Dominant Nighttime Stations? (Not including Class A & Strong Locals)

[pianoplayer88key]

What are your typical dominant/strongest nighttime stations on each frequency? For this thread, avoid class A signals, and local stations unless they're stronger at night or weak during the day. (I realize what's "weak" to one person, like under 10-15 mV/m in an urban area, may be "strong" to someone else, like calling a 100 µV/m signal a pest if it's blocking a weaker desired DX target. For this thread, I'm thinking a "weak" signal is generally under 1 mV/m, or, weak enough so that on simpler receivers a tuning indicator is not lit or it doesn't stop a scan, or has a significant level of noise when away from local-noise-producing appliances.)

Also if possible try to include first-adjacents to local signals, unless it's absolutely impossible to null. (For example if I position my radio and its internal loopstick just right, I've been able to null a local station that runs around 130 mV/m or so.)

Also this is mostly for frequencies where the dominant station is usually significantly stronger than any co-channel interference that may be present. (If a weaker station occasionally comes up on top, that's okay, but it doesn't need to be listed.)



Here's my list:

530 - TIS mix
540 - local
550 - KUZZ Bakersfield, CA
560 - KSFO San Francisco, CA
570 - nearby
580 - KMJ Fresno, CA
590 - KTIE San Bernardino, CA (weak daytime)
600 - local w/HD
610 - KAVL Lancaster, CA (weak daytime)
620 - local
630 - KHOW Denver, CO
640 - nearby class A
650 - KMTI Manti, UT
660 - KTNN Window Rock, AZ
670 - KIRN Simi Valley, CA (weak daytime)
680 - class A
690 - local class A
700 - KALL North Salt Lake City, UT
710 - nearby
720 - KDWN Las Vegas, NV (weak daytime)
730 - XEEBC Ensenada, BN (weak daytime)
740 - KCBS San Francisco, CA
750 - KOAL Price, UT
760 - local
770 - KKOB Albuquerque, NM
780 - KKOH Reno, NV
790 - nearby
800 - local
810 - class A
820 - WBAP Ft Worth, TX (after a Mexicali station signs off around midnight)
830 - nearby
840 - KXNT North Las Vegas, NV (weak daytime)
850 - class A
860 - local
870 - KRLA Glendale, CA (weak daytime)
880 - mix
890 - KDXU St George, UT
900 - class A
910 - local
920 - KPSI Palm Springs, CA
930 - KHJ Los Angeles, CA (weak daytime)
940 - KFIG Fresno, CA
950 - local
960 - KKNT Phoenix, AZ
970 - KNWZ Coachella, CA (weak daytime)
980 - KFWB Los Angeles, CA (weak daytime)
990 - XECL Mexicali, BN (weak daytime)
1000 - local (stronger in daytime)
1010 - mix
1020 - KTNQ Los Angeles, CA (weak daytime)
1030 - local
1040 - local
1050 - mix
1060 - KDUS Tempe, AZ
1070 - nearby class A
1080 - mix
1090 - local class A
1100 - KWWN Las Vegas, NV
1110 - nearby
1120 - mix
1130 - local
1140 - mix
1150 - KEIB Los Angeles, CA (weak daytime)
1160 - class A
1170 - local
1180 - KERN Wasco-Greenacres, CA
1190 - KGBN Anaheim, CA (weak daytime)
1200 - mix
1210 - local
1220 - mix
1230 - graveyard
1240 - local graveyard
1250 - KZER Santa Barbara, CA (weak daytime)
1260 - KMZT Beverly Hills, CA
1270 - local
1280 - nearby
1290 - KKDD San Bernardino, CA (weak daytime)
1300 - mix
1310 - local
1320 - mix
1330 - KWKW Los Angeles, CA (weak daytime)
1340 - graveyard
1350 - KTDD San Bernardino, CA (weak daytime)
1360 - local
1370 - KWRM Corona, CA (weak daytime)
1380 - mix
1390 - local
1400 - graveyard
1410 - KCAL Redlands, CA (weak daytime)
1420 - local
1430 - KMRB San Gabriel, CA
1440 - KFNY Riverside, CA (weak daytime)
1450 - graveyard (one is weak daytime)
1460 - mix
1470 - local
1480 - mix
1490 - graveyard
1500 - mix including class A
1510 - KSPA Ontario, CA (weak daytime)
1520 - class A
1530 - class A
1540 - KMPC Los Angeles, CA (weak daytime)
1550 - local
1560 - KNZR Bakersfield, CA
1570 - class A
1580 - KMIK Tempe, AZ
1590 - mix
1600 - KAHZ Pomona, CA
1610 - TIS mix
1620 - KSMH West Sacramento, CA
1630 - local
1640 - KDIA Vallejo, CA
1650 - KFOX Torrance, CA (weak daytime)
1660 - KTIQ Merced, CA
1670 - KHPY Moreno Valley, CA (weak daytime)
1680 - KGED Fresno, CA
1690 - KSFG Roseville, CA
1700 - local

