AM Frequency of the Week: 1340

[cyberdad]

40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Days: 1340 is another "Battle of the weak signals. WJYS Milwaukee, and WJOL, Joliet, IL. Both are about 58 miles from me. WJYS, however, usually gets slightly the better of it. Which I attribute to a path with a little less urban development..

Night: 1340 is typical graveyard family slop, but it's one of my favorite gy DX channels due to the fact that it's the one with fewest transmitters in close proximity to my location. As usual I hung out on the upcoming FOTW these past couple of pre-dawn mornings, to see what might be coming through. This morning: nothing broke through. But yesterday at around 4:00am CDT, WSOY from Decatur, IL was solid for the better part of half an hour. Distance about 160 miles. Other recents on 1340 for me include, WSJW Grand Rapids, WTRC, Elkhart, IN, KROS Clinton, IA, KROC, Rochester, MN, and WLDY. Ladysmith, WI.

Other Location/Retro: One of my best catches on 1340 was daytime skywave from KODE, Evergrreen, MT. Around noontime one Febkruary Day 2019 on the St. Paul Alberta SDR (Edmonton area). Distance about 350 mi IIRC. Then there's WTAN from Clearwater, FL, which is a daytime regular via saltwater path at our beach location near Pensacola. Also about a little more than 300 miles.

Finally, at my college location in southeast, Iowa, I was on a mission to snag WRIT (now-WJYS) from Milwaukee. It took until my junior year, but I finally did it one Monday morning around 1am. In for about 5-10 `minutes. Distance about 200 miles.

 

[gr8oldies]

East Tennessee: Local WKGN day and night, but the graveyard mess takes over only a few miles from downtown. In Sevierville WGRV, Greenville TN will come in under WKGN.
Retro/other: I worked in the building that had the WIZE, Springfield OH transmitter in it (fun fact: It was the "experimental" station for iBoc. Otherwise in Western Ohio it was either WIZE or WLBC (currently WMUN).

 

[fybush]

From Rochester NY, usually a very fringe WLVL Lockport at about 60 miles. Not a very exciting channel.

 

[gr8oldies]

Let us not be remiss in mentioning WXKX, Clarksburg WV which was widely heard all over the Midwest and Eastern USA with a continuous busy signal. If it wasn't for bad luck, this station would have no luck at all as WXKX is silent again due to a lightning strike.

 

[tvnut]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago, it's WJOL Joliet 24/7, a strong signal from 20-odd miles away days, and present but with rumbling underneath at night.

WJOL's tower is in a forest, believe it or not, with clearings cut for the guy wires and immediately around the tower. A couple of years ago, it was knocked off the air in a storm, and in came KICK Springfield, Mo., and WJYI Milwaukee. Otherwise, the only other 1340 catch is WHPI Herrin, Ill. way back when Mutual was still about.

 

[CTListener]

Nothing here in Hartland, VT. Back in Meriden, CT, it was WNHC New Haven, simulcasting the public radio programming of WSHU(AM) Westport. When I came to Connecticut in the early '80s, WNHC was the main station serving New Haven's African American community.

 

[WCJ]

Orange County, TX Days-KOLE, Port Arthur, TX for the most part barely listenable. I'm guessing that they aren't at their 1kw. Nights & presunrise a mixture of the GY signals with the usual visitors being KVNN Victoria, TX, KRBA Lufkin, TX and KAND Corsicana, TX.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Northern England (1341): absolutely nothing, day or night. I think there are some relatively low-powered 5-10kW stations in Spain that drift in on occasion by night, but for the most part it's a clear channel previously allocated to the UK for high power.

Until summer 2021, it was the frequency of BBC Radio Ulster, the BBC's service for Northern Ireland which came in rock solid day and night across most of northern England and Scotland. Its transmitter was at Lisnagarvey to the SW of Belfast, and is Western Europe's only example of a Blaw-Knox tower, still in use for a few other services for the time being. BBC Radio Ulster continues as an FM network and on digital platforms.

 

[ContinuousWave]

Orange County, TX Days-KOLE, Port Arthur, TX for the most part barely listenable. I'm guessing that they aren't at their 1kw. Nights & presunrise a mixture of the GY signals with the usual visitors being KVNN Victoria, TX, KRBA Lufkin, TX and KAND Corsicana, TX.

I got called by Simah Barack a couple of months ago but I didn't return his call at the time. I don't know who's doing the engineering but evidently they don't know what they're doing! When I last listened to KOLE, The audio sounded highly distorted as well as the RF signal.

