History of the 1010 kHz channel and a phantom Cuban half-megawatt?

[1L6E6VHF]

Ever since I was able to access the FCC AM database online, I have been curious of the entry "CMBX, Wajay, Cuba" on 1010 kHz. It is listed with a blowtorch facility of 500 kW omnidirectional, unlimited time, yet, I've never heard a Cuban on 1010, and I don't recall any other DXer hearing a Cuban on 1010, either.

1010 seems to be a strange channel. I guess CBR is a true class A, though mildly directional. I've never heard it myself. CFRB Toronto is also listed as a Class A, though I've always heard someone else (usually WINS) give it a hard time at night (it is worth noting that in Michigan, CRFB suffers deep rapid fading even when it is all alone). This makes me wonder if it has a viable skywave signal into Québec and the maritime provinces (some AM channels are shared by more than one class A., directional at night - 1080 and 1530 being examples, but those stations are far apart from each other, whereas CFRB is relatively close to WINS (CFRB does not need to protect WINS's skywave, as WINS is a B)

However, with CMBX in the database, are the protection figures for stations on 1010 based on the assumption that there is a half-megawatt omni at Wajay? CFRB could not have a useful skywave signal if there were 500 kW ND coming from Cuba at night. I'm sure WINS would have a very small NIF zone at night (if a 500 kW signal returns at Wajay - WINS will be ten-ten-loses!) I seem to remember the FCC denying an app for a station in Alabama because it would interfere with CMBX, but I doubt that other stations are free to interfere with WINS or CFRB to the 25% exclusion level of CMBX.

I did recently hear that there had been a clear-channel station on 1010 in Habana in the distant past - CMX, Radio Mil Diez. It was shut down in 1948, but I find it hard to believe that Cuba would let the best channel they are allocated to lay silent for 65 years!

By the way, there are no big Mexicans on 1010. The next class A is all the way down in Fortaleza, Brazil!

So how did this channel ever get allocated in such a messy way?

 

[mimo]

At present CFRB has an excellent signal into western Quebec, Montreal and I'm assuming points east. I've had no problems at all hearing it where I am, and I've heard it very strong and clear in Montrea. They do send a lot of signal that direction.

 

[davideduardo]

Ever since I was able to access the FCC AM database online, I have been curious of the entry "CMBX, Wajay, Cuba" on 1010 kHz. It is listed with a blowtorch facility of 500 kW omnidirectional, unlimited time, yet, I've never heard a Cuban on 1010, and I don't recall any other DXer hearing a Cuban on 1010, either.

The FCC database for international stations in nations not party to treaties or agreements is notoriously inaccurate or downright wrong. In this case, using "Wajay" as a city of license is strange, since wajay is a place in La Habana, not a city or town. It's like saying a station is licensed to "Midtown"... an area in Manhattan.

However, with CMBX in the database, are the protection figures for stations on 1010 based on the assumption that there is a half-megawatt omni at Wajay?

Since Cuba abrogated NARBA in the 60's, and the FCC receives no notifications officially, nobody is protecting an assumed or phantom Cuban allocation.

I seem to remember the FCC denying an app for a station in Alabama because it would interfere with CMBX, but I doubt that other stations are free to interfere with WINS or CFRB to the 25% exclusion level of CMBX.

AFAIK, there would be no more protection given to a Cuban "guesswork" operation than to a non-notified station in Guatemala or Haiti or Honduras or....

I did recently hear that there had been a clear-channel station on 1010 in Habana in the distant past - CMX, Radio Mil Diez. It was shut down in 1948, but I find it hard to believe that Cuba would let the best channel they are allocated to lay silent for 65 years!

CMX was not a high power station. It was, however, a virulently leftist station. In 1948, with its program director Sergio Nicols being a leader of the Popular Socialist Party (and a former member of the Spanish Communist Party when he fought in the Spanish Civil War a decade before), the station was surrounded and "taken" by government authorities and shut down. And the voice of "anti-Yanqui" and anti-oligarchy thinking was silenced.

By the way, there are no big Mexicans on 1010. The next class A is all the way down in Fortaleza, Brazil!

Latin America, save for NARBA signatories Mexico, Cuba (from the start of NARBA until Castro) and the Dominican Republic, did not have "classes" of stations that copied the US or North American model. Most countries did not have any agreements even with their closest neighbors, and only the Southern Cone ever evolved into having some form of AM treaty.

So how did this channel ever get allocated in such a messy way?

It is a Canadian clear channel, with limited use by the US and Mexico with a requirement to protect Canada. Not unlike, in reverse, 810 or 680 in the US; KNBR and WGY are the dominants, just like CBR was the dominant 1010 station. Other domestics were allowed, and 810 and 680 had some significant Canadians and Mexicans on them. 1010 is in fact a Canadian 1-A clear...

http://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/ccs.htm

... and everyone else in what remains of NARBA protects that status.