Used to listen to the Texas Rangers games on WBAP when they were competitive in the late 1970s, while I was living in the St. Louis area. Once on a family trip up Pike's Peak in that era, I lugged a radio with me and managed to pull in KRLD for a bit.
-
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
WBAP - Dallas / Ft. Worth
- Thread starter Wthom100
- Start date
OK, a little blast from the past. I grew up in the DFW area and remember listening to WBAP's old Bill Mack overnight show in the '70s. One time, maybe around 1972-73 or so, he read out a postcard he had received from a US G.I. radio operator in Guam that had picked up WBAP's signal one day (and quite clear, too!). I make that at about 7200 miles.
On a related note, from what I remember from my DFW days, WBAP had a horrible "dead zone" at night in between the ground wave zone and the sky wave zone. It was like a donut-shaped area from about 50 mi. out to roughly 150 mi. It did vary considerably with seasons and weather conditions. I remember it always used to drive my Father nuts when we were coming back home from Central Texas late at night. He would eventually give up on WBAP and settle on WHO which came in great all the way home.
I'm shocked that WBAP's cancellation zone started at 50 miles! I've heard a ton of 50Ks over the years at lower or similar dial positions where cancellation doesn't start until 100 or more miles out, in areas of solid ground conductivity. Not as good as Texas, but pretty good nonetheles.
I think 50 miles is common.
In college at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, OK, in the 1980s, I was surprised how 1520 KOMA was coming in real weakly, or barely at all, with lots of skips, in Stillwater, about 60 miles from Oklahoma City. It was almost indiscernible and a disappointment.
I knew that station boomed over the prairies from western Oklahoma to Kansas to Nebraska and the Dakotas at night.
Last edited:
1520 is a way different deal than 820 though because it's a much higher frequency and cancellation is much closer in. Any groundwave at 820 will be much better than up in the 1500s.
50 miles might be common in some areas, but my closest 50K, WLW at about 90 miles, rarely if ever cancels in my location just east of Columbus. And ground conductivity in my part of the country, while pretty good, is not on par with Texas and Oklahoma.
50 miles might be common in some areas, but my closest 50K, WLW at about 90 miles, rarely if ever cancels in my location just east of Columbus. And ground conductivity in my part of the country, while pretty good, is not on par with Texas and Oklahoma.
- Status