 

[jim-satx]

Orange County, TX Days-KOLE, Port Arthur, TX for the most part barely listenable. I'm guessing that they aren't at their 1kw. Nights & presunrise a mixture of the GY signals with the usual visitors being KVNN Victoria, TX, KRBA Lufkin, TX and KAND Corsicana, TX.

What format does KOLE have these days? Last time I heard the station - in 2015 - it was playing smooth jazz.

Lately at night I sometimes hear fadeups of easy-listening and smooth jazz on 1340 to my E/W. At first I thought it might be KOLE, but now I’m guessing it was something else because the audio wasn’t distorted.

 

[schmave]

WIZE in Springfield is the closest 1340 to me, about 55 miles west. That signal is pretty much on its last breath by the time it gets here. Extremely weak, but there.
That said, I was surprised on a work trip to Dayton earlier this year how close in Muncie's WMUN, then WXFN, gives WIZE trouble.

 

[gr8oldies]

WIZE in Springfield is the closest 1340 to me, about 55 miles west. That signal is pretty much on its last breath by the time it gets here. Extremely weak, but there.
That said, I was surprised on a work trip to Dayton earlier this year how close in Muncie's WMUN, then WXFN, gives WIZE trouble.

I still remember Muncie as WLBC (the calls remain on 104.1), but in Troy, WIZE can be easily nulled.

 

[cyberdad]

Northern England (1341): absolutely nothing, day or night. I think there are some relatively low-powered 5-10kW stations in Spain that drift in on occasion by night, but for the most part it's a clear channel previously allocated to the UK for high power.

I've heard the Spanish 1341(s) on some of the Northern Europe SDRs. Sometimes with a good signal. No specific memory of anything in particular on my dozen or so visits to the UK (mostly London).

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Blush. ONE (1) station logged here on 1340.
1340 WYCB DC (8-5-94). From 28 years ago. Perhaps I get a point for that because it was at night, eh?
There seems to be this 24-7-52 signal viaduct between here to Balt-DC. But Wilkes-Barre is a lot closer. I'll put my ear to the grindstone soon here for that one. When D.C. was W-Double-OK it was always a difficult one to log.
* * * * *
Back in Queens near JFK Int'l, that WBRE was a really tough one -- the last Scranton-Wilkes-Barre station most of us four were to log. 20 others got pulled in there, with WMID Atlantic City booming in daytime. A null would get us a steady WNHC -- CT Listener's favourite station of all-time, hi.
The previously posted WKGN was a downright, all-night pest for a few weeks. And Cyberdad's WRIT popped up a few times during fortunate conditions, like when 90 other stations on 1340 had signed off Monday mornings.

 

[schmave]

I still remember Muncie as WLBC (the calls remain on 104.1), but in Troy, WIZE can be easily nulled.

WLBC is what I remember from my Toledo broadcasting days, since WLBC was (and I believe still is) the flagship station for Ball State sports. Home of the late, legendary Morry Mannies.

 

[gr8oldies]

WLBC is what I remember from my Toledo broadcasting days, since WLBC was (and I believe still is) the flagship station for Ball State sports. Home of the late,jijmjjjmjjmjmmkjiko[; legendary Morry Mannies.

I was more focused on FM during high school days, when they carried Drake-Chenault's "Solid Gold" format with oldies and currents. The AM was very MOR as I recall.

 

[WCJ]

What format does KOLE have these days? Last time I heard the station - in 2015 - it was playing smooth jazz.

Lately at night I sometimes hear fadeups of easy-listening and smooth jazz on 1340 to my E/W. At first I thought it might be KOLE, but now I’m guessing it was something else because the audio wasn’t distorted.

I was able to hear them one day last week & they sounded like some sort or religious programming. They don't stop the scan on my truck radio. And neither does 1300, KHTW, anymore. Don't know what their output is on either one, now.

Retro - KOLE, back in their heyday, 60's, was one of the go to area stations along with KAYC, 1450, now KIKR with sports programming, and KLVI, 560.

 

[dxsphere]

Tri Cities, WA

1340 is a local - KJOX Kennewick.

 

[CADXER]

Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WJOL
Nightime: weak WJOL with jumbled mess underneath

DX/RETRO: KBTA (Batesville, AR), WJYI (Milwaukee, WI), WSOY (Decatur, IL), WTRC (Elkhart, IN), WLBC (Muncie, IN), WHPI (Herrin, IL), KROS (Clinton, IA) some of my DX on this frequency.

 

[CADXER]

WJOL's tower is in a forest, believe it or not, with clearings cut for the guy wires and immediately around the tower.

Here is a picture of WJOL: