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Out-of-town stations (long post)

S

swillh2k2

Guest
The talk of clear channel stations got me thinking: Which ones are you all able to get from your current location?
From where I live (Cheektowaga), my radio picks up a great signal from WJR in Detroit pretty much all day (obviously a lot better at night).
In the evenings:
WHAM in Rochester (obviously)
WFAN, WQEW, WCBS, WINS, WOR, and WABC in NYC
WGY in NY capital region
WBZ in Boston
WLW in Cincinatti
WHAS in Louisville
WSM in Nashville
WSCR (formerly WMAQ), WBBM, WGN, and WLS in Chicago
WSB in Nashville
WTAM in Cleveland
WBT in Charlotte
KMOX in St. Louis
WCCO in Minneapolis
KYW in Philly
KDKA in Pittsburgh
WBAL in Baltimore
WWVA in Wheeling

Any of our out-of-state listeners want to chime in? Many of this board's regular visitors in New York can hear many of these stations; others out-of-state have told us that they've been able to hear KB throughout the Atlantic coast states (I remember tuning in to KB and listening to the Bisons while visiting relatives in Temple Hills, MD, near Washington). Interstingly, I've been able to hear many of these stations while living in Virginia seven years ago (mainly WFAN, WMAQ during its all-news, then news-talk days), WSM, WLW, KYW, etc.
Hopefully we can have a little fun with this topic. Again, it's mainly focused to some of those living outside of NYS, but those living in state can pitch in their experiences as well. Also, share some "on the road" stories and talk about which of the "blowtorch" stations you've been able to pick up while traveling.
 
When I was in college, I used to see what long-distance radio stations I could pick up from south of Rochester. Obviously, any station in the northeast running 50kW at night should have been audible, but the ones I really remembered were:

WSM 650 Nashville
WNBC 660 New York (now WFAN)
WMAQ 670 Chicago (now WSCR)
WLW 700 Cincinnati
WGN 720 Chicago
WSB 750 Atlanta (you had Nashville in your post)
WJR 760 Detroit
WABC 770 New York
WBBM 780 Chicago
WGY 810 Schenectady
WBAP 820 Fort Worth
WCCO 830 Minneapolis
WHAS 840 Louisville
WWL 870 New Orleans
WCBS 880 New York
WLS 890 Chicago
CHML 900 Hamilton ON
WWJ 950 Detroit
WCFL 1000 Chicago (now WMVP)
KDKA 1020 Pittsburgh
WBZ 1030 Boston (could only get after WYSL in Avon shut down for the night - they were originally on 1030, now on 1040)
KYW 1060 Philadelphia
WTIC 1080 Hartford
WBAL 1090 Baltimore
WBT 1110 Charlotte NC
KMOX 1120 St. Louis
WRVA 1140 Richmond
WWVA 1170 Wheeling WV
WHAM 1180 Rochester (naturally - once listened to an Amerks game on WHAM outside of Arkansas City KS)
WXYZ 1270 Detroit (now WXYT - only a 5000W station then, but I remember picking it up)
WTOP 1500 Washington
WKBW 1520 Buffalo (now WWKB)

I used to love listening in the summer especially, because many of the stations carried the baseball games. You could get games from half the teams it seemed. Had my radio on CHML 900 most nights, listening to the Blue Jays games.
 
To add to your list, here's a few more I used to get regularly from SE of Rochester (near Geneva):

CFRA 580 Ottawa
WIP 610 Philadelphia (5kw then)
CBF 690 Montreal
CKLW 800 Windsor (a real blowtorch then, now jumbled with CJBQ Belleville)
CBM 940 Montreal
WHO 1040 DesMoines (now jumbled with WYSL)
CBA 1070 Moncton
WNEW 1130 New York
WOWO 1190 Fort Wayne (when they were 50kw clear)
WCAU 1210 Philadelphia (now WPHT)
WMEX 1510 Boston
WCKY 1530 Cincinnati (now WSAI)
WQXR 1560 New York (now WQEW)


