and went to night pattern, KGNC frequently would take over. But only for a short while before it was KGNC's turn to go to night pattern. At that point, a much-weaker WHB would take over again. At that point, WHB would be pretty much unlistenable, but there wasn't enough left of WOR or anything else to overtake it. KEEL was also an occasional sunset visitor. I don't have any memory of hearing Cuba in those days. The current "Cuban chorus" setup may not have been in place then.

There would be absolutely no reason for KGNC to protect WOR or KIRO in the daytime. They are too far distant to need any protection from KGNC at all. Given the high ground conductivity of the panhandle - KGNC's impressive daytime footprint is understandable - as would its threat to any 710 within several hundred miles. WOR, on the other had, has a directional pattern (for whatever reason) that does not allow it to come anywhere close to Texas at night. I've never heard it, anywhere in Texas - although I suspect I have heard its sidebands at night.

 

[Icangelp]

Minutia, but I read somewhere that back in the early days, like many broadcasters, WOR used a longwire antenna. When they upgraded, they decided they wanted to stay true to the coverage area provided by the longwire. That meant a directional array.

KGNC was a late arrival to 710, moving from 1440 sometime around 1947, plus Denver and Shreveport weren't around at the time.

 

[davideduardo]

Minutia, but I read somewhere that back in the early days, like many broadcasters, WOR used a longwire antenna. When they upgraded, they decided they wanted to stay true to the coverage area provided by the longwire. That meant a directional array.

True. But the antenna used by WOR and most stations of the time was more correctly called a "flattop". They were not end-fed like longwires are, but center fed to a horizontal component that was as high off the ground as possible. That made them, in a sense, like any top loaded antenna of the later years of AM. And they tended to be a bit directional, although the principal radiating part of the antenna was the vertical component.

WOR had all along wanted to cover both New York and Philadelphia. With the use of a directional and the low noise levels of the time, they actually did. Their advertising in trade journals in much of the 30's was focused on the coverage of the two big markets.

 

[crainbebo]

Was WOR ever heard on the west coast? Or was KIRO too much of a nuisance on 710? Getting WOR here is like winning a $200 million lottery jackpot - the odds are 1 in zillions with KIRO, Rebelde (s) and KFIA on the air.

 

[radioman148]

True. But the antenna used by WOR and most stations of the time was more correctly called a "flattop". They were not end-fed like longwires are, but center fed to a horizontal component that was as high off the ground as possible. That made them, in a sense, like any top loaded antenna of the later years of AM. And they tended to be a bit directional, although the principal radiating part of the antenna was the vertical component.

WOR had all along wanted to cover both New York and Philadelphia. With the use of a directional and the low noise levels of the time, they actually did. Their advertising in trade journals in much of the 30's was focused on the coverage of the two big markets.

That's exactly what I had always heard. WOR wanted to cover the Philadelphia market just as well as NYC. In the 60s I can tell you that their signal in Philly was local grade and the strongest of any of the NYC blowtorches.

 

[cyberdad]

There would be absolutely no reason for KGNC to protect WOR or KIRO in the daytime. They are too far distant to need any protection from KGNC at all. Given the high ground conductivity of the panhandle - KGNC's impressive daytime footprint is understandable - as would its threat to any 710 within several hundred miles. WOR, on the other had, has a directional pattern (for whatever reason) that does not allow it to come anywhere close to Texas at night. I've never heard it, anywhere in Texas - although I suspect I have heard its sidebands at night.

My post speculating which stations KGNC might be required to protect referred to nighttime. Apologies for not making that clear. Obviously there'd be no reason for KGNC to protect New York and Seattle during daytime.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

My post speculating which stations KGNC might be required to protect referred to nighttime. Apologies for not making that clear. Obviously there'd be no reason for KGNC to protect New York and Seattle during daytime.

Obviously a lot of folks are really passionate about WOR. But the reality is that they have a directional pattern unlike the other NYC blowtorches. WABC was a regular visitor to Texas in the pre-KAAM days, that is if you could null ABQ. WCBS made it as far as Lubbock before KRVN. I never heard WNBC - now WFAN except maybe once. 660 was really blank at night. I would have thought the lower the dial position, the better. Not the case with WNBC.

The strange thing is - WBZ, even further in distance, used to be a very easy catch before going IBOC.

 

[AKDXer]

In Port Alexander, AK 710 is KIRO Seattle at night, but nada during the daytime.