540 went to 106.9 FM in the 90's. CFGO 1200 was previously at 1440 and moved to 1200 in the mid 80's.
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Dominant Nighttime Stations? (Not including Class A & Strong Locals)
- Thread starter pianoplayer88key
- Start date
540 went to 106.9 FM in the 90's. CFGO 1200 was previously at 1440 and moved to 1200 in the mid 80's.
It must've been the late Eighties when the wifester and I were driving west along scenic Linden Boulevard through Brooklyn in a 1974 Nova. For some reason I had the car radio on 1200, a music station -- WLIB 1190 wasn't on at night yet -- and was pointing out the various sights to her.
There weren't many sights, but I tried my best. She is not from Brooklyn.
Now she is a decided opposite of me. I like red grapes and white wine ; she likes red wine and white grapes. And so forth. Some of you folks are familiar with the drill.
Anyway, she is also a decided non-DXer ..... non-radio ...... non-DJ ..... non-air check.....
I'm launching into some diatribe about Linden Boulevard architecture when she says:
'Shut up.'
'CFGO Ottawa', says the radio.
'Okay. Now -- you were saying?' she continues, primly, her nose somewhat stuck in the air.
There weren't many sights, but I tried my best. She is not from Brooklyn.
Now she is a decided opposite of me. I like red grapes and white wine ; she likes red wine and white grapes. And so forth. Some of you folks are familiar with the drill.
Anyway, she is also a decided non-DXer ..... non-radio ...... non-DJ ..... non-air check.....
I'm launching into some diatribe about Linden Boulevard architecture when she says:
'Shut up.'
'CFGO Ottawa', says the radio.
'Okay. Now -- you were saying?' she continues, primly, her nose somewhat stuck in the air.
Steve, that reminds me of driving in Northeastern Michigan during the mid afternoon in the late Winter, near West Branch, trying to get the ID of the station on 1280 that had baseball PBP in Spanish (perhaps it was an exhibition game, as I'm trying to figure out why it was still during daytime skywave season). I had my suspicions as to what it was, but, unlike the person Stevie Wonder was making fun of at the beginning of "Don't You Worry About A Thing", I don't speak "very fluent Spanish". But at the top of the hour, in between spots and PBP, was the ID, "WADO New York", apparently on nondirectional STA, probably for directional proofs.
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Love it! I've never experienced that from my wife. Nor my sons (although one of them sometimes listens to nighttime sports talk on WWL). My daughter, OTOH as I've posted before, took a liking to an old Radio Shack multiband portable I gave her, which otherwise would've gone into the trash. Between that and a long evening commute to a job she had, she discovered CBF and CJBC. Which in turn was the beginning of of her becoming fluent in French.
Research showed the change from 1440 to 1200 occurred in 1986. So you're absolutely right.
So if CFGO was on 1440 in the days before I started going to Ottawa regularly (1993), what became of the station on 540? 540 was on at the beginning of Ottawa being part of my sales assignment, but not for very long beyond that point.
540 moved to 106.9 FM.
Thanks, mimo. I thought they had probably migrated to FM, but I also thought there was some sort of connection between 540 and the current incarnation of CFGO. Maybe I'm thinking of something else.
Maybe. My regular hotel in Ottawa is the Marriott Courtyard in the market, which is right around the corner from the building that houses CFRA and sister broadcast operations.
My favorite story about that place....
One December night I was having dinner at the bar in the seafood place nearby. Apparently I got in on the "aftermath" of the stations' office Christmas party. My entertainment for the evening was watching one of the over-served middle-aged suits trying to put the moves on a cute young office worker. I'll spare you the sordid details, but it was all pretty hilarious. A number of the execs were feeling no pain, and IIRC, I may have wound up with a free drink or two complements of CFRA & cluster. I believe Standard Broadcasting was the owner at the time!
That's not to be confused with the evening at the Chateau Laurier Hotel when I unwittingly personally annoyed and offended the president of Molson. But that's probably not a story for this board.
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For Port Alexander, AK:
-570 KVI Seattle (Weak)
-620 KPOJ Portland (Better but not great)
-650 is something from Seattle, but it's weak. Never heard Anchorage.
-I know I've heard 680 KNBR San Francisco before, at decent signal strength.
-KIRO 710 Seattle (iffy)
-whatever that Vancouver traffic station on 730 is. Surprisingly strong. A good "Is tonight a good skywave night?" station to check.
790 CFCW
800 KINY Juneau/800 CKOR Pendiction (They're on top of each other but decently strong)
810 KGO San Francisco (Decent)
880 KIXI seattle (weak)
910 "Q-country 91", a Canadian. Decently listenable
930 KTKN Ketchikan, if it comes in at all
1300 KKOL Seattle
A few more I can't remember
And of course...1600 KVRI Blaine...really strong!
I know some of these are Class A's but relatively speaking, they're dominant. (I have no local AMs near me). So my definition of "dominant" is a little different.
-570 KVI Seattle (Weak)
-620 KPOJ Portland (Better but not great)
-650 is something from Seattle, but it's weak. Never heard Anchorage.
-I know I've heard 680 KNBR San Francisco before, at decent signal strength.
-KIRO 710 Seattle (iffy)
-whatever that Vancouver traffic station on 730 is. Surprisingly strong. A good "Is tonight a good skywave night?" station to check.
790 CFCW
800 KINY Juneau/800 CKOR Pendiction (They're on top of each other but decently strong)
810 KGO San Francisco (Decent)
880 KIXI seattle (weak)
910 "Q-country 91", a Canadian. Decently listenable
930 KTKN Ketchikan, if it comes in at all
1300 KKOL Seattle
A few more I can't remember
And of course...1600 KVRI Blaine...really strong!
I know some of these are Class A's but relatively speaking, they're dominant. (I have no local AMs near me). So my definition of "dominant" is a little different.
Interesting report, thanks, AKDxer...Keep 'em coming!
1600 KVRI doesn't suprise me. It's aimed right at Vancouver. Same goes for the religious station on 550 that's just across the border in the Blaine area (KARI?). Do you ever hear that one? I'd think it would be fairly easy....especially if you're hearing KVI.
1600 KVRI doesn't suprise me. It's aimed right at Vancouver. Same goes for the religious station on 550 that's just across the border in the Blaine area (KARI?). Do you ever hear that one? I'd think it would be fairly easy....especially if you're hearing KVI.
Duh! 650 is Vancouver, now that you mention it! I feel like I may have heard "something" in the background though, which COULD be KENI from Anchorage, but I hear they're no longer a 50Kw "Blowtorch" like they used to be.
KARI! Yeah, I have in fact heard them! But not terribly strong; I would never describe them as "A dominant nighttime station" here. Anyone up in Anchorage/Fairbanks heard them?
What's the nighttime power on 730? A 50Kw? Seems bizarre to have a traffic format on there of all things.
And does anyone know WHY there is what sounds like air-traffic-control on 530, but VERY weak, about the same both day and night? I've heard mentions of the Sitka airport (70 miles to the north) and Boeing 7-37s before on there.
Radio used for all this is a 3M Tekk WorkTunes headset. Which somehow randomly one day set itself to 9Khz spacing, making things slightly off-tune, probably making any DXing less than ideal. Before that, it was an old Sony WalkMan, which I would say was better. And before that, a RadioShack headset unit.
I know someone in Sitka that also DXes in bed most nights, so we've compared notes in person" "Oh, and up somewhere around 1600 there's something from Blaine, WA..."That booms in!" etc.
My two "Benchmark" stations are KVRI and CHMJ. If you can't hear them, turn the radio off! Or switch to FM and listen to the one strong local translator of Sitka's KCAW and other weak, scratchy translator for KFSK Petersburg.
KARI! Yeah, I have in fact heard them! But not terribly strong; I would never describe them as "A dominant nighttime station" here. Anyone up in Anchorage/Fairbanks heard them?
What's the nighttime power on 730? A 50Kw? Seems bizarre to have a traffic format on there of all things.
And does anyone know WHY there is what sounds like air-traffic-control on 530, but VERY weak, about the same both day and night? I've heard mentions of the Sitka airport (70 miles to the north) and Boeing 7-37s before on there.
