In the 1971 TV documentary entitled An American Family, the teenage son of the family is shown driving very early one morning in Santa Barbara, where they live (either he's coming home very late from a night of partying or going somewhere very early). He is listening to the radio, and the ID is heard -- it's 1090 AM and sounds like it's booming in.
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AM Frequency of the Week: 1090
- Thread starter cyberdad
- Start date
In the 1971 TV documentary entitled An American Family, the teenage son of the family is shown driving very early one morning in Santa Barbara, where they live (either he's coming home very late from a night of partying or going somewhere very early). He is listening to the radio, and the ID is heard -- it's 1090 AM and sounds like it's booming in.
An addendum to my previous post, lately I can't even hear KAAY well on this frequency due to the HD hash from 1080, which I assume is from the station in Dallas. It's obliterating 1070 and 1090 most of the night now. Ditto HD from WSCR and KMOX. It's like all the sudden they're running full tilt boogie all night long.
Here in Cincinnati on the AM 1090 Dial.
Daytime : 1090 WKFI Wilmington, Ohio (Weak)
Nighttime : Mixed, Scrambled up mess (Cincinnati), and 1090 KAAY Little Rock, AR (Santa Claus, IN)
One time, I was in Santa Claus, IN for a Halloween trip and I tuned into the 1090 dial. There's nothing but mixed up signals. I've listened to the mixed up signals but then, An ID called KAAY as a really weak signal told their call letters. I was surprised that KAAY was there!
Daytime : 1090 WKFI Wilmington, Ohio (Weak)
Nighttime : Mixed, Scrambled up mess (Cincinnati), and 1090 KAAY Little Rock, AR (Santa Claus, IN)
One time, I was in Santa Claus, IN for a Halloween trip and I tuned into the 1090 dial. There's nothing but mixed up signals. I've listened to the mixed up signals but then, An ID called KAAY as a really weak signal told their call letters. I was surprised that KAAY was there!
The station has two very narrow lobes, one apporoximately NNW and the other SSE. The power in each lobe approaches 200 kw.
I just looked up the radio pattern on radio locator, and you are correct. About the power though, all information I could find, states 50KW.
A non-directional station sends the amount of authorized power equally in all directions. The lobes created by using a directional antenna concentrate more power into the lobes. When this is done, less power....often a lot less....goes to the the null(s). So in the case of a 50kw directional with two major lobes and a tight pattern, you could easily wind up with nearly 200kw going into the lobes, and 1kw (or less) in the nulls.
Where I live, there's a 10kw transmitter about 30 miles from me that I normally can't hear at night because of a very severe null in my direction. That's Milwaukee's WISN (1130). While I can't hear them at night, their signal along the entire length of lake Michigan north of Milwaukee and on into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan farther into Canada is tremendous! All the result of a tight directional pattern famously "shoehorned in" between high powered stations in Detroit and Minneapolis, as well as protecting 50kw KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana at night.
Somehow I missed this frequency, so here we go.
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:
Daytime: Sometimes I get weak WKBZ Muskegon, but not very often. WGLC used to be common before they went dark
Nightime: KAAY but it's not the powerhouse it used to be. WBAL and KMXA (probably cheating) make it sometimes.
DX/RETRO: Some DX catches on this frequency are KEXS (Excel Springs, MO), WFVC (New Haven, IN), WISS (berlim, WI), WMYD Rice Lake (WI), WHGG (Kingsport, TN), CHRS (Longuevil, PQ) as well as WILD Boston during a DX test transmission. XEPRS (Rosartito, Mexico) and JOM (Cartagena, Colombia) the two foreigners heard.
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:
Daytime: Sometimes I get weak WKBZ Muskegon, but not very often. WGLC used to be common before they went dark
Nightime: KAAY but it's not the powerhouse it used to be. WBAL and KMXA (probably cheating) make it sometimes.
DX/RETRO: Some DX catches on this frequency are KEXS (Excel Springs, MO), WFVC (New Haven, IN), WISS (berlim, WI), WMYD Rice Lake (WI), WHGG (Kingsport, TN), CHRS (Longuevil, PQ) as well as WILD Boston during a DX test transmission. XEPRS (Rosartito, Mexico) and JOM (Cartagena, Colombia) the two foreigners heard.
