• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

AM Frequency of the week: 720

Status
Not open for further replies.
cyberdad

cyberdad

Moderator
Staff member
Crystal Lake, Illinois:

Days: Very simple. All WGN all the time. Stick is about 25 miles from my location. But about to be moved. Transmitter site sold because the real estate is more valuable than what's on it. "Stay tuned"!

Nights: Nothing but WGN recently.

Retro: In the rather distant days, a pest from Cuba usually took over 720 when WGN was off. I also heard CHTN from Prince Edward Island once or twice. CHTN has since migrated to FM.

Other location. The Cuban may also be gone. Or perhaps at significantly reduced. At least on the Gulf where I am this week. I haven't heard much else of consequence other than WGN. The net result this past week as been that WGN has been the strongest nighttime signal from Chicago, During daytime here, a very weak WRZN from the Ocala, FL is usually present....if you're right on the beach.

On my trips to London, 720 has always been BBC radio 4 (Talk shows). Only 1kw (or less), but enough to put a city grade signal over the center city.
 
cyberdad said:
On my trips to London, 720 has always been BBC radio 4 (Talk shows). Only 1kw (or less), but enough to put a city grade signal over the center city.
Click to expand...
It's a filler, providing the long wave-specific content (mostly cricket coverage and some religious and Parliamentary stuff) in a city where the LW signal from ~100 miles distant doesn't quite penetrate buildings. The LW programming is being stopped soon (the cricket, religion and politics are now on DAB channels) and the LW station and these fillers will likely cease shortly afterwards.

In Manchester I also receive BBC R4 on 720, but this is from Lisnagarvey in Northern Ireland (notable for being the only Blaw-Knox mast in Western Europe).
 
Miss Tuned said:
It's a filler, providing the long wave-specific content (mostly cricket coverage and some religious and Parliamentary stuff) in a city where the LW signal from ~100 miles distant doesn't quite penetrate buildings. The LW programming is being stopped soon (the cricket, religion and politics are now on DAB channels) and the LW station and these fillers will likely cease shortly afterwards.

In Manchester I also receive BBC R4 on 720, but this is from Lisnagarvey in Northern Ireland (notable for being the only Blaw-Knox mast in Western Europe).
Click to expand...
When I was in Northern Italy for ten days in 2016, I never heard the BBC on 720. At least not in identifiable form. IIRC, 720 was usually a jumble of weak signals. If memory serves, the only 720 to occasionally rise to the top was either from Poland or Spain.
 
cyberdad said:
When I was in Northern Italy for ten days in 2016, I never heard the BBC on 720. At least not in identifiable form. IIRC, 720 was usually a jumble of weak signals. If memory serves, the only 720 to occasionally rise to the top was either from Poland or Spain.
Click to expand...
There are just three BBC signals on 720, all BBC R4 fillers for areas with weak LW signals - two in Northern Ireland (Lisnagarvey and Derry) and one at Crystal Palace, in London. Lisnagarvey is the highest power at 10kW, the other two are around the 250 watts mark.

A few others exist on various MW frequencies, all to infill places that are distant from the LW transmitters. The other one I receive regularly is 603 from Newcastle-upon-Tyne - it used to mix with a commercial music station from central England, but that is long gone.
 
720 - WGN - Chicago IL ---- News, talk - 2023
720 - WRZN - Hernando FL - The Shepherd - Christian talk - English - 2015
720 - WVCC - Hogansville GA - Voice of Midwest GA - News/talk - 2014
720 - RJR - Trelawney, Jamaica - RJR - Reggae //700- Weather at 2055 - 2003

kw - Melbourne FL
 
Oakland, CA
Days - Not a thing. KFIA Carmichael-Sacramento on 710 is probably too close.
Nights - Weak KFIR - which has been the case since KDWN downgraded and then had the ultimate downgrade.
 
Near north Chicago suburbs it’s all WGN day and night. When out west KDWN is heard. During winter WGN can be heard on one of the Hawaii remote receivers.4200 miles!
 
East Tennessee---Daytime- poor to fair signal from WGGR, Pisgah Forest, NC, listed at 50,000 watts day and 15,000 night. Sunset can also bring Hogansville, GA, where the WGST calls are currently warehoused.
Night---all-WGN
Retro/other. WGGR has been a sunset visitor in Dayton, Ohio, and as close to Chicago as the northwest side of Indianapolis on I-465/I-865. I had caught WVCC in Dayton also. Otherwise it's always been WGN.
Since we've mentioned Europe, a spot check of the University of Twente's SDR in the Netherlands got me a BBC World Service transmitter and someone playing classic rock.
 
Mesa, AZ: Nothing during the day, what with semi-locals (Black Canyon City and Phoenix, respectively) on 710 and 740. At night, with KDWN gone, also nothing, although WGN was barely audible when the weather was colder.
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago ...

Day and night, it's WGN, "Radio home of millions throughout Mid-America," to use the 1960s (and likely before) slogan.

Once way back, during a now-rare silent period, in came a Cuban from Colon, CMGN in and old log book, supposedly 30 kW.

I've caught WGN as far south as Orlando (maybe West Palm Beach, too, can't remember for sure), wiping out WGGR and any possible Cuban. With KDWN off, it has a larger reach than any other Chicago clear, not far from the reach in the glory days of 1-A clears.

The tower move WGN will make isn't a big one. Only about 100 feet to another spot on their acreage in Schaumburg. They're selling some of the property for a data center but will still be at 50 kW (unlike WBBM when it moved to the WMAQ/WSCR site) and still have an auxiliary tower as well.
 
I’ve heard a faint WGN as far as just over the GA line on I-95 near Savannah in the daytime. This was in March. With a good radio you can also hear it year-round in suburban Cleveland in the day.
 
radioman148 said:
Near north Chicago suburbs it’s all WGN day and night. When out west KDWN is heard. During winter WGN can be heard on one of the Hawaii remote receivers.4200 miles!
Click to expand...
Very similar to your experiences except that KDWN has been diminished on much of the west coast at might since they reduced their power. I've heard KDWN and WGN on the Hawaii SDRs.
 
Canyon Lake, Texas: KSAH from Universal City (San Antonio) is a local during the day. At night, the 890 watt directional signal completely disappears.

WGN comes in both at local sunset and sunrise. It falls into the mush between sunrise and sunset. It is surprising how many of the east of here 50KW clears fall into that same pattern.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime/Nighttime: WGN all day, all night

DX/RETRO: WGN being my second closest AM station at 5 miles away means that only when they go off the air can I hear anything on this frequency. WGN going off is quite rare these days. Last time that I remember them being off was in 2005. The only DX heard on this frequency includes two stations that are no longer active, CHTN (Charlottetown, PEI) and YVQE (Porlomar, Venezuela) as well as XEDE (Saltillo, Mexico) which is still active. As for the Cuban, the only one listed these days is a 2.5 kW Radio Progreso outlet. I am certain that the one we were hearing in the past was much higher power.

As Cyberdad noted in his post, WGN is moving their antenna (both the main and the auxilliary tower), but only by about 400 feet. They got the CP for the move recently, so lets hope WGN goes off air while the work on the antenna tower is going on.
 
cyberdad said:
Very similar to your experiences except that KDWN has been diminished on much of the west coast at might since they reduced their power. I've heard KDWN and WGN on the Hawaii SDRs.
Click to expand...
I think there is another station in Oregon on 720 that I’ve heard on the Hawaii sdr a few times.
 
Tyler TX:

Very little daytime, although KSAH "Norteno 720/104.1" from Universal City/SATX will come up enough to get it faintly.

At night, WGN is the usual suspect, but I've been hearing a Regional Mexican format that does not sound like KSAH battling WGN. I believe it may be the Mexican station from Juarez, but have yet to get a positive ID on it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom