I just looked at the Canadian radio listings on RadioStationWorld.com and noticed that every one of the AM stations in Halifax, Nova Scotia have gone silent, transferring their programming to FM. I'm wondering if the same thing might eventually happen in the US. With most AM stations in this country now programming talk, sports or religion (there are, however, a few small, low-power music stations left, but they are few and far between these days), I wouldn't be surprised if AM in the US goes completely silent in a few years, with most existing small AMs silencing their over-the-air operations and going to streaming audio over the Internet, if not to FM.

One station near me, a 1kW daytime-only station in rural Geauga County, Ohio, roughly 40 miles east of Cleveland, that had tried four different formats since its initial sign on in 1969 (each of which obviously failed miserably to bring in the listeners, to say nothing of the advertising revenue, the station desperately needed to stay on the air) went silent on Memorial Day about five years ago, and was never heard from again. I knew the station had left the air for good when I tried to call their studio line a few days later; I got a recording from the telephone company stating that the number had been disconnected. I don't know what has happened to the station's studio, transmitter building, etc. since then.

There's only one major broadcaster left in NS that has AM- AVR/Maritime Broadcasting Systems. (various frequencies in various locations)

I'd wager these towers are simply being run until the hardware fails, since they also have an FM frequency.

Yes, AM is going the way of the dinosaur, except for those small home-brew stations run by local folks with a passion.

i posted a thread about it when it happened here in Halifax...as you say we did pick up a few new fm stations,which for the most part are a bit more relevant,to me at least...and really other than enthusiast types dealing with antiques,pretty much anyone with a radio these days has FM capabilites.

AM going away here has really been a non issue..most people didn't even notice...just a little while ago,a GF of mine was telling me how the radio didnt seem to work in her classic car anymore,she insisted that it used too but that it must have broken somehow...she doesn't drive the car regularly and didn't realize that there was just nothing for it to pick up anymore...!

Post Deleted By Author

I hope this doesn't happen here in the U.S. I feel like the world I grew up in is rapidly disappearing. What with political correctness, 9/11, digital TV, flat panels, socialism, mainstream cultural degeneration and now the possible demise of AM radio I feel a sort of culture shock coming on. I have a feeling that I will have to live in the past just to maintain a sense continuity in life. All this change to the fundamental features of life is too much too fast. AM radio is one of the things I cling to that maintains a connection between the past and an uncertain future. No matter what happens I can turn on that Philco 37-610 and everything's ok.

Please learn what words mean before you use them.

Quite frankly, I'm glad to see the world you live in go - a world of rampant racism, sexism, discrimination based on all sorts of personal qualities, political fearmongering (ok, that one is still alive and well), assassinations, fear of devastating nuclear war, etc. Good riddance.

Harsh comment the last one, but putting socialism and flat panels in the same
category is not the idea of the century either. If AM were sonically superior
to FM, more people would listen to it, but unfortunately for the dreamers, it
is the other way around.

Rampant sexism...have you looked at your avatar lately??? :)

I think this thread is gonna get closed if the political crap goes any further.

I will do my best to stay on topic concerning AM stations.

Fortunately, in the DFW area and there's other major markets that AM does have a presence in the field. Besides the talk, we also have oldies, sports, country, tejano, soul/gospel/r&b, all on the AM dial.

I know there's been topics discussing the extermination of the AM band as we know it but unless someone can affirm this I kinda find it hard to believe.

I think AM will be around for a while yet--exactly how long is anybody's guess. Here in Seattle, one of our AM news/talkers (KIRO 710) moved to FM about a year ago, which I found somewhat alarming (710 AM went to all-sports). But, we still have about half a dozen AM stations that play music; and no AM stations have gone dark yet.

i posted a thread about it when it happened here in Halifax...as you say we did pick up a few new fm stations,which for the most part are a bit more relevant,to me at least...and really other than enthusiast types dealing with antiques,pretty much anyone with a radio these days has FM capabilites.

AM going away here has really been a non issue..most people didn't even notice...just a little while ago,a GF of mine was telling me how the radio didnt seem to work in her classic car anymore,she insisted that it used too but that it must have broken somehow...she doesn't drive the car regularly and didn't realize that there was just nothing for it to pick up anymore...!

Aren't there other AM radio stations within 24/7 listening range of Nova Scotia? I somehow cannot believe that the AM radio dial in your area is now 99.999 percent dead air since all but one of their AM stations has gone silent. Is Nova Scotia that far away from any other major city in Canada that stations from other parts of the country are not heard during the day? At night, 50kW stations from the U. S. East Coast should come in to the Halifax area like gangbusters as that city, not to mention the province of Nova Scotia itself, are not that far away from the US border. I would think, for example, that Toronto's CFZM 740 -- which runs 50kW with a signal pattern beamed at the city and also the northeastern US -- could be heard in Halifax as well, not to mention other 50kW stations across the border in New England and the NE United States (Hartford, Connecticut's WTIC, Buffalo, New York's WKBW, et al).

Your girlfriend's car radio must have antenna problems, as she should be hearing some nearby stations, as I mentioned. Perhaps the antenna leadin broke off at the base; this often happens in winter during a hard freeze, when water gets into the antenna base, freezes, and breaks an insulator, resulting in the antenna leadin either shorting to the base or the center conductor breaking off at the point where it connects to the antenna, not to mention poor or no connections at the other end of the cable that plugs into the radio's antenna socket; any one of these conditions will kill all reception. Remember, with car radios, the antenna is extremely important; without it, the radio simply will not work at all, unless you are within shouting distance -- literally -- of a local station, and even then there is no guarantee you will hear anything because the interior of any vehicle is just about the poorest place there is for any kind of radio reception.

Please note that the foregoing applies to today's embedded windshield auto radio antennas as well as the older fender-mounted ones. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that a car radio will not operate at all without an antenna connected to it. The leadin cable alone won't work as an antenna because it is shielded; again, unless you are in an incredibly strong signal area, trying to use only the leadin cable without the actual antenna won't work worth a plugged nickel.

Rampant sexism...have you looked at your avatar lately??? :)

I think this thread is gonna get closed if the political crap goes any further.

She's covered...more completely than quite a few outfits of the past 50 years. ;)

Is Nova Scotia that far away from any other major city in Canada that stations from other parts of the country are not heard during the day? At night, 50kW stations from the U. S. East Coast should come in to the Halifax area like gangbusters as that city, not to mention the province of Nova Scotia itself, are not that far away from the US border.

I would think that there would be signals coming in from elsewhere, too. The AM dial around here is rather crowded.

Rampant sexism...have you looked at your avatar lately??? :)

I think this thread is gonna get closed if the political crap goes any further.

I agree 100 percent. I started this thread, and do not appreciate such comments either. VK has very specific rules about political content in postings; anyone who goes counter to those rules will be warned that he is skating on thin ice, and if this doesn't stop the political grandstanding in its tracks immediately, the errant poster will be suspended and/or banned from ever posting to these forums again.

To compucat, I can say only the following (the rest will be up to the moderators): The subject of this thread is the question of whether US AM radio stations will eventually go silent as many of Canada's (and all of Halifax, Nova Scotia's) stations have; your rants have no place here. Please, keep your political views to yourself and your remarks on topic. I'm sure VK's moderators will tell you the same thing. I would also suggest that you carefully read VK's forum rules, if you haven't already. They will go into detail as to what is and is not allowed in these forums; indeed, they need to be read and clearly understood beyond the shadow of even the most unreasonable doubt by every VK member before he or she makes his or her first post.

Yeah, guys, you wanna argue politics, go over to Political Chat...There's no room for this kind of nonsense here.

Does this mean the entire AM band in NS is fair game now? Not much that I can get here where I am, but at night it's real good.

Aren't there other AM radio stations within 24/7 listening range of Nova Scotia? I somehow cannot believe that the AM radio dial in your area is now 99.999 percent dead air since all but one of their AM stations has gone silent. Is Nova Scotia that far away from any other major city in Canada that stations from other parts of the country are not heard during the day? At night, 50kW stations from the U. S. East Coast should come in to the Halifax area like gangbusters as that city, not to mention the province of Nova Scotia itself, are not that far away from the US border. I would think, for example, that Toronto's CFZM 740 -- which runs 50kW with a signal pattern beamed at the city and also the northeastern US -- could be heard in Halifax as well, not to mention other 50kW stations across the border in New England and the NE United States (Hartford, Connecticut's WTIC, Buffalo, New York's WKBW, et al).


Quite possible; I was referring more to local stations. I just had a quick listen and I hear a lot of tea kettles and something that sounds like SSTV... but little else. (could also be that my antenna is crap- I'll try another set later.)

Edit: Confirmed- there's nothing remotely tunable except for the one AM station I mentioned.

i posted a thread about it when it happened here in Halifax...as you say we did pick up a few new fm stations,which for the most part are a bit more relevant,to me at least...and really other than enthusiast types dealing with antiques,pretty much anyone with a radio these days has FM capabilites.

AM going away here has really been a non issue..most people didn't even notice...just a little while ago,a GF of mine was telling me how the radio didnt seem to work in her classic car anymore,she insisted that it used too but that it must have broken somehow...she doesn't drive the car regularly and didn't realize that there was just nothing for it to pick up anymore...!
Ooohhh... a fellow Haligonian :D
The only reason I know and posted here is because I was looking to see what I could listen to on the AM-only tube set I'm restoring (Fleetwood 4068 thread here)

Hi could it be propogation affecting what you are hearing..Here AM is loaded up day and night..I hear stuff from Canada too here at night. How many stations are we talking about..Could be they all belong to the same network or owner?Just a guess on my part. Sprman55 : )

Does this mean the entire AM band in NS is fair game now? Not much that I can get here where I am, but at night it's real good.

What do you hear on AM radio, as a rule, in your town? Just curious.

I thought your area gets most Jonesboro, Arkansas AM stations full time. I just looked at the profile for your town on CityData.com, and found that you are but a short distance from Jonesboro. Evening Shade is not that far from Memphis either (if you consider 100+ miles "not far"). I'd think you could hear both cities' major 50kW AM stations in daytime and until/unless they change their signal patterns after sundown. Fifty-kW full-time stations had literally coast-to-coast range at night (when daytimers on the former clear channels had to sign off at local sunset, leaving the clears quiet at night, and all night except for, at most, two 50kW stations, one on either coast) before the FCC did away with the clear channels and granted daytimers the option of running at limited nighttime power (from five to a maximum of 500 watts), often with directional antennas, about 25 years ago; however, since you are just over 100 miles from Memphis, I'd think you would hear their 50kW stations in spite of the FCC ruling that now limits former clear-channel stations' coverage to 750 miles in all directions.

i haven't tried extensively to see what i could get...i did get something faint out of new england tuning manually around one night in the car,[auto search just goes round and round the dial endlessly]that was right around the time they announced the last local station was signing off so i was checking...whatever i got was religious programming,so i didn't listen long enough to see where it was originating from,Maine tho i think...

my restored Nordmende carmen gets nothing on AM[shortwave gets a few things],but it lacks an external antenna,and the internal one is probably shielded by the large internal foil FM antenna! when i briefly powered on my new Bendix project,it was on AM and it was getting "something" here and there..not anything really listenable but i was surprised that it was at least"seeing" faint signals...from "somewhere" during the late afternoon...

as for the girlfriends car...pushbutton presets...the stations around here were likely set ages ago and haven't moved,i doubt she tried to spin the dial manually when all the locals were absent...car is a 67 Pontiac Beaumont BTW...stored all winter and never frozen..i think there's only about 40k on it??!!

VK has very specific rules about political content in postings; anyone who goes counter to those rules will be warned that he is skating on thin ice, and if this doesn't stop the political grandstanding in its tracks immediately, the errant poster will be suspended and/or banned from ever posting to these forums again.
I would also suggest that you carefully read VK's forum rules, if you haven't already. They will go into detail as to what is and is not allowed in these forums; indeed, they need to be read and clearly understood beyond the shadow of even the most unreasonable doubt by every VK member before he or she makes his or her first post.

I must be missing something... A while back, I noticed that many posters on this forum will not use the term "eBay" or will use a disclaimer such as "I am not associated with this auction" when posting a link to an eBay auction... I went looking for a videokarma rule section, to find out what is permitted with respect to eBay links. I could not find any rules. I have always tried to use common sense in posting, and hope that I have not offended anyone, but if there are specific rules, please direct me to their location.
Thanks!
jr

As for a 1KW daytimer station going dark, I wondered how such stations could have ever survived even 40 years ago. As it is, the AM band is a little overcrowded and if a daytimer goes dark, it's less interference to stations in nearby markets in the same channel. AM tends to be large regions of interference with small islands of service.

I must be missing something... A while back, I noticed that many posters on this forum will not use the term "eBay" or will use a disclaimer such as "I am not associated with this auction" when posting a link to an eBay auction... I went looking for a videokarma rule section, to find out what is permitted with respect to eBay links. I could not find any rules. I have always tried to use common sense in posting, and hope that I have not offended anyone, but if there are specific rules, please direct me to their location.
Thanks!
jr

You didn't do or say anything wrong. My remarks were directed to VK member compucat, who had made several politically-charged remarks in his reply to this thread; in fact, VK member AUdubon5425 saw that reply and even made a statement that this thread could be closed if the political "crap" (his word) doesn't stop. I just looked at the thread a few minutes ago, however, and found that compucat has since deleted his post, so I think that's the end of the problem.

As for a 1KW daytimer station going dark, I wondered how such stations could have ever survived even 40 years ago. As it is, the AM band is a little overcrowded and if a daytimer goes dark, it's less interference to stations in nearby markets in the same channel. AM tends to be large regions of interference with small islands of service.

One of the problems with the 1kW daytime station I mentioned was that, in the last year or so before it signed off permanently, it was a sports station being programmed from a satellite feed--with little or no local programming. The other problem was that this station was trying (unsuccessfully) to compete against a 50kW sports station in Cleveland; the daytimer was in a very small town that received the 50kW station (and most other radio stations in the Cleveland radio market) very well, so it is likely that listeners in the small town were tuning in to the 50kW sports station a lot more than they were listening to the smaller local one. This always means trouble for radio stations because they depend on advertising revenue to stay on the air; this is especially true for small stations in one-horse towns. The small station in the Geauga County, Ohio town I mentioned in my post is no exception. They tried everything in their power to keep from going under--among the things they tried was an attempt to get FCC approval to move to 870 kHz, so they could install a more powerful transmitter. That failed miserably; I don't know for certain why, but I have a suspicion that, since 870 kHz is only 20 kHz (0.2 MHz) up the dial from a 50kW Cleveland station at 850 (the station the 1kW daytime Geauga County station was trying to compete against), there were concerns that the two stations could interfere with each other, or worse, the Cleveland station could obliterate the smaller one. Another problem, had the Cleveland sports station moved to 870 kHz, would have been nighttime interference to 50kW WWL-AM radio in New Orleans, also on 870, unless the Cleveland station employed a very sharply directional nighttime signal pattern and reduced its nighttime power to well below 5kW (the station runs, and has run since it increased power to 50kW a few years ago, 4700 watts nighttime on 850 kHz). Yet another problem, and why the 1kW daytime Ohio station finally threw in the towel when it signed off for the last time on Memorial Day about five years ago, was that by now the station was literally falling apart--antenna towers had been improperly anchored to the ground and could have toppled in the first good windstorm, an antiquated transmitter and studio equipment, and other problems the owner just couldn't deal with any longer. The AM station went silent shortly thereafter and the owner/licensee, Music Express Broadcasting, then decided to concentrate its efforts on maintaining and operating the other station it owns, WKKY-FM 104.7 in a small town on the shores of Lake Erie.

I think the US would be better off without AM radio, as most of the stations are talk, sports or religion--formats that could easily be moved either to the Internet (streaming audio) or to FM. The problem, however, with moving underperforming AM stations to FM, especially in smaller markets, is the sheer cost of operating another station (which many cities cannot afford, especially in today's economy, to say nothing of the fact that most major cities' FM stations are running, and have been running for years or in some cases decades, established formats already and would be unwilling to switch), unless the AM station moved its programming to an existing FM station that itself was underperforming so badly it was on the verge of collapse.

Streaming audio over the Internet looks, on paper anyway, like a viable alternative to over-the-air broadcasting, but it too is very expensive to maintain once the stream is established. Unless the station's owner is sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that enough people will listen to his/her station to keep the stream online for more than just a few weeks or months, exclusively streaming a radio station over the Internet at the expense of the station's over-the-air signal is a risk few if any stations can afford to take. A small local station near the Cleveland suburb in which I grew up does stream over the Internet, but it is a talk station whose owners probably are convinced will survive since people such as myself who cannot, by virtue of the station's 42-watt directional nighttime signal, hear the over the air broadcast can log on to the station's Internet site and listen to the station's programming there.

What do you hear on AM radio, as a rule, in your town? Just curious.

I thought your area gets most Jonesboro, Arkansas AM stations full time. I just looked at the profile for your town on CityData.com, and found that you are but a short distance from Jonesboro. Evening Shade is not that far from Memphis either (if you consider 100+ miles "not far"). I'd think you could hear both cities' major 50kW AM stations in daytime and until/unless they change their signal patterns after sundown. Fifty-kW full-time stations had literally coast-to-coast range at night (when daytimers on the former clear channels had to sign off at local sunset, leaving the clears quiet at night, and all night except for, at most, two 50kW stations, one on either coast) before the FCC did away with the clear channels and granted daytimers the option of running at limited nighttime power (from five to a maximum of 500 watts), often with directional antennas, about 25 years ago; however, since you are just over 100 miles from Memphis, I'd think you would hear their 50kW stations in spite of the FCC ruling that now limits former clear-channel stations' coverage to 750 miles in all directions.

Within my home, even with an outdoor antenna, I can only seem to pull in KRMG 740 from Tulsa, OK at night. I suspect it's one of the three running computers in this room, probably this one. I can take my little wooden Transitone outside and get a dial full

Jeffhs, I'd hate to see AM go away!

When I travel, I prefer listening to AM and if it's nightime I'll dx depending on where I am, and I like to hear the weather and road conditions also.

There's also Trucker related shows on at night too..more people may listen to AM then you realize, and like I mentioned I live in a major market area.

It's bad enough that we have to feed our vintage TV's artificial signals but with the mobility of AM (and our vintage radios) we can still have AM!

No problems with AM in south central PA: lots of stations daytime and lots more at night, quite listenable. Daytime I hear locals and Harrisburg, Philly, Reading, Lancaster, York. Nightime all of these plus New York, Boston (WBZ is a blowtorch), etc. etc., all possible on an AA5 with its own loop. Gotta turn off the computer and be sure no light dimmer is on, though.

There are many AM stations here, too many to move them all to FM. Although formats have changed, every occupied dial position has remained occupied as long as I can remember although a few stations have traded dial positions with others. AM reception here is usually good. DXing is great here too. I get a station from Canada, AM 740, called Zoomer Radio. They play oldies and vintage radio shows. I hope AM never goes away because many of my vintage radios would become obsolete.

Within my home, even with an outdoor antenna, I can only seem to pull in KRMG 740 from Tulsa, OK at night. I suspect it's one of the three running computers in this room, probably this one. I can take my little wooden Transitone outside and get a dial full
Wow! What a great location for Dxing! :yes:
I just looked up the location on "Radio Locator" and found that you should be in range of something like 37 stations... but with mostly weak reception. More FMs than AMs within range. Great place for a R-390!:music:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/locate?select=city&city=evening+shade+AR&x=20&y=4&sid=
jr

I have a lot of comments related to the current state of commercial broadcasting that I'll save for a different thread, different time. However, I used to be an avid listener to AM. No matter where I was located, I'd find a radio and tune around until I found Art Bell. Then - I was a happy camper. He's been gone for a while now, replaced by George Noory, so I don't really listen to that show as often anymore. I don't really care for most of the syndicated talk shows, trucker shows, all-sports stations, religious broadcasters, etc. Really the only AM station I ever listen to anymore is WGN 720 from Chicago. They've got LIVE, LOCAL talk, great hosts, interesting topics (gotta love website wednesday night, lol) Generally if I want to listen to music on the radio, I don't even bother with AM. Its too noisy and low bandwidth so it generally sounds like crap, for me FM and HDradio are the way to go.

Wow! What a great location for Dxing! :yes:
I just looked up the location on "Radio Locator" and found that you should be in range of something like 37 stations... but with mostly weak reception. More FMs than AMs within range. Great place for a R-390!:music:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/locate?select=city&city=evening+shade+AR&x=20&y=4&sid=
jr

Well, haul 'er on over one night! :thmbsp:

I know here in Chicago, AM is going nowhere in the forseeable future (next couple of years anyways). AM stations account for a large portion of the top 10. I also heard somewhere (rumor only) that with the demise of the smaller stations, large stations like WGN and WBBM would be allowed to increase their power even more making them almost nationwide. This is the first I've heard of the demise of the whole band. Although programming won't be local for a lot of you, at least it won't be these computer operated stations where there is not even a human in the studio.

Wow! What a great location for Dxing! :yes:
I just looked up the location on "Radio Locator" and found that you should be in range of something like 37 stations... but with mostly weak reception. More FMs than AMs within range. Great place for a R-390!:music:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/locate?select=city&city=evening+shade+AR&x=20&y=4&sid=
jr

I'm not far from Evening Shade, and Dxing conditions are great. I pick up all kinds of stuff out of several states on my radios, I've even picked up a station out of Window Rock, AZ a few times on my DX-160.

I know here in Chicago, AM is going nowhere in the forseeable future (next couple of years anyways). AM stations account for a large portion of the top 10. I also heard somewhere (rumor only) that with the demise of the smaller stations, large stations like WGN and WBBM would be allowed to increase their power even more making them almost nationwide. This is the first I've heard of the demise of the whole band. Although programming won't be local for a lot of you, at least it won't be these computer operated stations where there is not even a human in the studio.

Local?..I love hearing about the blizzards and the road conditions as I sit in comfort down here!

You mean that I'll get these even better than I do now?:D

Don't forget about WLS either!

Is there anyplace that can't get Chicago stations??

I can get Chicago fine here in south central PA. Don and Roma in the morning, etc. etc. I can almost always get WBBM and WLS. Early winter mornings in the car I would switch from them to WWL New Orleans, and even WHO, Des Moines sometimes. But could not always get KDKA Pittsburgh. Back in the day when WLS played music, remember "Double-you, ELL, ess: Larry LUjack!"

WLS-FM still plays music (oldies) on the Internet at 947trueoldies.com. WLS-AM 890 flipped to talk several years ago; the oldies (which were top-40 in the '50s-'60s) went to WLS-FM 94.7 shortly before or shortly after that.

I like oldies, as I grew up in the late '60s-'70s, so I bookmarked WLS-FM's website immediately after hearing of it some time ago. I couldn't listen to the stream until now, however, due to the station using a streaming provider and music player at the time (last year or the year prior) that simply would not work with Firefox 2. WLS-FM's new player, however, works fine with FF2; I just heard Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock around the Clock" on 94.7 a few minutes ago.

Cleveland had two excellent top-40 AM stations in the '60s and '70s: 50kW WKYC-AM 1100 and 5kW WIXY 1260. The former was operated by NBC at the time and had some of the wildest DJs I've ever heard (I particularly remember "Big Jack" Jackson Armstrong, who had a program on 1100 and later on 1260; unfortunately, he passed away recently in North Carolina).

WIXY 1260 had some wild characters spinning wax at the time as well, but that station's downfall was that its 5kW signal could not be heard well east of Cleveland; the further east of Cleveland you went, the weaker the signal became, until by the time you were well outside the Cleveland area (eastern Lake County and beyond) you couldn't hear the signal at all. I was living in a Cleveland suburb at the west end of Lake County at the time and was able to hear the station 24/7; however, where I live now, at the eastern end of the county, I can barely hear the signal in the daytime. Since 1260 is now Radio Disney, however, I have no use for the station (or any Cleveland AM station, for that matter); 1260's format these days is geared towards young teenagers, and I am almost 54 years old.

WKYC 1100 and its FM arm, WKYC-FM, were sold from NBC in 1970; both stations have had several ownership changes since then. The AM station went through several callsign and format changes, eventually becoming talk radio WTAM 1100 some years ago; the FM station also had several changes in calls and formats, winding up in 1982 as WMJI "Majic 105.7" oldies -- the call sign and format it has had since 1981. I remember WKYC-AM's wild DJs, as I mentioned, and also, since the station was an affiliate of the (now defunct) NBC radio network at the time, it picked up a weekend variety program known as "Monitor Beacon" that was simulcast over that station and WKYC-FM.

Monitor went off the air in 1975, by which time WKYC-AM had changed calls to WWWE (3WE) 1100 and was playing a middle-of-the-road music format. WKYC-FM played automated beautiful music (formerly known as "elevator music" because it was also played in elevators at the time) from the time it was sold until about the mid-'70s. WKYC-FM then became an adult rock station and remained with that format until 1981, when it was flipped to oldies (now known as "classic hits") and the callsign changed to WMJI. The station (and presumably WTAM1100, formerly WWWE, as well) is presently owned by Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio, Texas.

WKYC-AM 1100 was a true clear-channel station, running 50kW day and night. The only other station on 1100 all night long was then-KFAX in San Francisco, California, also a 50kW clear-channel operation. The other small stations on 1100, and there were a few in smaller towns and suburbs of major cities, were required to sign off at sundown to protect the 50kW operations from what is known as "skywave" interference. Station CKLW, 800 kHz (The Big Eight) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada was also a clear-channel flamethrower, being the only station on 800 kHz from sundown to sunrise. As with WKYC, et al., CKLW's 800-kHz frequency was occupied during the day by smaller stations which were required to sign off at sundown local time.

The FCC abolished clear channels about 25 years ago. The new rules now state that former clear channel stations must limit their coverage to, at most, 750 miles (directional at night if necessary), day and night. The reason for this was so that low-power local-service stations, presently daytime-only, operating on the former clear channels could serve their areas full-time if they desired (and had the money to) do so. Today, the new regulations state that former daytime-only stations operating on the former clear channels may operate full time, but they must decrease their power output by a certain level after local sundown time; as well, many stations must now use sharply directional signal patterns, attained by transmitting from one or more directional towers, separate from the station's daytime arrays. This is especially true of stations that operate 50kW during the day and were formerly licensed for dawn-to-dusk operation. If these stations go to full-time operation on a former clear channel (or any other frequency in the AM broadcast band), however, they must either reduce power to 5kW or less with a directional signal pattern after sundown or else sign off after local sundown time. A sports-talk station in Cleveland on 850 kHz recently increased its daytime power to 50kW, but must go to 4.7 kW and directional antenna after sundown Eastern time; a Detroit ESPN sports station on 1270 kHz did the same thing and operates under the same rules since it increased its power to 50kW daytime. Given the close proximity of Detroit to Cleveland, however, I cannot for the life of me see how the former's WXYT-1270 can operate 50kW during the day without interfering with Cleveland's WWMK-1260 (10kW day/5kW night); after all, the two stations are adjacent to each other on the dial. Unless there is a 5-kHz (+/-) guard band between adjacent AM frequencies, I cannot imagine these stations operating this way without one causing serious interference problems for the other in daytime, as the Cleveland station runs 10kW days/5kW nights; the Detroit station could drown it out without half trying since it runs 50kW 24-7. :scratch2:

The FCC abolished clear channels about 25 years ago. The new rules now state that former clear channel stations must limit their coverage to, at most, 750 miles (directional at night if necessary), day and night. The reason for this was so that low-power local-service stations, presently daytime-only, operating on the former clear channels could serve their areas full-time if they desired (and had the money to) do so. Today, the new regulations state that former daytime-only stations operating on the former clear channels may operate full time, but they must decrease their power output by a certain level after local sundown time; as well, many stations must now use sharply directional signal patterns, attained by transmitting from one or more directional towers, separate from the station's daytime arrays. This is especially true of stations that operate 50kW during the day and were formerly licensed for dawn-to-dusk operation. If these stations go to full-time operation on a former clear channel (or any other frequency in the AM broadcast band), however, they must either reduce power to 5kW or less with a directional signal pattern after sundown or else sign off after local sundown time. A sports-talk station in Cleveland on 850 kHz recently increased its daytime power to 50kW, but must go to 4.7 kW and directional antenna after sundown Eastern time; a Detroit ESPN sports station on 1270 kHz did the same thing and operates under the same rules since it increased its power to 50kW daytime. Given the close proximity of Detroit to Cleveland, however, I cannot for the life of me see how the former's WXYT-1270 can operate 50kW during the day without interfering with Cleveland's WWMK-1260 (10kW day/5kW night); after all, the two stations are adjacent to each other on the dial. Unless there is a 5-kHz (+/-) guard band between adjacent AM frequencies, I cannot imagine these stations operating this way without one causing serious interference problems for the other in daytime, as both stations operate 50kW sunrise to sundown. :scratch2:

KMOX 1120 in St. Louis is still listed as a 50kW, non-directional station. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=9638

As is WTAM on 1100. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=59595

KFAX is still 50kW day and night, but is licensed for a directional antenna array. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=59595

Additionally, according to the Wikipedia article on clear-channel stations, they're not prohibited from broadcasting past 750 miles, they just don't have signal protection outside that radius. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear-channel_station

I cannot for the life of me see how the former's WXYT-1270 can operate 50kW during the day without interfering with Cleveland's WWMK-1260 (10kW day/5kW night); after all, the two stations are adjacent to each other on the dial. Unless there is a 5-kHz (+/-) guard band between adjacent AM frequencies, I cannot imagine these stations operating this way without one causing serious interference problems for the other in daytime, as both stations operate 50kW sunrise to sundown. :scratch2:

WXYT transmits using 9 tower directional array focusing most of its power to the north.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=28627

Day plot:
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/657235-78705.pdf

Night plot:
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/657235-78706.pdf

Also, there is no 750 mile limit set by the FCC for former clear channel stations. This radius is the "protected" zone, meaning that other stations may transmit on that frequency as long as their signal strength is within certain limits at the edge of the 750 mile protected zone. Many former 50KW Clear channel enjoy a considerable "bonus coverage" today, well above the 750 mile protected zone.
jr

I can recieve KMOX here also but what really suprised me one night was when I was able to get WWJ/720/Detroit! That area of the band is crammed at night.

Maybe my G500 Trans-oceanic helped a little though...!!

The FCC may write the regulations it wishes, signals that bounce on the ionosphere
will sometimes go very far, sometimes not that far. AM DXing is probably more
interesting than listening to actual program content. I can't wait until the sunset!
By the way, there's a thread on the vanishing AM stations, I will look it up and
post the link.

Here it is:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=242866

Well, haul 'er on over one night! :thmbsp:

Nah, you need an R-392, the "portable" version of the R-390...Makes a dandy heated campstool, & you can stick one under a corner of yr Jeep to hold it up, if you've lost a jack...Supposedly, they'll work underwater, but even I'M not stupid enuff to test that myth...(grin)

Hemingray said:
"Well, haul 'er on over one night!"

Sandy_G said:
"Nah, you need an R-392, the "portable" version of the R-390...Makes a dandy heated campstool, & you can stick one under a corner of yr Jeep to hold it up, if you've lost a jack...Supposedly, they'll work underwater, but even I'M not stupid enuff to test that myth...(grin)"


Ahhh, Yes! the R-392 otherwise the "R-390 lite"... perhaps only 50 Lb. instead of 90-95, but still a bit much to drag over 2000 miles or so for an evenings Dxing... sounds like fun, though.:music:

jr

The FCC may write the regulations it wishes, signals that bounce on the ionosphere
will sometimes go very far, sometimes not that far. AM DXing is probably more
interesting than listening to actual program content. I can't wait until the sunset!
By the way, there's a thread on the vanishing AM stations, I will look it up and
post the link.

Here it is:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=242866


The new regulations certainly can be confusing; my thanks to jr_tech, et al. who set me straight on the 750-mile rule. (I will print that information and file it for future reference.) That explains why I can often hear WBAP-820 in Dallas, WWL-870 in New Orleans, et al. here in northern Ohio after sundown (both stations are well over 1000 miles from my home), and without using an outdoor antenna -- just my Zenith C845 (probably the best AM DXing radio I've ever owned) with its built-in Wavemagnet antenna. Even with many smaller stations permitted to operate with lower power and/or directional signal patterns at night, the 750-mile rule prevents them from interfering with former clear-channel 50kW stations that very likely were there years or decades before any of the smaller local stations were even thought of, and therefore have absolute priority on the frequency in question.

AM DXing can indeed be more interesting than the program content of the stations heard, especially nowadays when many AM stations carry network or satellite programming (particularly talk shows) that is repeated across the US. I think most AM/FM DXers are much more interested in hearing the identification signal of a station they just picked up than they are interested in the programming itself. In many cases, the station ID and local commercials are the only original facets of AM radio programming, as these are always unique to the area in which the station is located.

It wouldn't surprise me either if most big 50kW US stations are running on skeleton crews or less after midnight, when the station is running satellite programming. A small 0.5kW day/0.042kW (42 watts) night former day-only station near where I grew up is now running almost 100 percent satellite-delivered talk programming, as it has been since about five years ago; it would not surprise me if there is only one engineer on duty after midnight and/or after normal business hours, as it doesn't take many people (I don't think, anyway) to operate a radio station programmed almost entirely from satellite feeds. The station near my hometown, in fact, is probably close to 100-percent automated.

A 1kW day/0.5kW night local station about five miles from me is probably, even likely, running 100 percent satellite programming as well, having dropped local programming several years ago. This is the station I've mentioned in previous posts that runs overmodulated black gospel music 24-7; they probably get the programming from one or more satellites and have very few actual people in the studio at any time, except of course for transmitter technicians and the folks who oversee the satellite operations.

The AM and FM dials are pretty full here in Seattle, with nighttime AM DX stations regularly heard from as far south as KNX in LA on 1070 and as far east as the CBC on 540 in Saskatchewan (can't remember the callsign at the moment).

I'm mainly an AM listener but recently decided to give the commercial FM stations a listen. I couldn't believe how many commercials they carry now! I mean, in an hour they probably play 35 minutes of music and 25 of commercials. I don't remember it being like this 20 or even 10 years ago. Guess they're trying to make up the lost ad revenue (i.e. lower rates) by having more advertisers.

AM is probably just as bad, but somehow it's less jarring to hear talk constantly interrupted than music.

Jeffhs said:
"my Zenith C845 (probably the best AM DXing radio I've ever owned) with its built-in Wavemagnet"

Just for grins, have you ever tried AM Dxing with your Icom ham transceiver? I believe that most of these units contain a "general coverage" receiver which will tune the broadcast band. Connected to a loop antenna or length of wire, a modern Icom might well do better than a 50 year old (or so) consumer product. I use my Icom 8500 a lot for AM Dx... The sensitivity, lack of spurious responses, bandwidth choices and upper as well as lower SSB modes provide a definite advantage over a standard "consumer grade" radio for Dxing.

Jeffhs said:
"it would not surprise me if there is only one engineer on duty after midnight and/or after normal business hours, as it doesn't take many people (I don't think, anyway) to operate a radio station programmed almost entirely from satellite feeds."

The situation may be even worse than you describe. The satellite receivers are usually run by a computer and some of the programs may even have been downloaded in advance, and are just playing off of the computers' hard drive. No need for anybody to be there.
The chief engineer or contract engineer is likely asleep,:boring: but with a cell phone turned on... if any of the stations' operating parameters fall outside of pre-programmed limits, the cell phone will provide instant alert, and in many cases the problem may be corrected through the internet control panel displayed on the phone.

jr

The AM and FM dials are pretty full here in Seattle, with nighttime AM DX stations regularly heard from as far south as KNX in LA on 1070 and as far east as the CBC on 540 in Saskatchewan (can't remember the callsign at the moment).

I'm mainly an AM listener but recently decided to give the commercial FM stations a listen. I couldn't believe how many commercials they carry now! I mean, in an hour they probably play 35 minutes of music and 25 of commercials. I don't remember it being like this 20 or even 10 years ago. Guess they're trying to make up the lost ad revenue (i.e. lower rates) by having more advertisers.

AM is probably just as bad, but somehow it's less jarring to hear talk constantly interrupted than music.

Seattle is only about 150 miles from Vancouver, British Columbia; you should be able to hear AM stations from the latter city quite well most of the time (I found out the location of Vancouver while watching the Olympics earlier this year).

You are correct as to the insane amount of commercials on AM and FM radio stations nowadays. It is the same in every major city in the US, no exceptions. I don't listen to radio (AM or FM) much anymore for just that reason, listening instead to Internet radio and my own music collection, a good part of which is on my computer's hard drive; I access it through Nullsoft's Winamp media player and have my computer's sound card connected to my stereo system. The sound quality, IMHO, is excellent.

Talk radio is the reason I gave up on AM, except occasionally for DXing. I am old enough (almost 54) to remember AM music radio (I grew up listening to every rock and roll radio station in Cleveland, not to mention powerhouses of the time the likes of 66WNBC in New York, 89WLS in Chicago [now playing oldies in streaming audio at trueoldies947.com], "The Big Eight" CKLW-AM in Windsor, Ontario, "Big Ten" WCFL 1000 in Chicago, et al.) The oldies (now called "classic hits") in most major cities are now on FM--on 105.7 in Cleveland and also, where I live today (33 miles east of downtown and within a mile of the south shore of Lake Erie), on a station one county east of here on 102.5.

However, that's progress. I like oldies well enough, now being old enough to remember when those songs were top-40, that I bookmarked the websites of WLS-FM and also KOOL-FM 105 in Phoenix, Arizona. That's one great thing about the Internet -- many radio stations now stream their programming online, so one never has to be far away from his or her favorite music. The only thing I don't like about streaming audio is that, to listen to at least one of my favorite stations' streams (wouldn't you know it, the classic hits station in Cleveland) requires a media player I don't have and cannot use on my 10-year-old computer, running Windows 98se. Oh well. WLS-FM's streaming oldies and those from the Phoenix station, IMHO, more than make up for that. :yes:

BTW, from where you are in Seattle, I would think you would hear AM stations just about everywhere on the West Coast and the southwestern US as well. Even within your own state you should be able to hear stations from Spokane and other areas as well, unless the Seattle area is not conducive to DXing by virtue of mountains, hills, etc. California is especially bad in this regard; I read years ago in an old issue of the (now defunct) Popular Electronics magazine a letter to the editor from someone who had lived for decades in the Los Angeles area, and had never heard FM radio stations from any other state. I couldn't believe the L.A. area is that isolated from the rest of the West Coast (or the Western US, for that matter) as far as radio signals are concerned.

Some of my best DX catches on radio were, about 25 years ago, station KOA-850 in Denver, which I heard one early Monday morning when one of the Cleveland AM stations was off the air for maintenance, and WEAT-FM (yes, FM) in West Palm Beach, Florida, forty years ago. I was 14 years old at the time and was listening to a Cleveland FM station that summer afternoon, when the station suddenly went off the air. Imagine my surprise when, about a minute later, WEAT-FM came booming in, in stereo yet, just as clearly as if it were right next door.

On television, I have had several good DX catches, all before I had cable. The best one, I think, however, was WPBT-TV channel 2 in Miami. I lived in an eastern Cleveland suburb at the time, and one summer day about 33 years ago, I idly turned my TV dial to channel 2 and saw the Miami station, as clear as any of the locals in Cleveland. The weird part was that I continued to receive this station, with the same great picture quality, for the next five days in a row! I didn't have a fancy antenna, either--just a pair of rabbit ears atop the set.

I also had a surprise one afternoon, 30+ years ago, when I turned on the TV in my living room, put it on channel 2, and saw--to my dumbfounded surprise--a station ID from a television station in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The TV was hooked up to an antenna pointed at the Cleveland television transmitters, which are all southwest of the city; well, there must have been a wide-open path to the southwest well beyond Cleveland that day, as I was getting TV from Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, just about every station in the southwest on channel 2. I did get one Texas station from the Beaumont/Port Arthur, Area on channel 4 that summer as well, but no other spectacular DX on any other channel except for one day (very early morning) in the '70s, when I picked up channel 5 from Saginaw, Michigan, about a half-hour before channel 5 in Cleveland signed on. I also got Saginaw's channel 25 about an hour or so before the local PBS station began its schedule of broadcasting.

CBC has many small transmitters to fill up isolated areas operating on 540 kHz, for
some reason. The only CBC AM powerhouse that still exists AFAIK is the French
Toronto transmitter on 860 kHz, an easy to identify catch in Eastern Canada and
NE USA. Regards.

CBC has many small transmitters to fill up isolated areas operating on 540 kHz, for
some reason. The only CBC AM powerhouse that still exists AFAIK is the French
Toronto transmitter on 860 kHz, an easy to identify catch in Eastern Canada and
NE USA. Regards.

Their signal pattern must not include northeastern Ohio, as I have never heard anything on 860 from here (eastern Lake County, Ohio, 33 miles east of downtown Cleveland), even at night. I can hear WHAS-840 in Louisville, Kentucky and WWL-AM 870 in New Orleans after sundown, but in all my years of AM DXing I have yet to hear anything on 860. Perhaps that's because there is a 50kW day/4.7 kW night Cleveland station on 850 that bleeds over to 860 just about everywhere the signal can be heard in northeast Ohio and beyond. The problem is worst in areas very near the transmitter, which is located in a southwestern suburb of Cleveland. If you are within a few miles of the station's towers, their daytime signal will take over your radio dial, even being heard in between other local stations. I lived in a Cleveland suburb about 38 years ago on a street just about a third of a mile from a local FM station on 92.3 MHz. That station came in exceedingly well on my FM radios, on my TV on channel 6, and even on a transistorized stereo tape recorder. Believe it or not, I was even hearing the station, very faintly, at several spots on the ten-meter ham band on my old Hallicrafters SX101-A, which was the receiver in my first ham radio station.

Leaving that suburb (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) three years later cured the problem; it did not repeat itself, either when I moved back to the suburb where I grew up or when I moved to where I live now. I don't have that kind of trouble here since I am perhaps 40 miles from Cleveland's AM and FM radio stations, and at least as far from the city's TV stations. The only thing that could possibly cause me trouble here as far as interference is concerned (but doesn't, thank goodness) is a 1kW/0.5kW (day/night) AM station five miles away. The only problem that station ever caused me (if you can call it a problem) is that it comes in at two points, 900 kHz (0.9 MHz) apart on the digital AM/FM tuner in my stereo system. Most of the time, however, I don't even know the station is there.

I've never forgotten the problems that 27.5-kW ERP station's signal caused me, and I'm sure I never will. I had an aunt who lived only about five miles from Cleveland's TV transmitters; she could get excellent reception on all three (at the time) local network stations, using just a length of wire on the set's antenna terminals. I swear she was getting almost city-grade reception at times without an antenna--that's how strong the signals were in her area.

AM's far from dead. A good example is being set by an independent operator in St. Cloud (about 75 miles E of me). They have a long-established hard rock FM, an all-sports outlet on 660, a classic country on 800...and recently signed on a nostalgia format ("Uptown Radio") on 1010. They also have a CP (construction permit) for ANOTHER AM...a 250 watter on 540! The 660, 800 & 1010 signals are all directional with sharply-reduced nightttime power, and IIRC the 540 will be directional as well to protect Regina, Sask. Here's the cool part: ALL the AMs run through ONE antenna system through a complicated system of filters, combiners, etc. The system was designed by my friend Mark Persons of M.W. Persons & Associates and works exactly as designed. Mark is a real stickler for quality audio...and the stations' sound shows it. Visit his website @ www.mwpersons.com for pix of this & other installations he's done. Mark's an engineer's engineer for sure.

Jeffhs, I'd hate to see AM go away!

When I travel, I prefer listening to AM and if it's nightime I'll dx depending on where I am, and I like to hear the weather and road conditions also.

There's also Trucker related shows on at night too..more people may listen to AM then you realize, and like I mentioned I live in a major market area.

It's bad enough that we have to feed our vintage TV's artificial signals but with the mobility of AM (and our vintage radios) we can still have AM!

Me too. I love to listen to music over AM, I even prefer that over FM music. I guess I just think back to when I was a kid. I do believe AM will be with us for a long time to come, AM does have one advantage, it can cover longer distances in the day and much more at night. I like to tune around when I'm out of town and still be able to hear Pittsburgh in places like North Carolina, Florida and so on. My uncle in Florida up until he passed away always listened to KDKA at night and my cousins forever remember him trying to tune it in over the static and so on.

I don't know about how many radio stations there are in Canada but if we went all or even 90% FM in this country, the band would be so overcrowded. I remember even in 1987 when I drove through the San Jauquin Valley on I-5 in California, there were several FM stations battling it out over the same frequency on my car radio. I think it is a mistake to go over to FM all the way, if you're out in the country, at least you still know what is going on by pulling in stations at night.

I can get Chicago fine here in south central PA. Don and Roma in the morning, etc. etc. I can almost always get WBBM and WLS. Early winter mornings in the car I would switch from them to WWL New Orleans, and even WHO, Des Moines sometimes. But could not always get KDKA Pittsburgh. Back in the day when WLS played music, remember "Double-you, ELL, ess: Larry LUjack!"

You could be in a "skip zone" for KDKA where the signal is above you before it comes back down a distance away. Also, you're in a mountainous area which can play tricks with a signal.

I've experienced amazing skip before,

One day driving home from work, I had an extremely hard time receiving any local stations due to interference from distant stations, but had no problem receiving WQOL 103.7 FM from Vero Beach, FL. No static whatsoever despite moving at 55mph down US167.

On the day of the DTV changeover, as alot of stations here in AR and over in TN switched over, I was able to receive WUND-2 from Edenton NC, and later on, KDKA and WTAE from Pittsburgh, PA. KDKA came in clear enough for a good amount of time that day, for me to watch part of a soap opera along with some message on the bottom about the DTV transition.

AM's far from dead...

In the US, yes, you are correct (I hope we have AM here for quite a while, as it is still an excellent medium for news, local emergency information and those in FM fringe areas, not to mention AM DXers), but in Canada they are silencing AMs left and right, as Rodzilla mentioned in his post. I cannot begin to imagine a city such as Halifax, NS with absolutely no AM radio except one small station on 540 kHz. I don't know how big Halifax is, but unless the one remaining local station has a 50kW signal, a network of repeaters, or Halifax is a very small city, I can't see how one station can cover the entire area. I live in an area of northeastern Ohio that several Cleveland-area stations do not reach at night and can just barely be heard during the daytime; this describes a 500-watt daytime/42-watt nighttime station near my hometown to a T, and can probably describe a lot of other small, local-service stations--many located in small towns or suburban areas--as well.

Fifty-kilowatt stations such as CKLW in Windsor, Ontario will likely be around for many years to come, even if and when many of the smaller AMs in Canada eventually go silent or to FM. CKLW was a top-40 rock and roll station on 800 kHz in the '60s-'70s, flipping to a news-talk format some time later (I'm not sure exactly when the switch actually occurred). Their FM arm for many years was CKLW-FM on 93.7; I don't know what their format was at that time (probably elevator music), but I do know that some time either in the late '90s or very early in the 21st century the station changed its call sign to CIDR and adopted a modern rock format. CKLW-TV is now CBET-TV channel 9, serving Windsor and Detroit; it is a CBC television network affiliate. I was able to see the TV station here in northeastern Ohio from early spring until late fall before I got cable; I still hear the FM station on occasion when the conditions are right.

The FM radio dial in Canada must not be nearly as crowded with stations as it is here in the US if many Canadian AMs are going silent and, in many cases, transferring their entire program schedules to FM. This may well be why many US AM stations go silent rather than switching to streaming audio over the Internet or to FM when they find themselves on the verge of failure--again, the FM dial in most areas of this country is far too crowded as it is, with most existing FMs already running established formats (some having been on these stations for decades) and unwilling to abandon them any time soon. I think of a small station about 20 miles south of here that went silent about five years ago, after going through no fewer than four formats--including a satellite feed from Sporting News Radio--in just under 40 years. I wonder if that station might still be active today had it switched to FM, if only to a low-power signal at the low end of the dial, below 92 MHz. This would have worked out perfectly (in fact the results would have probably been phenomenal); since the station was located in Geauga County, Ohio, the elevation ASL (above sea level) of which is much higher than most other parts of this area, any station replacing it would have probably had incredible coverage of the county, several surrounding counties, and much of the greater Cleveland area as well.

I've experienced amazing skip before,

One day driving home from work, I had an extremely hard time receiving any local stations due to interference from distant stations, but had no problem receiving WQOL 103.7 FM from Vero Beach, FL. No static whatsoever despite moving at 55mph down US167.

On the day of the DTV changeover, as alot of stations here in AR and over in TN switched over, I was able to receive WUND-2 from Edenton NC, and later on, KDKA and WTAE from Pittsburgh, PA. KDKA came in clear enough for a good amount of time that day, for me to watch part of a soap opera along with some message on the bottom about the DTV transition.

I had that happen to me just north of the Arkansas border a few months ago - for a few minutes I got a station at 104.7 from Hollywood, FL, then a few minutes later it changed to a station from north Florida - drowning out the 104.7 I was trying to listen to that's about 70 miles from where I was.

I had my very first ever digital FM DX last week with my Sangean HDT-1 HDRadio that I've had for about 6 months now. KDWB 101.3 from Minneapolis was coming in good enough for their HD to pop on for a few minutes here in southwest WI. A distance of 170 miles.

Cool ! My almost dx (about 110 miles away) classical station increased the power of their digital sidebands by 6db a few months ago and are almost 100% digital copy now on my Sony F1HD/APS9 set up. Some stations have been able to increase by 10db... can't wait 'till the tropo gets a little better, could land a few digital Dx logs this summer. :yes:

jr

IIRC, Canada used to have AM broadcast radio stations up around 6MHz in very sparsely populated areas. As a signal on 6MHz could cover very large areas. Like in the northern end of their various provinces, or in the area just south of the north pole.

Starting mid-week I'm going to be laid up for several days and plan to do a lot of DXing. I have my Superadio, Realistic DX-440 and '42 Zenith 14-tube monster at bedside, along with some coax run to that side of the room to make use of my outdoor antenna for FM. Just wish I had a rotator on that thing. I was going to patch in a portable cassette recorder but the belt went bad, c'est la vie.

IIRC, Canada used to have AM broadcast radio stations up around 6MHz in very sparsely populated areas. As a signal on 6MHz could cover very large areas. Like in the northern end of their various provinces, or in the area just south of the north pole.

CFRB in Toronto (1010 kc) still does broadcast on 6070 kc, I pick them up here in Pittsburgh.