AM Radio Stations

[stereofisher]

After years of poor AM radio, I have rediscovered how good a decent AM radio pulls stations. While FM rules does anyone listen to music on AM. The bigband station from Toronto Canada is fun at 740. The oldies station in Buffalo WKRW?? at 1520 is fun too. Running my Zenith Inneroceanic tonight instead of my big system.

Eric

[Jeffhs]

At least you still have music stations on AM in your area. I live in a small town some 35 miles east of Cleveland; the AM stations from the city are almost all talk now (except for very short music programs on two stations--only an hour or two long on each station). One of those stations, a 0.5-kW pipsqueak in a suburb of Cleveland, used to be all oldies, but about three months ago it switched to 99.9 percent talk. I gave up on that station as soon as it switched; it's just as well, as their signal isn't meant to reach my area anyway--at least not at night. The Cleveland station plays good music when its program is on, but I live in an apartment building where the noise levels are often so high good AM reception is next to impossible, even on my 1963 Zenith K-731, which is usually pretty good when it comes to sniffing out weak signals.

Because of these reception problems and the absence (for the most part, except for the two short music programs I mentioned) of music programming on AM radio here (not to mention the signal strength from the Cleveland stations, AM, FM or TV, is not that great in this area, with most Cleveland stations except the big 50kW operations [at least one of which doesn't even run 50kW at night] fading into the noise after sundown), I have just about completely given up on AM. Most (as in 99.999 percent) of my radio listening these days is to FM stations (the rest of my music listening is to CDs, cassettes and cable music channels), which I think still have fidelity of sound far superior to even the best AMs; remember, AM frequency response only extends to about 6,000 Hz, give or take (and the low end is even worse).

BTW, the foregoing is probably why AM stereo broadcasting went belly-up a while back. The so-called "local" AM station here, which is actually in the next town south of me by about five miles, used to be community programming/top-40, but they now simulcast a classical FM which is not heard here by virtue of a strong country-western station 200 KHz down the dial. The AM station applied for and received a 24-hour license; eventually, it was going to install an AM stereo transmitter as well, but the latter didn't pan out. So now, what's coming from the town 5 miles to the south of here? A low-fidelity AM simulcast of an FM radio station that plays serious music. Come on already! Serious music (i. e. classical) was not meant to be broadcast over low-fidelity monophonic AM radio. The company that operates WQXR-AM and FM in New York must have realized this early on, as WQXR-AM is now the New York area's Radio Disney affiliate. New York's classical music now is broadcast over WQXR-FM, where it should be.

I wish the broadcast group which operates the classical FM in Cleveland (which isn't even in the city--the transmitter is some 50 miles west of town, in another county yet; no wonder it doesn't reach this far east, even without the interference from the station 0.2 MHz down the dial) would realize the foregoing as well, and free up the AM station so it can be a local service operation, as it once was. The FMs owners have at least one alternative: to put up a low-power FM translator on top of a tall building in one of the few cities of any size in this area (there are no major cities here; the largest city in this entire county is about eight miles southwest of me).

I wonder why they didn't think of that before they took over (and I do mean took over) this area's only local AM radio station. The only thing I can come up with that makes any sense is that the station's ratings may not have been very good the last few years, so the owners decided to simulcast the classical FM over its 0.5kW AM signal instead. I can only wonder how many people actually listen to that simulcast. :dunno:

The reason Cleveland's classical FM is broadcast over an out-of-area station today is that the station's owner, for reasons I have never understood (and have given up trying to), thought, about three years ago (!), it would be best to put a music station (not classical) on 95.5, where the Cleveland classical station used to be. The man obviously did not stop to think that, by broadcasting his station's classical programming over a station 50 miles away, and just next (on the FM radio dial) to a country station that drowns it out in fully half the area, he has effectively lost half his listening audience. It makes about as much sense as when the area's only oldies AM radio station dropped the music and went 99.999 percent talk three months or so ago--but I guess that's business. AM stations are mostly talk in most cities anyway these days, so such a move doesn't surprise me in the least.

I think some day AM radio may go completely silent, as many local stations have done already. The FCC is already starting to auction off certain frequencies in the FM and UHF TV spectra; who's to say AM won't eventually be next? The transition from analog to digital TV, scheduled (if the FCC has its way about it) for 2006, is only the tip of the iceberg, with some FM stations already broadcasting so-called "high-definition" signals (technically known as IBOC, a technology which might revolutionize FM radio, as digital HD will revolutionize TV, if it catches on).

[Sam]

It's the way of the market place. AM radio has become specialty oriented--and that's OK with me. Here in Baltimore, and in most large markets, one will find stations dedicated wholly to one of the following: religion, sports, straight news, business/stock market, C&W, oldies but goodies, and talk. Our oldies station is great. On Sunday, e.g., they play Sinatra for several hours. I heard that they are even going to 50KW. AM may yet be heading the way of the dinasaur, but around here at the moment it's thriving. . . Happy listening.

[Chad Hauris]

Jeff, you may not be able to receive them, but WAKR, Akron is Adult Standards music, as is WJMP in Kent. At my parent's house in Ohio I could also receive 830 AM, WKTX Cortland, which was music the last time I was there.

Around where I live, especially in the more rural areas, are adult contemporary and country AM stations. It was a rare experience to eat at a restaurant in Fort Stockton, TX. and hear the latest hits playing on an AM radio!
Here are the music AM stations in this area:
1390, KHOB, Hobbs, N.M. Oldies/Adult Standards
860, KFST, Fort Stockton, TX. Adult Contemporary
1250, KSEM, Seminole, TX. Country
1360, KACT, Andrews, TX. Country
630, KLEA, Lovington, N.M., Adult Contemporary
1270, Colorado City, Tx. Country
1400, KBYG, Big Spring, TX. Oldies/Spanish
1490, KBST, Big Spring, TX. Talk, but with some Adult Standards.

[TRC]

I "love" AM radio. There's just nothing like hearing oldies over AM.
Berry Gordy for example, recorded songs to sound good over a car radio.
And Adult Standards..? AM.
The old radio serials. Remember hearing those late at night..? AM radio.....
When this stuff first aired.. much of it was over the AM band..!

Low Fi..? Sure. But even to this day.. (or night..) I sleep with the radio on.
And what band is it on..? AM! conversation and music.
The Atmospheric noise (atmospheric whistling..) I DO find quite annoying..
but other than that.. for the most part.. I enjoy AM radio.

TRC

[asynchronousman]

Sure it's annoying...it's also one of the most quaint and comforting ( if not humanizing) part about it. The total charm is that you listen to your town in the day and the rest of the land at night...one great big atmospheric "show and tell". The magic of distant listening is the hook and the treat. It's what got me hooked on AM at age 4. Getting stuff we are not expecting to hear, and it doesn't sound logical at first, is what got many of us interested in the physcality of the universe to start with, the electronics concepts, fixing these feeble, broken boxes and making the "sing", measure, save the history of life!

Not to mention help your neighbors and find a place in your world.

That noise is welcome here if not always appreciated.

There are no natural sources of frequency modulation in our universe (although forms of phase modulation are abundant) that I'm aware of.

Steven

[glen65]

I remember drifting away from AM after CKLW changed their format.
Here's a little history.
http://www.thebig8.net/

Thats when I started listening to more FM. I started listening to
98.5 G98 WGCL out of cleveland. Then those guys change their
call letters along with some of their programming. Now I just kind of
listen to whatever comes in good and sounds half way decent.

[TRC]

asynchronousman.. I have to agree with you about the noise.. When I said "It"s is annoying.. I was referring to the SEVERE whistling itself.. not the "other" noise. I like the way you said what you did about AM. There's even a nostalgic romanticism about AM. The noise included.

The stuff I used to listen to growing up.. the radio serials.. Wolfman Jack.. the music.. some of that just doesnt belong on FM. I mean.. radio serials on FM..? Digitally remeastered for CD..? C'mon.. No.. some of that stuff goes hand in glove with AM. That's what some of it was designed for.. (with certain exceptions..)

I could probably be a little more clearer on my explanation..
but its been a real long day.. and I'm tired.

TRC

[asynchronousman]

Me too. I want a pop refill and some house pickup and a nap.

[radioactive]

The total charm is that you listen to your town in the day and the rest of the land at night...one great big atmospheric "show and tell". The magic of distant listening is the hook and the treat.
i'll have to agree with you on that!!it was that first got me hooked(collecting and listening to "boatanchor shortwave recievers)to this hobby collecting tube hi fi gear/ solidstate.although the radios have been put on the back burners and i hav'nt done any listening or dxing for awhile i hope to one day get back into it as it's a great way to relax.
chris

[Jeffhs]

Jeff, you may not be able to receive them, but WAKR, Akron is Adult Standards music, as is WJMP in Kent.

I used to be able to hear both stations you mention (as well as both Akron FM stations and WQMX-94.9 in Medina), but I was living some 15 miles closer to Cleveland at the time. Where I live now is some 45 miles from the Cleveland AM/FM/TV stations and even further away from the Akron ones (except one suburban Akron station, as I will explain a bit later on in this post).

I simply gave up on AM altogether when I moved here; as I mentioned in a previous post, the noise level in my apartment is often high enough (even when using my Zenith K731, which is usually very good at picking up very weak signals) to mask all but the three 50kW Cleveland AMs and CKLW and WJR in Detroit. I gave up as well on a suburban Cleveland oldies station when it threw out that format in favor of satellite-syndicated talk late last year.

WKTX-AM830 in Cortland was playing oldies and standards until about three months ago, but is now a talk station. While it was still a music station, I would often put my Zenith '731 on 830 and listen to it until it signed off at sunset. I could also hear WJMP-1520 and can probably still hear it now, but since it changed its format (I think--the radio directory in the Lake County News-Herald's TV guide has it listed as standards and variety) I don't listen to it much these days.

I really don't listen to radio (AM or FM) that much anymore, after discovering Live365 (www.live365.com) on the Internet. I went to our local Radio Shack the other day and bought a cable to connect my computer's sound card audio out to the aux inputs on my stereo; hooked it up in five minutes, spent another five minutes registering with the site (to get commercial-free music on these Internet radio sites one must register with them), then set the preset buttons on the on-screen control panel to the easy-listening station (preset 1), the '60s oldies station (preset 2) and one other stream that plays nothing but the Beatles on preset 3. I left the other three preset buttons (there are six on the panel) set to their default stations.

Your list of AM stations receivable in your area is impressive. What is even more impressive to me is the number of stations you can get there in Texas which still play music. In most parts of the country, AM stations in major cities gave up their music formats some years ago, but I guess things are different in west Texas, where you are. Because of FCC rules limiting the coverage of AM stations these days (even the ones which used to be clear-channel), however, I cannot get AM reception further away from here than about 1,000 miles, using the built-in loop antennas in most of my AM radios. I have never heard any AM stations from the West Coast in my entire life (I've lived in northeastern Ohio all my life--was born and raised here), and the only time I ever heard anything on AM from the Southwest was one night about 20 years ago, when WRMR-850 [now sports WKNR] was off the air for maintenance. The station was KOA-850am in Denver. I have yet to hear anything from the big stations in Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Albuquerque and, as I mentioned, any station on the West Coast. If I had an outdoor AM antenna oriented to that part of the country, I might have a shot at hearing Salt Lake City, Phoenix, even Los Angeles 50kW AMs if the conditions were right. However, living in an apartment, I absolutely cannot have any kind of outside radio or TV antennas, so DXing is out for the most part. Even my amateur radio station uses an indoor antenna because of that restriction (that and the fact it doesn't work well--probably because of the aluminum siding around the second floor of the apartment building where I live).

Well, I guess that's one drawback of living in an apartment. The no-outdoor-antennas rule is probably universal throughout the country, so if you live in an apartment or even a condo you are pretty much stuck with cable TV and local AM/FM radio (and one or two other music sources, as I will explain in a moment). With cable you get what the cable operator offers for your chosen service package (including the "must-carry" channels such as TBS, TNT, CNN, WGN, etc. and the local broadcast TV stations in your area), no more and no less; the radio reception in your area is entirely dependent on how your apartment building or condominium is built. If you live in a building wrapped in aluminum siding, your chances of getting any kind of decent AM, FM or TV reception are slim unless you have cable TV or satellite service, both of which offer digital music channels in most areas these days, and then there are the thousands of Internet radio stations, many of which have better programming than today's local AM or FM radio in major cities. I've been listening to Live365 almost exclusively since registering with the site the other day; I have to say, I have never enjoyed listening to music (other than my own collection of CDs and cassettes which is growing by leaps and bounds, as I am a member of BMG Music Service in Indianapolis, Indiana) more than I do now. No commercials, no DJs on many stations, just music all the time. This is radio at its best (and the future of radio listening at home or in the office at work), IMHO.

Can the day be far off when Internet radio becomes the preferred music medium, eventually putting many if not most radio stations off the air? I am speaking here of FM music stations, not news or news/talk AMs (the latter are still extremely popular with people who depend on them for news and weather while commuting to and from their workplaces).

I think even FM music stations will be around for some time, as people still listen to them in their cars (those who don't have Sirius or some other mobile satellite radio system). However, I think that's where the bulk of FM radio listening is done these days--in cars and trucks, on the go. Internet and satellite radio, not to mention digital cable music channels, are slowly chipping away at the listener bases of many stations as far as at-home listening is concerned. It's the future of radio, whether the stations like it or not. It may not put standard radio out to pasture entirely, but since Internet radio has become extremely popular these days and is becoming more so every day, we can be sure of one thing: Terrestrial AM and FM (broadcast) radio, and the manner in which many people listen to radio nowadays, will never be the same again.

[asynchronousman]

Boy, I hate to hear how you seemed to have slipped to the bottom of that river of yours. My only serious solution is to move to Indiana or North Dakota and get out of a crappy siding salesman's wet dream. Ohio is stealing your soul. Honest. It doesn't sound like you are happy anyway being there. Cut and run and WANDER as they say in Indiana. My former apartment was made with vinyl, but the violence and grief made it.hell. I almost stopped a fight that had a gun and two knives and three people crashing the college party with warrants. I live in a 64 year old rundown house now. Landlords are still a pain but I am FREE and HAPPY here.

Take care.

[Chad Hauris]

In this rural area of Texas, a couple factors help boost AM listenership in the more remote areas...1 is that the terrain is very flat and even a 250 watt AM signal can travel for 50 miles or more. 2 is that in some areas there are only a couple of radio stations receivable...such as a country station on FM and and adult contemporary on AM. Satellite radio however may provide some competetion for these stations.

Personally I listen to just about 1 radio station, KCHX 106.7 (adult contemporary). I would listen to the station I work for (KOCV 91.3FM)...but it does not come on air till I come in and turn on the transmitter! So the car radios pretty much stay on this one station. The AM stations I mentioned can be somewhat weak where I live (although they are receiveable) so I don't often listen to them in the car. Sometimes on Sundays a talk station (KWEL 1070, Midland) will play music and I will listen to it.

I recently got Direct TV satellite service (there is no cable available where I live) and I listen to the music channels it provides at home.

I really don't think there is much of any commercial potential for internet radio. There is really no way to make money off of it.
There have been so many restrictions placed on it that's a lot more trouble than it's worth for many broadcasters. It seems however to be used more by amateur broadcasters (not as in "ham" radio but people just broadcasting music for fun).
Satellite radio however may have some commercial potential as an alternative to conventional broadcasting.

[Shain]

Yep, I still listen to AM. Lots of it in the car.

When I was a kid, at night, I would listen to AM, and keep track of all the stations I could receive.
Got the best reception a night as I recall, depending on atmospheric conditions.
Kept a running list of stations. I remember having a book listing all the AM stations in the US. Don't recall where I got it.

I built a one tube kit radio, and had a wire antenna strung from my window, over to the garage, and to another pole, so formed a big triangle. I could get stations all over the US, and could pick up Mexico. (I lived in Kansas at the time)

There was a powerful AM station in Chicago, that I could get pretty much all the time.

AM still is well followed. One of the highest rated to stations (AM or FM) in Omaha is a powerful (50,000 watts?) KFAB (AM) Been on air since the 30s I think.
Has talk shows, and about every other type of programmimg. Just well established as "the" leader.

It's the station you turn to for emergency info in case of tornado, has school closing info in snow storms, etc. Has the liscense for Nebraska football broadcasts, and NE basketball.

For music, there's no comparison to stereo FM. Even the oldies are better on FM.

[Jeffhs]

The oldies station in Buffalo WKRW?? at 1520 is fun too. Running my Zenith Inneroceanic tonight instead of my big system.

Eric

The Buffalo station is WKBW 1520. WKRW is the callsign of a translator station for NPR station WKSU near Akron, Ohio.

I have heard the Toronto big band station on 740 (it comes in here all the time on my '731 but not on a small replica cathedral in my bedroom [but the cathedral set does get CFCO 630 in Kent County, Ontario--go figure] or my $10 clock radio...oh well).

At least in Canada the AM dial still has some music stations in large cities, though some are going to talk, just as they are in this country. Case in point: CKLW in Windsor, Ontario dropped its music format some time ago (remember those wonderful days of "The Big Eight" in the '60s and '70s?) and is now a news/talk station targeting Windsor, ON and Detroit, Michigan (although the station has a very strong signal all along the south shore of Lake Erie from Toledo, Ohio east to at least Buffalo, and of course in the Detroit area).


Those older Zeniths are great for AM DXing. I'm not familiar with the Interoceanic model, but I have a 1963 Zenith K731 that will bring in stations all across the AM dial at night using only its built-in loop antenna (they didn't call those sets "Long Distance" for nothing). This set is great for in-state AM "DXing" in the daytime as well; from where I live I can hear stations from Youngstown, Ohio (close to Pittsburgh), Conneaut and Ashtabula, Ohio (50+ miles from Cleveland, on Lake Erie), Buffalo, New York, et al. and many Canadian stations. My 1980 Zenith H480W clock radio doesn't do half as well in the daytime, and a $10 clock radio on my nightstand in the bedroom is lucky if it gets the stronger Cleveland stations during the day (it gets the 50kW ones, but as for the smaller 5kW and weaker stations, forget it). In fact, most of my AM radios, including the AM tuner in my stereo system, will receive the local station 5 miles away (on 1460 kHz) on that frequency and also at 560 kHz--900 KHz down the dial! This happens all the time, not just in the daytime when the station runs 1 kW (it cuts its power in half at night to 0.5kW, probably with directional antenna, but the problem is still there even at the reduced power level; this is probably because I am so close to the transmitter).

I have many CDs with the music CKLW played during its heyday as "The Big Eight"; when I listen to them (I have one on now) it reminds me of those days when every major city in this country and Canada had at least one powerhouse top-40 station. I used to live in a suburb of Cleveland, where there were all sorts of top-40 rock stations on the AM dial when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s: CKLW from Windsor, WKYC-AM (1100, 50kW), WGAR-AM (1220, 50kW), WIXY (1260, 10kW day/0.5kW night now, but just 5kW days/nights thirty-five years ago), WELW (1330, 0.5kW, daytime only in '60s-'70s), WHK (1420, 5kW). That's all changed now, though; all those stations are talk these days, except for 1260 (now WWMK, Radio Disney).

The only oldies station in Cleveland these days (since 1981, anyhow) is on FM: WMJI, "Majic" 105.7. Liking oldies as I do, I keep my stereo on that station when I'm not listening to oldies or easy listening on Live365 on the Internet.

Wow. How times have changed. Thank goodness for music services such as BMG in Indy and others where one can still get oldies CDs, not to mention Internet radio and cable music channels. These services are helping to keep the oldies from sliding forever into oblivion, as more and more oldies AMs are abandoning the format for talk, sports, etc. (as WCKY in Cincinnati did at the beginning of this year).

[Jeffhs]

There was a powerful AM station in Chicago, that I could get pretty much all the time.

That was probably WLS, which was also extremely popular with kids and teens throughout Illinois (and nationwide at night) in the '60s-'70s (their 50kW clear-channel signal covered the state very well and had very good national coverage after sundown). I could hear that station at night where I used to live (suburban Cleveland) and can still get it where I live now, 35 miles from town.

Chicago also had 670 WMAQ, which was an NBC-operated station in the '60s-'70s and until the original NBC radio network was sold in 1986. WMAQ was a 50kW clear-channel station which had several formats in the '70s: top-40, country, talk (IIRC), and finally, a brief stint as an all-news station before it was sold and the call sign changed to WSCR. The format was changed to sports "The Score" at the same time (under new ownership by now--early '90s).

WMAQ-FM, now rock WKQX-101.1, became an affiliate of NBC's National News and Information Service, a short-lived news/information network operated by NBC in the '70s. The calls were changed to WNIS until the National News and Information Service folded in the mid-'70s.

The WMAQ calls are still held by the NBC television station in Chicago, which is still owned by the network.

Chicago's 780 WBBM-AM is all-news from CBS (the station, along with WBBM-FM and WBBM-TV, is operated by Infinity Broadcasting, a division of CBS Incorporated).

[lynnm]

I have a fairly long commute and listen to CBC Calgary on the A.M. band quite a lot. Other than the CBC everything on the A.M. band is Country,talk,or religion.

[Chad Hauris]

I have been able to get WBBM in Odessa Texas a few years ago...also got WHAS Louisville. I can remember when WHAS would have an overnight music show...it was not that long ago, but then it went all talk even at night.

Yesterday was driving in my '78 Grand Marquis and found that the AM sensitivity on the orginal Philco AM/FM/8 track was very good...was able to get a station from Lubbock fairly clearly, about 150 miles away. Those old Philco and Delco car radios are some of the best in my opinion for AM performance.

[glen65]

I built a one tube kit radio, and had a wire antenna strung from my window, over to the garage, and to another pole, so formed a big traingle. I could get stations all over the US, and could pick up Mexico. (I lived in Kansas at the time)

Was it this one by any chance?

[Shain]

No, I don't think so. But it's been a long time ago.

It was on a larger board as I recall. It could be made into other things I think, besides a radio. But I had other kits too, could be confusing it with one of the others. I seem to recall it had a small speaker.

What is that one shown? The one pictured looks to have an antenna on it. I don't think mine did. Also has an ear phone.

Sure would like to find one now. Would be fun to play with a kit.

[glen65]

What is that one shown?
It was one of a series of different kits called P-box kits that Radio Shack
sold in the early to mid 70s.

The one pictured looks to have an antenna on it. I don't think mine did. Also has an ear phone
Thats not the antenna thats what was called a loopstick. It was a
variable inductor used to tune the stations. You had to use a long wire
antenna.

Sure would like to find one now. Would be fun to play with a kit.
Ok, here's one.
http://www.midnightscience.com/xs104.htm

[Shain]

Yea, I meant "tuner". I know it's not an antenna. But weren't those also called a ferrite rod?

[glen65]

I think it had a ferrite core but most of the time when I seen the term ferrite rod it was referring to a small antenna. Something like they use in portable
radios.

[drjuju]

Well, I just joined up with this site, and I'm sitting in my "office" in my house about 30 miles from anywhere here in the middle of Arkansas with my Zenith Trans-Oceanic on the rack behind me. This radio lived with me in the even deeper woods further up in the Ozarks for 12 years or so, and has followed me all over the place since some time back in the 1980s. Like a lot of you, I grew up tinkering with radios and tube amps and old junk (which now sells for strange amounts of money...) and didn't really start listening to FM until coming back from Uncle Sam's Boat and Gun Club back in 1969. I quit listening to it when I moved to my cabin about '82 or so and stuck with shortwave and AM. I married a little babe from Syracuse NY a few years back and along with Parkinson's disease, she was the engine of desire that led me back to the world of Unix and big iron, and I'm back in the electro-toy hobby. Starting to cast about for one of those old 4-foot-tall Zeniths I remember from my youth. Mine had an electromagnetic voice-coil and an electric guitar input. woo hoo. Cheers. great forum.

[Sandy G]

Drjuju- Be prepared to lay out some fairly serious dinero for one of them old Zeniths, if its in any kind of shape. What model T/O you have? I have 2, a 1951 model & a '54 one. Sometimes, you can get lucky & score an old console in an antique store, but most of the ones I've run across are fairly well beat-to-shit, & still have high prices. I'll assume you want one of the "Big Black Dial" models-they're the ones to have. Anyhow, good luck, & here's a big welcome to AK !!!-Sandy G.

[asynchronousman]

Drjuju-the usenet group rec.antiques.radio+phono is a great place to find TO owners. Two people you can ask are Peter Wieck (as he's the expert) and Ken Gooding (Ken G--who has more housebound Zeniths than TOs but probably could find one easily). After that would be www.radioattic.com and I believe there may be one available right now in one of the member's ads (RA is a collective of repair and sales people not an auction for you to take your lumps on), Antique Radio Classifieds provides a one month previous look at the ARC classifieds (subscribing is of course the way to get the NOW)...

http://www.antiqueradio.com/classads_stat.html is what you need.

[drjuju]

thanks for the replies, guys. I was up way past my usual. I work 5am to 2pm Tues - Sat and usually am cutting Zs by 8 or 9. Must have been the ice cream. The TO is a model 1000-1 with what I presume to be a date stamp of 11/11/66 in blue on the chassis inside. I once had a 7000, and a Sony 5100 that was a sort-of TO, but this old 1000 has been really good to me. I have stickers on it from a couple of trips to Europe back in the 90s (used to be a travelling musician and did my swan-song tour at the age of 46 before coming home and un-retiring to work on computers). It has no knob on the band-selector, and I've been changing bands with a pair of pliers for more than 20 years, but it's my buddy, right? I lived in a cabin (28x12 with a loft) in the deep woods for a long time. I'd set it on a stump while doing chores in the yard and garden and listen to AM and shortwave. Always had a thing for distant stations. The world is a lot further away and a lot bigger for those without satellite or cable tv. Of course now I've got the sat stations and a 32" tv, DVD and sound system, blah-blah, but I still retreat to the office for sanity's sake. Currently building a mono system with a 1956 Klipsch short-horn, Phase Linear 400 amp, Marantz 3200 preamp, and Pioneer TX-6800 tuner. Looking for a 15" 16ohm woofer for the Klipsch. Also casting about for a tube amp kit. I've been away from this stuff for a long time, and am constantly amazed by the prices attached to tube stuff. Gee, while I was sleeping the tube market went from extinction to high-dollar rage. Makes me pine away for the warehouse full of stuff I've sold, lost (2 exes), or given away over the years. Could have financed a nice retirement on all that stuff.

Thanks for the tips and links. I'll check 'em out. Nice friendly bunch here.

Cheers

[Ed in SoDak]

Unless it really took off in the last month or so, the last one like mine I checked went for about $250, looked way cleaner than mine.

You guys with the whistling radios, I think that may be your IF coils are out of tune. Not to set everyone diddling around, but if you can find a schematic, you can track it down and maybe stop the heterodyne whine.

Another good site for old radios, if not mentioned already, is www.antiqueradios.com

I remember KAAY from Littlerock AR. Good rock n roll late nite, but I had to sneak out and listen to it in the car, couldn't get it on my portable and didn't know about adding antenna wires to those cheapie sets.

-Ed

[peverett]

I live near Austin, Texas. The only AM music channel that can recieve during the day is an oldies station in San Antonio. All the Austin AM stations are either talk radio or sports radio. Needless to say, I only listen to the SA station.

As far as FM, we has a good classic rock station and a good oldies station here. However, last fall, both changed formats. The former classic rock station claims to play rock, but after the format change played a lot of junk. They seem to be slowly migrating back, which is to my taste. The former oldies station became "Bob FM" which I cannot stand, so they lost me completely. Both stations seemed to forgo local content, but the rock station is slowly bringing it back.

In changing their formtats, these stations are trying to compete with satallite radio and MP3 players, forgetting that their advantage is to be different and contain local content.

[Jeffhs]

I have one of those early TO's, Royal 1000-1 (an ebay score last year). Like Donny's, though, the dial cord on mine is broken, but I haven't gotten around to restringing it (I hate to think what a job it will be to get the chassis out of the cabinet, let alone restringing the dial drive itself; from the diagram of it on the schematic, it looks as if there are two dial cords in there). The radio works very well and sounds great, like all Zeniths; :yes: I can change stations by reaching in the back and moving the tuning capacitor rotor by hand, so I am really in no hurry to restring the dial (I've been using the radio this way for some time).

I like AM radio as well. Don't care too much for talk radio, but there is a very good music station from Toronto that comes in here like gangbusters all day and all night (CHWO-AM740). All six of the Zenith radios in my collection pick up this station extremely well, but I'm not surprised, as I live about a mile from the southern shore of Lake Erie. I can hear many southwestern Ontario stations and Detroit stations all day and into the night; at night, the dial just lights up with stations, including every major AM station in New York and Chicago as well as most 50kW stations up and down the East Coast. I listened to WWL in New Orleans during the hurricane (when the station was on the United Broadcasters of New Orleans network; it's back to news/talk now, I think) and my Royal 1000 picked it up really well after dark--no fading, interference or anything else except a good strong signal. I don't think I had ever heard WWL before then.

I've been wanting to listen to that oldies music program over New York's WABC you mention (I like oldies a lot, and have many of my FM radios set on the oldies FM station in Cleveland or a small AM oldies station about 35 miles east of here), but I keep forgetting when it's on.

