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AM Frequency of the week: 1370:

cyberdad

cyberdad

Moderator
Staff member
40 or so miles northwest of downtown Chicago.....

Days: 1370 is usually pretty quiet. My location is just out of the normal range of WLTH from Gary, IN. 1kw Non directional daytime. I can sometimes hear WLTH in winter on the Superadio II. But that's rare. Lots of urban geography between me and Northwest, Indiana.

Nighrs: Most nights WSPD from Toledo is on top with a fair signal, but prone to fades. During those fades, KDTH from Dubuque, Iowa is most likely to sneak in, Both WSPD and KDTH are 5kw, but neither one has a pattern that favors me.

Sunrise: My latest catch on 1370 was just this past week, KWRT from Boonville, MO (between Kansas City and Columbia, MO. About an hour before local sunset (here). Presumably on 1kw ND day power.

Other Location: At Hawaii Gar's suggestion, I did some DXing at Honeymoon Island, near Clearwater, FL. Around 10am on a bright sunny day with the Superadio. 5kw WCOA from Pensacola made the 300+ mile hop across thd Gulf of Mexico and was audible with a positive ID under the local on 1380.

It's a two-way street. On the beach at P-cola, The 5kw Tampa Bay 1380 (ex-WLCY) is audible with WCOA nulled.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs WLTH Gary, In is fair to decent in the daytime. At night it's a mess of signals including WLTH down in the mud. I have ID'd KDTH, but not much else.

Retro: Back in the late 60s WLTH was Top 40 and daytime only. With alot less noise in those days WLTH had a decent signal especially on a good car radio. They were a go to station for me when WLS or WCFL was running commercials or playing a record I didn't like. I visited their studios once. Nothing elaborate, but interesting. Back then their afternoon drive DJ was Steve King one of the first stations he worked at. King later was at WBBM-FM, WLS, WIND, & WGN.
 
WLTH was previously WGRY. Vivian Carter, who with her husband James Bracken founded Vee Jay Records, worked there between 1952 and 1954. Vee Jay was mainly an R & B Label, but was the first label of any standing that signed The Four Seasons, and was the first to distribute The Beatles in the USA. "Please Please Me", shown on VJ 498 as by The Beattles, was first played by Dick Biondi on WLS in the USA in early 1963. It is not known how the misspelling occurred. Both groups early records were pressed at American Record Pressing in Owosso, MI. They also pressed all the early Motown records. Ewart Abner was accused of hiding Vee Jay record sales and gambling away profits, and left Vee Jay and soon joined Motown. The record plant burned down about the time Motown moved to California. For years, people mined the site for souvenirs of the plant.

http://assets.rootsvinylguide.com/p...me-usa-vee-jay-498-company-vj-sleeve_26757159
 
Last edited:
Schroedingers Cat said:
WLTH was previously WGRY. Vivian Carter, who with her husband James Bracken founded Vee Jay Records, worked there between 1952 and 1954. Vee Jay was mainly an R & B Label, but was the first label of any standing that signed The Four Seasons, and was the first to distribute The Beatles in the USA. "Please Please Me", shown on VJ 498 as by The Beattles, was first played by Dick Biondi on WLS in the USA in early 1963. It is not known how the misspelling occurred. Both groups early records were pressed at American Record Pressing in Owosso, MI. They also pressed all the early Motown records. Ewart Abner was accused of hiding Vee Jay record sales and gambling away profits, and left Vee Jay and soon joined Motown. The record plant burned down about the time Motown moved to California. For years, people mined the site for souvenirs of the plant.

http://assets.rootsvinylguide.com/p...me-usa-vee-jay-498-company-vj-sleeve_26757159
Click to expand...

