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AM Frequency of the week: 1160

cyberdad

cyberdad

Moderator
Staff member
Far northwest suburban Chicago.....

Days: Local WYLL with 50KW and a good signal.

Nights: WYLL stays at 50KW, but from a different location farther away from me (to the south), and goes to a tighter directional pattern. The result is still a good signal, but not quite as good as daytime, and I can usually hear one or two unidentifiable stations underneath.

Retro: As WJJD, the Chicago 1160 was allowed to operate between local sunrise and sunset in Salt Lake City. Home of the only other occupant of 1160, KSL. (KSL made it into the Chicago area on a semi-regular basis...if barely....at night when when WJJD was off). Where it got a little weird was when KSL signed off, WJJD was allowed to come back on the air. So for those who haven't seen this being discussed by us previously, thre result duriing some months could be WJJD coming on at 4am. Signing off at 7:00 and then signing back on at 7:15!

At least during the time I personally expereinced this, WJJD still managed to maintain a moderately successful top-40 operation before finally throwing in the towel in the face of stiff competition from WLS, and eventually launching its long run as a country station.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs 1160 is all WYLL. Their daytime facilities are not too far from me so the signal is very strong.
At night their facilities are much further from me. The result is WYLL is strong, but not overpowering.

Retro: Chicago's 1160 was WJJD which was the first Top 40 station I listened to in the late 50s into the early 60s. As Cyberdad mentioned, their odd hours allowed KSL to be heard during the nighttime. By the early 60s they couldn't compete with "the new" WLS and WJJD gradually moved to an MOR format and then country.

What's most interesting to me is at one time KSL & WJJD were the only stations operating on 1160. Now the frequency is very crowded.
 
Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WOBM Lakewood NJ(Ocean County, very weak).
Night: mostly WYLL Chicago or WCCS Homer City PA(near Johnstown). Never heard KSL here.
 
The Valley of the Jolly Green Giant (Le Sueur, MN)

daytime-nothing (closest station is in Waukon, IA some 180 miles away)
nightime-WYLL

crazy thing...there is no 1160 licensed in MN, WI or SD
 
East Tennessee: Nothing consistent daytime, but sunrise, sunset or daytime winter skip days can bring WCFO, also-ran news talker in the Atlanta market. Nightime can be WYLL, possibly WCVX. I've never heard KSL here.

Retro: Dayton, OH area. When 1160 was occupied by WDJO's programming, I'd drive around and listen working in Springfield. WYLL would be there underneath or even over around sunrise and sunset. On many winter days, WYLL was under WDJO (current WCVX) all day.
 
1160 is a pretty empty frequency around Columbus, Ohio. Cincinnati comes in sometimes during the day and I think I've heard WYLL a few times, but it's part of a pretty quiet stretch here at night between WRVA and WHAM (the latter of which is not nearly as strong around here as I remember it years back, but that's for an upcoming Frequency of the Week).
 
WYNS Lehighton PA is the daytime regular here, a semi-local. We'd get them at sunset back near JFK Airport in Queens -- when they were an AM daytimer on 1150!

WCNS Homer City PA once was a SRS catch off the GE Superadio 2.

WJJD Chicago (1994) and WVNJ NJ (1996) were nighttime snatches. I have both taped. WVNJ 1160 susprised me. Not only was it largely direction SE, into NYC, but it was coming in pretty ruggedly OVER the closer WYNS. I'm old-friends with the fellow who was the Chief Engineer of the place, and he'd do some odd things with WVNJ's pattern in the day (the crucial time) and, well, maybe sometimes at night.

An unID sunset catch here, also taped, has puzzled me. So I don't 'count' it yet (and probably never will get to). It sounded like 'WKDN Morkenson'. There was nothing in the log or on Radio-Locator that fit. I'm thinking it was from either NC, or VA, or WV.

And like my good pal 85 miles southeast of me, Ryan Howard .... ('Steve who?!?') KSL hasn't come in here yet, either.
 
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Wasn't 1160 the home of the short-lived offshore pirate "Radio Free America" in the 70s or early 80s? It had some connection to WINB shortwave and the famous "Red Lion" case as I recall.
 
1160 once had only two stations on it. Clear Channel KSL, and WJJD which covered much of the eastern part of the country during their limited to KSL hours. In the 60s when I was spending some time in the NYC area I had no problem hearing WJJD in the area just before Salt Lake sunset.
These days things are much different. For example, New Jersey has two stations on 1160. WVNJ and WOBM. They're both directional, but looking at maps I can see where at times
both these stations overlap especially near NYC. Things have sure changed over the years.
 
1160 is KSL starting around an hour or more before sunset and all night long. The other stations I've heard were XEQIN San Quintin, BCN (Indigenous/Spanish), and WYLL Chicago (Christian Talk).

Wanted? Only one, KBDT Highland Park/Dallas (also Christian talk). But KSL is in the same direction, and it would take hearing it at Dallas sunrise. All those East Coast stations are impossible here (Maine would be nice!)
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):

Daytime: WYLL
Nightime: WYLL - slightly weaker during nighttime, but still dominating the frequency

DX catches: KSL (Salt Lake City, UT) dominant when WJJD used to sign off at night. Another regular catch in 1980's used to be a 300 kW transmitter from La Julia in Cuba broadcasting Voice of Cuba/Radio Taino. In 1995 I managed to log WAMB (Donelson, TN). That's about it for this frequency.

Retro: In between WJJD and WYLL this frequency was also used by WSCR with sports talk programming (1997-2000).
 
CADXER said:
DX catches: KSL (Salt Lake City, UT) dominant when WJJD used to sign off at night. Another regular catch in 1980's used to be a 300 kW transmitter from La Julia in Cuba broadcasting Voice of Cuba/Radio Taino. In 1995 I managed to log WAMB (Donelson, TN). That's about it for this frequency.

Retro: In between WJJD and WYLL this frequency was also used by WSCR with sports talk programming (1997-2000).
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I used to hear R. Taino from time to time when they were on 1160. I sort of doubt they were using the claimed 300kw, At least not most of the time. Maybe David can shed some light on this if he's lurking. I DO remember WAMD, however. When WJJD first came on at night, they were very weak here in Crystal Lake, and very easily overtken by other signals. WAMD commonly among them.

Then there's the matter of the 1160 in Waukon, IA that someone mentioned a few posts ago. As KNEI (IIRC) they had moved over from 1140 about 15 or 20 years ago and were a fairly easy night catch here for a couple of years. Despite supposedly only running 26 watts! They were running Scott Shannon's oldies format, which made them easy to ID.
 
Daytime in San Antonio is 10 kW local KRDY, "Radio Luz," with Spanish-language Christian talk. The station is about five miles from me, and it pops up on the dial in various places on my radios that don't have good image rejection.

At night KRDY drops to 1 kW directional. A tiny NW null opens, in which I can usually get a weak KSL.
 
gr8oldies said:
Cyberdad, didn't one of the FM rockers simulcast over Chicago's 1160 for a short time? Maybe WXRT?
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Looks like my post from yesterday was deleted for some reason. Yes indeed WXRT FM was simulcasted on 1160 kHz between August 2000 and March 2001. The simulcast started when WSCR left the 1160 frequency and moved to 670 kHz. The simulcast ended when CBS sold the frequency to Salem Communications, which turned it into WYLL. And yes as radioman48 notes, WJMK was briefly on 1160 before WSCR took over the frequency.
 
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