Farthest you have ever heard WSM and Former X-Rock 80...XEROCK 800 Mexico

[Mid West Clubber]

I just remembered that I had a real good AM DX AM Tuner in the closet that works great with AM, much better than my car radio. Ive got WSM in clear as a bell in Indiana tonight, which is weak in the car, especially with Engine running.. I can even get WHAS listenable,, but in the car it suffers from Ground Wave Skywave cancellation,,im only 100 miles away,, I couldnt distinguish WLW although it could have been in a deep fade. This radio is Analog so I couldnt ID the exact frequency, but what between 700 and Atantas WSB 750 would be playing very strong signal Big Band music, or what I at least interpreted it to be.. Also, I was getting Cuba on 530 with no sign of the Beacon on 529,,, is it still on air I wonder???? But Anway, this is just a basic boombox, but in perfect shape, I think its from 1982,, its a GE and all chromed out.. I found a few stations playing music that I could ID,, And even WLS and WCBS is both booming in,,,, in the car I cant usually get either station, and if I get CBS it usually bleeds over onto WLS despite being only 150 miles from WLS,,, and the sports station in Chicago on 1000 was booming in, cant get that in the car either... and of course 670 The Score was booming in like local,,, it was always the strongest Chicago AM here,, I can here it during the day too, but its too noisy in the car and doesnt air programing I care about anymore, I wish they were still WMAQ...... Anyone remember a station called 61 Country.... I think it was in Kansas or Oklahoma, but it used to boom in here in the 90s, but now I get a station from Columbus Ohio instead.. Does 61 country even still exist? Anyway, my location is Central indiana..Martinsville to be exact.. about 200 miles from most the Chicago stations, and nearly 300 from WSM.. So back to my original question,, what is the farthest away you ever heard WSM, even if it was years back in the 60s or 70s, I wanna know... I wish I would have been around to listen to WLS as a CHR back in the day, and WAKY 790 Louisville and WRKA Louisville,,, and ive always wished I could have heard X-Rock 80 from Mexico, but serving San antonio and most of the U.S with 150 KW at night..... I hear X-Rock 80 was gone by 1982, so i would have only been 2 yrs old, so I have no way of telling if X-Rock 80 ever made it into Indiana, my guess is that it did, cause their was less noise, and less band congestion back then. So how far have you guys heard either of these stations... WSM is about the only music channel I can get at my house,, except for foreign, religious, or that weird big band station.. I was also hearing Dance music somewhere around the 1200 mark on the analog dial back in 1992,, Could have been a mainstream CHR with an AM Simulcast,, It couldnt have been San Antonio, cause they are all talk. So sorry to shove so much down your throat in one post, but I didnt want to be a post whore and make 3 or 4 posts when I can get it all out in one post...Thanks guys.

 

[radioman148]

Back in the 60s when I first started DXing there were alot less stations and many of the 50KW stations were really clear channel. There was no other station in North America on their frequencies.
WSM could easily be received throughout the lower 48 and Canada at night.
In 1978 I received both WLS and WBBM in Hawaii--4,300 miles. I could not get WSM because there's a station in Honolulu on that frequency.
I used to get XEROK occassionally in the late 70s & 80s here in the Chicago area, but it was usually overwhelmed by CKLW.

 

[w9wi]

Back in the 60s when I first started DXing there were alot less stations and many of the 50KW stations were really clear channel. There was no other station in North America on their frequencies.
WSM could easily be received throughout the lower 48 and Canada at night.
In 1978 I received both WLS and WBBM in Hawaii--4,300 miles. I could not get WSM because there's a station in Honolulu on that frequency.
I used to get XEROK occassionally in the late 70s & 80s here in the Chicago area, but it was usually overwhelmed by CKLW.

XEROK was pretty frequently heard in Milwaukee around that time. CKLW was surprisingly weak up there.

Never had much luck with WSM in the West, but I've not traveled that much out there.

 

[KR4BD]

I used to live in Riverside, CA (1959-65) and could only hear WSM on Monday Mornings after midnight Pacific Time when nearby KFI would shut down for maintenance for a few hours. Otherwise, KFI made any listening on 650 impossible. Eastern U.S. Stations I did hear with regularity from S. California in those days included: WLS, WWL, WBBM, WJR (before KFMB went to 760), WSB, WMAQ, WLW, WBZ and KDKA. My Best DX from there was WSAI-1360, WING-1410, WCIN-1480, WSMB-1350 and WRDW-1480. I had QSL cards from most of these. The AM band used to be full of surprises at night before the FCC allowed all the clutter to take place...

