Third Most Heard Pennsylvania AMer?

[Steve Green NEPA]

I've been living here now in NE PA for twenty years, and even have picked up a bit of one of the two Coal Country accents. (There's a Dutch Coal Country accent and an Irish Coal Country accent, btw, and you'd probably find it hard to believe that it's a night-and-day difference between people who have lived next door to each other for fifty years).
So I guess I can 'pass' for a Pennsylvanian, hi ; as a native of a state that has just two Class I AM radio stations -- KDKA and WPHT.

Of course, a state with two 50,000 watt omni AMs has two more than a number of other states ..... Maine, NH, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, Wisconsin, Florida, Carolinas, etc.

But that status got me thinking as to which of the *other* Pennsy AM stations are heard in neighboring states/regions/countries?

WHYL Carlisle 960 (a daytimer but non-directional)?
WPPA Pottsville 1360 (a big 5000-watt E-W signal in the day)?
850 Johnstown (a signal 400 miles long and 15 feet wide)?
WAMO 860 Pittsburgh, on that pretty-clear SRS/SSS channel?
WHP Harrisburg 580?
Something from Erie? Something else from Pittsburgh, 1250 maybe? Scranton? Philly?

Just curious.

We'll leave the light on for ya .... an electric candle in every window .... a motion-sensor security light .... and, according to custom, every door in the place unlocked.

 

[wbz1030]

Having moved out of the area for a while to the deep south, I am somewhat out of touch with the way things are at the moment for PA AMers. However, I can put my suggestions in...

KYW 1060 Philadelphia - although highly directional NW-SE, it puts a great signal in the peak lobes of its antenna pattern. That is if it is not hammered by adjacent IBOC noise these days.

KDKA 1020 Pittsburgh - the only PA AMer I can still get where I live now (Atlanta)

WPHT 1210 Philadelphia - very rarely gets as far south as Atlanta anymore, but widely heard.

WHP 580 Harrisburg - puts a good signal on the low end of the band, but it is only 5kW

That's all I can think of at the moment. Too bad WARM 590 deteriorated to the point it is now. It was a power house signal at one time and would definitely be on the list.

Why no X-band AM signals in PA? An X-band signal will probably go out far these days and be on the list too.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

No WPHT at all in Dallas or Houston --- WPHT has been reported reliably as close as Little Rock, I'll check next time I am up there. Closer than than, WOAI IBOC sidebands probably make a hatchet job of it - even KGYN 1210 powerhouse in Guymon, NW Oklahoma has complained of WOAI jamming. KGYN protects WPHT at night.

I have occasionally heard KDKA, but not recently since the advent of IBOC. There is a closer station in Roswell - KCKN, but it throws a deep null East leaving KDKA clear, supposedly. Too many other new signals, and WBZ IBOC sidebands are a problem even in Texas.

KYW not at all, dominated by WLNO New Orleans which throws a null towards KYW at night, but lobes over Texas.

 

[radioman148]

KDKA, WPHT, & KYW are all very easy catches in northern Illinois at night. Occasionally 970 Pittsburgh gets in.

 

[stormy01]

In order of reliability here in Northern Illinois: KDKA, WPHT, KYW. So KYW is the third most heard in this area, and I suspect much of the eastern half of the U.S. due to KYW's DA.
I have also heard: 580 Harrisburg; 610, 950, 990 Philadelphia; 970, 1080, 1250, 1320, 1410 Pittsburgh; 1360 McKeesport.

 

[ddsparxx]

At evening, night or early morning I hear the 3 stations wbz1030 mentioned, plus occasionally Pittsburgh's ESPN 1250, WJAS. I think that at night, KDKA would be the third most heard since KYW and WPHT have the strongest signal in my area. In the daytime, hmmm... Harrisburg's WHP 580 puts out a listenable signal in northern VA, next very weak WWII 720 near Harrisburg, then Philly's Radio Disney 640 (I think the station is in Philly's NJ suburbs) after WMAL shut down IBOC.

 

[ddsparxx]

"I hear the 3 stations wbz1030 mentioned"--Ooops I meant 4 stations. Sorry.

 

[gr8oldies]

From Western Ohio, KDKA (a little weak at night with groundwave/skywave cancellation. WPHT right after sunset and until WDAO signs on. KYW all night, probably the best of the 3. Also I've heard 1250 and 1320, when I get away from WING's signal (not hard to do) I've gotten 1410 (WING, KQV and WPOP mix all over the east and midwest). I've heard WPIT on 730, and the radio Disney affiliate on 540.

 

[radioman148]

For me in northern Illinois KYW is easily the strongest.

 

[quadraphonic]

From central NC, with only a SuperRadio and nighttime driving in the car sometimes, I would say
1. KDKA [but it's nothing like it used to be], 2. WPHT, 3. KYW, 4. KQV, 5. WIP, 6. WEAE, 7. WPTT
The first 2 are pretty usual, the second two are occasional, and the third three are pretty rare, but I've heard them more than a couple times.

 

[almaniac27]

From Western Ohio, KDKA (a little weak at night with groundwave/skywave cancellation. WPHT right after sunset and until WDAO signs on. KYW all night, probably the best of the 3. Also I've heard 1250 and 1320, when I get away from WING's signal (not hard to do) I've gotten 1410 (WING, KQV and WPOP mix all over the east and midwest). I've heard WPIT on 730, and the radio Disney affiliate on 540.

I'm in the same general area that you are, and I seem to get WPHT the most reliably. KDKA almost always is being beaten up by WBZ's IBOC, and KYW has been hard to get lately for some reason. It might be that WFNI 1070 from Indianapolis is running IBOC, and even though they're only 10kw at night the signal is aimed directly at me.

 

[gr8oldies]

WFNI is running iBoc, and yes they send most of their signal southeast (I've heard them in Myrtle Beach). It's hard to hear them in some of the northern Indianapolis suburbs, and when I lived in Lafayette, IN, WIBC (at the time) was clobbered nightly by CHOK, Sarnia, ONT.

 

[Icangelp]

Here in Cincinnati.

WPHT - Very poor signal, but always present at night.
KDKA - Since the 1960's in Indy I've always felt their signal was very weak for a 50 KW station.
KYW - Pretty reliable night signal.
540 in Cannonsburg on sunset skip in the winters.

That's it from PA for reasonably frequent reception.

 

[stormy01]

For me in northern Illinois KYW is easily the strongest.

I agree when propagation favors KYW and the eastern seaboard KYW is the clearest and strongest signal, otherwise KYW is in a mess with stations like WLNO New Orleans, CKMX Calgary and XEEP Mexico City (usually XEEP with its Classical music programming is the one that interferes most with KYW if they stay at 100kW and don't power down to its supposed 20KW night power and they are omnidirectional at all times) KDKA despite getting some IBlock interference from WBZ and WHO is more consistent than WPHT, which often is interfered with by KGYN Guymon, OK. No one is interfering much with KDKA on 1020 though I do hear the Radio Reloj underneath KDKA occasionally.

 

[radioman148]

For me in northern Illinois KYW is easily the strongest.

I agree when propagation favors KYW and the eastern seaboard KYW is the clearest and strongest signal, otherwise KYW is in a mess with stations like WLNO New Orleans, CKMX Calgary and XEEP Mexico City (usually XEEP with its Classical music programming is the one that interferes most with KYW if they stay at 100kW and don't power down to its supposed 20KW night power and they are omnidirectional at all times) KDKA despite getting some IBlock interference from WBZ and WHO is more consistent than WPHT, which often is interfered with by KGYN Guymon, OK. No one is interfering much with KDKA on 1020 though I do hear the Radio Reloj underneath KDKA occasionally.

I have no problem with KYW if I'm nulling the others. WLNO rarely gives me a problem unless it's in the fall before they've powered down.

 

[schmave]

Here in Cincinnati.

WPHT - Very poor signal, but always present at night.
KDKA - Since the 1960's in Indy I've always felt their signal was very weak for a 50 KW station.
KYW - Pretty reliable night signal.
540 in Cannonsburg on sunset skip in the winters.

That's it from PA for reasonably frequent reception.

I agree that KDKA's signal is terrible for a 50K. It was always tough as nails to pick up in Columbus at night, and it hardly came in during the day either. By comparison, WJR, which is about the same distance from us as KDKA and not too much lower on the dial, can be heard well in Columbus day and night.
Maybe KDKA can be heard further out into the Midwest. I can't say I've ever tried to pick it up, but I also don't remember it stopping the scan anywhere.

 

[radioman148]

Here in Cincinnati.

WPHT - Very poor signal, but always present at night.
KDKA - Since the 1960's in Indy I've always felt their signal was very weak for a 50 KW station.
KYW - Pretty reliable night signal.
540 in Cannonsburg on sunset skip in the winters.

That's it from PA for reasonably frequent reception.

I agree that KDKA's signal is terrible for a 50K. It was always tough as nails to pick up in Columbus at night, and it hardly came in during the day either. By comparison, WJR, which is about the same distance from us as KDKA and not too much lower on the dial, can be heard well in Columbus day and night.
Maybe KDKA can be heard further out into the Midwest. I can't say I've ever tried to pick it up, but I also don't remember it stopping the scan anywhere.

KDKA has never been as good in the Chicago area as KYW. Of course the skip zone is a bit different and KYW sends more signal in this direction.

 

[schmave]

That's my thinking. There are a lot of 50Ks where people say on here that it blasts into their location. I don't think I've ever once read a post saying that for KDKA. I've even seen people in the Pittsburgh area commenting on here about the signal deficiencies.

 

[radioman148]

That's my thinking. There are a lot of 50Ks where people say on here that it blasts into their location. I don't think I've ever once read a post saying that for KDKA. I've even seen people in the Pittsburgh area commenting on here about the signal deficiencies.

I wonder why KDKA's signal doesn't seem up to par with the other 50KWs?

 

[schmave]

That's my thinking. There are a lot of 50Ks where people say on here that it blasts into their location. I don't think I've ever once read a post saying that for KDKA. I've even seen people in the Pittsburgh area commenting on here about the signal deficiencies.

I wonder why KDKA's signal doesn't seem up to par with the other 50KWs?

Locally I'm sure it has something to do with the terrible ground conductivity. I saw a post elsewhere reporting that KDKA's cancellation zone is a mere 40-50 miles from their tower, which is pretty pathetic.
Skywave-wise, I have no idea. It reminds me of WLS, but again I see a lot more reports of good reception of WLS than I ever have of KDKA.