> When I was in college, I used to see what long-distance
> radio stations I could pick up from south of Rochester.
> Obviously, any station in the northeast running 50kW at
> night should have been audible, but the ones I really
> remembered were:
>
> WSM 650 Nashville
> WNBC 660 New York (now WFAN)
> WMAQ 670 Chicago (now WSCR)
> WLW 700 Cincinnati
> WGN 720 Chicago
> WSB 750 Atlanta (you had Nashville in your post)
> WJR 760 Detroit
> WABC 770 New York
> WBBM 780 Chicago
> WGY 810 Schenectady
> WBAP 820 Fort Worth
> WCCO 830 Minneapolis
> WHAS 840 Louisville
> WWL 870 New Orleans
> WCBS 880 New York
> WLS 890 Chicago
> CHML 900 Hamilton ON
> WWJ 950 Detroit
> WCFL 1000 Chicago (now WMVP)
> KDKA 1020 Pittsburgh
> WBZ 1030 Boston (could only get after WYSL in Avon shut down
> for the night - they were originally on 1030, now on 1040)
> KYW 1060 Philadelphia
> WTIC 1080 Hartford
> WBAL 1090 Baltimore
> WBT 1110 Charlotte NC
> KMOX 1120 St. Louis
> WRVA 1140 Richmond
> WWVA 1170 Wheeling WV
> WHAM 1180 Rochester (naturally - once listened to an Amerks
> game on WHAM outside of Arkansas City KS)
> WXYZ 1270 Detroit (now WXYT - only a 5000W station then, but
> I remember picking it up)
> WTOP 1500 Washington
> WKBW 1520 Buffalo (now WWKB)
 
Back in 96 when everything opened up, I thought that the best stategy for these future conglomerates was to cover the country with strong AM signals. CC has done that, more or less, although I don't beleive that they envisioned it as such. Then again CC has alot invested in there Cincinatti properties, which includes WLW, with perhaps the best nightime coverage in the country.

An interesting thing happened around 1998-99, or somewhere around that time..Clear Channel made a strong play for stations in a tiny market in Wyoming called Casper (home of VP Dick Cheney). This town has a great stick at 1030-AM called KTWO that can be heard from Seattle to Denver and throughout the Rocky mountain region and yet it sits in market two-hundred something.

CC has Premier, and other investments as well, and any 50k AM stick, no matter the location, will be of support. I wish I could've grabbed KTWO in the early 90's. At night it ranks right up there with KOA/Denver for coverage along the Rocky mountain front.

The buying frenzy last decade for CC with regards to big AM signals may have been viewed as some sort of pleasant afterthought. Today however I doubt they'd give up any of those monster AM sticks.
 
> When I was in college, I used to see what long-distance
> radio stations I could pick up from south of Rochester.
> Obviously, any station in the northeast running 50kW at
> night should have been audible, but the ones I really
> remembered were:
>
> WSM 650 Nashville
> WNBC 660 New York (now WFAN)
> WMAQ 670 Chicago (now WSCR)
> WLW 700 Cincinnati
> WGN 720 Chicago
> WSB 750 Atlanta (you had Nashville in your post)
> WJR 760 Detroit
> WABC 770 New York
> WBBM 780 Chicago
> WGY 810 Schenectady
> WBAP 820 Fort Worth
> WCCO 830 Minneapolis
> WHAS 840 Louisville
> WWL 870 New Orleans
> WCBS 880 New York
> WLS 890 Chicago
> CHML 900 Hamilton ON
> WWJ 950 Detroit
> WCFL 1000 Chicago (now WMVP)
> KDKA 1020 Pittsburgh
> WBZ 1030 Boston (could only get after WYSL in Avon shut down
> for the night - they were originally on 1030, now on 1040)
> KYW 1060 Philadelphia
> WTIC 1080 Hartford
> WBAL 1090 Baltimore
> WBT 1110 Charlotte NC
> KMOX 1120 St. Louis
> WRVA 1140 Richmond
> WWVA 1170 Wheeling WV
> WHAM 1180 Rochester (naturally - once listened to an Amerks
> game on WHAM outside of Arkansas City KS)
> WXYZ 1270 Detroit (now WXYT - only a 5000W station then, but
> I remember picking it up)
> WTOP 1500 Washington
> WKBW 1520 Buffalo (now WWKB)
>
> I used to love listening in the summer especially, because
> many of the stations carried the baseball games. You could
> get games from half the teams it seemed. Had my radio on
> CHML 900 most nights, listening to the Blue Jays games.

Western New York is a dream for nightime AM listening. I heard them all from your list and then I'd like to clarify some things. 650 was always fairly weak while many in the Midwest can remember hearing the Opry clearly. WOR at 710 had trouble with the big WLW signal next door so it was always a hard pick-up. CBL/Toronto, at 740 and a very unique station, was somewhat voided, although a regular sample. They cover New England and Eastern New York with an incredible signal.

As we go up the dial I don't have any recall of WSB although I've heard that there engineering crew have fixed that somewhat. That station does blast throughout the south. WWL is very tough to get as is WBAP anywhere around upstate. Please don't forget CKLW at 800, one of the best receps in WNY. And all of the Chicago stations mentioned above at 670,720,780,890 and 1000 were easy catches most every night. WBAL and WTIC were tricky for whatever reason. WBZ has a killer signal, no problem.

My furthest reaches were always the upper midwest stations at 1040/Des Moines and 830/Minneapolis. Must've been the area I was in because western signals always came in better than southern signals. There were exceptions however, such as WBT/Charlotte. WWL/870 was a special rarity.

1100/Cleveland
1210/Philadelphia
1130/New York
1060/Philadelphia..and a few others that havn't been mentioned like..1220/Cleveland..1540/Albany..1560/New York..680/Boston..

A joy at night in those environs, especially around May/June..the dial just lit up.
 
***During the daytime hours WTIC AM 1080 is non directional. At night they have a directional signal that points North into Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

You can still sometimes catch WTIC in Ohio until they kick into their nightime pattern. When I lived in Medina I could hear them just about every night of the week unless WBAL was really strong.


> > When I was in college, I used to see what long-distance
> > radio stations I could pick up from south of Rochester.
> > Obviously, any station in the northeast running 50kW at
> > night should have been audible, but the ones I really
> > remembered were:
> >
> > WSM 650 Nashville
> > WNBC 660 New York (now WFAN)
> > WMAQ 670 Chicago (now WSCR)
> > WLW 700 Cincinnati
> > WGN 720 Chicago
> > WSB 750 Atlanta (you had Nashville in your post)
> > WJR 760 Detroit
> > WABC 770 New York
> > WBBM 780 Chicago
> > WGY 810 Schenectady
> > WBAP 820 Fort Worth
> > WCCO 830 Minneapolis
> > WHAS 840 Louisville
> > WWL 870 New Orleans
> > WCBS 880 New York
> > WLS 890 Chicago
> > CHML 900 Hamilton ON
> > WWJ 950 Detroit
> > WCFL 1000 Chicago (now WMVP)
> > KDKA 1020 Pittsburgh
> > WBZ 1030 Boston (could only get after WYSL in Avon shut
> down
> > for the night - they were originally on 1030, now on 1040)
>
> > KYW 1060 Philadelphia
> > WTIC 1080 Hartford
> > WBAL 1090 Baltimore
> > WBT 1110 Charlotte NC
> > KMOX 1120 St. Louis
> > WRVA 1140 Richmond
> > WWVA 1170 Wheeling WV
> > WHAM 1180 Rochester (naturally - once listened to an
> Amerks
> > game on WHAM outside of Arkansas City KS)
> > WXYZ 1270 Detroit (now WXYT - only a 5000W station then,
> but
> > I remember picking it up)
> > WTOP 1500 Washington
> > WKBW 1520 Buffalo (now WWKB)
> >
> > I used to love listening in the summer especially, because
>
> > many of the stations carried the baseball games. You
> could
> > get games from half the teams it seemed. Had my radio on
> > CHML 900 most nights, listening to the Blue Jays games.
>
> Western New York is a dream for nightime AM listening. I
> heard them all from your list and then I'd like to clarify
> some things. 650 was always fairly weak while many in the
> Midwest can remember hearing the Opry clearly. WOR at 710
> had trouble with the big WLW signal next door so it was
> always a hard pick-up. CBL/Toronto, at 740 and a very unique
> station, was somewhat voided, although a regular sample.
> They cover New England and Eastern New York with an
> incredible signal.
>
> As we go up the dial I don't have any recall of WSB although
> I've heard that there engineering crew have fixed that
> somewhat. That station does blast throughout the south. WWL
> is very tough to get as is WBAP anywhere around upstate.
> Please don't forget CKLW at 800, one of the best receps in
> WNY. And all of the Chicago stations mentioned above at
> 670,720,780,890 and 1000 were easy catches most every night.
> WBAL and WTIC were tricky for whatever reason. WBZ has a
> killer signal, no problem.
>
> My furthest reaches were always the upper midwest stations
> at 1040/Des Moines and 830/Minneapolis. Must've been the
> area I was in because western signals always came in better
> than southern signals. There were exceptions however, such
> as WBT/Charlotte. WWL/870 was a special rarity.
>
> 1100/Cleveland
> 1210/Philadelphia
> 1130/New York
> 1060/Philadelphia..and a few others that havn't been
> mentioned like..1220/Cleveland..1540/Albany..1560/New
> York..680/Boston..
>
> A joy at night in those environs, especially around
> May/June..the dial just lit up.
>
 
I was able to get WPHT when I lived in VA (and, IIRC, I heard a little of it up here in WNY); they were carrying the Winter Olympics back in 1998.
--Also, anyone remember WJDM-1660 in NYC before the numerous format changes? That was another station I was able to pull in down in VA, along with 1360 in Cincy (which I can hear up here as well, but very infrequently). Strangely, I've gotten nothing from 1660 up here; did they weaken their signal?
--Another interesting observation I found while in Maryland...WGR 550 comes in at night, but it's a very weak signal. I was stunned to hear it. Isn't it a 5KW station?
 
WGR is 5kw DA-N, and being that low on the dial they put out a heluva daytime signal, arguably as good as or better than WWKB does with their 50kw at 1520. WGR's night pattern (still 5kw) has dual lobes to the NNW and SSE, which is why you're able to get them in MD, while much of western NY lies in their strong null to the east.

> --Another interesting observation I found while in
> Maryland...WGR 550 comes in at night, but it's a very weak
> signal. I was stunned to hear it. Isn't it a 5KW station?
>
 
> WOR at 710
> had trouble with the big WLW signal next door so it was
> always a hard pick-up.

WOR is always a challenge here. They have a fulltime directional pattern that favors the eastern seaboard with a partial null to the NW.

> CBL/Toronto, at 740 and a very unique
> station, was somewhat voided, although a regular sample.
> They cover New England and Eastern New York with an
> incredible signal.

Where are you located in western NY? 740 is pretty much a local station in the Rochester and Buffalo areas, I've never heard it voided.

> 1130/New York

WNEW always competed with WCAR Detroit for the 1130 slot.

> 1540/Albany..
> 680/Boston..

Both amazing catches here, as both stations have nearly total nulls to the west. 1540 for me was usually KXEL in Waterloo IA, while 680 was a mishmash with either WCBM Baltimore or CFTR Toronto on top (almost never WRKO).

> A joy at night in those environs, especially around
> May/June..the dial just lit up.

Yes, a great area for DX!
>
 
> An interesting thing happened around 1998-99, or somewhere
> around that time..Clear Channel made a strong play for
> stations in a tiny market in Wyoming called Casper (home of
> VP Dick Cheney). This town has a great stick at 1030-AM
> called KTWO that can be heard from Seattle to Denver and
> throughout the Rocky mountain region and yet it sits in
> market two-hundred something.
>

Does KTWO cater to truckers? That's the big draw for WWVA in Wheeling WV (on I-70). Here in Arizona, the biggest stick is 50kW KTNN 660 from Window Rock (pop. 3000). During the day, the Voice of The Navajo Nation runs programming in both English and Navajo, but at night, they have a trucker program on, appropriate since I-40 runs 25 miles to the south of Window Rock.
 
> When I was in college, I used to see what long-distance
> radio stations I could pick up from south of Rochester.
> Obviously, any station in the northeast running 50kW at
> night should have been audible, but the ones I really
> remembered were:
>
CBEF 540 Windsor
WGR 550 Buffalo
> WSM 650 Nashville
> WNBC 660 New York (now WFAN)
> WMAQ 670 Chicago (now WSCR)
> WLW 700 Cincinnati
> WGN 720 Chicago
CBL 740 Toronto
> WSB 750 Atlanta (you had Nashville in your post)
> WJR 760 Detroit
> WABC 770 New York
> WBBM 780 Chicago
790 is Regional
CKLW 800 Windsor
> WGY 810 Schenectady
> WBAP 820 Fort Worth
> WCCO 830 Minneapolis
> WHAS 840 Louisville
CJBC 860 Toronto
> WWL 870 New Orleans
> WCBS 880 New York
> WLS 890 Chicago
> CHML 900 Hamilton ON
WBEN 930 Buffalo
> WWJ 950 Detroit
WEBR 970 Buffalo (now WNED)
> WCFL 1000 Chicago (now WMVP)
WINS/CFRB 1010 NYC/Toronto
> KDKA 1020 Pittsburgh
> WBZ 1030 Boston (could only get after WYSL in Avon shut down
> for the night - they were originally on 1030, now on 1040)
WHO 1040
> KYW 1060 Philadelphia
> WTIC 1080 Hartford
> WBAL 1090 Baltimore
> WBT 1110 Charlotte NC
> KMOX 1120 St. Louis
> WRVA 1140 Richmond
> WWVA 1170 Wheeling WV
> WHAM 1180 Rochester (naturally - once listened to an Amerks
> game on WHAM outside of Arkansas City KS)
> WXYZ 1270 Detroit (now WXYT - only a 5000W station then, but
> I remember picking it up)
> WTOP 1500 Washington
CBE 1550 Windsor
> WKBW 1520 Buffalo (now WWKB)
>
> I used to love listening in the summer especially, because
> many of the stations carried the baseball games. You could
> get games from half the teams it seemed. Had my radio on
> CHML 900 most nights, listening to the Blue Jays games.
>
I have added a few that I caught to your great listing.
 
> I have added a few that I caught to your great listing.
>

Thanks! I had put WGR on the list, then removed it, thinking of course I could pull in WNY stations. That's also why I omitted WBEN, but then I put WKBW on.

CBL, CKLW and WHO I remember now. The rest I don't remember hearing, or I just never got a station ID from them.

This thread got me looking for stations here in Phoenix, but DX radio isn't nearly as good here. Many stations get drowned out by more powerful Mexican stations, and I don't understand Spanish well enough. However, I did pick up both WHO 1040 Des Moines and WBAP 820 Fort Worth, and KFAQ 1170 Tulsa was surprisingly clear. And that's just using a GE clock radio!
 
Out-of-town stations

> > I have added a few that I caught to your great listing.
> >
>
> Thanks! I had put WGR on the list, then removed it,
> thinking of course I could pull in WNY stations. That's
> also why I omitted WBEN, but then I put WKBW on.
>
> CBL, CKLW and WHO I remember now. The rest I don't remember
> hearing, or I just never got a station ID from them.
>
> This thread got me looking for stations here in Phoenix, but
> DX radio isn't nearly as good here. Many stations get
> drowned out by more powerful Mexican stations, and I don't
> understand Spanish well enough. However, I did pick up both
> WHO 1040 Des Moines and WBAP 820 Fort Worth, and KFAQ 1170
> Tulsa was surprisingly clear. And that's just using a GE
> clock radio!
>

I was picking them up from north of Lake Huron in Ontario.
There was a local station at 550 kHz that changed it pattern at night; so this afforded the catch on the same frequency. I had fun with 980 as well. I could listen to three stations phase in and out.
 
One of the big disappointments in my radio career is I never had the chance to work at a Buffalo station. I only lived in Buffalo for the first 13 years of my life but it will always be HOME to me.

Thanks for putting WBT on your list of stations heard. I worked there at night from 85-90 first overnights then doing weekends and vactation fill. Maybe some of my friends in WNY heard me. The great thing about being on WBT is hearing from listeners all the way from Montreal to Miami.

I would have liked to work at WGR, or WBEN. Even though KB was an early influence I'm not really a rock jock, I'm more oldies/AC/MOR.

I listen to KB here in Charlotte at night. Lately they have been getting clobbered by a station in Missouri which is only suppsed to be running 5KW. I smell a rat because it's hard to believe that 5kw could be so strong this far away.

Quite awhile back while visiting a fellow radio professional in the Washington DC area I noticed that not only did KB come in loud and clear but WGR did too!

Mike
 
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