• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

AM Frequency of the Week: 960

cyberdad

cyberdad

65-ish kilometers northwest of Chicago.....

Days: 960 is basically empty at my location. Occasionally in winter I can hear a very weak WSBT. That's about it.

Night: Usually a battle of unidentifiable signals. WSBT the most likely to emerge on top, but is far from what I'd call a regular. CFAC has been turning up from time to time during the last couple of years.

Sunrise/Sunset: Usually the best time to snag WSBT here when they're on day ND pattern. I've also heard KMA from Iowa a couple of times.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs it's always been a weak WSBT during the day. At night also a weak WSBT generally pops up. I have heard CFAC a few times.
 
East Tennessee: Daytime, nearby but not that strong WQLA, LaFollette TN
SRS/SSS and night: WERC, Birmingham more often than not. Also WFIR.

Retro: West Central Ohio: WSBT most of the time. Between the time that the time "fell back" the last weekend of October and November 1, WPRT, Prestonsburg KY was easily heard because they didn't adkust their sign off until Nov. 1. A guy I know worked there in the 70s.
 
Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
* Daytime: Usually nothing, except one might be able to dig a weak WKVX from Wooster out of the mud.
* Nighttime: WFIR out of Roanoke, Virginia easily makes it here at night. Never a monster signal, but usually listenable. 4 on a 1-to-10 scale anyway.
 
Other location: (Forgot to include in my original post). Beach near Pensacola at the FL-AL state line. WERC (Birmingham) is a nighttime regular. Fair to good signal most nights. Almost always on top. Sometimes alone.
 
Daytime: a weak-to-inaudible WDLM East Moline, IL.

Nighttime: Most often, KMA Shenandoah, IA. But KMA is not a consistent catch. I've heard WTCH Shawano, WI, WSBT South Bend, IN, CFAC Calgary, AB, and I think others that I've forgotten to write down.
 
Daytime: A moderate-strength image of 50 kW local 760 KTKR - even on my best radios.

Night: KTKR drops to 1 kW and disappears. Aiming east, I usually hear a weak to moderate WERC with a bit of splatter from 950 KPRC. It mixes with and is often taken over by XEK in Nuevo Laredo. Occasionally I'll hear XEHK in Guadalajara, and I've heard WAGB in Greenwood, MS, with its eclectic music format a few times. Once I've heard KROF in Abbeville, LA.

If I aim more NW, news/sports station KGKL in San Angelo, TX, is most dominant with a fairly good signal. In that direction, I once caught a weak CFAC last winter.

Sunrise: KGKL and XEK are most dominant, and last week I heard KCGS in Marshall, AR, pop up for a few minutes.
 
I remember replying to a 960 thread once. Perhaps it was on the 'other' other DX board, hi

Things haven't changed one check-mark in the log book here.
Days: WHYL Carlisle PA, weak but steady
Around sunset: WEAV Plattsburg NY (taped ID) and WELI New Haven (taped)
Just about ... midnight: WFIR Roanoke (taped) ... and one goodie.

See, I don't live too far here, my new den, from Mount Pocono -- maybe 40-45 miles northeast, as the cow flies. When I moved in, that COL's WPMR 960 was on the air.
I'm co-linear, between Mt. Pocono and Carlisle. WPMR had this huge daytime null to protect WHYL. It drove me up the nearest den wall of QSLs because I could not hear a peep out of them. Fired up for this pioneering was a real good DX radio (a Lafayette HA-600) and a greedy four-foot loop.
I coule get nothing from WPMR.
I hated that I, a sideband-slop scarred veteran DXer, could not hear a station in the same area code as I am (570).

One night on the flippin' CAR RADIO I heard this music station .... playing vamping pop/AC stuff .... and then a spot or two for some night spot or restaurant in 'Stroudsburg'. I instantly raced home, turned on the Lafayette and the loop, and there they were -- IDing as WSBG 93.5. I got some nice taped ID stuff from them. It seems that 'WPMR' had loosened a bit of their trapezoidal 4-tower pattern to send a small tongue in my direction at night. Since WHYL has a whopping 22-watt nighttime signal itself, 'WPMR' became a virtual pest after that, faint and fade-y, but a PITA.
 
The 960 in Mt Pocono operated non directional for many years up until they turned in the license in 2011, In fact they were cited and fined by the FCC for operating illegally in 2010. At the time of the inspection they were operating with 250 watts non directional. Engineers from Salem Broadcasting noted that they were apparently operating non directional at a power level of around 500 watts in 2005 when taking signal measurements in 2005 for the proposed power increase to 50kw days for 970 in Hackensack New Jersey. My guess is that they probably "forgot" to drop to 24 watts at night as well during that time when you heard them.
 
That first logging of them was 12-1-99, Vac. I had been trying for them just about every other day, high noon, to no avail. It was just that first night (as I was driving a cab) when I noticed them on the car radio. They were there for about a week or so, always at night. A gal at the depot who I drove home one night heard them too, lol.

And you are correct, sir. There is no way that 24 nighttime watts makes it all the way southwest for a week or so solid at night. I had a s s umed they were able to open their signal my way. Four-tower arrays lets you do some experimenting. I guess we'll never know for sure what those people were doing.

As you must know, 'WPMR's formats changed often, especially during their own particular downhill requiem. Last I'd heard, they were all sports. I haven't been out their way, toward the intersection of I-80 and I-380, for a few years now. So I doubt their towers are still standing and blinking.

Interesting stuff about those 970 Hackensack signal measurements. Thanks!
 
960 here is KALE Richland in the daytime (currently Christmas music as Santa 106.1). Winter days, CFAC Calgary (Sports) usually mixes in.
Nights is CFAC mixing with others. KLAD Klamath Falls is one of them (ESPN). KALE is sometimes heard in the slop. During aurora, KNEW Oakland (Bloomberg) is alone on the channel. Sunset usually brings KOVO Provo (ESPN). One-time logs include KFLN Baker, MT (Country, left day power on at night) and KNEB Scottsbluff, NE (heard at sunrise in October 2014).

WANTED ON 960...
KSRA Salmon, ID (Adult Contemporary - maybe at sunrise if CFAC fades down. One of the few Idaho's I still need.)
KIXW Apple Valley, CA (Talk 960 - only chance is at sunrise or if they leave day power on at night on auroral conditions)
KKNT Phoenix (Conservative Talk) - 5000w all the time, possibly during good aurora. If I can hear KFYI's 1000 watts on 550 from up here during Au, I'm sure KKNT is also possible.
KNDN Farmington, NM (Najavo) - Maybe at sunrise.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom