Las Vegas AM: NOTHING lower than 720khz?

[jefflaurence]

Is there any reason there are no stations that even show up in radio locator that show a frequency lower than 720? Nothing licensed in LV or even nearby from 550 all the way to 710? Is there a secret military reason..or otherwise for this? I am just curious.

 

[menotti1]

interesting question, may have something to do with Mexican channels and co and adjacent channels skywave.Had a daytime AM in north ms years ago on 1520 (500 watt).had to sign off at sunset to protect KOMA in OK City which really sounds odd, but when you ran the study,you saw why.different contours for different class stations.AM once king of the jungle...amazing how much territory the clears covered (WLS)..

 

[w9wi]

Is there any reason there are no stations that even show up in radio locator that show a frequency lower than 720? Nothing licensed in LV or even nearby from 550 all the way to 710? Is there a secret military reason..or otherwise for this? I am just curious.

There's a permit for a station on 670 but no, there isn't anything else below KDWN.

I would suggest that's because Vegas simply didn't exist when the more desirable lower channels were being handed out back before WW2.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Same deal in Indianapolis...lowest dial position listed there is 810. Just the way the allocation wheel spun back in the day.

 

[semoochie]

You think you've got problems: There are a grand total of 6 AM stations licensed to Detroit! How do you think that happened?

 

[fybush]

The way the dial is laid out at the low end, there's not much room to squeeze anything in below 720 in Vegas - there are protections to 550 and 620 in Phoenix, 570/640/710 in LA, 580 in Fresno, 590 in San Bernardino, 600 in San Diego and Flagstaff, 610 in the Antelope Valley, 640 in LA, 650 in Utah, 660 in Window Rock, 690 in Tijuana, and 700 in Salt Lake that all have to be observed.

And then there's 560 in Yuma, which almost moved into the Vegas market a few years back. Would have been a great signal if it had made the move, too...

 

[w9wi]

You think you've got problems: There are a grand total of 6 AM stations licensed to Detroit! How do you think that happened?

Nobody thought they could compete with WJR?

Among the top-20 markets:
Top 5, for 12+ population per central city-licensed AM station:
1. New York 959,038
2. Los Angeles 908,533
3. Chicago 648,700
4. Detroit 644,417
5. Washington 601,429
(Las Vegas would be in 20th place with 164,933)

For 12+ population per Aribtron-listed AM in the market:
1. New York 1,180,354
2. Washington 1,052,500
3. Chicago 864,933
4. Los Angeles 838,646
5. Atlanta 711,250
(Las Vegas would be in 16th place with 296,880)

Detroit doesn't do nearly so badly when you include FM. It's right in the middle of the pack with 168,109 12+ residents per city-licensed station. Actually, except for the four largest markets (where they ran out of frequencies before they ran out of people!) the figures are surprisingly uniform, roughly 100,000-150,000 residents per Arbitron-rated station.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

You think you've got problems: There are a grand total of 6 AM stations licensed to Detroit! How do you think that happened?

You've got the Canadian stations to deal with in the Detroit metro.

By the way, is anything ever coming to AM 710 or 730 up there? Hasn't that frequency been vacant since 1993?