When I first started listening to the station they were WGRY and already playing Top 40.
Regarding Vee Jay, "Please Please Me" was labeled as "The Beattles". When Dick Biondi first played it in Feb 63, a year before the Beatles hit America, they were labeled as "The Beattles" on the WLS survey on March 8, 1963.

http://las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?sv=9433&ix=136&it=1309&ic=30&s1=3&s2=-1&q=wls
 
West Central Georgia:

Days: WFDR Manchester GA 2300/28 Classic Country Music broadcasting "Legends 97.3"
call sign comes from FDR's Little White House vacation home in Warm Springs GA near Manchester GA where he would go to improve his mobility in the warm springs

Nights: Usually hear WCOA Pensacola FL 5000 news/talk; also hear WXCT Chattanooga TN 5000 "Alternate Rock 98.7"
 
WahooWah said:
West Central Georgia:

Days: WFDR Manchester GA 2300/28 Classic Country Music broadcasting "Legends 97.3"
call sign comes from FDR's Little White House vacation home in Warm Springs GA near Manchester GA where he would go to improve his mobility in the warm springs

Nights: Usually hear WCOA Pensacola FL 5000 news/talk; also hear WXCT Chattanooga TN 5000 "Alternate Rock 98.7"
Click to expand...

I used to hear the Chattanooga 1370 quite a bit on my business trips to Florida and a few other locations around the southeast. In those days, I believe the calls were WDEF. WDOD on 1310 from Chattanooga was even more common. That was also 5kw, but they've been gone for at least ten years.
 
East Tennessee: A tossup between WRGS, Rogersville TN and WXCT, Chattanooga, TN

Night: Various artists including WSPD, Toledo, which I seemingly have heard everywhere I've lived. Also WXCT (which I've also heard on the Edinburgh IN SDR)

Retro/other: Dayton, OH A very weak WSPD. Night, various.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WLTH
Nightime: WSPD the most common catch at night

DX/RETRO: In the past this frequency was probably the best bet to hear new Hampshire in the Chicago area. WFEA (Manchester, NH) heard twice. First time was in 1982. Other DX on this frequency include KDTH (Dubuque,IA), KWTL (Grand Forks, ND), WGTC (Bloomiongton, IN), WDEF (Chattanooga, TN), WLOP (Jesup, GA), WGHN (Grand Haven, MI), WMGO (Canton, MI), WCVCN (Neillsville, WI) and two stations thanks to DX Tests: WMGO (Canton, MS) and WCOA (Pensacola, FL).

Speaking of WLTH they are licensed to broadcast with 1 kW during the day and 0.5 kW during night from two separate transmitter sites which are 2 miles apart. However in 2017 their nighttime site was vandalized and became nonoperational. Since then they are running under a STA during nighttime with 9 watts from the daytime antenna. They have a CP to combine the nighttime operation with the daytime antenna, but that has not happened yet.
 
CADXER said:
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WLTH
Nightime: WSPD the most common catch at night

DX/RETRO: In the past this frequency was probably the best bet to hear new Hampshire in the Chicago area. WFEA (Manchester, NH) heard twice. First time was in 1982. Other DX on this frequency include KDTH (Dubuque,IA), KWTL (Grand Forks, ND), WGTC (Bloomiongton, IN), WDEF (Chattanooga, TN), WLOP (Jesup, GA), WGHN (Grand Haven, MI), WMGO (Canton, MI), WCVCN (Neillsville, WI) and two stations thanks to DX Tests: WMGO (Canton, MS) and WCOA (Pensacola, FL).

Speaking of WLTH they are licensed to broadcast with 1 kW during the day and 0.5 kW during night from two separate transmitter sites which are 2 miles apart. However in 2017 their nighttime site was vandalized and became nonoperational. Since then they are running under a STA during nighttime with 9 watts from the daytime antenna. They have a CP to combine the nighttime operation with the daytime antenna, but that has not happened yet.
Click to expand...

WLTH only ran 500 watts daytime back in the 1960s, but their signal on the north side of the Chicago metro was better than the 1KW they run now. Noise levels are much different these days.
 
ARSA reveals that WLTH, WNWC, and believe it or not, 10 watt WMTH, often added tracks that soon appeared on WLS and WCFL in the 1960s. They were once the bellwether stations of Chicago Area Top 40 Radio.
 
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