AM Frequency of the Week: 860

Moving right along, we go up one more spot on the AM dial this week to 860. What are you guys hearing there?

Here in the far northwest Chicago burbs, for me during the daytime it's all splatter from our local 850, WAIT. When WAIT has been off, I get a weak, but very listenable signal from 250-watt ND WNOV from Milwaukee. Around sunset, I've heard 10kw KOAM/KKOW from Pittsburg, Kansas several times.

Nights are typically all CJBC. Signal is usually good. But typically not quite as good as CFZM, which is diplexed from the same stick just off the 401 freeway west of Toronto.

In the near north Chicago burbs during the day I can null the WAIT splatter enough to hear a weak WNOV.
At night it's all CJBC.

In eastern Iowa, I hear KWPC from nearby Muscatine, IA daytime, and CJBC reliably at night, pretty much every night.

Another good frequency for me here in my surrogate DX location, Cyberdad -- thx!

Daytimes it's WWDB (or whatever they are now) out of Philly.

Sunsets are good (I'm never up at SRS except for the rare occasion I drag one in): A WBGR from MD was logged. So was a WACB from NC. I have that one taped.

It's CJBC here after dark.
Although, one night in March 1999 I caught English way under them. Hmmm. It was off a GE Superadio II. You should excuse the expression, but I laid the radio at the base of the 4-foot loop and turned and tilted the antennae to and fro. The setup somehow gave me a WICKED null of CJBC, and an ID from WAMO in Pittsburgh.

And one Christmas Eve in 2015 I danced around the room after hearing everyone's favorite, ID-able station, the irreplaceable Radio Reloj.

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Lol -- Coming with this 'new' house was an electric can opener/radio secured under a kitchen cabinet! It's a tradition every Christmas Eve here to wrap gifts and do some nog while CJBC is playing. Despite the missus and me each being of partial French distraction, we understand maybe one out of every ten sentences. But CJBC is a Holiday tradition, even if it's coming out of a can opener.

860 in my area is a mish mash at daytime. Usually nothing comes in daytime except possibly WFMO Fairmont, NC. At night, it is usually CJBC or Radio Reloj. Once in a while I hear WDMG from Douglas, GA. WDMG used to be a much stronger signal here.

They usually carry the Atlanta Braves games during the season, and point a lot of their signal toward the east.

Nothing daytime in Columbus, Ohio. At night, always CJBC ... same reception here as cyberdad reports from Chicagoland.

In Northwest Arkansas -

Daytime - KKOW, Pittsburg, KS

Nighttime - Possibly KKOW, with another station, or maybe a mix of two different stations.

Houston daytime - weak KONO with heavy crosstalk from KEYH. Nighttime - jumble of stations.

Steve Green NEPA said:

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Lol -- Coming with this 'new' house was an electric can opener/radio secured under a kitchen cabinet! It's a tradition every Christmas Eve here to wrap gifts and do some nog while CJBC is playing. Despite the missus and me each being of partial French distraction, we understand maybe one out of every ten sentences. But CJBC is a Holiday tradition, even if it's coming out of a can opener.

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Love your can opener/radio story, Steve. My "soft spot" for CJBC (as I've posted previously) is that my daughter's fluency in French began with her listening to it when she was in high school and college.

icybluelake said:

In eastern Iowa, I hear KWPC from nearby Muscatine, IA daytime....

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Ah, yes....KWPC. I worked there for a few months in 1972. Very impressive signal for 250 watts. The transmitter was in the control room, right next to the board! It's the only place I ever worked during my years in radio where the PD came in one day and broke the record that I had just played on the air in half. Bill Withers "Use Me". The PD was Blean Calkins, who I guess thought the song was suggestive or dirty or something. Blean was quite a character. Better known for his sports broadcasting than his programming decisions. For example, he made us broadcast a half hour of marching band music before his broadcasts of High School and University of Iowa football games. He also once had me do a broadcast (radio, mind you) of a "Miss Iowa" pageant.

I don't know how I got through it or how it sounded, but I did have plenty of eye candy to keep me awake!

cyberdad said:

He also once had me do a broadcast (radio, mind you) of a "Miss Iowa" pageant.

I don't know how I got through it or how it sounded, but I did have plenty of eye candy to keep me awake!

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That is a hilarious story. I've heard stuff like that on the radio, although not for years, and it always begs the question of why it should be broadcast on radio. Pre-television, I could understand.

What a shame about the Bill Withers record. I've always been a big fan of his music.

Daytime in San Antonio is local KONO.

At night when KONO drops to 0.9 kW and goes directional, it can be nulled pretty well, allowing me to hear KKOW, XENL "Radio Recuerdo" in Monterrey, and XEUN "Radio UNAM" in Mexico City. XENL is usually most dominant, while XEUN always has a weaker signal and lurks underneath when it shows up.

I should mention that KFST Ft. Stockton TX has a pretty amazing daytime footprint for a 250 watter. All over the Big Bend, decent signal in Midland. Listenable in Lubbock. Much more than those maps on Radio Locator indicate.

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WWDB Philly(formerly WTEL; those calls now on 610, ex-WIP).
Night: CJBC Toronto.

In Pittsburgh local WAOB, on the original WAMO frequency.

Owned and operated by some old-school Catholic group, it programs a mix of dissertations on the Catechism, Papal Encyclicals,
the Rosary, Gregorian Chant, and long stretches of dead air for reflection. A truly unusual format.

Back before they upgraded the nighttime signal CJBC would boom in here pretty well.

YAKIMA WA
Day (and also night) - KPAM Troutdale, OR (News/Talk).
Also heard at night - KTRB San Francisco (the most common, with Salem's conservative talk format "The Answer"), sometimes XEMO Tijuana (Regional Mexican), sometimes CBKF-2 Saskatoon (with Radio Canada French, always // 690 Gravelbourg so not CJBC) and sometimes CFPR Prince Rupert (CBC Radio 1).

Want list - Too many to list. Obviously CJBC, if I can hear a local ID. CFZM comes in often during the winter, but never CJBC (just CBKF-2). Why hasn't KKAT SLC made it here yet even on their 10KW day power? KMVP Phoenix's gospel should come out of the noise like a ton of bricks, but never heard...also on my want list is KKOW Pittsburg, KS. The night pattern blasts throughout the midwest.