WLS AM

[howardm]

Why would 890 AM come in better in the 60's 18 miles east of Peoria than it does now in Lake County Illinois. Hard to find on an analog clock radio & interference while driving around?

 

[Tom Wells]

Lake County is due north and there really is the least signal of WLS anywhere in the "metro-local-suburban" area.

18 miles east of Peoria is practically next to the tower, and nothing but corn between.

You could hook a speaker up to a crystal radio in the 60's in Lake County Indiana and hear WLS.

OK, maybe not really "listen", but it was loud enough to "hear" if you used a transformer to couple the speaker.

Now, why is it harder to hear these days?

Your clock radio lives in a fog of electrical hash at home unless you have made very specific decisions with
regard to use of modern, noise-making technolgies.

Very likely your vehicle does not have a 36" or longer whip antenna for the AM.

This is why so many think AM sounds bad....another huge reason was the Delco radios with upper end audio response
that sounds like a speaker under a pile of blankets.

WLS AM sounds really, really good these days since the ibquity hiss was removed.

 

[scanman1]

And now that CFL bulbs are going to mandated in lieu of standard incandescent light bulbs, we won't even be able to clean up the RF environment in our homes enough to truly enjoy AM listening!

 

[calguy]

In the 60's the AM band was wider, almost twice as wide and other than TV's and transistor radios, there weren't a lot of electronic appliances, IE personal computers and such to interfere. Oh and you had fewer radio stations in general, especially on adjacent frequencies.

 

[BRNout]

And, we suspect that encroaching development around WLS-AM's transmitter site coupled with degradation of their ground system have also conspired with the other above-noted issues to weaken their signal. Their groundwave signal into Lake County (IL) is not very good; it's (literally) on par with the 5 kw signal of 560 WIND. And, it's by far the weakest 50 kw Chicago signal in this area. The signals from Milwaukee's WTMJ and WISN (daytime) are stronger than WLS in most of Lake County. Put plainly, its signal sucks up here. Comes in better in out-of-market Champaign/Urbana than it does here. Which is fine, though WSCR, WGN and WBBM are perfectly fine in Champaign/Urbana too.

I might also add that WLS' nighttime skywave signal is a pale ghost of what it was back in, say, 1975. Yes, there are many reasons for this beyond Citadel's control, but in a head-to-head with other Chicago 50 kw'ers, WLS-AM now usually loses to WBBM and WGN and that was far from the case in the past.

So, day and night, WLS is weaker than it once was and is weaker than its 50 kw peers in a side-by-side comparison. All of which tells me that there's a lot more going on with WLS than CFLs, plasma TVs and computer screens.

 

[radioman148]

And, we suspect that encroaching development around WLS-AM's transmitter site coupled with degradation of their ground system have also conspired with the other above-noted issues to weaken their signal. Their groundwave signal into Lake County (IL) is not very good; it's (literally) on par with the 5 kw signal of 560 WIND. And, it's by far the weakest 50 kw Chicago signal in this area. The signals from Milwaukee's WTMJ and WISN (daytime) are stronger than WLS in most of Lake County. Put plainly, its signal sucks up here. Comes in better in out-of-market Champaign/Urbana than it does here. Which is fine, though WSCR, WGN and WBBM are perfectly fine in Champaign/Urbana too.

I might also add that WLS' nighttime skywave signal is a pale ghost of what it was back in, say, 1975. Yes, there are many reasons for this beyond Citadel's control, but in a head-to-head with other Chicago 50 kw'ers, WLS-AM now usually loses to WBBM and WGN and that was far from the case in the past.

So, day and night, WLS is weaker than it once was and is weaker than its 50 kw peers in a side-by-side comparison. All of which tells me that there's a lot more going on with WLS than CFLs, plasma TVs and computer screens.

I have to say that WLS' night signal is not that bad. When in Puerto Rico last March, WLS came in better than any of the other Chicago 50KWs.
The only three that I heard down there were WGN, WBBM, & WLS. WGN was the most consistent in that it had the least amount of interference on it's frequency. WBBM was the toughest to hear as I only got it once. WLS had some interference to contend with, but when it came in it was stronger than WGN.
As far as the groundwave is concerned I'm in 100% agreement. It's the worst of all the Chicago 50KWs.

 

[radioaircheck]

WLS comes in at night real good here in Arkansas. I could hear that Wack Job Mark Levin clearly

 

[BRNout]

WLS comes in at night real good here in Arkansas. I could hear that Wack Job Mark Levin clearly

But it should come in well in Arkansas, that's not very distant as skywave goes. And KAAY booms in up here. At times, so does KWKH. Not a good indicator.

I'll say this: from far W. Wyoming, WLS was the only of the Chicago 50 kw (former) clears to NOT make an appearance. WGN came in well, WBBM was consistently audible, WSCR was weaker but there every night. WLS was not heard until we got east of the Rockies (Casper).

I have to say that WLS' night signal is not that bad. When in Puerto Rico last March, WLS came in better than any of the other Chicago 50KWs.
The only three that I heard down there were WGN, WBBM, & WLS. WGN was the most consistent in that it had the least amount of interference on it's frequency. WBBM was the toughest to hear as I only got it once. WLS had some interference to contend with, but when it came in it was stronger than WGN.
As far as the groundwave is concerned I'm in 100% agreement. It's the worst of all the Chicago 50KWs.

Actually, I had the same experience in San Juan as you did - WLS came in one night when no other Chicago signals did. However, local stations on the same channels have something to do with that. That said, on most nights WLS is now weaker in the northeastern US than the likes of WGN and WBBM. Back in the 70s, it was the strongest Chicago signal - aside from the directional WCFL. I can't say that's true now.

 

[radioman148]

WLS comes in at night real good here in Arkansas. I could hear that Wack Job Mark Levin clearly

But it should come in well in Arkansas, that's not very distant as skywave goes. And KAAY booms in up here. At times, so does KWKH. Not a good indicator.

I'll say this: from far W. Wyoming, WLS was the only of the Chicago 50 kw (former) clears to NOT make an appearance. WGN came in well, WBBM was consistently audible, WSCR was weaker but there every night. WLS was not heard until we got east of the Rockies (Casper).

I have to say that WLS' night signal is not that bad. When in Puerto Rico last March, WLS came in better than any of the other Chicago 50KWs.
The only three that I heard down there were WGN, WBBM, & WLS. WGN was the most consistent in that it had the least amount of interference on it's frequency. WBBM was the toughest to hear as I only got it once. WLS had some interference to contend with, but when it came in it was stronger than WGN.
As far as the groundwave is concerned I'm in 100% agreement. It's the worst of all the Chicago 50KWs.

Actually, I had the same experience in San Juan as you did - WLS came in one night when no other Chicago signals did. However, local stations on the same channels have something to do with that. That said, on most nights WLS is now weaker in the northeastern US than the likes of WGN and WBBM. Back in the 70s, it was the strongest Chicago signal - aside from the directional WCFL. I can't say that's true now.

In the 60s through the 80s WLS always had the best signal of any of the Chicago stations in California. I used to hear WLS quite well on a car radio in the 70s & early 80s driving around Southern California. The few times I was in Southern Mexico in the 60s & 70s WLS came in very well too. Now I cannot pick up any Chicago stations in either of those places so it's impossible for me to make any comparisons.

There is a video on You Tube of a DXer listening to WLS in Scotland. The signal was pretty good and the Dxer stated that it was a "common" or regular pickup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GMbbCuHvvY

 

[Ai4i]

We don't know why, but 670, 720, and 780 are all NNW of the city, and 'LS is slightly west of due south.
Based on the "all else being equal" principle, the big 89 should have the smallest groundwave, best building penetration, and strongest skywave.

 

[KeithE4]

Lake County is due north and there really is the least signal of WLS anywhere in the "metro-local-suburban" area.

WLS had problems in Lake County when I lived there in the mid '80s. I had no problem whatsoever receiving WCBS on 880 with no trace of WLS in Wauconda at night. Such was not the case with then-WNBC and WABC. Both were weak at best, inaudible most of the time, with lots of splash from then-WMAQ and WBBM, respectively.

Of course, WLS is 50 miles from Wauconda, while the other blowtorches are about 20-25 miles away as the pigeon flies. Even with 50 kW, it can be completely nulled out at that distance.

 

[radioman148]

We don't know why, but 670, 720, and 780 are all NNW of the city, and 'LS is slightly west of due south.
Based on the "all else being equal" principle, the big 89 should have the smallest groundwave, best building penetration, and strongest skywave.

Why should WLS have the best building penetration and skywave?

 

[Ai4i]

Why should WLS have the best building penetration and skywave?

These things happen as one climbs the RF spectrum.

 

[Tom Wells]

We don't know why, but 670, 720, and 780 are all NNW of the city, and 'LS is slightly west of due south.
Based on the "all else being equal" principle, the big 89 should have the smallest groundwave, best building penetration, and strongest skywave.

Why should WLS have the best building penetration and skywave?

From living in this area 50 years, I'm going to say it seemed to me WLS was the strongest simply because it was so close when I lived in Indiana. The ratio of distance/signal comparability between WLS and WBBM and WGN are simply reversed comaring southside to north side.

The ground system may or not be degrading, but there is a lot of local congestion that continues to grow.