Questions about Daytime Skywave Skip

[cc333]

Oh, and in California, "English" is the "foreign language".

¿es eso cierto?

I suppose technically, the "original" languages across the whole continent are those that the various societies of Indigenous peoples spoke before the arrival of, among many others, the Spaniards in the late 15th and 16th centuries (who introduced Spanish) and the British in the 17th (who introduced English).

That aside, everyone still on AM can have all the foreign language/religious/right-wing talk formats they want for all I care. I just want one good oldies/classic hits station in every major market (now that KVIN is gone, the only other oldies station I can hear without extreme measures is KYNO, but only at night (KVIN I could hear in the daytime, if only barely because of interference from the BIN on 910)).

iHeart's 80s+ on 103.7 FM I guess technically counts as classic hits at this point (and most markets seem to have at least this much covered), but I'm talking older stuff, like 60s post-British Invasion through the 70s (pre-British Invasion, like early 60s and 50s – maybe even nostalgia-type stuff from the 30s and 40s like Swing and Big Band – would be nice to have too, but I won't hold my breath since those target a very old and dying demographic nowadays).

c

 

[gar hi]

I'll never forget the time I went to Clearwater Beach on a very cold winter day to do some AM daytime DXing of stations across the Gulf and there was 700 WLW with a very good steady signal broadcasting the Bengals game.

It was just after 1 pm.

As I drove back home, WLW was still good in Pinellas County but was completely gone once I crossed the bay and was on the Tampa side.

After that, I kept my radio at home tuned to 700 and would listen for it many a day but never even heard a trace.

 

[boombox4]

I just re-read my last post, about foreign language AMs and FMs, and I left out a word or two while typing.

I meant to say: "I'm sure that the English language FMs in your area or mine wouldn't put Spanish or Punjabi language spots on their stations."

My thought was that those businesses who want to advertise on radio in an immigrant language would choose a station (or program -- if it's a brokered station) that broadcasts in that language.

I was typing too fast, not taking the time to re-read it enough.... Woops.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

@ David: A cool story I like to relate is the saga of Yankee catcher Kyle Higashioka. I believe he is a 4th-generation Japanese-American from California who speaks American English probably as fluently as you or I do -- along with some Spanish from that state.
The chuckle is that he had to learn -- not 're-learn' -- some Japanese so he'd be able to communicate with the Yankee pitchers and players from Japan .
* * * * * * *
No problem with foreign language radio stations from me except from the DXing vantage. I'd like to see some 'should' or even some 'shall' English IDs be considered for FCC licensed statios. I don't speak ancestral Gaelic and very little French of my own, never mind Haitian or Italian or Polish, lol.

 

[boombox4]

@ David: A cool story I like to relate is the saga of Yankee catcher Kyle Higashioka. I believe he is a 4th-generation Japanese-American from California who speaks American English probably as fluently as you or I do -- along with some Spanish from that state.
The chuckle is that he had to learn -- not 're-learn' -- some Japanese so he'd be able to communicate with the Yankee pitchers and players from Japan .
* * * * * * *
No problem with foreign language radio stations from me except from the DXing vantage. I'd like to see some 'should' or even some 'shall' English IDs be considered for FCC licensed statios. I don't speak ancestral Gaelic and very little French of my own, never mind Haitian or Italian or Polish, lol.

The other side of the MW DX / foreign language station coin is that sometimes the presence of one foreign language station among several English language stations on a channel can help you ID the station. For example, if there are two stations mixing on 1540 that and one is English language and the other, harder to hear one happens to be poking through with Korean language programming, it makes it easier to ID the Korean language station. That's how I was able to ID KMPC L.A. earlier this evening.

 

[CTListener]

@ David: A cool story I like to relate is the saga of Yankee catcher Kyle Higashioka. I believe he is a 4th-generation Japanese-American from California who speaks American English probably as fluently as you or I do -- along with some Spanish from that state.
The chuckle is that he had to learn -- not 're-learn' -- some Japanese so he'd be able to communicate with the Yankee pitchers and players from Japan .

I recall reading a similar story about Keith Hernandez, the Cardinals/Mets first baseman. After being traded to New York, he had to deal with reporters from Spanish-language media outlets coming up to him and immediately asking questions in Spanish -- a language the San Francisco-born Hernandez didn't speak at all. I assume he eventually learned rudimentary Spanish, given the increasing numbers of Latino players in MLB during his career.

 

[gr8oldies]

I just re-read my last post, about foreign language AMs and FMs, and I left out a word or two while typing.

I meant to say: "I'm sure that the English language FMs in your area or mine wouldn't put Spanish or Punjabi language spots on their stations."

My thought was that those businesses who want to advertise on radio in an immigrant language would choose a station (or program -- if it's a brokered station) that broadcasts in that language.

I was typing too fast, not taking the time to re-read it enough.... Woops.

I have heard the occasional Spanish language spot on an English language station. The English language spots you hear on Spanish language stations are the result of agencies strictly buying numbers.

 

[TomásEstefan]

South San Jose.

I remember coming home from school, and always turning my little 5" black and white TV on, to watch cartoons.

I was tuning between channel 44 (KBHK then), channel 36 (KICU), and down to channel 20 (KOFY).

I remember channel 42 (religious) out of Concord was always bad in our area.

When I went past 42, I picked up a station with cartoons (He-man or Thunder cats I believe) and was like, NO WAY!! It was completely watchable off the small loop antenna attached to the back. The picture was a bit static, but totally watchable. I actually watched it for about 30-45 minutes, to confirm it was KTXL TV40. I turned it off and went to do my homework and then outside for fun stuff. That evening, I wanted to see if I could still watch this channel, and it was completely gone.

It was the coolest thing, watching a station that far away.

This was probably a daytime skip, off the ionosphere.

TV and FM signals do bounce due off the ionosphere, but they do not return to Earth closer than hundreds of miles away. On the other hand, AM radio signals can return as close as a few tens of miles away.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I have heard the occasional Spanish language spot on an English language station. The English language spots you hear on Spanish language stations are the result of agencies strictly buying numbers.

Not always. when I was involved with KLVE and KTNQ in LA on a day-to-day basis, I know we would contact the buyer if we got an order with English creative.

We'd explain that both stations were Spanish language operations, and did they want us to do Spanish versions. Usually the response is that they believed that the creative "worked " better as-is, since they thought that most Spanish speakers knew some English. Occasionally we'd get approval to do a Spanish version, and sometimes we'd be told, "sorry, sent wrong creative" and they'd send the Spanish version.

 

[BRNout]

The lower the sun angle is, the better your odds of daytime skip. I was once in Alberta (driving between Calgary and Edmonton) in December and even during late morning through midday, there was some serious (and stable) skip. Just a few examples of what I received then: KEX Portland, KSL Salt Lake City, KFBK Sacramento (which blew me away), KOA Denver, KOMO Seattle (now KNWN), WZFG Fargo/Moorhead, and many others. An empty dial plus low sun angle made for unbelievable listening.

A year earlier, I was near Pembroke, ON during the same time of the year (mid December) and was picking up WBZ, WBBM and various NYC 50 kw signals all day long.