 

[jim-satx]

Interesting idea. Before I begin compling my list, I was wondering - what distance range do you consider "nearby" to be?

 

[pianoplayer88key]

well, I was basing it more on signal strength or something like that, although checking my list I see a few somewhat inconsistencies.

For example the vast majority of the "nearby" stations are in the L.A. area which is around 110 miles away give or take. Most of them, in the absence of adjacent-channel interference, are easily readable at midday on a pocket radio, with a possible exception of 1110 and to a lesser extent 1280. They're mostly stations that have a listenable signal, but don't target my metro area. ("local") stations do target it, although I suppose I'm bending it a little with some of the Mexican stations possibly based on target demographic.)

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

In the Lower part of the Lower Peninsula, it's virtually all Locals and Class As. In the Upper part of the Lower Peninsula, a few relatively new facilities, and some older, dominate some other channels.

WKRC 550 5/1 dominates despite being just 1 kW Night.
WKBN 570 5 DA-N
WKZO 590 5 DA-N (currently on STA)
WTVN 610 5 DA-N
WTMJ 620 50/10 DA-2
CFCO 630 10/6 U4
WSGW 790 5/1 U4
CKLW 800 50 U4
WGVS 850 1 U3
CHML 900 50 U3
WFDF 910 50/25 U4
WWJ 950 50 U4
WSBT 960 5 U4
WONE 980 5 U2
CFPL 980 10/5 U4
CFRB 1010 50 U4 (Class A Under International Treaty, Class B In Canada)
CHUM 1050 50 U4
CHOK 1070 10 U4
WDFN 1130 50/10 U4 Location Dependent and Alternates
WISN 1130 50/10 U4 Location Dependent and Alternates
WHBY 1150 20/25 U4
WYLL 1160 50 U4
WCHB 1200 50/15 U4
WGAR/WHKW 1220 50 U3
WXYT 1270 50 U4 Location Dependent
WHIO 1290 5 U2
WOOD 1300 20 U3 WRDZ Interference From Same Direction
WKNR/WDTW 1310 5 U4 Off Air But Now WCCW Interference
WTTH/WPHM 1380 5 U4
WGRB 1390 5 U4 Alternates And Location Dependent
WLCM 1390 5/4.5 U4 Alternates And Location Dependent
WING 1410 5 U2 Traditionally Dominant, CKSL Interference.
CHKT 1430 50 U4
WMBD 1470 5 U4 Much WFNT Interference
WGVU 1480 2/5 U2 Much WSDS Interference
WLQV 1500 50/10 U4
CBEF 1550 10 U3
CKDO 1580 10 U3
WAKR 1590 5 U2 Traditionally Dominant, WCGO Interference
WAAM 1600 5 U4

In the Straits Area, WFDF 910 and WWJ 950 have stronger skywaves than the Class As, but have more cochannel interference. Usually WSUI 910 and WNTD 950 are the primary interfering signals.

 

[rfry]

I will be spending most of next week on vacation at Torch Lake in NW lower Michigan (~30 miles NNE of Traverse City), and will have my Tecsun PL-880 with me -- which is a rather decent receiver of MW stations.

