KCBS-AM740

[MarioMania]

I wonder why at Night KCBS Antanna is pointing towards the SF Bay are they protecting another station??

I checked RL about there Directional - 2 Patterns in the day times, it reaches to Reno, at night..it dosen't I love listening to KCBS

 

[KeithE4]

I wonder why at Night KCBS Antanna is pointing towards the SF Bay are they protecting another station??

I checked RL about there Directional - 2 Patterns in the day times, it reaches to Reno, at night..it dosen't I love listening to KCBS

740 kHz is a Canadian clear channel. They have to protect stations in that country. The largest stations (or at least, allotments that still must be protected) are in Edmonton and Toronto.

 

[MarioMania]

How is the FCC protecting Canada??

So someone in Nevada in hearing Edmonton not SF, That doesn't sound right

 

[ddsparxx]

My guess is that KCBS sends less signal toward northeast to protect the Canadian 740s from interference.

 

[KeithE4]

How is the FCC protecting Canada??

So someone in Nevada in hearing Edmonton not SF, That doesn't sound right

It was part of the NARBA treaty between the US, Canada, and Mexico that took effect on March 29, 1941. That same treaty shifted all of the then-existing AM stations on 740 and above to new frequencies, such as WBBM moving from 760 to 780 and KNX from 1050 to 1070. It also expanded the AM band from 550-1500 to 540-1600.

It has since been superseded by the Regional Agreement for the Medium Frequency Broadcasting Service in Region 2, which took effect in 1983, but the effect is pretty much the same. Canadian, Mexican, and Bahamian (sp?) stations get protection on certain frequencies. 740 is one of them, and it doesn't matter whether there is a Canadian station on the air on that frequency or not.

 

[MarioMania]

It was part of the NARBA treaty between the US, Canada, and Mexico that took effect on March 29, 1941. That same treaty shifted all of the then-existing AM stations on 740 and above to new frequencies, such as WBBM moving from 760 to 780 and KNX from 1050 to 1070. It also expanded the AM band from 550-1500 to 540-1600.

It has since been superseded by the Regional Agreement for the Medium Frequency Broadcasting Service in Region 2, which took effect in 1983, but the effect is pretty much the same. Canadian, Mexican, and Bahamian (sp?) stations get protection on certain frequencies. 740 is one of them, and it doesn't matter whether there is a Canadian station on the air on that frequency or not.

Thanks for the Info, I didn't know about that

and for KNX..I didn't know they were on 1050

 

[davideduardo]

It was part of the NARBA treaty between the US, Canada, and Mexico that took effect on March 29, 1941. That same treaty shifted all of the then-existing AM stations on 740 and above to new frequencies, such as WBBM moving from 760 to 780 and KNX from 1050 to 1070. It also expanded the AM band from 550-1500 to 540-1600.

It's worth noting that prior to the enactment of NARBA, 1510 was used for several Canadian stations going back a number of prior years and 1530 and 1550 (WQXR and KPMC) were used by the US.

NARBA also initially included Cuba (where the treaty was signed); Haiti and the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas joined the accord later. The French did not participate on behalf of St. Pierre et Miquelon, thus the operation of a station there on 1375 for many decades. Cuba abrogated the treaty by the de facto reallocation of its AM stations in the early 60's.

795 US stations and 85 Canadian stations did change frequency at 3 AM on that day in March.

 

[davideduardo]

Thanks for the Info, I didn't know about that

and for KNX..I didn't know they were on 1050

A full list of the changes in the US from NARBA is at:

http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive BC/BC 1940/BC 1940 09 15 NARBA Changes.pdf

The list is extracted from a late 1940 issue of Broadcasting Magazine.

 

[musicman3355]

I've gotten a fairly-strong signal of KCBS 740 in Las Vegas, but it's indeed pretty strange that Reno gets Edmonton instead of SF...

 

[stormy01]

How is the FCC protecting Canada??

So someone in Nevada in hearing Edmonton not SF, That doesn't sound right

It was part of the NARBA treaty between the US, Canada, and Mexico that took effect on March 29, 1941. That same treaty shifted all of the then-existing AM stations on 740 and above to new frequencies, such as WBBM moving from 760 to 780 and KNX from 1050 to 1070. It also expanded the AM band from 550-1500 to 540-1600.

It has since been superseded by the Regional Agreement for the Medium Frequency Broadcasting Service in Region 2, which took effect in 1983, but the effect is pretty much the same. Canadian, Mexican, and Bahamian (sp?) stations get protection on certain frequencies. 740 is one of them, and it doesn't matter whether there is a Canadian station on the air on that frequency or not.

WBBM was on 770 before moving to 780 in 1941, and shared the frequency with KFAB (they were synchronized) until then. A frequency swap at the time of the implementation of the NARBA agreement in 1941 put KFAB at 1110 and a lower powered station, WJAG, also in Nebraska on 780 as a daytime-only station (which had been on 1110).

 

[cyberdad]

How is the FCC protecting Canada??

I've always thought the FCC's protection on 740 is something of a joke. Here northwest of Chicago, CFZM has an excellent nighttime signal. But if you null it, you discover that there's loads of stuff underneath. Go south of the Ohio River or West of the upper Mississippi and CFZM gets swallowed up rather quickly.

For whatever reason, three other Canadian "clears" seem to have much better protection...at least around here. CJBC (which shares CFZM's stick west of Toronto just off the 401 freeway), CBW and CBK are all relatively interference free in most of the midwest.

 

[KeithE4]

WBBM was on 770 before moving to 780 in 1941...

Oops, you're right. 740 to 780 only moved up 10 kHz. My bad.

 

[gar hi]

If you look at the signal pattern map for KCBS at night, you'd see that they throw most all of their signal to the SE and little at all in any other direction.

That's why I think of all San Francisco stations, I'd have the best possible chance of hearing KCBS here in Tampa. KRMG from Tulsa sends their signal in a narrow pattern juat a little S of due E and a little S of due W. We are almost in their null here. Even though more distant, it seems much more of a signal is going in this direction from KCBS.

KTRH has an OK signal here but it varies and sometimes allows another weaker talk station to be heard behind it which I still have yet to ID. CFMZ only comes in now and then here and only if the radio is faced in the right direction.

One of these nights, I hope I hear this other talk station I've yet to ID even better on 740 and actually get an ID.

I've given up listening for KNBR on 680 because the frequency is way too jammed with too many stations to be able to single it out.

 

[jd]

KRMG from Tulsa sends their signal in a narrow pattern juat a little S of due E and a little S of due W. We are almost in their null here. Even though more distant, it seems much more of a signal is going in this direction from KCBS.

I heard both KCBS and KNBR in Dallas but that was years ago, once when 740 was unusually open and another time when 680 from St. Joseph MO was off the air.

Looking a little closer into the patterns of both stations I noticed that they send relatively the same signal strength in your direction at their respective sites, which I thought was a little surprising. In fact, you're not that far removed from the major lobes of either of them. The bearing from Tulsa is about 122 degrees, close to southeast and from San Francisco it's roughly 94 degrees, very close to due east. (Of course the great circle path comes into play with the greater distance to SFO at almost 2,400 miles; Tulsa is around 1,000). Despite that, you may be right on target. All you'd need is catching a lucky hop from KCBS.

 

[gar hi]

I was listening to 740 for a while last night and it often sounded like a graveyard frequency.

Of course there was WYGM being the loudest most of the time and KTRH right behind that in terms of strength but I was also hearing two other stations in the background that sounded like talk. Usually, there's only the one which turned out to be KRMG but the extra one was a surprise.

I'm certain one of them was not the Toronto station because I lost the stations when facing the radio north which is the direction I sometimes hear the station from Toronto.



I'm going to make it my goal this winter to hear KCBS because with most of their power in the SE lobe, it's probably a better bet than hearing KNBR and 680 is jammed like crazy here, not to mention having to null out our local on that frequency.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I'm south of the Ohio River (albeit just barely) and CFZM booms in here at night
as if it were a local station. No issues with backchatter or graveyard effects.

 

[kilokat7]

Has anyone here in the midwest nabbed KCBS recently? I've spent a lot of time on 740 and I've never caught them. When beaming west during sunrise skip, the troublemakers for me seem to be WVLN and WRPQ. I was surprised a few weeks ago to pickup KCMC out of Texarkana.

 

[KR4BD]

KRMG really tears up CFZM during the night hours here in Lexington, KY, just 70 miles south of Cincinnati and the Ohio River. Years ago, this WAS NOT the case when 740 was CBL operating out of Toronto. The frequency was "dark" for a couple of years after CBL moved to the FM band (early 2000's ?? I think). I have always wondered if KRMG just decided to "take over" 740 by "relaxing" their night pattern during those years after CBL disappeared and before CHWO (now CFZM) moved there. Most nights, the KRMG signal is so strong here, it can NOT be nulled out here to allow decent reception of Toronto's AM-740.

 

[radioman148]

Has anyone here in the midwest nabbed KCBS recently? I've spent a lot of time on 740 and I've never caught them. When beaming west during sunrise skip, the troublemakers for me seem to be WVLN and WRPQ. I was surprised a few weeks ago to pickup KCMC out of Texarkana.

I have never heard KCBS in the Chicago area even when Toronto was off. What I want to know is who has heard KCBS in the midwest?

 

[Icangelp]

Has anyone here in the midwest nabbed KCBS recently? I've spent a lot of time on 740 and I've never caught them. When beaming west during sunrise skip, the troublemakers for me seem to be WVLN and WRPQ. I was surprised a few weeks ago to pickup KCMC out of Texarkana.

I have never heard KCBS in the Chicago area even when Toronto was off. What I want to know is who has heard KCBS in the midwest?

Not me here in Cincinnati.

I've got WNOP just a few miles away, blasting their 30 watt directional signal right in my general direction.