On my first-ever paid vacation (the Navy doesn't count) I found myself in Clearwater Florida. I decided on Clearwater because an ex from Long Island had moved to there with her folks. And a radio/DX buddy from Long Island had moved there.
So there really was no choice.
At a laundromat into where Roger and I finaly stumbled went (in our underwear, since it was August in Florida) its house speakers was playing KAAY!
KAAY used to sign off on Monday mornings with the Brubeck song 'Take Five'. Give the tubes five hours of rest.
Up on Long Island, of course, we'd need WBAL to be off the air to hear KAAY. But I've heard that KAAY used to blow into Minneapolis the way, say, WKBW Buffalo used to rival the NYC Top 40 signals.
So there really was no choice.
At a laundromat into where Roger and I finaly stumbled went (in our underwear, since it was August in Florida) its house speakers was playing KAAY!
KAAY used to sign off on Monday mornings with the Brubeck song 'Take Five'. Give the tubes five hours of rest.
Up on Long Island, of course, we'd need WBAL to be off the air to hear KAAY. But I've heard that KAAY used to blow into Minneapolis the way, say, WKBW Buffalo used to rival the NYC Top 40 signals.
Heard in Colorado Springs last night just before 10PM Mountain: A solid signal on 1090. That never happens here. Sounded like religious talk, could it be that KAAY was left on ND day pattern in error? Wait. it's the tail end of a Catholic oriented program, maybe not. Indeed, ID was KEXS Excelsior Springs (Kansas City) MO.
Will there be a repeat performance tonight? Maybe there's a malfunctioning timer circuit? If it's there tonight, I'll give the station a courtesy call tomorrow.
Will there be a repeat performance tonight? Maybe there's a malfunctioning timer circuit? If it's there tonight, I'll give the station a courtesy call tomorrow.
Minnesota sits in one of the nulls of the KEXS pattern, so I imagine that with KAAY back at full power, KEXS was creating some subtle background interference for the Northland but the Catholics of KC would otherwise lose out to the Little Rock Paid Preachers by about....I dunno... St. Joseph MO?
Meanwhile the KEXS main lobe is pointed right at Colorado. I probably had a more readable signal from KEXS, being well outside the KAAY night pattern, than someone in the western burbs of KC. It would be interesting to know what would be KEXS nighttime NIF if it could operate the 10 kw DA at night.
Meanwhile the KEXS main lobe is pointed right at Colorado. I probably had a more readable signal from KEXS, being well outside the KAAY night pattern, than someone in the western burbs of KC. It would be interesting to know what would be KEXS nighttime NIF if it could operate the 10 kw DA at night.
Thanks for that information. I just wanted to keep it simple, and state whats listed on radio locator / Wiki as 50KW officially. I'll leave that part out from now on.
How much power would you say WISN sends at you at night? I've only been to Milwaukee once so I've never had first-hand experience with this pattern, but I have a similar experience with the 1130 in Detroit. They don't send much power toward Toledo during the day and are totally, totally gone at night.
Perhaps 250 watts, if even that. My brother lives about 12 miles southwest of their sticks (9 of them), and the night signal is pretty "ragged" where he is. Driving further southwest towards my home, WISN becomes unlistenable after less than 5 miles around the town of Silver Lake, WI. One summer evening a few years ago, I was driving home after dinner with my brother and his wife. As I was exiting Silver Lake, there was a pattern change, and WISN just went "pffft" and vanished. So much for 10kw less than twenty miles from where I was
It probably should be noted that WISN at night does just fine in Milwaukee and immediate suburbs. Solid city-grade signal, no quirks or dead spots IME.
The more transmission elements, or array elements there are, the more the station can control the shape of their transmitted signal:
no significant signal here and here, some signal this way, and a LOT of signal over there, right toward downtown.
KFXR, Dallas, uses a full dozen elements for the night array on 1190;
the joke is that they are super strong downtown along Market street but barely receivable on the adjacent sidewalks.
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