I am willing to check out the reception of stations of particular interest there, and report back. Just let me know what those might be -- and whether the interest is in day or night reception (or both).

rfry at adams dot net

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Thanks, Rich. Any chance that you could put your hands on a reasonably well calibrated FI meter too to take up with you? Bill Sanderson had offered me an FI meter that had a slight defect of nonlinearity in the spring in the meter movement that he had used for the WFNT DA but was not quite accurate enough anymore and he got a new one. Unfortunately, he left and later passed away. I have kicked myself ever since. I had access to another couple but no longer have access. I would like to test some of our hypotheses, both groundwave and skywave. If you could measure the "dB" readout level on the PL-880 and FI meter in the same location and orientation, we could pursue whether more sense could be made of that also, and come up with "fudge factor" graphs. When I had the FI meters, I did bandscans of the available groundwave signals, recalibrating at each frequency. I did some skywave measurements also. The engineer at WMKT and I both did this, and came to the same conclusion that skywaves like WCFL/WMVP, WCKY on DA-N, and WXYT all maxed out around 10 mV/m, which is consistent with the skywave curves in the 1960 NAB Engineering Handbook. The 5% curves were essentially the maxima I observed. They are probably lower in the Summer, although with the relatively low solar activity this cycle, they may be higher than expected, and closer to the old skywave model. People here have said that WCCO has had higher skywave FI than they have observed in years, and ones further South have fallen off. I did have WFDF and WWJ kick into HD for a few seconds near the Straits, in between the Auroral skywave wipeouts a few weeks ago. Both have been or are on STA, and may be on reduced power at various times.

 

[cyberdad]

Hopefully with the "permission" of everyone here, I'm going to put my own spin on this. Similar to the 50kw thread. My spin is going to be stations of less than 50kw that are audible on skywave 50% or more of the time. (Which leaves out WAUK, WTMJ, WCPT. WAUR, WNVR, WLIP, WRMN) that are locals and semi-locals) Here goes....

550: KTRS
600: WMT....hardly dominant, but almost always in the mix
610: KCSP
630: CFCO
640; WMFN
980: WONE...usually a good signal, with WITY as a frequent pest
1150: WHBY...usually in a battle with CKOC. I've heard this one on the Northern Ireland online tuner. (25kw)
1190: KQQZ...22 watts??? C'mon
1260: WIBV....or whatever the St. Louis R. Disney calls itself
1290: WIRL....usually with a good signal
1310: WIBA....on top more often than not. Could be groundwave
1470: WMBD...may be the best skywave 5kw signal here
1580: CKDO
1630: KCJJ...Most reliable X-band skywave. "Captian Steve" is the commanding officer of X-band skywave around here!
1650: (Cedar Falls, IA)
1680: (Grand Rapids, MI)
1700: (Des Moines, IA)

 

[icybluelake]

I will follow cyberdad's lead. The 50k's are usually highly predictable here and similar to what a lot of others hear. And remarkably similar to that list...

540 KWMT Fort Dodge, IA
550 KTRS St. Louis
570 WNAX Yankton, SD
590 KXSP Omaha (audible though usually effectively drowned out by local WMT)
610 KCSP Kansas City (same deal)
630 CFCO Chatham, ON
640 WOI Ames, IA
690 often Montreal, but interesting -- I can often hear New Orleans or El Paso or something else
710 KCMO Kansas City, MO (WOR competes and usually loses)
730 CKDM Dauphin, MB
810 WGY (a 50k, but it usually dominates WHB Kansas City, which sometimes wins)
920 CFRY Portage la Prairie, MB
930 WKY Oklahoma City usually beats nearby WTAD Quincy, IL
940 CJGX Yorkton, SK often beats nearby KPSZ Des Moines, IA
950 KRWZ Denver often beats near-local KOEL, Oelwein, IA
960 KMA Shenandoah, IA (sometimes hear CFAC Calgary, AB)
980 WONE Dayton, OH (sometimes WITY Danville, IL shows up instead; interesting since they are in the same path)
1050 KLOH Pipestone, MN
1070 KHMO Hannibal, MO
1130 KTLK Minneapolis
1170 KJOC Davenport, IA
1190 KQQZ St. Louis -- what cyberdad said. This is among the stronger AM signals I receive at night. I want to know what they are actually running because it sounds like about 220,000 watts some nights.
1260 Belleville, IL
1290 WIRL Peoria, IL
1310 WIBA Madison, WI
1380 KXFN St. Louis
1430 KZQZ St. Louis
1470 WMBD Peoria, IL
1630 KCJJ Iowa City (remarkably hard to hear at just 25 miles away)
1650 KCNZ Cedar Falls, IA

 

[joebtsflk1]

1190 KQQZ licensed at 22 watts night time and with sharp nulls to the north should be disappearing into co-channel crud by Alton IL. I wonder if they're just running 10 kW into a single tower 24/7 cause with their licensed pattern hardly any of it goes north.

Reminds me of the times eons ago when I was growing up in SE IA and 1560 Paducah was still WDXR. That was a fairly reliable nightime catch with their 1 kW shooting mostly NNW towards Iowa. I've told this tale before, but I'm fairly sure there were nights a handy jock figured out how to run the night pattern with day power of 10 kW.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Running 10 kW into a phasor designed for 1 kW is likely to burn out components of the phaser, if not something worse. Usually, the thing is designed to not allow tampering like that, like the engineer who described putting a fake audio processor accessible in the studio when the real audio processor was somewhere else. A DA-1 system where the station reduces power might do that safely, so the engineer should find some other way of preventing the sales department and sports director from doing that, even if they've sold out the spots completely on the weekly HS football game.

 

[cyberdad]

710 KCMO Kansas City, MO (WOR competes and usually loses)

Interesting that this is a regular for you in the Cedar Rapids area. Where I was during my college days 65 miles south of you (Mount Pleasant), as WHB, the Kansas City 710 disappeared without a trace on most nights. Of course, if you traveled north of you to Minneapolis or even northern Wisconsin, WHB blasted in like a 50kw 1-A clear.

1190 is also interesting to me from the standpoint of knowing I'm not the only one noticing that something funny is going on there.

 

[icybluelake]

Reminds me of the times eons ago when I was growing up in SE IA and 1560 Paducah was still WDXR. That was a fairly reliable nightime catch with their 1 kW shooting mostly NNW towards Iowa. I've told this tale before, but I'm fairly sure there were nights a handy jock figured out how to run the night pattern with day power of 10 kW.

It isn't once in a while, it's all the time.

 

[cyberdad]

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if WDXR was running day power at night "back in the day". They were easy and reliable in the Chicago area. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they were 1kw, after all. The only other thing of consequence on the channel was New York, which was usually fairly weak by the time it got to Illinois.

KSTT (1170) in Davenport would be a good comparison. 1kw aimed north at night. In the nulls of both KVOO and WWVA. Result was a very good nighttime signal in Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota.

 

[gr8oldies]

Knoxville TN - I'll skip the clears unless there's something unusual about them (like a co-channel)
530 R. Enciclopedia, sometimes the other Cuban
540 WDAK GA, others
550 WDUN-GA, Cuba
560 WMIK-KY
570 Radio Reloj, WWNC, others
580 WCHS
590 Cuba
610 WTVN among others
620 Local WRJZ
640 Cuba
670 WSCR, Cuba
680 WPTF-Raleigh
690 WVOK-Birmingham/WQNO New Orleans
700 WLW but KHSE during auroral conditions
710 WOR/Cuban Chorus/WAQI
730 WLIL, KQPN (W. Memphis AR)
740 CFZM/KRMG
800 gy mess, occasionally CKLW or TWR atop
810-900, clears and local
910
920
930 WSEV, others
940-WMAC Macon
950
960
970 WGTK Louisville
980 WONE Dayton
1010 WINS/CFRB
1070 WFNI
1090 KAAY
1110 Conspicuous by it's absence WBT.
1120 - Daytimer WKCE is on all night. If they aren't on it's KMOX
1150 WCBK Morristown TN
1160 various, WYLL usually predominates but in and out
1180 WVLZ is a local daytime that is on all night (were very widely heard when they were oldies), when they do go off it's WHAM or Cuban chorus
1190 WOWO. Yep, even with 9800 watts.
1240 local
1260 WNXT Portsmouth OH
1290 WHKY, Hickory NC
1340 local
1360 WSAI, others
1400 GY mess with WGAP slightly on top
1410 WING Dayton
1430 WPLN, Nashville
1470 semi-local conspiracy talk station
1490 local
1550 WDLR, Delaware OH, sometimes WMDH, NewCastle IN
1560 WQEW
1600 WZZW, Milton (Huntington) WV, when it's auroral it's always KLEB in the New Orleans market "The Ragin' Cajun"
X-band, pretty much the usual stuff that we get in the Eastern U.S.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Back to Paducah's WDXR 1560, some memories are coming back to me now.

Fall of 1975, I was using my brother's new Pioneer receiver one clear cool evening. Generally WDXR was easily received, not super strong in southeast Iowa, but it was a regular most nights. This particular night, however, WDXR was matching the signal strength of 50 kW KAAY Little Rock...on the receiver's little signal strength meter they were both hitting 2 and 3 notches out of 5.

I still say the WDXR jock was messing with stuff he shouldn't have been messing with...resulting in 10 kW on the normal 1 kW night-time DA. But, that was forty years ago. Statute of limitations has long expired.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

1090 has always been a frequency with weaker signals on it in my area. WERB/WTAK/.../WCAR is the one usually heard in SE Michigan. I have also heard WBAL and KAAY, and WMUS/WKBZ around sunset. Also the one in Canada, CKKW, I heard before they moved to FM.

Almost all the former I-Bs have been heard during nondirectional operation. Most of those are heard around and in between the times of sunsets at the two cochannel stations.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Rather than a list (if I may) there's one that instantly comes to mind, with reception at three different locales : WDRC 1360 Hartford.

At night they have the usual, casual, two-tower directional signal. Basically an 'east' pattern, it does go detectably N-S as well.

But they were the dominant station on 1360 at night in the JFK Airport DXing days of the Sixties. Sometimes they could thunder out of a transistor radio -- louder than WPTR 1540 Albany would.

Then, around the mid-Seventies I spent a few days at a motel/efficiency unit on Oakland NJ, in the decided northern part of the state. One night there was some good FM Trope I taped (WYSP Philly was the loudest thing on the dial). So who was there on the AM dial of an average Radio Shack AM-FM portable?
WDRC, of course.
Like they were maybe 30 miles off.

Here in northeast PA, with me using a Lafayette HA 600 about ten miles north of Pottsville, daytime-local WPPA Pottsville was, and still is, largely inaudible at night. They send their power-back 500 watt nighttime signal mostly south. Their west null is to protect WSAI Cincinnati. Their east null is to avoid messing on WDRC's lawn.
So what comes in at night here on 1360?
Well, what else, hi? : WDRC, then WPPA, then WSAI as a 'show' third.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

WDRC's night pattern is very similar to the old WXYT 1270 night pattern with 5 kW. The maxima are at about 20 degrees and 160 degrees. Except for high angle radiation close in, it shouldn't go West that well at night.

 

[RyanHoward]

Here's my list, from the Philly 'burbs:

530-zippo
540-Ottawa(forget the calls
550-WGR, Buffalo
560-local WFIL
570-WMCA, NYC
580-WHP, Harrisburg PA
590-WARM, Scranton PA
600-WCAO, Baltimore
610-local WTEL
620-mess
630-WMAL, Washington DC
640-local WWJZ Radio Disney(weak)
650-WSM, Nashville
660-WFAN, NYC
670-WSCR, Chicago
680-WRKO, Boston
690-Montreal(forget the calls, was CBF)
700-WLW, Cincinnati
710-WOR, NYC
720-WGN, Chicago
730-mess, sometimes XEX, Mexico City
740-CHWO, Toronto(was CBL)
750-WSB, Atlanta
760-WJR, Detroit
770-WABC, NYC
780-WBBM, Chicago
790-WAEB, Allentown Pa(semi-local)
800-local WTMR, sometimes overtaken by CKLW, Detroit)
810-WGY, Schenectady, NY
820-WNYC, NYC
830-WEEU, Reading(semi-local)
840-WHAS, Louisville
850-WEEI, Boston or WKNR, Cleveland
860-CJBC, Toronto(French)
870-WHCU, Ithaca, NY or WWL, New Orleans
880-WCBS, NYC
890-WLS, Chicago
900-CHML, Hamilton, ON
910-mess
920-Trenton, NJ(forget the calls)
930-WPAT, Paterson, NJ
940-Montreal(again, forget the calls)
950-WKDN, local Family Radio station
960-mess
970-mess
980-WTEM, Washington DC
990-local WNTP
1000-WMVP, Chicago(was WCFL)
1010-WINS, NYC
1020-KDKA, Pittsburgh
1030-WBZ, Boston
1040-semi-local WCHR, Flemington NJ(mixes with WHO, Des Moines at times)
1050-WEPN, NYC(ESPN Radio station)
1060-local KYW
1070-WIBC, Indianapolis
1080-WTIC, Hartford, CT
1090-WBAL, Baltimore
1100-WTAM, Cleveland(was 3WE)
1110-WBT, Charlotte
1120-KMOX, St. Louis
1130-WBBR, NYC(was WNEW)
1140-WRVA, Richmond, VA
1150-mess, including semi-local WDEL)
1160-mess, including KSL at times
1170-WWVA, Wheeling, WV
1180-WHAM, Rochester, NY
1190-WOWO, Fort Wayne, IN
1200-sometimes WOAI, San Antonio
1210-local WPHT
1220-mess
1230-graveyard
1240-graveyard
1250-mess
1260-local WBUD, Trenton NJ
1270-mess
1280-WADO, NYC(Spanish)
1290-WWTX, Wilmington, DE(semi-local)
1300-WJZ, Baltimore(was WFBR)
1310-local WEMG, Camden NJ(Spanish)
1320-WTKZ, Allentown, PA(semi-local)
1330-mess
1340-local WHAT
1350-semi-local WHWH, Princeton NJ
1360-WNJC, Vineland NJ(semi-local)
1370-mess
1380-WTMC, Wilmington DE(traffic info)
1390-mess
1400-WEST, Easton PA(semi-local)
1410-WPOP, Hartford, CT
1420-WCOJ, Coatesville, PA(semi-local)
1430-Newark NJ(forget calls)
1440-local WNPV, Lansdale PA
1450-graveyard
1460-mess
1470-Allentown(forget calls)
1480-local WJJZ(smooth jazz)
1490-local WBCB, Levittown, PA
1500-WFED, Washington, DC(was WTOP)
1510-WMRE, Boston(was WNRB and WMEX)
1520-WWKB, Buffalo(was WKBW)
1530-WCKY, Cincinnati
1540-WPTR, Albany, NY or KXEL, Waterloo, IA
1550-CBE, Windsor, ON
1560-WQEW, NYC(ex-Radio Disney)
1570-local WISP, Doylestown, PA
1580-mess
1590-mess
1600-mess
1610-mess
1620-mess
1630-mess
1640-local traffic station
1650-mess
1660-mess
1670-mess
1680-WTTM, Trenton NJ(Spanish, Radio Unity)
1690-mess
1700-mess
1710-mess

 

[cyberdad]

Great list, Ryan....thanks. I'm impressed with KSL. Before WJJD/WYLL came on, it was certainly doable here in the Chicago area, but for me at least, it sometimes took a little effort. Also one other thing jumped out at me.... The 540 in Ottawa has been off for quite a while. They did have an impressive signal, as might be expected. If I'm not mistaken, I think it eventually re-emerged as CFGO 1200 (all sports). I'm sure mimo probably could give us the details and/or correct me if needs be.