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Which AM stations do you still listen to on a regular (or every day) basis?

F

fordranger797

I thought this might be a fun topic, as we seem to discuss AM radio quite a bit (and the many challenges facing AM). So I wanted to ask: which AM radio radio radios do you personally still listen to on a regular basis? Online listening doesn’t count, and neither does listening to the FM translator.

I’ll share my breakdown (as a late 1990’s baby).

In my home market (Seattle):
KIRO 710 for sports talk and coverage of the Seahawks and Mariners.
KNWN 1000 (or KOMO, as we still think of it) for news.
KKXA 1520 for classic 80’s/90’s country.

In my current market (Vancouver, BC)
CKWX 1130 for news
CKNW 730 for news and talk (not from the area so I like to know what the local talk shows are focusing on).
Sometimes CISL 650 for sports

On my regular trips to the Bay Area:
KCBS 740 for news and information

On my regular trips to Los Angeles:
KNX 1070 for news and information
KFI 640 for local news talk (I like to hear what topics the local shows focus on).

How about you?
 
None. I was a regular listener of WCBS 880 but I don't think I've listened to an AM radio station since Audacy killed it, other than to occasionally check on a technical issue if I see one of interest mentioned on this site.
 
While most of my listening is done online at my desktop, I will share that I will listen in Phoenix to KGME (910 kHz) and KDUS (1060 kHz) to see what network football games they are carrying in season. I have sometimes listened to Tucson's KDRI (830 kHz) on Sunday mornings when I don't feel like getting up and walking the two or three feet to the computer. When the electricity goes out (it's done so twice in the past three weeks--the lines were being worked on), I'll listen to KAZG (1440) from Phoenix as well. And, if I really want to pull in a distant signal on my Sony-type Walkman (it's actually a Panasonic), I'll go for Sedona's KAZM (780 kHz). That one can barely be heard but with the receiver's volume almost all the way up, I can make out which song that station is currently playing if I point the receiver in a north-northeast direction.

Speaking of KAZG, one of the gripes I have with stations using flea power at nights is that the signals really don't travel very far. I can hear the 1440 kHz signal at night on my receivers but it is always duking it out with another station (usually Riverside's KPRO) on the same frequency. Unlike many other radio stations, KAZG's nighttime flea power is its original nighttime power granted in, if memory serves, the first decade of this century. What I'd really love to see Hubbard (KAZG's owner) do (and I don't know if the company will ever do it) is discontinue the sports programming on KDUS (that station's ratings are abysmal anyway), cancel the KAZG license, and move the KAZG format over to the 1060 frequency which has much better coverage of the Phoenix market (both day and night) than KAZG ever could.

Okay. I'm going to wake up to reality now...
 
Knoxville, TN, while driving, I'll listen to WNML "The Sports Animal" on 990 AM rather than the FM, just out of convenience because I don't have an FM button set for them, and the AM has better coverage in spots. I catch a few minutes of the Spanish play-play-play of Tennessee Volunteer football for fun.
 
Just this morning I had to switch to listening to WRNJ on 1510 AM when tropo wiped out their 105.7 FM translator that I normally listen to on my commute.
 
None. Because you asked, I checked the radio in my car. It was tuned to WSCR, which suggests I hadn't used the AM tuner in the car since I was in Chicago last summer.

The pocket radio I use in the house does not have an AM tuner. With my local WGBF 1280 signing off on 1/1/26, every AM in my market has a translator, so I'm not even missing anything.
 
1) 850 KOA Denver, just for the headline news and traffic at :00 (more or less; they're bad about not hitting a clock on time) and :30. While KOA has an FM translator at 94.1; LPFM KETO-LP at 93.9 in Aurora is closer to me and makes it difficult to receive the KOA translator on some radios. The newscasts are OK, if rather basic and derivative. As for the rest of KOA's programming, between right-wing pontification and endless Broncos blather, it is of little interest to me.

2) 810 KLVZ Brighton, one of the odder Crawford stations, with a wide-ranging oldies format. You listen to this station for the surprises. Unafraid to admit that it's going for a 65+ audience. AM HD, with an FM translator that's kind of wimpy and too far west for me to get a clean signal.

3) 1280 KBNO Denver, "Que Bueno", which I check out every once in a while to see how much my Spanish comprehension has deteriorated. Has a pretty good translator at 97.7.
 
fordranger797 said:
I thought this might be a fun topic, as we seem to discuss AM radio quite a bit (and the many challenges facing AM). So I wanted to ask: which AM radio radio radios do you personally still listen to on a regular basis? Online listening doesn’t count, and neither does listening to the FM translator.

How about you?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say I listen to any regularly. During football season, I listen to WHB 810 and KFNZ 610 (I'm too far away from KC to get 96.5) on Mondays and any other days after a Chiefs game, and, if news warrants, I will listen to KMOX on 1120 (again, too far from STL to get 104.1). I also have a button for KTRS 550, but, again, that's for football season as I'm occasionally in STL when Mizzou is playing. If Mizzou games ever go back to KMOX, I'll almost certainly delete that preset.
 
KNCO in Grass Valley. A real hometown radio station with local news & information in the morning. They do have an FM translator but it's on 106.9 - the same frequency as KCBS/KFRC on Mt. Beacon, so translator reception is very limited.

Dave B.
 
640 KFI, since I am over 100 miles away from LA, the KOST HD2 isn't an option. What a signal they have on AM!

1070 KNX, for the same reason. Out of the FM signal range. And another great signal.

There's also 600 KOGO, no preset, but only listen to their morning news. They are on an HD2 as well, but the San Diego terrain can wreak havoc when listening to HD.
 
Not much anymore. KCBS sometimes, especially on certain analog-dial radios in the house, because it's easier than swinging the dial all the way to the "106.9" end to grab a news update from the simulcast. Occasionally I'll DX KNX or KFI from L.A., or KYNO from Fresno to grab a few minutes of oldies music. (Depending on atmospherics, of course, and it being nighttime. KYNO's groundwave doesn't come into the Bay Area well during daylight hours.)

I took a diversion into the AM bands in my car the other day. Other than the aforementioned stations, I found literally zero AM's worth my time anymore. KGO's gone and not coming back. I'm not going to waste time in either the wingnut echo chamber or the sports blabbers, and whatever's left is either religious or foreign language.
 
KilowattKat said:
640 KFI, since I am over 100 miles away from LA, the KOST HD2 isn't an option. What a signal they have on AM!

1070 KNX, for the same reason. Out of the FM signal range. And another great signal.

There's also 600 KOGO, no preset, but only listen to their morning news. They are on an HD2 as well, but the San Diego terrain can wreak havoc when listening to HD.
Click to expand...
It would be great if San Diego had an all news station like KNX, and KFI is better than the locals. I pretty much listen to SXM and podcasts instead of radio.
 
ted chittenden said:
While most of my listening is done online at my desktop, I will share that I will listen in Phoenix to KGME (910 kHz) and KDUS (1060 kHz) to see what network football games they are carrying in season. I have sometimes listened to Tucson's KDRI (830 kHz) on Sunday mornings when I don't feel like getting up and walking the two or three feet to the computer. When the electricity goes out (it's done so twice in the past three weeks--the lines were being worked on), I'll listen to KAZG (1440) from Phoenix as well. And, if I really want to pull in a distant signal on my Sony-type Walkman (it's actually a Panasonic), I'll go for Sedona's KAZM (780 kHz). That one can barely be heard but with the receiver's volume almost all the way up, I can make out which song that station is currently playing if I point the receiver in a north-northeast direction.
Click to expand...
AM can't be received inside my stucco-encrusted house at all, save for weak signals from KFYI and KTAR. Fortunately, I have an HD radio so AM isn't necessary.
ted chittenden said:
Speaking of KAZG, one of the gripes I have with stations using flea power at nights is that the signals really don't travel very far. I can hear the 1440 kHz signal at night on my receivers but it is always duking it out with another station (usually Riverside's KPRO) on the same frequency. Unlike many other radio stations, KAZG's nighttime flea power is its original nighttime power granted in, if memory serves, the first decade of this century. What I'd really love to see Hubbard (KAZG's owner) do (and I don't know if the company will ever do it) is discontinue the sports programming on KDUS (that station's ratings are abysmal anyway), cancel the KAZG license, and move the KAZG format over to the 1060 frequency which has much better coverage of the Phoenix market (both day and night) than KAZG ever could.

Okay. I'm going to wake up to reality now...
Click to expand...
The problem with KDUS is that it has almost no signal to the south, thanks to the need to protect Monterey on 1050.

I used to live in Ahwahtukee, about a mile south of their towers at I-10 & Guadalupe, and could null them out completely at home. Even while driving, they'd start to fade at I-10 and Elliot, and be completely gone by the time I got to Ray Rd. Even worse, back when KNX was using HD, those noise-sidebands completely wiped out KDUS as close to 1/2 mile south of their towers. Thank God HD on Ancient Modulation is dead.

But since KAZG has the 92.7 translator covering the Ahwahtukee and Chandler areas, as well as central Phoenix and Tempe, there's no need to move it to 1060. Keeping it on 1440 is just fine. Those 52 watts put out a decent signal even into east Mesa.
 
KeithE4 said:
The problem with KDUS is that it has almost no signal to the south, thanks to the need to protect Monterey on 1050.
Click to expand...
1060 has a limited Mexican clear channel station in CDMX. The 1050 being protected is Mexicali.
 


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