[stereofisher]

I have one of those early TO's, Royal 1000-1 (an ebay score last year). Like Donny's, though, the dial cord on mine is broken, but I haven't gotten around to restringing it (I hate to think what a job it will be to get the chassis out of the cabinet, let alone restringing the dial drive itself; from the diagram of it on the schematic, it looks as if there are two dial cords in there). The radio works very well and sounds great, like all Zeniths; :yes: I can change stations by reaching in the back and moving the tuning capacitor rotor by hand, so I am really in no hurry to restring the dial (I've been using the radio this way for some time).

I like AM radio as well. Don't care too much for talk radio, but there is a very good music station from Toronto that comes in here like gangbusters all day and all night (CHWO-AM740). All six of the Zenith radios in my collection pick up this station extremely well, but I'm not surprised, as I live about a mile from the southern shore of Lake Erie. I can hear many southwestern Ontario stations and Detroit stations all day and into the night; at night, the dial just lights up with stations, including every major AM station in New York and Chicago as well as most 50kW stations up and down the East Coast. I listened to WWL in New Orleans during the hurricane (when the station was on the United Broadcasters of New Orleans network; it's back to news/talk now, I think) and my Royal 1000 picked it up really well after dark--no fading, interference or anything else except a good strong signal. I don't think I had ever heard WWL before then.

I've been wanting to listen to that oldies music program over New York's WABC you mention (I like oldies a lot, and have many of my FM radios set on the oldies FM station in Cleveland or a small AM oldies station about 35 miles east of here), but I keep forgetting when it's on.

It would be great to get AM 740 all the time! I wish I could it here in Southeast NY. I really miss WABC. Cant beleive how popular Talk Radio is on ABC. Checked the Arbitrons for New York City and WABC was like 4th or 5th. Cant beleive that! All radios in my collection get CHWO. wish there were more AM music stations!

Eric

[Jeffhs]

It would be great to get AM 740 all the time! I wish I could it here in Southeast NY. I really miss WABC. Cant beleive how popular Talk Radio is on ABC. Checked the Arbitrons for New York City and WABC was like 4th or 5th. Cant beleive that! All radios in my collection get CHWO. wish there were more AM music stations!

Eric

WABC is a 50kW station, but not clear channel anymore. I can't imagine why you don't hear it (at least at night) where you are, unless the station has recently put a null in their signal pattern to the southeast. I live in northeastern Ohio near Cleveland and can hear WABC, WCBS and WFAN (formerly WNBC-AM), as well as 1150 (used to be WHN, don't know what it is now, :dunno: ) and most other major New York, Philadelphia and Chicago stations after dark, as I mentioned in my last post.

WABC, and other New York stations (radio and TV), are in the #1 radio/TV market in this country, so I'm not surprised their ratings are consistently high in the New York City area. This may also account for why ABC's national talk shows are so popular, although since they get things like Internet and satellite radio in The Big Apple just as everyone else does in this country, it's interesting just the same that ABC's ratings are still so high. ABC must have shows on XM or Sirius as well as terrestrial radio (Howard Stern's program is on Sirius and Bruce Morrow, a.k.a. Cousin Brucie, took his show to Sirius as well after New York's WCBS-FM dropped oldies), so this might also account for ABC Radio's great ratings as far as their networks are concerned.

You say all your radios get CHWO 740, but in the sentence preceding that you said you wish you could hear the station all the time. I'm confused; are you saying that you can get the station in the daytime but not at night? Where in southeastern New York are you located? I'm not familiar with that part of the state (I don't know much about New York, period, despite the fact one of my cousins lives in Brooklyn and another used to live near Buffalo), so I can only guess where you are. My best guess after looking in my atlas, however, would be the Capital region, unless you are closer to the border of New York state and Vermont. Still, I would think CHWO-740 should be audible anywhere in that general area; the station has a 50kW signal and covers much of the Northeastern US as well as southwestern Ontario, Canada.

There are still AM music stations, but they are difficult to find as many of them are small local operations with low power and sharply directional signal patterns meant to cover their immediate area, no more. (One you may hear in your area is CFCO-AM 630 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada; if you are lucky you might even hear their FM sister station, CFCO-FM, 92.7). Most of them are programmed from satellite feeds, although some very small stations in small towns still have real radio programs with live DJs. There was one 0.5kW station near my hometown that had live programming from when it signed on in 1965 until about three years ago, then it went to syndicated talk. Another station about 20 miles and one county south of where I live now had no fewer than three formats since it signed on in 1969; every one of those formats failed miserably in the ratings books because the station couldn't compete with the big Cleveland stations (the smaller station had 1kW daytime only and couldn't get authorization to operate full time or with higher power if it wanted to), so after the last format (Sporting News Radio sports via satellite) went down the drain the station said enough already, threw in the towel and went off the air for good three years or so ago. Fifteen sixty kHz, the station's dial position, is now, regrettably, silent during the day in this area, but I do hear New York's Radio Disney (WQEW-AM, formerly WQXR-AM, which simulcast NYC's classical WQXR-FM until a few years ago) very well here on that frequency after dark.

The switch by most U.S. AM radio stations from music to talk, BTW, is the reason I have all but given up on broadcast radio (except for the oldies FM in Cleveland and a classic rock FM from the same area) in favor of Internet radio (my favorite online music service is AOL Radio with XM, which comes free with Winamp) and my own CDs and cassettes; I ripped most of my favorite CDs onto my hard drive some time ago and am adding more tracks all the time. I find there is much more variety of music on Internet radio than there is now (or probably ever was in the last 30-40 years) on standard AM or FM. If you cannot hear AM740 for any reason (unfortunately, they do not stream over the Web at this time), there are many stations on the Internet that play the same type of music, and I'll bet you can find similar stations on XM or Sirius satellite radio if you have it in your car or even built into your home stereo (many new home stereo receivers are equipped with XM satellite radio tuners, and many new car stereos are similarly equipped, or are XM-ready, as well).

I think we can safely say that the days of the ordinary car radio (and home stereo) are over, with a capital O--or soon will be. Satellite radio won't replace standard over-air AM and FM any time soon, but satellite is gaining ground and becoming more popular by the day. My own personal favorite stations from AOL Radio with XM are The Seventies on (channel) Seven, The Sixties on Six and an easy-listening channel from Winamp radio itself. I've been listening to AOL Radio with XM just a short time (I only just discovered the service a few months ago), but already I like it so well I wouldn't dream of giving it up. :yes: More variety of music, no reception problems . . . I wonder why I didn't make the switch a lot sooner than I did. These stations sound great through my stereo system, which is hooked up to my computer. I used to hate the commercials and limited playlists on local FM; now, with satellite, I can't get enough music. Long live XM! :yes: :music:

[wa2ise]

I've been wanting to listen to that oldies music program over New York's WABC you mention (I like oldies a lot, and have many of my FM radios set on the oldies FM station in Cleveland or a small AM oldies station about 35 miles east of here), but I keep forgetting when it's on.

Saturday nights 6-10 east coast time. Also on their internet feed if reception is poor.

[stereofisher]

CHWO is available at night only here in Southeast NY. We do get most NY City AM stations here in Ulster County. Wish it was available daytimes. Oh well. Eric :music:

[NowhereMan 1966]

You say all your radios get CHWO 740, but in the sentence preceding that you said you wish you could hear the station all the time. I'm confused; are you saying that you can get the station in the daytime but not at night? Where in southeastern New York are you located? I'm not familiar with that part of the state (I don't know much about New York, period, despite the fact one of my cousins lives in Brooklyn and another used to live near Buffalo), so I can only guess where you are. My best guess after looking in my atlas, however, would be the Capital region, unless you are closer to the border of New York state and Vermont. Still, I would think CHWO-740 should be audible anywhere in that general area; the station has a 50kW signal and covers much of the Northeastern US as well as southwestern Ontario, Canada.

There are still AM music stations, but they are difficult to find as many of them are small local operations with low power and sharply directional signal patterns meant to cover their immediate area, no more. (One you may hear in your area is CFCO-AM 630 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada; if you are lucky you might even hear their FM sister station, CFCO-FM, 92.7). Most of them are programmed from satellite feeds, although some very small stations in small towns still have real radio programs with live DJs. There was one 0.5kW station near my hometown that had live programming from when it signed on in 1965 until about three years ago, then it went to syndicated talk. Another station about 20 miles and one county south of where I live now had no fewer than three formats since it signed on in 1969; every one of those formats failed miserably in the ratings books because the station couldn't compete with the big Cleveland stations (the smaller station had 1kW daytime only and couldn't get authorization to operate full time or with higher power if it wanted to), so after the last format (Sporting News Radio sports via satellite) went down the drain the station said enough already, threw in the towel and went off the air for good three years or so ago. Fifteen sixty kHz, the station's dial position, is now, regrettably, silent during the day in this area, but I do hear New York's Radio Disney (WQEW-AM, formerly WQXR-AM, which simulcast NYC's classical WQXR-FM until a few years ago) very well here on that frequency after dark.

The switch by most U.S. AM radio stations from music to talk, BTW, is the reason I have all but given up on broadcast radio (except for the oldies FM in Cleveland and a classic rock FM from the same area) in favor of Internet radio (my favorite online music service is AOL Radio with XM, which comes free with Winamp) and my own CDs and cassettes; I ripped most of my favorite CDs onto my hard drive some time ago and am adding more tracks all the time. I find there is much more variety of music on Internet radio than there is now (or probably ever was in the last 30-40 years) on standard AM or FM. If you cannot hear AM740 for any reason (unfortunately, they do not stream over the Web at this time), there are many stations on the Internet that play the same type of music, and I'll bet you can find similar stations on XM or Sirius satellite radio if you have it in your car or even built into your home stereo (many new home stereo receivers are equipped with XM satellite radio tuners, and many new car stereos are similarly equipped, or are XM-ready, as well).

I think we can safely say that the days of the ordinary car radio (and home stereo) are over, with a capital O--or soon will be. Satellite radio won't replace standard over-air AM and FM any time soon, but satellite is gaining ground and becoming more popular by the day. My own personal favorite stations from AOL Radio with XM are The Seventies on (channel) Seven, The Sixties on Six and an easy-listening channel from Winamp radio itself. I've been listening to AOL Radio with XM just a short time (I only just discovered the service a few months ago), but already I like it so well I wouldn't dream of giving it up. :yes: More variety of music, no reception problems . . . I wonder why I didn't make the switch a lot sooner than I did. These stations sound great through my stereo system, which is hooked up to my computer. I used to hate the commercials and limited playlists on local FM; now, with satellite, I can't get enough music. Long live XM! :yes: :music:

I know here in Pittsburgh, we have mostly music station on 770 kc on AM, but it is daytime, at night, it decreases power and we get WABC out of New York City. However, there are doctor's shows on there too from time to time, you know where people calling in, "hey doctor, my foot is turning green, what do I do?" :) I'm a talk radio junky myself, but doctor's show, blech. I tend to be very conservative on most things but more of an economic moderate, but you know what, I'm burned out on politics so I might listen from time to time for something to do at work, but I might switch to music there as well. I do admit I'm a Glenn Beck and Michael Savage freak, along with Coast to Coast, but since I work, I'm limited on that one.

740 out of Toronto, I miss the days when it was CBC, I liked to listen to CBC when it came in during the night, sort of like another source for news. Up in Erie PA, it comes in during the day and night, Mom likes the oldies so when we are up there, that is her favorite station. I can pick up Detroit on 760 kc during the day, albeit very weak. One time, I talked to Canada on my 2 meter HT using the rubber duck antenna and 1 watt of power, my signal went across Lake Erie and 20 to 30 miles further into Ontario. It was fun.

[Jeffhs]

I know what you mean as far as the music stations that go into the noise at night are concerned. One of my favorite AM oldies stations is in a town some 35 miles east of me. It's on 1360, comes in great here in the daytime, then after sunset it goes from 5kW to 57 watts (directional at night as well, no doubt; the music station in your area that becomes inaudible at night may be doing the the same thing). I often hear WSAI 1360 in Cincinnati once the local oldies station goes away. WSAI is a talk station like NYC's WABC, but WSAI calls itself "The Revolution of Talk Radio" and used to be an oldies station.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I know what you mean as far as the music stations that go into the noise at night are concerned. One of my favorite AM oldies stations is in a town some 35 miles east of me. It's on 1360, comes in great here in the daytime, then after sunset it goes from 5kW to 57 watts (directional at night as well, no doubt; the music station in your area that becomes inaudible at night may be doing the the same thing). I often hear WSAI 1360 in Cincinnati once the local oldies station goes away. WSAI is a talk station like NYC's WABC, but WSAI calls itself "The Revolution of Talk Radio" and used to be an oldies station.
I'm not sure if our local 770 kc music station goes to low power at night or off the air, I'll have to check, but when it gets dark, WABC rolls in. I do pick up WSAI at night from time to time as well. Myself, I'm usually a talk show junie, still AM, but I'm just burned out and disillusioned (long story in itself) on politics and such to the point to where I might tune in for a little bit, if the topic is interesting, I'll still listen but if it isn't I go fishing for music. I still devote a lot of time to Glenn Beck and Michael Savage along with Art Bell/George Noory when I can catch the latter. I know we also have (had?) Art Bell and George Noory on 1460 kc on a local Ambridge station, but they go to low power at night, I think from 5000 watts down to 33 watts (IIRC), of course, they got lost in the mud but at the time I was in hospital with a hand infected with strep for 5 days (I almost lost all or part of my left hand, but I'm lucky enough to get away with some nerve damage and a huge scar), I could not get Art's Youngstown station so I was able to hear him over 1460 since the hospital was right under 1460's antenna and being so near, the signal was strong there. I know 650 out of Nashville's Grand Ole Opry still plays country music and on occasion, I like to listen to it.

[Jeffhs]

I found a listing on TVRadioWorld.com earlier this evening for a station in Jeannette, Pa. on 770 kHz. The call sign is WKFB and the station runs 750 watts, daytime only. Could this be the local station you mentioned in your post? It would surprise me if it isn't, as this was the only station I could find on 770 anywhere in the Pittsburgh area.

BTW, I am truly sorry to have read the note at the bottom of your last post, in which you mentioned the death of one of your cats. :no: I feel for you, as I had to put my seven-year-old white cat Shawn to sleep in 2002. However, two years later, I found a cat exactly like him at a local animal shelter (and I mean exactly--same color, same personality; to this day I don't know how I could have been so lucky as to find him). The new one's name is Jonah. He was three years old (more or less) when I adopted him, and he is, without a doubt, the nicest cat I've known in a long time. He's asleep on my easy chair in front of the TV as I write this, looking absolutely adorable.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I found a listing on TVRadioWorld.com earlier this evening for a station in Jeannette, Pa. on 770 kHz. The call sign is WKFB and the station runs 750 watts, daytime only. Could this be the local station you mentioned in your post? It would surprise me if it isn't, as this was the only station I could find on 770 anywhere in the Pittsburgh area.

BTW, I am truly sorry to have read the note at the bottom of your last post, in which you mentioned the death of one of your cats. :no: I feel for you, as I had to put my seven-year-old white cat Shawn to sleep in 2002. However, two years later, I found a cat exactly like him at a local animal shelter (and I mean exactly--same color, same personality; to this day I don't know how I could have been so lucky as to find him). The new one's name is Jonah. He was three years old (more or less) when I adopted him, and he is, without a doubt, the nicest cat I've known in a long time. He's asleep on my easy chair in front of the TV as I write this, looking absolutely adorable.

Yeap, that's the one. They seem to play a lot of obscure songs that you hardly hear anymore from the 1960's and 1970's, I like to listen to that station on my 1965 Magnavox 8 transistor radio when I cook out.

Greystone was only 5, he passed away from kidney failure. The vet seems to think he could have been born with it but it took time to show up. I still have 7 others to care for, some of them are up in years but doing quite well. Pansy, my little calico, she will be 19 in August, except for a hyperactive thyroid which is under control, she has no problems. Corky will be 17 on May 12th and I have a male 16 year old black cat. Yeah, in lieu of them, maybe I have to understand the pendulum can swing the other way but still, I do feel the little guy was cheated in life but at least we had a good 5 years with him and he knew he was loved and wanted. I'm glad you found a cat almost exactly like the one you lost. We still have Greystone's mother Spunky, his brother G.W. (Dubya), and sister Whitey (although she looks more like a Snowshoe cat). G.W. is starting to act like Greystone from time to time such as chasing Pixie around, she must be around 13 or 14, she is the other black cat we have.

[KB9KXH]

Yep, I still listen to AM. Lots of it in the car.

When I was a kid, at night, I would listen to AM, and keep track of all the stations I could receive.
Got the best reception a night as I recall, depending on atmospheric conditions.
Kept a running list of stations. I remember having a book listing all the AM stations in the US. Don't recall where I got it.

I built a one tube kit radio, and had a wire antenna strung from my window, over to the garage, and to another pole, so formed a big triangle. I could get stations all over the US, and could pick up Mexico. (I lived in Kansas at the time)

There was a powerful AM station in Chicago, that I could get pretty much all the time.

AM still is well followed. One of the highest rated to stations (AM or FM) in Omaha is a powerful (50,000 watts?) KFAB (AM) Been on air since the 30s I think.
Has talk shows, and about every other type of programmimg. Just well established as "the" leader.

It's the station you turn to for emergency info in case of tornado, has school closing info in snow storms, etc. Has the liscense for Nebraska football broadcasts, and NE basketball.

For music, there's no comparison to stereo FM. Even the oldies are better on FM. the book you refer to might have been the world radio and television handbook (WRTH) a complete listing of stations world wide. if i had to give up a mode it would be fm and i would keep am below 30mhz since most of my music listening is on cds, fm stations cater to the masses but ignore the more eclectic taste in favor of the more popular money making programming.

[superdeez]

Orlando's only "oldies" FM station recently changed its format, so its competeting broadcasting co. switched one of its faultering AM talk stations to oldies. Orlando has always seemed to have a rule that the english-speaking AM stations were talk, and the spanish-speaking AM stations are the only music on the AM band. Imagine my surprise to hear music I could understand! Plus, this station seems to limit itself to pre-1970 music, and even plays the unpopular stuff (not the same 15 songs the FM oldies station played repetitavely).

It's quite an experience to hear these oldies on a set that would have played them new.

[Jeffhs]

Orlando's only "oldies" FM station recently changed its format, so its competeting broadcasting co. switched one of its faultering AM talk stations to oldies. Orlando has always seemed to have a rule that the english-speaking AM stations were talk, and the spanish-speaking AM stations are the only music on the AM band. Imagine my surprise to hear music I could understand! Plus, this station seems to limit itself to pre-1970 music, and even plays the unpopular stuff (not the same 15 songs the FM oldies station played repetitavely).

It's quite an experience to hear these oldies on a set that would have played them new.

My favorite AM oldies station is a 5kW fulltime operation (0.057 kW or 57 watts nights) on 1360 kHz, in a town about 35 miles due east of me. It also plays oldies from the 1950s through the 1970s (nothing after 1979 and definitely no disco) from a satellite network, The True Oldies Channel (no local DJs or live personalities at all except for a morning news broadcast). The station was formerly a talk station and was switched to oldies shortly after a 500-watt oldies station in a Cleveland suburb went from oldies to talk some three years ago. The 5kW station also plays many obscure oldies that the oldies FM in Cleveland either does not have or doesn't play more than once every six months, although the oldies FM seems to have more variety in oldies now than it used to--again, since the oldies AM I mentioned above dropped oldies for talk some three years ago. Every one of my antique/vintage Zeniths (and most if not all of my other vintage transistor portables, including a 1973 Sony 17-transistor AM/FM/FM stereo unit) will pick up the 5kW station all day long until it fades into the noise at sundown, as I fully expect from Zenith. :yes: These radios, too, could have and probably did play all the oldies I hear now when the songs were top-40.

[KB9KXH]

I "love" AM radio. There's just nothing like hearing oldies over AM.
Berry Gordy for example, recorded songs to sound good over a car radio.
And Adult Standards..? AM.
The old radio serials. Remember hearing those late at night..? AM radio.....
When this stuff first aired.. much of it was over the AM band..!

Low Fi..? Sure. But even to this day.. (or night..) I sleep with the radio on.
And what band is it on..? AM! conversation and music.
The Atmospheric noise (atmospheric whistling..) I DO find quite annoying..
but other than that.. for the most part.. I enjoy AM radio.

TRCnow that brings back memories of THE RADIO MYSTERY THEATER on KMOX when i was a kid.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Hey guys!!!! I found a little gem out there in radioland. WABC out of New York City on 770 kc every Saturday Night, plays music! Right now, I'm listening to it over my grandfather's, 5 tube, 1953 Philco, 2 band radio. My other radio in here, my Sanyo RP-8700 is too close to the computer so I had to resort to the older model.

It sounds great and I'm glad to hear a little sanity return to the world. I feel like I'm in a time warp or something. It's nice to suspend the real world a bit with terrorism, war, political hate from all corners and to ease back into the world of my childhood back in the 1970's when you can just chill and listen to some tunes and everything will be alright. Yeah, I got to come back to the real world, but it is nice to have these few hours of bliss.

I haven't had this much fun with music on AM since WNBC's Time Machine back in the 1980's. I should tape some of these shows on my ghetto blaster or my Panasonic Cassette receiver component stereo.

There is some fading but I still get signal, just have to adjust the volume on this 5 tube radio from time to time.

[stereofisher]

now that brings back memories of THE RADIO MYSTERY THEATER on KMOX when i was a kid.

I used to listen to KMOX while dating my future wife on Sun night on my way back to Hays Ks. Not much was on Sun nights and KMOX kept me awake. Great stuff....Eric :music:

[superdeez]

Hey guys!!!! I found a little gem out there in radioland. WABC out of New York City on 770 kc every Saturday Night, plays music! Right now, I'm listening to it over my grandfather's, 5 tube, 1953 Philco, 2 band radio. My other radio in here, my Sanyo RP-8700 is too close to the computer so I had to resort to the older model.

It sounds great and I'm glad to hear a little sanity return to the world. I feel like I'm in a time warp or something. It's nice to suspend the real world a bit with terrorism, war, political hate from all corners and to ease back into the world of my childhood back in the 1970's when you can just chill and listen to some tunes and everything will be alright. Yeah, I got to come back to the real world, but it is nice to have these few hours of bliss.

I haven't had this much fun with music on AM since WNBC's Time Machine back in the 1980's. I should tape some of these shows on my ghetto blaster or my Panasonic Cassette receiver component stereo.

There is some fading but I still get signal, just have to adjust the volume on this 5 tube radio from time to time.

What kind of music?

Here in Orlando we have three "good" music stations on AM...a satellite rebroadcast oldies station, radio Disney (OCCATIONALLY they play something I like or can stand) and a good spanish station that plays a lot of salsa.

[Jeffhs]

What kind of music?

Here in Orlando we have three "good" music stations on AM...a satellite rebroadcast oldies station, radio Disney (OCCATIONALLY they play something I like or can stand) and a good spanish station that plays a lot of salsa.

I live about 35 miles from Cleveland. Most stations in the area are talk these days, but there are a couple of music stations. One is an oldies station that is programmed almost entirely from satellite feeds (The True Oldies Channel), one is Radio Disney in Cleveland, and two others are standards/big band from about 80 miles away; I also get three 50kW music stations from Canada most of the time (I am about a mile from the south shore of Lake Erie, so I hear quite a few stations from Canada, Detroit, and other cities along the lakeshore, although the two 50kW stations I hear from Detroit, WJR and CKLW, are talk). All are AM stations. Haven't heard any Spanish-language stations around here yet, though, although there is a low-power Spanish FM about 50 miles west of here.

I get a much better variety of AM music stations at night when the band opens up. WSM in Nashville, WABC New York's oldies program (which I have yet to hear), and several others I can't recall at the moment. I am only sorry I did not tape the last few days or hours of WNBC-AM oldies radio in New York before that station was sold to Emmis Communications in 1986 and its callsign changed to WFAN (has it really been twenty years ago since that happened?); I used to listen to their nighttime hosts such as Cousin Brucie, aka Bruce Morrow (now on Sirius satellite) when WNBC would boom in to the Cleveland area at night.

I used to enjoy listening to WKBW-1520 in Buffalo at night before they switched to talk a few months ago; one of the reasons I liked that station so much was that they had a former Cleveland radio personality on in nighttime. I often wondered what had happened to him after he left 50kW WKYC-AM (now WTAM) in Cleveland in 1970 or so. Was a real kick to hear him on again in Buffalo. I wonder what's become of him since KB let him go. I had heard he was on at least one station somewhere in the Carolinas several years ago.

I've said this here before. AM music radio in this country is not dead; there are a few stations out there that still specialize in older music (many of them are in Canada, though). There was a really good live oldies station about 40 miles south of here (just 1kW but it came in here very well) that went broke and off the air about three years or so ago; it hasn't been heard from since. Another 0.5kW (500 watt) oldies station near where I grew up went to satellite programming (all talk) about two years ago. I think it was because the 500-watt oldies station changed formats that the oldies FM in Cleveland now plays more 1950s oldies than it used to (mainly on weekends; most of it is live, although there are a couple of satellite programs on as well), though most of their music during the week is from the 1960s and seventies.

[NowhereMan 1966]

What kind of music?

Here in Orlando we have three "good" music stations on AM...a satellite rebroadcast oldies station, radio Disney (OCCATIONALLY they play something I like or can stand) and a good spanish station that plays a lot of salsa.

Well, the one here in Pittsburgh on 770 kc usually plays 60's and 70's music, sometimes delves into the early 1980's and late 1950's although there are segments that play 1950's and early 1960's music too. WABC on Saturday nights plays mainly 60's and 70's, creeping into the late 50's from time to time. If you remember a typical music AM station from the 1970's, that's basically what WABC plays.

[NowhereMan 1966]

BTW, one quick note, I think WABC's Musicradio might be shortened next Saturday night because I think they carry baseball (or some other sports) on their station so it could be hit and miss.

[wa2ise]

WABC will have a game on after about 6:30, so there will only be a half hour of oldies show this Saturday night.

Pretty kitty you have. =<^.,.^>=

[wa2ise]

WABC will have a game on after about 6:30, so there will only be a half hour of oldies show this Saturday night.

Pretty kitty =<^.,.^>=

[Scorpion8]

I listen to AM radio all the time. With all the mountains in my area, it actually propagates a lot better than FM. All the FM stations need translators over in the next fjord/valley so their signal can reach more people. Besides, AM has the better PBS stations and local news. The best station plays big band and polka early in the morning, and then contemporary pop for most of the afternoon although they are heavily rooted in oldies.

[NowhereMan 1966]

WABC will have a game on after about 6:30, so there will only be a half hour of oldies show this Saturday night.

Pretty kitty you have. =<^.,.^>=

I tuned around yesterday with my 1953 Philco and it sounded like there was a game on WABC so no oldies yesterday. Maybe next Saturday night. I remember there were comments made that a lot of music from the 1950's to even the 1970's might have been more optimized for AM radio and when you fire up a 1950's to 1970's vintage transistor radio, it sounds really good over them. Ihave t concur when I use my "Maggie" (Magnavox) 8 transistor radio from 1965 on the local music station on 770 kc (same freq as WABC, when they shout down or go to low power, WABC comes in) but to far, I've only used my 1953 Philco for WABC oldies and it has a nice sound to it as well.

As to the kitty, her name is/was Pansy, we lost her a week ago today, she just turned 19 a week before that. Right now I have my now oldest kitty looing up at me, Corky, she turned 17 in May. Pansy was a tough loss to take. :(

[NowhereMan 1966]

I listen to AM radio all the time. With all the mountains in my area, it actually propagates a lot better than FM. All the FM stations need translators over in the next fjord/valley so their signal can reach more people. Besides, AM has the better PBS stations and local news. The best station plays big band and polka early in the morning, and then contemporary pop for most of the afternoon although they are heavily rooted in oldies.I'm an AM junky too although when I go to work, it is FM only since AM cannot get through the building. At least we do have a local FM talker here, I always loved talk radio but lately, I listen to music more since I'm burned out on politics although I still listen to Glenn Beck during the days and Savage at night, I still like to know what's going on. I also like Chuck Harder on shortwave but oly when I go into and come home from work early. Rush is too trite and ingrained and Hannity, he's generally OK, but he's a little too repetitious for me, both are a little too mainstream, I admit I'm a little complicated politically. So music it is.

KDKA-AM is the other big talker here, even though the FM'er is running them into the ground, they have local hosts usually, although they used to carry Rush until the FM'er took him away. They used to have Bill O'Reilly, I listened to him more than Rush, but they bumped him up to nighttime and they have that loudmouth Kramer guy on. That station, every since it went from Westinghouse, locally owned to CBS owned, it really has gone down the toilet although not as fast up until 2003 when the FM talker, WPGB 104.7 Mc came online. Another local talker here is WPTT 1360 kc, some of the hosts one national and one local lean to the left but one host I like, Doug Hoerth tends to be more middle of the road and somewhat apolitical, talking about movies and general everyday stuff, I like to listen to that too.

[Jeffhs]

There are no more AM music stations in Cleveland (all are talk these days), but I can get several music stations from out of town--CHWO 740 Toronto, WKTX 830 Cortland, Ohio (Youngstown, OH, near Pittsburgh), WNIO 1390 Niles, Ohio (80 miles from Cleveland, closer to Youngstown) and WWOW 1360 Conneaut, Ohio (80+ miles from Cleveland). All but WWOW-1360 are standards stations and all but WKTX run 24 hours a day (WKTX is daytime only). WWOW-1360 is an oldies station programmed almost exclusively from The True Oldies Channel satellite network. The Cleveland talk stations are WTAM 1100 (formerly top-40 WKYC-1100, NBC owned and operated, in the '60s-'70s), which carries Rush Limbaugh, et al., WERE 1300 which carries what it calls "black" talk, WELW 1330 in Willoughby, Ohio (east suburban Cleveland) which was switched to syndicated talk from oldies about three years ago, WARF 1350 Akron, Ohio (30 miles from Cleveland), and WWMK 1260 (Radio Disney--used to be top-40 WIXY 1260 in the '60s-'70s). Living near the southern shore of Lake Erie, I also hear WJR 760 Detroit and CKLW 800 in Windsor, Canada, both talk stations (but CKLW was a powerhouse top-40 station in the '60s-'70s, with a very listenable signal all along the south shore of the lake from Detroit east to Buffalo). I also hear most other 50kW Toronto AM stations here fairly well, due to my being so close to the lake.

The music stations are all on FM now in this area (northeastern Ohio), although that's how it is in almost every major metropolitan area these days. Thank goodness for XM satellite radio, which is commercial free (and now also available on AOL Radio, ever since they decided to practically give away most of their services; about 30 XM satellite channels, all music [no talk or sports], are available with all recent versions of Winamp, as they are bundled with both the free and paid versions of the player).

[NowhereMan 1966]

There are no more AM music stations in Cleveland (all are talk these days), but I can get several music stations from out of town--CHWO 740 Toronto, WKTX 830 Cortland, Ohio (Youngstown, OH, near Pittsburgh), WNIO 1390 Niles, Ohio (80 miles from Cleveland, closer to Youngstown) and WWOW 1360 Conneaut, Ohio (80+ miles from Cleveland). All but WWOW-1360 are standards stations and all but WKTX run 24 hours a day (WKTX is daytime only). WWOW-1360 is an oldies station programmed almost exclusively from The True Oldies Channel satellite network. The Cleveland talk stations are WTAM 1100 (formerly top-40 WKYC-1100, NBC owned and operated, in the '60s-'70s), which carries Rush Limbaugh, et al., WERE 1300 which carries what it calls "black" talk, WELW 1330 in Willoughby, Ohio (east suburban Cleveland) which was switched to syndicated talk from oldies about three years ago, WARF 1350 Akron, Ohio (30 miles from Cleveland), and WWMK 1260 (Radio Disney--used to be top-40 WIXY 1260 in the '60s-'70s). Living near the southern shore of Lake Erie, I also hear WJR 760 Detroit and CKLW 800 in Windsor, Canada, both talk stations (but CKLW was a powerhouse top-40 station in the '60s-'70s, with a very listenable signal all along the south shore of the lake from Detroit east to Buffalo). I also hear most other 50kW Toronto AM stations here fairly well, due to my being so close to the lake.

The music stations are all on FM now in this area (northeastern Ohio), although that's how it is in almost every major metropolitan area these days. Thank goodness for XM satellite radio, which is commercial free (and now also available on AOL Radio, ever since they decided to practically give away most of their services; about 30 XM satellite channels, all music [no talk or sports], are available with all recent versions of Winamp, as they are bundled with both the free and paid versions of the player).

Hmmmm, at night, I can pick up Toronto on 740 here in Pittsburgh. WNIO 1390, is listenable here as well but very weak, picked it up better I the car and used to listen to NASCAR over it when I was in the car tooling about. I also like to listen to 570, WKBN, out of Youngstown Ohio. I can pick up WJR (760) and WTAM (1100) both at night and in the day, WJR is really weak but listenable. CKLW, 800, I can get at night.

BTW, our main station, or was it seems, KDKA-AM on 1020, I think that station has really "jumped the shark." We have a huge new, well, 3 year old. FM talker on 104.7 Mc and they managed to rip Rush off of KDKA-AM in late 2003. Now the same station has managed to take the Pittsburgh Pirate baseball broadcasts away from KDKA-AM where they always have been, except for a very short stint in the 1950's, on KDKA since 1921. My mother works at a supermarket and I'm friends with a few of her co-workers, one of them, a talk show junky like me, greeted me, insteado saying "hi," he said, "what in the He** is going on a KDKA?!" I think KDKA not only "jumped the shark" but has become shark food, ever since Infinity, which is owned BY CBS (IIRC) took it over, they really boogered that station up. I hardly listen to it anymore. Sigh.... I miss the old "Group W" (Westinghouse) days. :no: :tears:

Come to think of it, all of our sports teams here in Pittsburgh, their flagship stations are all on FM now, Pittsburgh Penguins, 105.9 Mc (can't remember the callsign), Pittsburgh Steelers, WDVE 102.5 Mc, and Pittsburgh Pirates, WPGB 104.7 Mc. About the Pirates, if my maternal grandmother was still alive, she'd have a fit even though her 1960's vintage transistor radio got FM too.

[Chad Hauris]

That's interesting that WABC has some music now. When I lived in Ohio I remember being able to pick up that station. Maybe now that more talk is moving to FM, the AM's can be experiment more with different types of programming such as more music. Does WABC have the music radio jingles when they are playing music?

[NowhereMan 1966]

That's interesting that WABC has some music now. When I lived in Ohio I remember being able to pick up that station. Maybe now that more talk is moving to FM, the AM's can be experiment more with different types of programming such as more music. Does WABC have the music radio jingles when they are playing music?

Yeap, they even use the old WABC jingles and everything. Like you, I hope this starts a trend back to music on AM. It might not be exactly like it was but it would be nice to have some of it back.

DE KA3WRW

[wa2ise]

That's interesting that WABC has some music now. When I lived in Ohio I remember being able to pick up that station. Does WABC have the music radio jingles when they are playing music?

I live 6 miles north of WABC's transmitter tower, so I have no problem receiving them. :D WABC is primarily a talk format station, and in a sense the oldies show is essentially a talk show on the topic of oldies. They play some oldies, and talk about them.

[JohnnyMarks]

If not, pardon the intrusion! I've got 100's of hours of analog tape recorded over the past 40+ years..a lifetime of radio really. It's all at 7-1/2 and 15ips on good quality Scotch and Ampex tape..thick mil. My hope is to aquire what I need to transfer these reels and cassettes to DAT or,better, CD's so my kids and some friends will have them down the road. I'd really love listening to them myself!

Does anyone know what I'd need, and a ball park cost, to do this at home? Or, should I seek out a studio and see if they'd do it for a reasonable price? I'd really give anything to get this done..we're talking hurricane coverage from the '60's, interviews with noteables and just old jock shows...priceless to me.

Any input would certainly be appreciated!

Thanks, Johnny

BTW, I really love that Kitty, Nowhere Man! I'm a slave to 8..3 in..5 out. A right Jolly Group! I visited WABC in '66 and met Rick Sklar..believe he was the PD or GM and Cousin Brucey who was on the air at the time. What a trip. The GM at KRYS in Corpus Christi arranged the meetings when he found out I was going to NYC. Met people at the KATZ agency. Use to be a big national ad agency for 100's of stations. I'm new to these forums and just getting started posting, so please excuse if I pop in "out of context!" I'll get the hang of it!

[radio63]

Hi Johnny,

Welcome aboard! I use Sony Sound Forge to process tape recordings and clean them up. Then I burn them to CD. This would be one way for you to do this, that is run the tapes through a computer program and clean them up (remove hiss, hum, etc.) and then burn to CD. The other way would be to play back the tapes and run the audio through a good EQ and if the audio is good to begin with as you indicate it might be, then I would adjust the EQ to remove any minor problems and burn to a stand-alone CD burner. Either way requires you to use a good quality tape player. Any units that introduce noise or distortion into the audio will just make your job much harder. Also if you go the software route, you have to have an adequate computer and good sound card and burners.

I have processed a good deal of recordings with software and a lot of it has been 1960's off-air recordings like what you have. I am always looking for more copies of anything from this time period particularly space shots, assasination coverage, elections, breaking events, etc. preferably if it is network coverage. Good luck with all of this.

Gilbert

[JohnnyMarks]

Thanks, Gilbert! That's certainly a way to go and one I'll check out! Appreciate the reply! Johnny

[fsjonsey]

Maybe its just be, but i swear that the noise on the AM band has gotten much worse over the last ten years. I live 20 miles east of WTAM, the 50KW talk station in Cleveland, and some days, the interference is so bad, i cant hear it at home, or even driving in the car. Is it something with the powerlines, it always seems to be worse near any power lines now, no matter what type they are. It used to be that only the high tension lines created any interference, but now it seems all powerlines are just as bad. Is Ohio Edison using them for data transmission or something?

[stereofisher]

Thanks, Gilbert! That's certainly a way to go and one I'll check out! Appreciate the reply! Johnny

You could use a stand alone Sony CDR recorder. Record every thing direct into that. I make my CD starting with LPs (some CDS) Put them on a RTR tape then to the Sony CDR and then pop the Cd into this computor and my copies. Gave out 40 plus last year in place of cards that get tossed

Bet those tape are fun! Good luck


Eric:music:

[stereofisher]

Maybe its just be, but i swear that the noise on the AM band has gotten much worse over the last ten years. I live 20 miles east of WTAM, the 50KW talk station in Cleveland, and some days, the interference is so bad, i cant hear it at home, or even driving in the car. Is it something with the powerlines, it always seems to be worse near any power lines now, no matter what type they are. It used to be that only the high tension lines created any interference, but now it seems all powerlines are just as bad. Is Ohio Edison using them for data transmission or something?

