AM Frequency of the Week: 940

[cyberdad]

(For those who may be new to the board, this Frequency of the week series looks at what used to be designated as "clear" channels")

Far northwest suburbs of Chicago.....

Days: On a good, selective radio, a weak WFAW from Fort Atkinson, WI between adjacents WKBM (930) and WNTD (950). WFAW is 500 watts from 52 miles northwest of me with a mild null in my direction.

Night: WFAW powers up to all of 550 watts and goes to a figure eight pattern with one lobe aimed right at me. The result is a fair signal that's usually alone on top of what, around here, is otherwie a fairly empty nighttime channel.

Retro: When WFAW was a daytimer, CBM from Montreal was a nighttime regular, Usually with a good signal. Since CBM migrated to FM, the subsequent Montreal occupants of 940 have not fared as well at my location, Also "back in the day", when CBM was off, a weak XEQ from Mexico City would occasionally make it in. An even more occasional visitor was KIOA (now KPSZ) from Des Moines.

Other location: At my college location in southeast Iowa, KIOA had a reasonably good signal day and night. 10kw day/5kw nights from about 120 miles northwest of me. Aimed mostly west. But when the KIOA pattern tightened at night, one narrow spike to the southeast remained. Which, at my location, was usually enough to overpower CBM.

 

[Ke4kls]

From N. Alabama, daytime is WCPC Houston, MS. Critical Hours have also heard WKYK Burnsville, NC, with night time a variety of signals.

 

[radioman148]

In the near north Chicago suburbs daytime is usually nothing. During critical hours I sometimes hear WFAW squeeze in between WKBM and WNTD. At night Montreal is weak and I don't hear it much.

Retro: When CBM Montreal occupied the frequency at night they used to come in very well. Also heard KIOA only a couple of times.

 

[MichaelTheZ]

Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime: Nothing.

Critical Hours: At various times, I've gotten WIDG in St Ignace, MI (near the Mackinac Straits), WMIX in Mt Vernon IL (in the Southern end of the state), and CFNV Montreal.

Nighttime: It's one of less interesting frequencies. The only station that comes up with any regularity is WFAW in Ft Atkinson, WI. It can come in OK but there is a lot of fading.

 

[radio 208]

Here in central CA, day and night-always (now) KYNO @ 50kw

 

[DXBob]

From south Overland Park, Kansas:

Day: Nothing but a persistent "fast fade." No audio.

Critical Hours: KPSZ – Des Moines, Iowa when they are still 10 kW, WCPC - Houston, Mississippi when they are still at 31 kW.

Night: No signals logged to date, sounds much like a graveyard channel. I have listened for XEQ but no log so far.

Bob

 

[wildthangjim]

From west Houston, daytime it's slop from local KPRC 950. At sunset I've ID'd WYLD and KTFS in Texarkana, TX (ID's as Gospel 105-9) and tentatively WCPC (tough to differentiate all the Christian formatted stations). At night XEQ normally dominates.

In the past, KTON in Belton TX (north of Austin) could be heard in the daytime in winter, but they've been silent for 10+ years.

 

[CADXER]

Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: usually nothing, but WFAW sneaks in once in a while
Nighttime: WFAW mixing in with other stations

DX/Retro: CBM and CINW from Montreal used to to be the dominant stations. These days CFNV can be heard, but is not as common. XEQ used to be a regular catch, but as has been the case with so many Mexican stations that's no longer the case. Other reception on 940 include KIOA, (Des Moines, IA), KVSH (Valentine, NE), WCSY (South Haven, MI), WECO (Wartburg, TN), WCPC (Houston, MS), WMIX (Mt. vernon, IL), WMAC (Macon, GA), CJGX (Yorkton, SK). There use used to be a Radio Reloj, Cuba outlet that was a regular catch back in the 80's, but that's no longer the case.

 

[gr8oldies]

East Tennessee: WECO, Wartburg TN weakly, but stronger where the Knoxville SDR is located between Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Sunset/sunrise: Often WMAC. Night: WMAC and various others. I don't believe I've ever gotten the Canadian here.t

Retro/other: Western Ohio between Fort Wayne, Lima and Dayton.
Daytime-WCIT, Lima, OH. CBM of course used to dominate at night and I sometimes listened to CBC programming on it. WCPC was strong near sunset, various and sundry others included WMIX and WMAC.

 

[bob_international]

From Yuma Ariz.

Day: XEWV Mexicali, Mx
Night: KYNO Fresno, Ca.

 

[cyberdad]

Forgot all about WMIX and WCPC. Both used to be semi-regular catches for me around sunset back in the 70s and 80s. Less frequent since. WCPC used to be a 50kw daytimer, IIRC.

 

[tvnut]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

Once upon a time, CBM Montreal was very solid most nights, and especially in the winter, where on most Sunday nights, you could listen to Montreal Canadiens games with Danny Gallivan's prose poems to hockey. But as CFNV, not so much. It is even the same transmitter facility?

Others over the years: KIOA Des Moines, WCPC Houston, CJGX Yorkton, Sask. (once), XEQ Mexico City (not in a long time), and WFAW Fort Atkinson, Wis. (late afternoon last New Year's Eve).

 

[gr8oldies]

I've heard WFAW Fort Atkinson on the Edinburgh SDR but never natively. At various times in the 80s and 90s I had friends that worked at 2 stations mentioned in this thread, WFAW and WMIX. I'd have thought someone would have paid big bucks for those calls.

 

[cyberdad]

I've heard WFAW Fort Atkinson on the Edinburgh SDR but never natively. At various times in the 80s and 90s I had friends that worked at 2 stations mentioned in this thread, WFAW and WMIX. I'd have thought someone would have paid big bucks for those calls.

I had WFAW as a fringe competitor for a few months in the mid '70s. They took a rather agressive sales approach, but from all I could gather from my own advertisers as well as from listening to the station, I don't think they made much headway. Then-WFAW-FM, however, seemed to be quite healthy. The class B facility on 107.3 penetrated the nearby Madison metro with a good signal in most areas. So their salespeople were usually too busy selling ads there to create much concern for me.

As for WMIX, I knew a guy who worked there for a time, also in the 70s. The day signal basically covered/covers the entire southern half of Illinois. It's part of Withers Broadcasting, which is a group of small market stations. Every time I've driven through that area, there seems to be no shortage of advertisers. But I had no clue as to what they might be paying. I heard a few rumors, but nothing to back them up.

Whatever, Neither WFAW or WMIX comes to mind as a place where you could earn big bucks.

KIOA, on the other hand, had been known as a goldmine during its run as a top-40 station. At least for owners and management. Not sure about the on-air talent, although the jocks and even some of the newspeople often came back for on-air reunion weekends from time to time. That would seem to bode well for being "employee-friendly". In house "icon" Dic Youngs lasted for 40 or so years as a jock there. It certainly was a good listen with a big signal.