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AM Frequency of the week--740

D

ddsparxx

What do you get on 740 AM?

In Manassas, VA, I get the weak reception of WRNR, a (500W days, 7W nights) talk station from Martinsburg, WV about 45 miles NW of me. At night, it's CFZM AM 740 from Toronto, with the signal varying from moderate to strong. As I null out Toronto with the loop antenna, I can hear KRMG from Tulsa, OK. In some late afternoon or early evenings suring sunset, I heard WPAK (10 kW d, 7W n) out of Mount Airy, NC. I have heard Toronto 740 far south as Myrtle Beach last September. I am curious how far CFZM makes to west at nights as I have read it may reach FL.
 
One of the most interesting frequencies on AM because so much is shoehorned onto this frequency in parts of the country. It's been the subject of some of the best discussions on here and I always DX 740 where I travel. Anyway, my observations from places where I've lived and visited:
Columbus - As in most of this part of the country, Toronto owns this channel at night. A blanket signal to the point you can't hear anything else even in the rare times it fades.
Dallas - Depending on the night, you can hear Houston's KTRH but it's mostly jumble. When I stayed in Fort Worth during Hurricane Ike, I couldn't listen to KTRH day or night.
KTRH is a blaster, sending about 150K ERP over Houston at night but only 140 or so watts into its deep ENE-bound null to protect Toronto. Stations in Tulsa and Texarkana have pronounced east-west signals to protect Canada and, secondly, each other and Houston.
People have reported hearing KTRH here in eastern New Mexico, but not very well. I imagine there's a mighty clash of the signals between KTRH and KCBS somewhere in northern Mexico.
Florida panhandle - I haven't been there for about seven years, but when I visited in summer 2004 KTRH owned the channel around Panama City after dark. By no means it is a killer signal - at times it's pretty strong while at other times it fades fairly deep - but I don't remember any other signal being dependable at all.
Cyberdad recently reported that KRMG was dominant when he visited there. Makes total sense. I don't remember hearing that very much there, but I did in ...
Memphis - Stopped there for a night while moving home from Houston in November 2009, and I think it was KRMG putting in a decent signal (4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 10). Not surprisingly, no KTRH, but I think Toronto makes its presence known that far south on occasion.
 
Here in El Cajon, CA:

Day:
KBRT Avalon, CA - fairly strong - comparable to 1070 KNX (I've posted links to KNX recordings in other posts.)

Night:
KCBS San Francisco, CA - comparable strength to KBRT, sometimes a little stronger.

After sunrise and before sunset, KBRT and KCBS will often compete with each other.

KRMG Tulsa, OK and KTRH Houston, TX may also be possible at my location, but I have yet to positively ID them.
 
From Greenville, PA, I pretty much get 740 from Toronto like a local station any time of day. But stronger at night.
 
Here in Watertown-Carthage, NY its Toronto all day and night. The ~150-200mi path across Lake Ontario helps brings in the Toronto AM stations via groundwave during the day, but its freshwater so its not nearly as strong as saltwater groundwave.
 
From Tampa -

Nighttime - WYGM Orlando (fairly good signal) with KTRH (usually not as strong but sometimes equal or stronger)
CFZM can sometimes be heard in the background but never dominant.


Daytime - WYGM only. Much weaker than at night.
Over at the Gulf daytime, WYGM dominant with KTRH there too.
 
Daytime, WNOP Newport,KY. Night time, primarily CFZM/Toronto which I heard once about 60 miles south of Tampa in a rental car. Worth noting that CFZM has some of the best audio in North America with Canada not restricting AM Audio to 10khz like the US does.
 
Day - WSBR Boca Raton, FL
Night - take your pick! I have heard WSBR, WYGM Orlando, possibly La Sandino in Nicaragua, a Mexican in Tabasco state, and yes even CFZM but never very strong. KTRH likely is in here too, but I haven't tried for it. Never heard KRMG ever.

cd
 
cd637299 said:
Day - WSBR Boca Raton, FL
Night - take your pick! I have heard WSBR, WYGM Orlando, possibly La Sandino in Nicaragua, a Mexican in Tabasco state, and yes even CFZM but never very strong. KTRH likely is in here too, but I haven't tried for it. Never heard KRMG ever.

cd
Click to expand...

I've heard a Spanish station on 740 a couple of times but it's unusual and it seems to come from the SE. I'm wondering it it could be WIAC from San Juan.

While they send more of their signal SE, there's not a real blatant null to the NE either.

WKAQ 580 has a pattern that's not much different and I've heard tham here in Tampa at night overtaking the Orlando station.

I'm going to listen for both WKAQ and WIAC in the daytime when I go to Ft. Pierce / Hutchinson Island, as I couldn't at Daytona Beach where the Orlando stations on those frequencies were too strong.
 
From Warminster PA:

Daytime: semi-local WVCH from Chester PA
Night: mainly the Toronto station(used to be CBL, forget what it is now)
 
Northern IL:
Daytime: WRPQ Baraboo, WI
Night: CFZM Toronto, ON (primary signal)
WVLN Olney, IL (just after sunrise recently)
KRMG Tulsa, OK (sometimes; especially when KOA is coming in really strong)
KTRH Houston, TX (rarely heard when Toronto is weaker, auroral conditions)
KCMC Texarkana, TX (sometimes heard when Toronto is weaker but never at the same time as KTRH)
WNOP Newport, KY (Cincinnati area; They had to have been on day power by mistake when I heard this one)
 
It's been a while since I checked, but I'm pretty sure we don't get anything on 740 during the day. Folks up closer to Lake Erie might get some CFZM.

Nighttime, it's definitely Toronto, and let me pause for a minute to mourn the late, great, beloved CBL. No offense to CFZM, but it was sure nice to have a reliable nighttime CBC Radio One signal for so many years...

I just remembered I've been at three 740 sites: the studios of the current CFZM, the 740/Toronto transmitter site (I beileve after CBL left the frequency, but Radio-Canada's 860 was/is still there), and the WPAQ/Mount Airy NC studio/transmitter site.

Yes, you can thank Scott Fybush for all three being on my list...
 
In Durham, North Carolina, daytime on 740 kHz is Mount Airy, NC's WPAQ, while nighttime is CFZM "Zoomer Radio" from Toronto, Ontario (they actually run liners promoting coverage "from Hudson Bay to the Carolinas").

On one occassion not too long before they went permanently silent, I picked up Morehead City, NC's WMBL.
 
stormy01 said:
KCMC Texarkana, TX (sometimes heard when Toronto is weaker but never at the same time as KTRH)
Click to expand...

Now that's amazing, at almost 700 miles away. Without doing the math, I'm guessing that with their tight east-west pattern they're sending around 50 watts (maybe less) in your direction. KCMC is sometimes a fairly easy catch in the Dallas area at night, but 740 is usually a jumble of several stations that includes KTRH and occasionally KRMG. During the KTRH is doable, providing it's possible to null adjacent KKDA 730.
 
I am right underneath the 50kW blowtorch that is News Radio 740 KTRH-Houston. Depend on it.
 
All Toronto, all the time at home in Rochester, of course (and it was a very quiet channel there in the months after CBL signed off, with only very occasional hints of Tulsa in there!)

And where I'm parked this morning in Orlando, it's local WYGM all the way.
 
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