Lake Ponchartrain Causeway Friday, Oct 2, 2015.

I tried this a few years ago, but this time I made it a point to do it start to finish. All 23 miles from Mandeville to New Orleans (actually Metairie). Lake Ponchartrain is connected to the Gulf of Mexico, but is brackish. So the conductivity would be less than the open seawater adjacent to it. Maybe somebody smarter than me around here knows what the conductivity actually is. Anyway it was a clear and cool (for New Orleans) afternoon. 3:30pm local time. Hyundai Santa Fe rental car. The causeway is almost totally free of ambient electrical noise.

Here are the highlights of a partial AM scan,,,,

530: R. Enciclopedia. Very weak, but the instrumental music & female announcer were unmistakable.
540: Two weak signals mixing. I finally got a positive ID from the better of the two, which turned out to be WFLF
590: Was looking for R. Nacional, but all I was getting was splatter from the local on 600 (WVOG)
620: WDAE with a fair-weak signal. In the past around New Orleans, I've also heard snatches of WJDX. No trace of it this time
640: Didn't hang around long enough to ID what I was hearing here. Assume KTIB. No Cuba
670: R. Reloj. Weak, but alone.
710: Unidentifiable Carrier. Might have been the "Cuban Chorus"....or WMTM....or something else entirely
740: Something else very weak and unidentifiable. KTRH?
970: WFLA. Weak, but alone and was able to positively identify
1030: Religious programming. KCTA?
1180: Thought I heard Spanish on a carrier here. Cuba? I'm not at all sure.

By this time, the causeway journey ended and I was back in New Orleans suburbia.

Thanks for the report Cyberdad. The last time I was on that causeway I was switching between WNOE and WTIX which should give you an idea how long it's been for me.
FWIW, KTRH was listenable in parts of the New Orleans area when I was down there in the 60s and 70s.

radioman148 said:

Thanks for the report Cyberdad. The last time I was on that causeway I was switching between WNOE and WTIX which should give you an idea how long it's been for me.
FWIW, KTRH was listenable in parts of the New Orleans area when I was down there in the 60s and 70s.

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You can still listen to WTIX. It's a rimshot FM on 94.3. 100kw at nearly 1,000 feet, but still a rimshot, and invisible in the ratings. Still, it's a pretty decent recreation of the "original" WTIX complete with some of the vintage jingles and imaging. They're streaming, so you might want to check them out. As for KTRH, whatever I was getting on 740 wasn't identifiable.

Thanks, I'll check out WTIX online.

Nice catches of WDAE and WFLA.

1030 had to be KCTA. They are very hard to ID.

Nice post! Never been able to DX in the New Orleans area.
740 almost had to be KTRH. Decent amount of signal pointed at New Orleans, though by no means their maximum signal, from almost 300 miles west. I do not think that'd be WMSP from Montgomery, Alabama (not with the ground conductivity of the South) or WYGM out of Orlando that far west although if it wasn't KTRH, Orlando probably is the culprit. I heard Orlando on 740 when I visited Panama City Beach several years ago. All KTRH at night.
As for 1180, my guess is it's the Cuban that blocks Marti. I heard it loud and clear on the same visit to Panama City Beach.

schmave said:

Nice post! Never been able to DX in the New Orleans area.
740 almost had to be KTRH. Decent amount of signal pointed at New Orleans, though by no means their maximum signal, from almost 300 miles west. I do not think that'd be WMSP from Montgomery, Alabama (not with the ground conductivity of the South) or WYGM out of Orlando that far west although if it wasn't KTRH, Orlando probably is the culprit. I heard Orlando on 740 when I visited Panama City Beach several years ago. All KTRH at night.
As for 1180, my guess is it's the Cuban that blocks Marti. I heard it loud and clear on the same visit to Panama City Beach.

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WMSP is barely audible on the stretch of gulf coast where we frequently stay at the Alabama-Florida state line, so I'd rule them out. I'm pretty sure what I heard was whatever was left of KTRH. At our other favorite Florida getaway spot at St. Pete beach, you can sometimes catch KRTH under WYGM during the day.

I'm guessing what I heard on 1180 was Cuba, but it was very weak, so I couldn't say that with complete certainty. 1180 is easy at the Florida-Alabama line at the gulf, and easier yet at St. Pete beach.

Finally, gar, I'm very comfortable in assuming 1030 was KCTA. Had I not been off the causeway and checking into a hotel by the top of the hour, I'm sure I could have confirmed it.

cyberdad said:

WMSP is barely audible on the stretch of gulf coast where we frequently stay at the Alabama-Florida state line, so I'd rule them out. I'm pretty sure what I heard was whatever was left of KTRH. At our other favorite Florida getaway spot at St. Pete beach, you can sometimes catch KRTH under WYGM during the day.

Finally, gar, I'm very comfortable in assuming 1030 was KCTA. Had I not been off the causeway and checking into a hotel by the top of the hour, I'm sure I could have confirmed it.

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Dyslexic moment? KTRH is Houston's news talk station KRTH is LA's big oldies station.

In the 90's, I would listen to KCTA up to and way past Baton Rouge when driving on I-10. It used to be Contemporary Christian and was a pretty good station. It would fade about where the big CCM station in Mobile / Pensacola started coming in on FM. Their daytime signal is a monster, I've heard them daytime in New Mexico, in the Texas Panhandle, in Big Bend region. I can't help but think that a better format on the station would net them sizable rim shot audiences in San Antonio and Houston, where they sound almost local sandwiched between two locals that, depending on where you are in Houston, are actually weaker than KCTA.

rbrucecarter5 said:

Dyslexic moment? KTRH is Houston's news talk station KRTH is LA's big oldies station.

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Well, if any Los Angeles FM can make it to New Orleans on a regular basis....it might be K-Earth with their monster signal from Mt. Wilson.

I remember hearing KRTH when I was in New Orleans every day, and it was almost listenable, despite the locals at 730 and 750. 730 is long off the air now.