 

[gr8oldies]

61 Country was WDAF in Topeka KS, since that time it's changed calls and formats. I occasionally would her XEROK in Ohio but was pretty rough with Trans World blasting in and a weak CKLW. I heard it in Quincy, IL in the mid 80s. WSM is reliable in Ohio.

 

[radiorob2.0]

61 Country was WDAF in Topeka KS, since that time it's changed calls and formats. I occasionally would her XEROK in Ohio but was pretty rough with Trans World blasting in and a weak CKLW. I heard it in Quincy, IL in the mid 80s. WSM is reliable in Ohio.

WDAF is Kansas City, now KCSP and the calls and format are on FM. Topeka is WIBW 580.

 

[mimo]

I just remembered that I had a real good AM DX AM Tuner in the closet that works great with AM, much better than my car radio. Ive got WSM in clear as a bell in Indiana tonight, which is weak in the car, especially with Engine running.. I can even get WHAS listenable,, but in the car it suffers from Ground Wave Skywave cancellation,,im only 100 miles away,, I couldnt distinguish WLW although it could have been in a deep fade. This radio is Analog so I couldnt ID the exact frequency, but what between 700 and Atantas WSB 750 would be playing very strong signal Big Band music, or what I at least interpreted it to be.. Also, I was getting Cuba on 530 with no sign of the Beacon on 529,,, is it still on air I wonder???? But Anway, this is just a basic boombox, but in perfect shape, I think its from 1982,, its a GE and all chromed out.. I found a few stations playing music that I could ID,, And even WLS and WCBS is both booming in,,,, in the car I cant usually get either station, and if I get CBS it usually bleeds over onto WLS despite being only 150 miles from WLS,,, and the sports station in Chicago on 1000 was booming in, cant get that in the car either... and of course 670 The Score was booming in like local,,, it was always the strongest Chicago AM here,, I can here it during the day too, but its too noisy in the car and doesnt air programing I care about anymore, I wish they were still WMAQ...... Anyone remember a station called 61 Country.... I think it was in Kansas or Oklahoma, but it used to boom in here in the 90s, but now I get a station from Columbus Ohio instead.. Does 61 country even still exist? Anyway, my location is Central indiana..Martinsville to be exact.. about 200 miles from most the Chicago stations, and nearly 300 from WSM.. So back to my original question,, what is the farthest away you ever heard WSM, even if it was years back in the 60s or 70s, I wanna know... I wish I would have been around to listen to WLS as a CHR back in the day, and WAKY 790 Louisville and WRKA Louisville,,, and ive always wished I could have heard X-Rock 80 from Mexico, but serving San antonio and most of the U.S with 150 KW at night..... I hear X-Rock 80 was gone by 1982, so i would have only been 2 yrs old, so I have no way of telling if X-Rock 80 ever made it into Indiana, my guess is that it did, cause their was less noise, and less band congestion back then. So how far have you guys heard either of these stations... WSM is about the only music channel I can get at my house,, except for foreign, religious, or that weird big band station.. I was also hearing Dance music somewhere around the 1200 mark on the analog dial back in 1992,, Could have been a mainstream CHR with an AM Simulcast,, It couldnt have been San Antonio, cause they are all talk. So sorry to shove so much down your throat in one post, but I didnt want to be a post whore and make 3 or 4 posts when I can get it all out in one post...Thanks guys.

The big band station you are hearing is CFZM 740 Toronto, and the dance music station you used to hear is CFGO 1200 from Ottawa Canada, back when they were energy 1200. They were never an FM simulcast. Top 40 was the norm on AM in Canada until the mid 90's.

As mentioned above 61 country became an all sports station after 2003.

The furthest I ever heard WSM was in Calgary Canada back until very late 1984 when local 660 CFFR signed on.
XEROK is a regular in South east Iowa.

 

[schmave]

I remember hearing "61 Country" in Cincinnati one night back in Dec. 1996. There was no trace of WTVN/Columbus, which speaks to the effectiveness of their nighttime directional pattern that protects Kansas City and Philadelphia among other co-channel stations.
WSM easily makes it into Houston every night. XEROK is tough as nails to pick out, even with virtually no splatter from local KBME 790. Some nights you can barely hear it. At least on my radios, it is never loud.

 

[gr8oldies]

Got my Topeka and KC mixed up. I had heard 61 Country in Dayton

 

[rbrucecarter5]

WSM is a regular nighttime catch in Dallas. I've also heard them in West Texas.

With the good ground conductivity in Lubbock, TX, I got them in the DAYTIME using a five foot loop and a GE SR-3

 

[KML0224]

I occasionally get WSM-AM 650 here in New Britain, CT (southwest of Hartford). I sometimes get interference from WFAN-AM 660 New York City next door. WNNZ-AM 640 of Westfield, MA (Springfield market) is never an issue at night.

I've only heard CKLW-AM of Windsor, ON for that other frequency.

 

[kevin21403]

I was listening to WSM 650 last night around 3am. I'm near Annapolis, Maryland. I don't recall ever getting any Mexican stations here. Some Canadians come in at night - 740 Toronto is the loudest.

 

[Lawppy]

I've heard WSM from State College, PA via the old DX Tuners website. They blast into Southern Michigan most nights.

I can't say i've ever heard 800 from Mexico. It's usually CKLW for me.

 

[cyberdad]

XEROK usually...but not always...bested CKLW and Trans World Radio "back in the day" in suburban Chicago.

 

[schmave]

And that's exactly what CKLW wanted ... or at least their engineers did. There are stories of people in western Michigan hearing XEROK instead, often within 100 miles of Windsor because XEROK was (and is) the dominant station in North America per international agreements.
That said, they come in terribly in Houston at night, which is a lot closer than Detroit!

 

[gr8oldies]

CKLW had to and still must protect XEROK as the Mexican clear. We used to vacation in Fremont MI and the Big 8 was strong every night...opposite of home

 

[schmave]

That is true. And I meant to say that XEROK comes in terribly in Houston. CKLW would never have a prayer of making it here.
CKLW makes it into Columbus just a tiny bit at night, but its night signal is still quite respectable in Toledo, behind its pattern. It makes probably to Findlay or so before skywave completely takes over.

 

[gr8oldies]

I'm thinking, Schmave, you and I grew up in the same area. During the Big 8 days, they blasted into Western Ohio daytime, but once the pattern changed they were much weaker and TWR usually took over the frequency with a weak CKLW in the background. At Boy Scout camp in Defiance, OH they were solid day and night. Where we vacationed I had virtually no signal from CKLW in the daytime but they were a blaster at night (which was weird in a way..it was my only chance to hear the Big 8 night jocks in the clear.) CKLW has changed its night pattern to favor Canada more, and during the Big 8 reunion a few years ago 800 sounded like a graveyard channel and the only hint of CKLW was the song "Scorpio" barely making it through (I heard the reunion show online later). On the way to Sandusky one fall night, by the time I was in Bucyrus I could hear the University of Michigan game in the background, but in the parking lot of Cedar Point, it was solid. I haven't heard Trans World Radio in a while.

 

[schmave]

I am from Columbus originally but went to college in Toledo and my mother grew up in St. Marys, where I spent a considerable amount of time growing up. I did plenty of radio listening on quiet nights up there.
I can second all your observations on CKLW. It is quite solid all along the Lake Erie shoreline and of course in northeast Ohio, which is relatively in front of its pattern. I'd never heard of it growing up, mostly because it's virtually unlistenable in Columbus. I first heard when I was in college, back around '97 or so, and only then did I get an idea of its history. My uncle, who has always lived in St. Marys, listened to both WOWO and CKLW growing up, while my mom listened mostly to WOWO.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I get Canadians here at night.. CKLW on 800 and 740 in Toronto are very loud and clear,,, , I used to get 640 from Toronto back when they were CHR-Dance as The Beat of toronto,,, But they went directional north since then, so I cant hear the news format on 640 Toronto these days.. But back on the subject of the station I was hearing on 1200 back in 92 with a CHR-Dance format,,, one poster says it was from Ottawa,,, I looked up the history of the station and it matched his descriton,, It was a 50kw station, but it has highly directional North to protect San Antonio,,, so I have it very amazing that I was ever able to hear this station in Indiana,,, Of course this was in early December 92 and very cold, but around 7 PM,,, Ottawa is very far away from here,, at least 1000 miles and if the station is still on air with a sports format,,, why was i only able to hear it that one time 15 yrs ago,, and never heard anything except San Antonio since then.. Am Skywave propogation works in mysterious ways, so maybe it was just a once in a lifetime catch,, the station only stayed in about 12 minutes and always seemed to fade right when they IDed the station,, So I was SOL until I found this group of fellow AM Fm Dxers.. Their night and day pattern both neither even seem to make it into upstate New York or Vermont,, so how the heck did I hear it in Indiana on a cheap 20 dollar boombox????? But if Beave got a DX report from Swedon with 440 watts I guess anything is possible on AM,, Like the one poster who says he received WLS and WBBM in Hawaii,,, Which in 1978 would have been possible since both stations were protected then.. Ever since WLS moved to Tinley park its been a tough catch on car radios for me day and night,, even though they are about 40 miles closer than they used to be....ODD... I guess its the groundwave-Skywave cancellation mixed with electronic noise from the car,, I have no trouble day or night picking up the Chicago AMs on an old panasonic boombox if I take the radio to the garage away from Computer RF noise.