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WTAR Norfolk 850 Booming in 3AM, Weds AM here

Steve Green NEPA

Steve Green NEPA

For you insomniacs, hi.
WTAR 850 from Norfolk is loud as blazes here, equal to CJBC 860, with an improbably loud and steady signal. I had no idea what it could be at first. Their nighttime pattern doesn't head this way at all.
This station, formerly WRAP, is playing -- what else ? -- rap and hip-hop.
have at 'em if you're up. Female DJ.
 
WTAR 850 was atop the channel again last night / overnight Jan 5th, this time louder than 50K omni neighbours CJBC 860 and WHAS 840 at times.
We're due north of WTAR, so it's not water-path, unless Chesapeake Bay becomes super-saline overnight.
Some unID ESPN station was well under them.
It easily stands out on the dial, being the only licensed AM station playing music* at that hour. Female DJ host.

( * Your taste may dictate whether or not Rap or Hip-hop definitively can be called 'music', as for hundreds of years music traditionally has involved a form of melody associated with it. But WTAR's programming is really obvious.)
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
We're due north of WTAR, so it's not water-path, unless Chesapeake Bay becomes super-saline overnight.
Click to expand...

Chesapeake Bay does have quite a bit of salinity, even quite a bit north.

When I used to make the long drive between Jersey and Florida, the big New York stations such as WFAN and WCBS would be completely gone around Washington DC but then there's a little stretch on I-95 about 30 to 40 miles into Virginia when those two stations start to come in again for a short time and then are gone for good after that.

If you look at a map, it's because of a branch of the Chesapeake Bay the signals pass over on that short stretch of the highway.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
( * Your taste may dictate whether or not Rap or Hip-hop definitively can be called 'music', as for hundreds of years music traditionally has involved a form of melody associated with it. But WTAR's programming is really obvious.)
Click to expand...
It usually samples snatches of melody. As for tradition, talking blues is part of that tradition and is accepted as part of the musical genre known as blues. Rap/hip-hop is not for my generation, which I assume is yours as well. We're never going to "get it." But it's been a significant factor in popular music for the past 35 years. Give it another 20 years of similar significance and it will have outdone rock.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
( * Your taste may dictate whether or not Rap or Hip-hop definitively can be called 'music', as for hundreds of years music traditionally has involved a form of melody associated with it. But WTAR's programming is really obvious.)
Click to expand...
Oh yes, 96.5, Lucy FM debuted in September of 2022. I realize the flip was made because the previous sports format didn't do that well. However, many of the older sports fans who appreciate ancient modulation were probably willing to utilize 850.

Now it seems like a waste of a strong AM signal as the young people who like Lucy's music are surely listening to the translator and not 850. Also, Hot AC music probably isn't one of the treasures DXers our age are searching for as they scan the AM dial. And like Steve Green NEPA said, that type of music really stands out in a sea of political and sports talk and preaching.

BTW, Lucy clocked in with a 0.1 in the latest "beauty contest" numbers.
 
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@ gar hI

There's always been a sort of window, especially daytimes, between here and and DelMaVa ; those places to the south that are downhill from us (1500' up).
Plus, even though we're considered 'Anthracite Country / NE PA here, the town is closer to the MD border than it is to the NY border. WANN 1190 Annapolis was a faint but solid signal here, for example, before they moved all the way out to Leesburg VA.
Thirdly-ish, the Susquehanna has high and low tides ; technically an estuary all the way up at least to Danville. I imagine that involves some form of salt water, lol.

In any case, I maintain that WTAR 850 had no business coming in that loud and steady for two overnights running (I didn't try for 'em last night). Neither their day nor night patterns send anything North. I just figured to holler out to some who might need to log them.
 
When I first got my Sangean PR D5, I could get WWL all day in Tampa with a good listenable signal.

That soon changed and I could barely hear it at all in the daytime with the splatter of 860.

The only explanation I can think of was that the salinity of the Gulf must have been temporarily high in the patch where the signal crosses over between New Orleans and Tampa.

The same could apply to the Chesapeake or Delaware Bay?
 
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