Radio used for all this is a 3M Tekk WorkTunes headset. Which somehow randomly one day set itself to 9Khz spacing, making things slightly off-tune, probably making any DXing less than ideal. Before that, it was an old Sony WalkMan, which I would say was better. And before that, a RadioShack headset unit.
I know someone in Sitka that also DXes in bed most nights, so we've compared notes in person" "Oh, and up somewhere around 1600 there's something from Blaine, WA..."That booms in!" etc.
My two "Benchmark" stations are KVRI and CHMJ. If you can't hear them, turn the radio off! Or switch to FM and listen to the one strong local translator of Sitka's KCAW and other weak, scratchy translator for KFSK Petersburg.
A good DX setup my dad has is an '07-ish Clarion marine-grade tuner (looks like an aftermarket car radio, fed by 12v DC) hooked up to a marine VHF antenna via a Shakespeare band seperator, which looks like a Cable TV splitter. Not sure what Db the antenna is, but it's excellent in terms of both AM and FM. Here, it picks up otherwise-inaudible KIFW Sitka, KTKN Ketchikan, KINY Juneau, and I think even a few Vancouver stations. Not sure about KXXJ Juneau though. I need to go tune through every frequency manually and see. This is all daytime, too! At night, it's even better.
It's great on FM too, it picks up the otherwise-barely-audible, deep-fringe translator/relay for Petersburg's KFSK quite reliably, and in stereo all the time, albeit just a little bit hissy/with knife-edge static. I want to try to get that setup from him, or at least copy it eventually.
It's great on FM too, it picks up the otherwise-barely-audible, deep-fringe translator/relay for Petersburg's KFSK quite reliably, and in stereo all the time, albeit just a little bit hissy/with knife-edge static. I want to try to get that setup from him, or at least copy it eventually.
A good DX setup my dad has is an '07-ish Clarion marine-grade tuner (looks like an aftermarket car radio, fed by 12v DC) hooked up to a marine VHF antenna via a Shakespeare band seperator, which looks like a Cable TV splitter. Not sure what Db the antenna is, but it's excellent in terms of both AM and FM. Here, it picks up otherwise-inaudible KIFW Sitka, KTKN Ketchikan, KINY Juneau, and I think even a few Vancouver stations. Not sure about KXXJ Juneau though. I need to go tune through every frequency manually and see. This is all daytime, too! At night, it's even better.
It's great on FM too, it picks up the otherwise-barely-audible, deep-fringe translator/relay for Petersburg's KFSK quite reliably, and in stereo all the time, albeit just a little bit hissy/with knife-edge static. I want to try to get that setup from him, or at least copy it eventually.
It's great on FM too, it picks up the otherwise-barely-audible, deep-fringe translator/relay for Petersburg's KFSK quite reliably, and in stereo all the time, albeit just a little bit hissy/with knife-edge static. I want to try to get that setup from him, or at least copy it eventually.
Traffic in Vancouver can get REALLY nasty. Take it from a guy who spent more than 30 years as a "road warrior". Long story short, Vancouver is connected by a network of bridges....all of which can sometimes become major choke-points. Also, if one bridge is jammed, there may be another nearby that works as an alternate. So the bottom line for me was that when I'd go there on business trips, I'd find myself tuning in to 730 to get the word on my planned route as well as info on alternates. Also, Vancouver is connected to outlying areas via ferries. So 730 also broadcasts info about those, including delays, whether or not a given sailing is full, etc. Useful stuff, actually.
Even so, I'd think a normal-size FM would do the trick, but it's an interesting anomaly for us us DXers! And it seems to be a profitable station...it was one of the very first stations I "discovered" the first time I (inadvertently) "discovered" nighttime skywave AM reception, about six years ago.
But I'm sure it's a very useful thing, especially in a place like Vancouver!
My DXing friend here and I did joke though that to us, every time we pass by 730, traffic sounds like it's moving along pretty smoothly LOL.
But I'm sure it's a very useful thing, especially in a place like Vancouver!
My DXing friend here and I did joke though that to us, every time we pass by 730, traffic sounds like it's moving along pretty smoothly LOL.
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