AM Frequency of the week: 1230

This week we transition from mostly "!-A" clears to a few months of just "graveyard" and "regional" channels. First stop 1230. For me at home northwest of Chicago.....

Days: WCLO from Janesville, WI is on top with a fair signal. WJOB from Hammond, IN underneath. Both are 1kw, with WCLO 45 miles northwest of me, while WJOB is 60 miles to the southeast. Since they're more or less at opposite ends of a straight line passing through my location, it's not really possible to null one of them in order to obtain a better signal from the other.

Nights: A noisy mix of stations. One of my more recent attempts to DX on this channel produced WSOO from Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan a little before sunrise several weeks ago. That's about a 260 mile hop.

Other location: I'm at our gulf coast beach getaway spot on the Alabama-Florida state line for a few weeks, where daytime 1230 is WDWR from Pensacola. Fair-poor signal from about 20 miles away. Underneath that is a clearly audible WBOK from New Orleans. 160 miles to my east via saltwater path.

In the near north Chicago suburbs I mostly hear a fair WJOB Hammond, In during the day. At night this frequency is a true "graveyard" and I rarely spent much time trying to dig stations out of the mud at night.

The Valley of the Jolly Green Giant (LeSueur, MN)

daytime and nightime-KFSP Mankato "The Fan Mankato"
(considered a local for me at about 20 miles away)

1230 is a mix in my area. Daytime in Charleston with a good radio I get either WSOK from Savannah or WSBB from New Smyrna Beach, FL (near Daytona Beach). Usually WSBB is stronger because of the water path. They are a standards station while WSOK is gospel. On not as good radios, you get a spur of local 1450.

From the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix, AZ):

Local station 1230 KOY airing a Mexican Regional format in HD day and night. This heritage station started off at 550 AM in 1940 (originally started broadcasting in 1921 / 1922 at different frequencies) before the call letters moved to 1230 AM in 1999. The station was running adult standards for a long time before switching to business news in 2013 and then conservative talk in 2014 under the “KFYI-2” moniker. A few months ago, the station flipped to Regional Mexican with a simulcast on 93.7 FM. The 1230 signal carries HD radio for no apparent reason now that the station is also heard on FM.

At night, since I live about 25 miles east of the KOY transmitter, I have been able to null out the signal and pick-up 1230 KXO from El Centro, CA airing an oldies format (very good station actually). I have also gotten KATO-AM from Safford, AZ, which is only 140 miles due east from my location. The rest is a scrambled mess that really makes 1230 AM a graveyard frequency!

In Orange, County, SETX, 1230 is KCOH from Houston days, train wreck nights.

Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
All local WYTS all the time. The once-proud WCOL is now nothing more than a throwaway AM, and a decided second banana to its translator at 105.3 FM, "Throwback 105.3" (W287CP).

DavidEduardo said:

It must have been a big job moving Nola to the East of the AL-FL line!

Click to expand...

One that's repeated multiple times! WWL is actually the strongest AM signal here. Easily. The other NOLA AMs are all audible here to one extent or another. The mix of saltwater paths and lousy ground conductivity around here produces some weird stuff. Example: On 620, WDAE from Tampa usually trips my car radio scan button. But a 10kw non-directional station on 660 34 miles away from me usually does not.

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WEEX Easton PA(sports talk).
Night: horse mess.

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

Daytime: Mostly WJOB Hammond, but nullable and able to receive WCLO
Nightime: Jumbled mess, specially after WSBC 1240 splatter signs off at Midnight.

DX/RETRO: Not much time spent DXing the graveyarders in the past. WJBC (Bloomington, IL), WLLR (Moline, IL) logged on several occasions. Rare logging of KSEY (Seymour, TX) thanks to a DX test in 2013.

1230 day and night is KDYM Sunnyside WA with Spanish Religion programming. But of course I have logged many stations on this channel. Other logs include:
KWYZ Everett (Korean)
KSBN Spokane (Business Talk)
KOZI Chelan (Adult Contemporary)
KBNH Burns, OR (Country - now KYQT)
KSJK Talent, OR (Jefferson Public Radio)
KCUP Toledo, OR (News/Talk - now Spanish)
KRYN Gresham, OR (Spanish Religion)
KKOR Astoria, OR (Classic Hits)
KHSN Coos Bay, OR (ESPN)
KORT Grangeville, ID (Country)
KBAR Burley, ID (News/Talk)
KWG Stockton, CA (Catholic - most common one during Au conditions)
KPRL Paso Robles, CA (News/Talk, farthest log at 753.4 miles)
CJNL Merritt, BC (News/Talk // CHNL-610)
KSGG Reno, NV (Classic Hip Hop)

Wanted on this channel:
KLCB Libby, MT (Country - still looking. KDYM really screws up the east direction.)
KOBB Bozeman, MT (ESPN, same problem)
KRRF Murray, UT (ex-KJQS, seems to be CBS Sports)
KDAC Fort Bragg, CA (Classic Hits parallel to KUKI-1400. I've heard the 1400 but not the 1230. Maybe during another nice aurora opening.)
KBOV Bishop, CA (Classic Hits, another one that might be possible during aurora)

Daytimes here in NE PA is a tossup between WKBO Harrisburg and WEEX Easton. Depends on how the radio is turned. Btw: WEEX is a rarity -- a directional graveyarder.

One SSS I was getting WFVA from VA. That one I have tapes.

Nighttimes I got (and taped) WITH Baltimore and WNOR Norfolk.

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From back in Queens NYC (60's and 70's) I count 21 stations there, not counting ZBM-1 on 1235, hi. That was our gang's first 'split' logged.

1230 perhaps was most notable for being a swell Auroral-condition indicator. That benefit was due to the reception, or lack of reception, of WFAS White Plains. They were the closest 1230 station to the den. 90% of the time, they were inaudible at night, clobbered by things like WITH Baltimore, WERI Rhode Island, WNOR Norfolk ... and even once by a quite loud WCOL Columbus.
But when it was midnight or 2AM and WFAS was alone and clear on the channel, the great Northern Lights were doing their thing. When the now-dark fellow GYer up here -- WPAM Pottsville 1450 -- behaved like that, in on groundwave, I suppose, it was time to rub the cups of the earphones together in glee and try for some Southern comfort.

1230 WEEX is a rarity... especially since they are directional only in the daytime a non directional at night, the also raise power from 840 watts day to 1000 at night. There are a few other Class C that do different powers day and night and a few that are directional, usually due to 1st or 2nd adjacency overlap.

Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Ironton ... 1230 is one crowded frequency in Ohio.

Bumping this thread up for a new catch this morning (March 11). WIBQ from Terre Haute, Indiana. About 90 minutes before sunrisse. Legal TOH ID came through on top, and then a few seconds later the signal was gone. I haven't checked the exact distance, but probably about 200 miles to my south-southwest.

Central Baldwin Co., Alabama: Daytime, nothing on most radios. It takes the Kaito + Tecsun loop to pull in WDWR even though it's only about 35 miles to my east. I swear their signal actually got worse after they rebuilt (and tore down and rebuilt again due to lack of permits) their tower in Pensacola.

Sunset/nighttime I don't think I've ever ID'd anything positively. Maybe WBOK but I don't have a record of it.

Bumping up the thread for a new catch.....

I was on 1230 just before sunrise this morning, when WBHP from Huntsville, AL rose to the top and stayed there for about five minutes. Long enough for me to catch two positive IDs. 520 miles.

Nice. Always great to hear a new station. Out of curiosity, do you keep a log of stations received?