AM Frequency of the Week: 1560

Moving ever closer to the top of the dial, our stop for this week is 1560. So please tell us, what are YOU hearing there these days?

Here northwest of Chicago daytime, it used to be a fair signal from WSQR in Sycamore, IL. But they moved to 1180 several years ago, and now 1560 is pretty much blank during the hours of daylight.

At night, 1560 for many years produced a good signal from WDXR from Paducah, KY. 1kw, and then later 5kw, but in each case aimed right at me. It usually sounded just like a higher-powered clear channel station. WQXR/WQEW also used to appear from time to time, and even take over the channel every now and then. It was usually quite easy to null one of those two stations and hear the other. Although WDXR was the stronger of the two, you could aim the radio east, lose WDXR, and while away your evening listening to Jonathan Schwartz pontificate about his great knowledge of "The Great American Songbook".

Now, of course, WDXR is gone, and the current version of the New York 1560 is just part of the mix of weak signals....although it still manages to rise to the top on occasion.

In Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
* Daytime: Nothing.
* Nighttime: Usually a weak 1560 from New York. I have never heard KGOW from Houston before it switches to its nighttime pattern, although I have tried several times and many others in this region have snagged it.

In the near north Chicago burbs my experience is pretty much the same as Cyberdad's. Daytime nothing. At night either WDXR or WQXR would be on top--usually WDXR.
Today mostly a weak NYC in the mix of clutter.

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WFME New York(Family Radio, ex-WQXR, ex-WQEW)
Night: same thing

In this area, 1560 is a weak Melbourne, FL (a sports station) daytime. Until a couple years ago, WAGL from Lancaster, SC (about 20 miles from Charlotte) was the dominant station during critical hours, and it would stay in all day during the winter down here in Charleston with an oldies format. They turned their license in two years ago though. You could hear them in 3-4 different southern states during the winter.

1560 at night is usually a weak WFME.

schmave said:

In Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
* Daytime: Nothing.
* Nighttime: Usually a weak 1560 from New York. I have never heard KGOW from Houston before it switches to its nighttime pattern, although I have tried several times and many others in this region have snagged it.

Click to expand...

I forgot about KGOW. I've heard them a couple of times here around sunrise on day pattern. But not recently.

For about 10 months of the year 1560 is blank in the day in Ottawa, and for the remaining 2 months it's the WFME. I still can't get used to those calls. At night it's an extremely dominant WFME.

A spin of the daytime dial here in NE PA always brings in a steady-but-weak/weak-but-steady WFME from NYC (or whatever they're called now).
And they're usually atop there at night. (O/T, maybe: I don't consider myself either a prude or very religious, but at DX times I find 1560's Family radio to be more conducive to DX than 1560's former child-porn Disney vamping stuff.)

One night, the wife was in one room reading and listening to WQEW's Standards and I was in another room DXing
1560. An Oldies station way in the back caught our ears when it surfaced for an ID. Linda thought she heard 'Alabama' as the COL ; I thought I heard it as 'Callahan'. We were both right. We figure it was WMRQ Gallatin TN.

Back when the NYRMB hadn't yet spun off a lot of its specialty topics to other affiiated boards, a poster there alerted whoever cared that WQEW was going to be off one overnight. The DXers swarmed into action. Lol -- I remember logging, and reporting, a Country station from LaPlata MD.
Someone 're'd back .... 'Uh, Steve? WKIK is a daytimer.'
The same poster later, graciously, tacked on to that thread; 'Son-of-a-Stern. I just heard them myself! How long has this been going on ?'

Also taped here are sunset catches WKDO from KY, WFSP from WV, WTNS from OH, WSBV from VA, and WCNW from OH. Those were from the several days when WQEW/Disney signed off and Family Radio hadn't signed on yet.

I also have a NE PA tape around (from 1993) of the seemingly ubiquitous WPAD from KY. See, back in the Queens NYC days, 'WQXR's were the closest towers to our group of DXers. Their violins used to screech onto every adjacent and second-adjacent frequency known to physics. But when they were off the air, a very faint Paducah KY could be logged. IIrc, the station's calls at the time were WDXR.

@ Steve,,,, Your memory is correct. The 1560 in Paducah which went through most of its existence as WDXR also carried the WPAD calls for a time (moved over from 1450).

@Mimo.... Back in the days when I was getting into Ottawa on biz trips every 2-3 months, WQEW was generally reliable all day long during cold weather months for the entire four-hour drive from Toronto. And for that matter it was equally reliable between Montreal and Ottawa or Toronto. Minimal fading. WBZ was almost as good, but not quite.

WFME? Say what?

Tejano station KTXZ in West Lake Hills (just outside of Austin) has a weak-to-moderate signal here in the daytime and is most dominant at night.

At night KGOW pops in/out a lot and sometimes fights with KTXZ. When KTXZ fades, XEMAS "WE! Radio" in Salamanca and KEBC "The Franchise" in Del City, OK, occasionally come in for a while. When KGOW fades, I can sometimes hear XEJPV "Radio Viva" in Zaragoza.

A weak KHBR, a classic country daytimer in Hillsboro, TX, can usually be heard briefly around sunrise and sunset.

Once at sunrise I logged Fox Sports station KZQQ in Abilene, TX.

cyberdad said:

@ Steve,,,, Your memory is correct. The 1560 in Paducah which went through most of its existence as WDXR also carried the WPAD calls for a time (moved over from 1450).

@Mimo.... Back in the days when I was getting into Ottawa on biz trips every 2-3 months, WQEW was generally reliable all day long during cold weather months for the entire four-hour drive from Toronto. And for that matter it was equally reliable between Montreal and Ottawa or Toronto. Minimal fading. WBZ was almost as good, but not quite.

WFME? Say what?

Click to expand...

I can't get used to the new calls, either. I still think of them as WQEW. And still think of the station in Paducah as WPAD.

In Northwest Arkansas -

Daytime - I may hear KEBC, Del City, OK

Nighttime - A mix of stations - One of them is KGOW, Houston, TX

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

WFME(Family Radio) from NYC, day and night.

south of the Minnesota river suburbs (Minneapolis, MN)

daytime-KBEW Blue Earth, MN (faint)
nightime-nothing

I've gotten both KNZR and XEJPV here. XEJPV recently changed its format to sports as "Radio Deportiva".