Has anyone ever received WKAQ 580 from San Juan?

[gar hi]

One of my DXing goals I have yet to accomplish is getting a station from Puerto Rico. but I never considered WKAQ because the station from Orlando is usually pretty strong. But I've been listening for a while tonight and their signal does go through weak phases.

I'm also able to pretty much null out our local on 570 to get rid of a lot of their splatter.

According to the Radio Locator maps, all of the San Juan AMs are directional away from the US but this station doesn't seem to be.

I thought it would also be easier to ID being that they are supposed to be a Radio Reloj station but I went to their online stream and didn't hear the clock.

I'm wondering if they maybe don't include the tick tock sound online or are they not using the clock anymore at all.

It would sure make a difference.

 

[davideduardo]

According to the Radio Locator maps, all of the San Juan AMs are directional away from the US but this station doesn't seem to be.

WKAQ is directional since it went from 5 kw to 10 kw.

There are several San Juan AMs that are not directional, including 10 kw WAPA 680 and 1320 WKSN.

I thought it would also be easier to ID being that they are supposed to be a Radio Reloj station but I went to their online stream and didn't hear the clock.

In more recent years, the Radio Reloj name has been minimized, and the calls alone used for most things. The all news format did 20 years ago, and the morning news block moved to a news commentary show about 10 years ago. They nevery used the clock the way Cuba does. WHen they were all news, it was just time checks regularly, but no ticking.

There are a bunch of stations easier than WKAQ from PR, including the Xbander in Canóvanas, 1480, 1280, 850, 760, 1430, 680, 1320, 1370, 940.

 

[gar hi]

Thanks for all that info, David.

Even though I knew WKAQ is directional with two towers, the coverage map anyway didn't make it look like it sent a null to the US mainland like the other San Juan stations.

I also figured the higher power stations would have a better shot but then again, a 5 kw non directional station could have no problem making it here.

Among the ones you suggested, I think 1430 WNEL from Caguas may be the best bet. The frequency is pretty crowded here but their format suggests it would make it easier to pick out from all the chatter.

Thanks again.

 

[ddsparxx]

Never heard any Puerto Rican stations, just the Cuban ._. ._.'s.

 

[BRNout]

I thought it would also be easier to ID being that they are supposed to be a Radio Reloj station but I went to their online stream and didn't hear the clock.

In more recent years, the Radio Reloj name has been minimized, and the calls alone used for most things. The all news format did 20 years ago, and the morning news block moved to a news commentary show about 10 years ago. They nevery used the clock the way Cuba does. WHen they were all news, it was just time checks regularly, but no ticking.

This brings up an interesting point. In Latin America, there are several stations in countries other than Cuba that use the Radio Reloj moniker (including one in Costa Rica that I'm familiar with). I don't know of any other than Cuba's Radio Reloj that use the ticking and morse code. That's a uniquely Cuban thing.

 

[gar hi]

I thought it was only a Cuban thing too but for whatever reason, WKAQ is listed as Radio Reloj.

I listened to 580 for a while last night with the audio stream from WKAQ going. There were 2 Spanish stations in the background of the station from Orlando and the voice I was hearing with one of them seemed the same even though obviously streams online are in a delay.

Another thing is their online stream had several commercials in English that I didn't hear on the radio and I'm wondering if those commercials were online only?

Like I said, the Radio Locator lists them as directional but the map doesn't suggest much of a directional pattern.

Does anyone have one of those other maps that have been listed here showing signal patterns with one for WKAQ?

That would give a better picture.

 

[gar hi]

I found what I wanted.

Here's the official directional pattern for WKAQ.

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/265596-24339.pdf

While it's more directional to the SE than the NW, it doesn't seem nearly as directional as most directional stations with serious nulls.

Look at WWKB's directional pattern. Some here have said to have received WWKB well west in the Chicago area and accorcing to their map, it seems impossible yet it does happen.

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/314204-22784.pdf

I've even heard them down here and I thought it wasn't possible at first.

So if such a concentrated directional signal like WWKB can make it west, shouldn't a less concentrated signal such as WKAQ get out to the NW too?

 

[BRNout]

I thought it was only a Cuban thing too but for whatever reason, WKAQ is listed as Radio Reloj.

Another thing is their online stream had several commercials in English that I didn't hear on the radio and I'm wondering if those commercials were online only?

Well, they may have used 'Radio Reloj' as a positioner; that's a very common name taken by all news or news/talk stations in the region (probably because Cuba's RR was the very first station anywhere to have an all-news format). But, I've only ever heard the ticking sounds and morse code used on Cuba's RR. It's sort of like their unique trademark.

WKAQ is probably streaming through Clear Channel's player and CC is plunking English ads/PSAs from their corporate stable into the stream. If you were listening in Puerto Rico, you wouldn't hear any English ads on this station.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Back in 'the days', Gar, WKAQ was quite the Monday morning regular up on Long Island. But granted ; it was 5000 watts omni day and night at the time.

English-language WHOA 870 used to be there -- faintly -- but it took WCBS 880 *and* WWL 870 to be off. WHOA actually had a jingle that went 'Four-thirty ... four thirty ... it's half past the hour of fourrrrrr.....'
Catching WHOA wasn't as much a matter of DX skill as it was a matter of having the radio on the right frequency for 100% water-path reception. I can swear to this because I've always had minimal DX skills, hi.

Another Puerto Rico station we *did* manage to get was WQBS 630. For a few weeks it was pretty well atop the channel. It also had one darned good jingle package. I'd thought that the sting was 'buenos cadena', but someone with more knowledge said it was 'La Grande Cadena' (sp?). Either way, neat hook, and a buenos/grande catch.

Physically, Puerto Rico is the size of a floating Connecticut, with a similar population. A thumbnail guess here must put the two regions as having the same amount of AM stations. You'll get lucky one overnight (excuse the expression

 

[davideduardo]

This brings up an interesting point. In Latin America, there are several stations in countries other than Cuba that use the Radio Reloj moniker (including one in Costa Rica that I'm familiar with). I don't know of any other than Cuba's Radio Reloj that use the ticking and morse code. That's a uniquely Cuban thing.

Yes, today it is unique. However, in the 60's and 70's, there were a number of Reloj stations that did do the ticks.

In Colombia, the Reloj stations (1100 in Bogota and Barranquilla, 1110 in Cali and Medellin) were music stations that gave the time after every song. No news, etc. 1460 Radio Reloj in Quito was the same. WKAQ, going back to the 50's, had the ticking in its morning newscast only, and no morse code, but that was dropped when mainland consultant Mike Joseph made the rest of the day top 40 in '68. There was a Reloj in Panama on 1025, I think, that did the ticks in the 60's, and one in Honduras but it was called Radio Tic Tac.

Of course, the newscasts on WFAB 990 and WQBA 1140 in the 60's in Miami ticked away all morning.

 

[davideduardo]

WKAQ is probably streaming through Clear Channel's player and CC is plunking English ads/PSAs from their corporate stable into the stream. If you were listening in Puerto Rico, you wouldn't hear any English ads on this station.

WKAQ is a Univision station. The mainland feed has some spots replaced as part of the company's overall deal.

English ads have run on occasion in PR on purely Spanish stations, mainly for the shock value. With the upper middle and upper income groups being pretty fluent in English (in those income levels, nearly 100% of families send their kids to bilingual schoold), the ads will be effective, too.

In one case, I would accept English on the AC station and not on the salsa station...

Of course, PR has always had one or more English language stations; today the one remaining non-religious one barely makes the Arbitron book. in the late 60's and into the 70's, one could be found in the top 5 stations (out of 122 in the market).

 

[gar hi]

The other Puerto Rican station I've been listing for, thanks to that suggestion, is WNEL 1430 from Caguas.

On 1430, there's a lot of stations with no one really dominating but I keep hearing in the noise what sure sounds like Spanish old time music.

Looked on the AM log book and there doesn't seem to be any station other than WNEL with that format unless there's one from Cuba or some other country.

Be it WKAQ or this one, I don't know how I will ever get any official ID.

 

[BRNout]

WKAQ is probably streaming through Clear Channel's player and CC is plunking English ads/PSAs from their corporate stable into the stream. If you were listening in Puerto Rico, you wouldn't hear any English ads on this station.

WKAQ is a Univision station. The mainland feed has some spots replaced as part of the company's overall deal.

English ads have run on occasion in PR on purely Spanish stations, mainly for the shock value. With the upper middle and upper income groups being pretty fluent in English (in those income levels, nearly 100% of families send their kids to bilingual schoold), the ads will be effective, too.

In one case, I would accept English on the AC station and not on the salsa station...

Of course, PR has always had one or more English language stations; today the one remaining non-religious one barely makes the Arbitron book. in the late 60's and into the 70's, one could be found in the top 5 stations (out of 122 in the market).

David, I stand corrected. For some reason, I thought that WKAQ was a CC station; that thinking comes from an assumption that sister KQ 105 was a product of CC. Their slick presentation just sounds so......Clear Channel. It (the FM) has been one of Puerto Rico's top radio stations for many years now.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

David: Thx for the '122' figure. I followed my own instincts and find that Connecticut has 106 stations 'in the market' -- if CT were one market.

Gar: We caught WNEL up on Lawn Guyland one sunrise. It was sheer water path, of course, right up the Atlantic, worming through Jamaica Bay and the Bergen Basin canal, and virtually coming out of the dripping basement faucet. Helping things somewhat -) was that there was a HUGE Aurora at the time, because we also heard WIII Homestead FL sign on a few minutes later in the gurgly but clear clear -- as though no other 1430 station existed -- Newark, Indianapolis, Annapolis, Tifton GA, Pensacola, etc. Reception was almost like FM tropo.

Again, my slothful instincts -- read my 'bio' -- overwhelm actual research once more, but you should have at least 40 AM shots at logging Puerto Rico.

 

[gar hi]

I knew WKAQ was catchable if I listened long enough and I managed to get a weak but audible signal that was struggling with the Orlando station and another Spanish station in the background.

This is from last night.

The woman's voice was identical to the one on their online stream with a delay.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu7yOiZ820s

 

[davideduardo]

David, I stand corrected. For some reason, I thought that WKAQ was a CC station; that thinking comes from an assumption that sister KQ 105 was a product of CC. Their slick presentation just sounds so......Clear Channel. It (the FM) has been one of Puerto Rico's top radio stations for many years now.

KQ 105 has a heritage going back to 1960. In that year, WKAQ AM went top 40 under consultant Mike Joseph and was immediately #1 and stayed there till my wonderful team of programmers and jocks at 1320 WUNO beat them in 1971. WKAQ change to all news in the mid-70s and a more MOR FM format languished for several years with very low ratings.

When the FM band jumped from 14% of listening to nearly 60% in the first months of 1979 due to the debut of Z-93 and the first all salsa FM anywhere, KQ-105 soon moved back to a hit format after seeing the Z get as high as a 42 share. KQ 105 reached the mid-80's with top 5 numbers quite consistently and shares in the 4 range (#1 Salsoul ran for more than 20 years at #1 with shares around 12 to 15). After Univision bought the station, Programmer Carlos González and my former operations manager at Salsoul, Pedro González brought KQ 105 up into the 6's and 7's, while my now former station, Salsoul, went to around a 5. KQ 105 is often #1 now, in fact.

And that's a bit of the last 42 years of radio history in Puerto Rico.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Easiest station from Puerto Rico

One of my DXing goals I have yet to accomplish is getting a station from Puerto Rico. but I never considered WKAQ because the station from Orlando is usually pretty strong. But I've been listening for a while tonight and their signal does go through weak phases.

Truly, the best bet is WGIT 1650, which has been heard as far away as California in the US, as well as Europe, South America and the South Pacific.

 

[gar hi]

According to the AM log frequency guide, WGIT is a "silent station" right now.

If anyone has any doubts as to whether that was WKAQ in the video I posted, I also have a video on file I took from my computer of WKAQ's online audio stream I took after that video and it's the same voice.

Since I don't understand Spanish, I had a friend who is Puerto Rican listen to both the video from the radio and the online stream and she said it's the same woman talking about the same thing, a local St. Patrick's Day beauty pageant.

If anyone is interested, they can PM me and give their e mail and I can send them the file to compare.

 

[davideduardo]

If anyone has any doubts as to whether that was WKAQ in the video I posted, I also have a video on file I took from my computer of WKAQ's online audio stream I took after that video and it's the same voice.

I listened to your YouTube post, and recognized our host for that time period.