• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

RECEPTION OF CINCINNATI'S TWO 50,000 WATT AM STATIONS

about the only thing that comes down here is mr. walterboro on 1530.
the band is mostly spanish with some english (american) stations.


It's too bad your not 500,000 watts anymore. the FCC needs to re think our MW plan so that we can be heard over these mexican stations.

Rob
 
A story I've heard many times (so it may not be true) is that the Queen's mum used to listen to WLW at no0n in Buckingham palace. There were some reports that she was quite a fan of the station. I have my doubts due to the material the palace is made of plus the distance. I'm not sure a whole lot of AM stations come into the palace that well, except for high powered locals.
 
1530 and 700 do very well here in Danville, Ky. 550 KRC does a real good job too. AM 1480 WCIN fights it out all day with one from Somerset, Ky. 1230 WDBZ is wiped out by WHIR here.
 
i am 85 and at my fathers home near meridian ms. we listened to three stations at night. xera at 840 wlw on 700 and wsm at 650 kilocycles on atwater kent 20 i think. day was local station wcoc wonderful crystal oil company on 880 but not sure. Atwater was difficult to tune in and not very sensitive at all no one alowed to adjust radio but father, stiff and quick consequenses if you did. xera was best when it was on, wlw was next then wsm this was in 1936 and 1937 sometimes could hear wmc or wsb but not like the others,
 
Here in Lexington, Ky :
-WKRC 550 AM (rock solid-daytime, not very well received at night)
-WLW 700 AM (rock solid day and night)
-WCKY 1530 AM (rock solid-daytime, moderate signal most nights and good signal some nights)
 
It comes in clear, if a little weak, in Providence, RI. This is using 2 cheap Walkmen, a Panasonic RF-423 and a GE 1637A. WJR Detroit comes in even better.
 
40 miles northwest of Chicago....

WLW rock solid at night and faintly audible all day.
WCKY rock solid evenings before the pattern change...still dominates the channel afterwards, but only fair with fading.

The other area station that's fairly regular here is WONE on 980. Only 5kw, but their nightime pattern is aimed right at us, so they usually dominate.

WLAP from Lexington is occasionally in the mix at night on 630....along with KJSL (ex-KXOK) and CFCO.
 
KYradioJake said:
-WKRC 550 AM (rock solid-daytime, not very well received at night)

WKRC was a blowtorch in Jackson, Michigan during the day. It was in C-Quam, and sounded great. On a portable, I could null it and pull out a 550 in Buffalo, NY.
 
In the Dayton area, obviously WLW blasts day and night. WCKY is moderate during the day and has a lot of groundwave/skywave cancellation and interference at night. 1360 is weak but audible days, in but with lots of interference at night. 550 is moderate days in Springfield, better in the south suburbs, and moderate at night with some interference (some which shouldnt be there). WDJO on 1160 is listenable until WYLL fades in three hours or so before sunset and is nowhere to be found at night.

In the Lafayette, IN area, WLW is moderate to strong days but suffers a lot of skywave/groundwave cancellation at night, WKRC is barely there under KTLK, and 1530 is weak days and strong nights. Crossville, TN: WLW not there days moderate to strong night, WCKY just blasts in, and I don't remember hearing 550 (though I did hear a weak 1360 and 1160...also Dayton's WING and WONE, the latter after sunrise).

When I lived in Quincy, IL I heard WLW about 1:30pm Central one winter afternoon, otherwise was very strong at night. WCKY was also strong at night.

I was under the impression that WLW (W8XO) never used the 500000 watts in the daytime, in fact much of its use was after midnight.
 
In Pittsburgh both are easy catches after dark....WLW with virtually no fade. I cannot get WLW during the day, though if you drive about an hour west to the Wheeling, WV area they are solid 24/7. 1530 does turn up during daylight hours sometimes. Back in the day when WKHB Jeanette was still on 1530, they would often start walking all over them as early as 3PM.
 
In Northeast MO, WLW has been a nightime blowtorch for as long as I've paid any attention. One of the first to arrive in the evening and last to leave in the morning.

WCKY barges in on WLIQ Quincy, IL as the sun sinks low in the Western sky, then takes over immediately when the little guy says "Nighty-Night!" ;D As darkness descends, it pretty much disappears into the slop, as little WLIQ laughs from its bed "HA HA, ya big bully!!!" ::)

Sometimes you feel like a nut 8)
 
Both WLW and WCKY can be clearly received in the Portland, Me area at night...No sign of WSAI, WKRC or any
other Cincinnati stations though...
 
Here in NE Georgia, about 500 miles from Cincy, I hear WLW and WCKY often in winter months, sometimes for the entire day. WLW, "The Nation's Station" can be heard here at high noon through much of January and February. I've heard it faintly in March, April, May and even June, all while the sun is shining. 1530 is very strong here
on winter afternoons and usually till 10 a.m. daily. The summer months are far more difficult, not only because of longer days, but interference from thunderstorms. WLW is usually gone by 7:00 a.m. and can't be heard again until long after sunset. WLW's ground wave is impressive, especially when you consider the fact that the
Appalachians are between my location and Cincy.
 
Much like Dayton, WLW is dependable in Columbus 24/7. Little if any cancellation at night and the IBOC causes a mess two frequencies either way during the day. When I was home there three weeks ago, 690 was complete hash at night and WOR was barely audible. I think WGN may have been suffering too.
I can't imagine how bad WGN sounds in places like Dayton at night.
WCKY is barely audible in Columbus during the day and doesn't come in particularly well at night. WKRC can be heard easily until the pattern change, when it completely disappears.
 
700 and 1530 in New Jersey

WLW is blocked by hash from local WOR.

WCKY or whatever it is comes in after sunset depending on conditions. WJDM in Elizabeth occupies 1530 during the day.
 
mimo said:
1530 is clearer in the early part of the evening but weaker in the overnight

That was also the case in southern NJ when the MOR music format was on 1530 in the late '90s. In fact, WSAI (back then) provided some nice listening on a regular basis. I never bothered with the overnight anyway since they ran religious programming, but I would listen to Nick Clooney and Bob Braun right before dawn. I remember a feature they had at Christmas - Cincinnati Christmas Past - which I thought was neat even though I'm not from Cincinnati. Then they dropped the format 6 or 7 years ago, so I haven't listened since.

mimo said:
Most of the time WLW is almost perfect.

Same. Even with WOR only about a hundred miles away, I have no trouble listening to Steve Sommers and Bubba Bo.
 
Last nite from central MA on an older Bose Wave radio WLW was weak to moderate but quite steady-a little hash from WOR but one could listen to a ballgame is so reclined. No fades.
WCKY was stronger at times but with a lot of fades that precluded listening enjoyment.
No other Cinci stations present. (The Bose may have a slightly less sensitive tuner but does well on stations with strong adjacent channels both on AM and FM.)
 
-- 35 miles south of Chicago --

Daytime, I get a faint but consistently audible signal from WLW. I believe their transmitter is about 230 miles from my location. I only get WJJG Elmhurst during the day, with no sign of WSAI through WJJG until about a half hour before sundown or after sunup.

Nighttime, I sometimes get WLW strong enough for a clean lock on their HD Radio signal, with only occasional fading. WSAI is usually strong, but sometimes it has nights where it keeps fading in cycles, and when it decides to fade out, it's just gone.
 
I can only get WLW here in the Dallas area if i null the local 700 [less than 20 mi away] and go slightly off frequency [705 khz] and switch it to wide band reception
Then it comes in quite well
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom