AM Stations Heard Statewide

[almaniac27]

The example of WKNR disappearing around McConnelsville is a textbook example of southeast Ohio's ground conductivity eating up otherwise excellent AM signals. WKNR has an only slightly weaker signal in central Ohio than WLW daytime, and it seems the only place they tuck in their signal is to the east (dramatically) to protect a co-channel in Pennsylvania.

I can vouch for that, I attend Kent State University, which is almost directly in their SE null, their daytime signal is very weak, and their nighttime signal is practically nonexistent. I usually hear KOA stronger. It's kind of aggravating, since WKNR is basically the only sports station in the area with decent local programming.

 

[gr8oldies]

In my travels, WLW was weaker but still listenable in Terre Haute. In Quincy IL/Hannibal MO area I only got WLW once in the middle of the day. I've recently moved to the Knoxville TN area and if I park in just the right place, I can get the last breath of WLW. About 200 miles south of Cincy in Somerset KY its there but weak

 

[KR4BD]

I can normally hear WKNR here in Lexington, KY with WHAS-840 nulled coming from the West. WKNR is weak, but definitely there mixing with WKVL (also on 850) from Knoxville, TN. During the day WTVN and WRFD are also quite strong here, too but All are GONE at night... KOA holds 850 here at night.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

When I was in Denver this past winter on a cold ass -23 wind chill night, could pick up and listen to the mere 5kw KFYI from Phoenix...

If it indeed was nighttime, that is, after monthly sunset in Phoenix, KFYI is an
even less mere 1 kw.

 

[ohgary]

with the exception of 700 wlw, I dont know of any station with complete statewide coverage.

 

[schmave]

with the exception of 700 wlw, I dont know of any station with complete statewide coverage.

Scott Fybush disputed that one back at the start of the thread. I am sure a really, really good radio could get WLW in Ashtabula and vicinity, but probably not a normal one.

 

[SonoSational18]

I would qualify "coverage" as the ability to actually listen to a station with minimal static or interference. You can hear WLW in Ashtabula, but I'd argue that it's not listenable and that it's really not even listenable in Cleveland. You can hear both WGN and WSCR from Chicago in the greater Cleveland, but neither signal is listenable. If you look at WLW's coverage map http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WLW&service=AM&status=L&hours=U you'll see that although they have a non-directional signal pattern, the signal loses strength much sooner to the east, presumably due to ground conductivity.

 

[cbussteeler]

You can receive KDKA 1020 from Pittsburgh in good portions of northern, central and eastern Ohio (I can get it in Columbus)... Probably not so much in southwest Ohio. I also heard a while back that CBS had cut them below 50,000 watts to get HD to work properly – so it may not be what it once was.

 

[dawg4life]

She said NO! Go Browns!

 

[schmave]

You can receive KDKA 1020 from Pittsburgh in good portions of northern, central and eastern Ohio (I can get it in Columbus)... Probably not so much in southwest Ohio. I also heard a while back that CBS had cut them below 50,000 watts to get HD to work properly – so it may not be what it once was.

That would not surprise me, but vouching from my listening experience here in Columbus KDKA always has had a terrible signal for being 50K. Much of that, of course, has to do with the poor ground conductivity in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.

 

[cyberdad]

Aside from Delaware and New England, there are several stations that cover most or all of their states...and/or adjacent ones. WLW, for example pretty much covers all of Indiana. Probably actually a bigger percentage of Indiana than the percentage of Ohio. Ground conductivity, of course, is the reason.

Probably the best "statewide" daytime coverage is KFYR, which covers all of North Dakota with a pretty good signal. (CJOB in Winnipeg also covers most...but not quite all...of North Dakota). WHO and WOI also cover all of Iowa. WIBW gets most of Kansas...and most of Oklahoma.
KRVN covers most of Nebraska and Kansas. (The sand hills of northwest Nebraska have lousy conductivity and prevent KRVN from going statewide). I've also heard the Chicago non-directional blowtorches all the way to the southern tip of Illinois during the daytime. At that point they're audible....but not really listenable.

I'm sure I'm also overlooking a couple.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

You can receive KDKA 1020 from Pittsburgh in good portions of northern, central and eastern Ohio (I can get it in Columbus)... Probably not so much in southwest Ohio.

I've picked up KDKA at night here over the years, but the signal always would fade. I well remember a day when I ran a large amount of bell wire in my back yard, completing basically a square pattern, hooked it to a Hallicrafters radio that had the AM band that same afternoon and picked up KDKA who was broadcasting a Pirates' game.

In this area, it was much easier to receive WBZ at 1030 k.c. at night than KDKA on its 1020 AM setting. I did have the ocassion to hear KDKA with a longer-lasting night-time signal in south-centeral Kentucky around that same time.

 

[SonoSational18]

You're likely in that area where you receive both groundwave and skywave signals that cancel each other out. One of the reasons that WBZ comes in so well is that they're directional to the west.... one of two formerly 1-A clear channel stations with a DA (the other being WWL in New Orleans). Mainly because of ground conductivity KDKA doesn't have a great signal for a 50kw clear. You can pick up WTAM clearly in downtown Pittsburgh, while you can barely pick up KDKA in Cleveland. Same story with WWVA which is actually 5 miles closer to Cleveland than KDKA.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I'd have to say the daytime champ as far as most Ohio ground covered is WJR in Detroit, and even that station doesn't hit the entire state.

WHLO does very well to the south/southeast, but is a non-starter north of Akron (and even in PARTS OF AKRON at night!). They are directional away from Toronto, from Iowa, from California and from 630 in Chatham/Kent...

They probably have the best reach of any station from up here into SE Ohio, and would probably be a near-local if it were not for the aforementioned ground conductivity problems.

 

[Towerjunky]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 850/WKNR. Their day signal covers a large part of the state. In fact, I believe they have the best signal of the Clevelands in Mansfield. Of course their night signal is quite limited.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

WKNR blows into Sandusky, and can be heard fairly easily in Toledo, Columbus and even Detroit.

Farther afield from that - it's a non-starter west of any of those cities, and has problems to the east and southeast of Cleveland (and in parts of Akron) due to the directional pattern up against 850 in the Altoona PA market.

 

[cyberdad]

I drive from Detroit-Toronto via Ontario's 401 on business a couple of times each year on business. About a 4 hour drive. For about the middle 60 miles of that drive, WKNR is the strongest U.S. signal on the dial (possible exception of WJR for some of that). On the Detroit end of the drive, the signal has begun its rapid fade. In Toronto it's long gone, having been covered up by CJBC an hour or so west of town.

I also drive from Chicago-Cleveland from time to time. For all practical purposes, WKNR doesn't make it to the Indiana line.