I was born in the wrong decade too!! Thank God and good engineering I have just about all the cool audio I want. Saw you setup. Love it:thmbsp:Had a Fisher 400 with those speakers with a Dual 1010S, a Sony TC 255 and a Panasonic 8 track in college. Had several 500s I fixed up in this decade. Should have kept the 2nd 500. It had roman numerals on its FM dial. Sweet sweet reciever! Had three systems and I have a rule: "use them!" or loose them. :tears:

I listen to WABC on Sat nights when Marliyn isnt here. Sometimes its clear like 2 weeks ago and sometimes is crap like last week. Can get it online but they ommit the commercials. The crap they put in is worse. Funny how my little Zenith 755 transistor radi gets it well and the GE P780 was crap last week:scratch2:

The 40 plus year old radios get AM pretty good. The AM in my Ford factory radio is pretty lousy. the FM and casstte are fine. Since that set sees a lot of XM I have not changed it out.

Take care Eric:music:

[NowhereMan 1966]

Maybe its just be, but i swear that the noise on the AM band has gotten much worse over the last ten years. I live 20 miles east of WTAM, the 50KW talk station in Cleveland, and some days, the interference is so bad, i cant hear it at home, or even driving in the car. Is it something with the powerlines, it always seems to be worse near any power lines now, no matter what type they are. It used to be that only the high tension lines created any interference, but now it seems all powerlines are just as bad. Is Ohio Edison using them for data transmission or something?

I've noticed some of the same thing here in the Pittsburgh area. Mom likes to listen to KDKA-AM in the morning and sometimes I hear in the signal some interference like someone firing up a diathermy machine or a heavy motor. Come to think of it, KDKA's signal isn;t as great at time since they switched to the new 1994 antenna and retired their 1937 one. They should have kept the latter.

[NowhereMan 1966]

If not, pardon the intrusion! I've got 100's of hours of analog tape recorded over the past 40+ years..a lifetime of radio really. It's all at 7-1/2 and 15ips on good quality Scotch and Ampex tape..thick mil. My hope is to aquire what I need to transfer these reels and cassettes to DAT or,better, CD's so my kids and some friends will have them down the road. I'd really love listening to them myself!

Does anyone know what I'd need, and a ball park cost, to do this at home? Or, should I seek out a studio and see if they'd do it for a reasonable price? I'd really give anything to get this done..we're talking hurricane coverage from the '60's, interviews with noteables and just old jock shows...priceless to me.

Any input would certainly be appreciated!

Thanks, Johnny

BTW, I really love that Kitty, Nowhere Man! I'm a slave to 8..3 in..5 out. A right Jolly Group! I visited WABC in '66 and met Rick Sklar..believe he was the PD or GM and Cousin Brucey who was on the air at the time. What a trip. The GM at KRYS in Corpus Christi arranged the meetings when he found out I was going to NYC. Met people at the KATZ agency. Use to be a big national ad agency for 100's of stations. I'm new to these forums and just getting started posting, so please excuse if I pop in "out of context!" I'll get the hang of it!

Thanks for the compliment. That kitty is Pansy, she passed away last year at the age of 19, she had thyroid problems that were under control but she had lymphoma, a form of cancer. Just last week, I had another one pass away, he was 17, Boo, my second oldest cat. He was black, part Siamese, looked like a minature panther. Indications is that it was his thyroid too but we found out too late, his heart gave out. :( Well, still have 6 cats left, my oldest is 18, Corky, grey & white, she is diabetic and has some kidney failure but we are treating her for both so she is doing quite well with what she has. She the old cat left that I have that was born in the 1980's (1989) and when I was in college. We also have a new kitten, Rascal, he is 14 weeks old. Maybe when I get the time, I'll start a pets thread somewhere.

[Adam]

I wish they would bring back more music on AM, I have about 10 or so old AM radios with nothing to listen to on them. A few years ago we had a great AM radio station down here on 1260, it played oldies during the day and old radio shows at night (but as for the oldies mostly 50s and early 60s stuff which I like better than the later 60s and 70s stuff which is nearly all you get on the current FM oldies stations around here). Now 1260 went classical, which I don't like to listen to at all. Sometimes when I'm up late at night I like to listen to Coast to Coast / Art Bell on 640 KFI, but as far as talk goes that's all I listen to. I was just thinking to try hooking up the audio output of my computer up to my signal generator then to an antenna to see if I could broadcast AM to the old Truetone radio on my desk, sort of like the equivalent of playing old tv shows on a dvd player hooked to your old tv but for the old radios.

[stereofisher]

I wish they would bring back more music on AM, I have about 10 or so old AM radios with nothing to listen to on them. A few years ago we had a great AM radio station down here on 1260, it played oldies during the day and old radio shows at night (but as for the oldies mostly 50s and early 60s stuff which I like better than the later 60s and 70s stuff which is nearly all you get on the current FM oldies stations around here). Now 1260 went classical, which I don't like to listen to at all. Sometimes when I'm up late at night I like to listen to Coast to Coast / Art Bell on 640 KFI, but as far as talk goes that's all I listen to. I was just thinking to try hooking up the audio output of my computer up to my signal generator then to an antenna to see if I could broadcast AM to the old Truetone radio on my desk, sort of like the equivalent of playing old tv shows on a dvd player hooked to your old tv but for the old radios.

Funny how the signal varies! Sometimes its perfect. Nice and quiet. Other times its just plain noisy.

We have a small station from Hyde Park, NY WHVW. They play just about anything--including 78's I have heard oldies--Bob Wills, a country swing band. Though I would never hear that in NY!! They do blues--even caugh them doing classical. Now the bad news. Only 500 watts. Forget them at night. I do listen to CHWO AM 740. 50,000 watts and they are fun. Just about anything but classical from Toronto,Canada.

I have toyed with getting an FM transmitter to run out my old portable radios. I'd even take an AM trasnmitter as I have a GE P780 and Zenith 710 that are AM only and work well despite being over 35 years old. I do have a XM set that broadcasts over FM. Run that to my big systems and to the portables. Run it through my big Zenith TA 3000. My daily player. On the nightstand. Gives my my morning dose of WQXR FM and evening dose of AM 740 or XM's 40,s,60's or Jazz 71.

Enjoy, its a great hobby!!!

Eric:music:

[radiotvnut]

I wish they would bring back more music on AM, I have about 10 or so old AM radios with nothing to listen to on them. A few years ago we had a great AM radio station down here on 1260, it played oldies during the day and old radio shows at night (but as for the oldies mostly 50s and early 60s stuff which I like better than the later 60s and 70s stuff which is nearly all you get on the current FM oldies stations around here). Now 1260 went classical, which I don't like to listen to at all. Sometimes when I'm up late at night I like to listen to Coast to Coast / Art Bell on 640 KFI, but as far as talk goes that's all I listen to. I was just thinking to try hooking up the audio output of my computer up to my signal generator then to an antenna to see if I could broadcast AM to the old Truetone radio on my desk, sort of like the equivalent of playing old tv shows on a dvd player hooked to your old tv but for the old radios.

I've always enjoyed repairing old tube & transistor radios; however, mine never get played when they are fixed because there is nothing decent on AM around here (Meridian, MS) anymore. We have a total of 6 AM stations in the area. Two of them are news / talk radio and the other four play gospel music. One of the four gospel stations play Southern Gospel (I can sometimes deal with it). The other 3 play urban black gospel music. One of the ones that plays black gospel was a darn good station at one time. They actually had real DJ's and they played old country, big band, rock, etc. The music selection was much better than what the average FM station plays. That particular station was flooded with phone calls from angry listeners when they changed the format to urban gospel. Did it do any good? HECK NO!! I heard that the station is not doing any better now than they were when they played good music. When are these people that run these station going to get a clue that not everyone wants to listen to talk and other garbage on AM? We don't even have an oldies FM station anymore. What we had switched to (c)rap music.

About two years ago; I found an old Gates yard tube broadcast mixer and a couple of QRK/Russco turntables. I'm real close to purchasing one of those 100 mW AM transmitters and then I can hear what I WANT TO HEAR on AM for a change!

[Jeffhs]

You'd be hard-pressed to find very many 50kW AM stations these days that play music. I live near Cleveland, and all of the local AM stations except one are either talk, news/talk, sports or religion. The exception is a 5kW station on 1260 kHz, formerly WIXY, now Radio Disney WWMK. As WIXY in the '60s through 1978, the station played top-40 music of the time; I have tapes of their old jingles from the station's glory days. Now 1260 is nothing but 24/7 Radio Disney. Music, yes, but unfortunately not the music I grew up with as a teenager in the late sixties and seventies. :no:

Except for small-town stations and a few Canadian broadcasters (such as CHWO-AM 740 in Toronto), AM music radio is dead--well, almost. WABC-AM in New York has an oldies program on Saturday nights from six to ten p.m., complete with the old 77WABC jingles. My personal favorite oldies station from NYC for years was 66WNBC, until NBC sold its operated stations to Emmis Communications in 1986 (and the NBC radio network was disbanded; I was sorry to hear that, since one of my favorite programs on the network was the NBC Monitor Beacon which was broadcast on weekends; it went off the air in 1975 after 20 years). The station boomed into northeastern Ohio after dark and had an excellent signal in the Cleveland area all night long.

The "oldies" FM station in Cleveland, WMJI "Majic 105.7", isn't what it once was, either. I suspect these days they are playing some '80s classic rock as well as the '60s-'70s oldies they have been playing all along, since the station flipped to oldies from '70s rock in 1981.

I don't listen much to FM radio anymore because the programming powers-that-be at 105.7, which from 1981 until about five years ago was one of my favorite stations, have decided to add '80s classic rock to the station's oldies playlist. These days, I listen to Internet radio, mostly AOL Radio with (((XM))) Sixties on Six and Seventies on Seven, and my own oldies CDs and cassettes. I have a collection of soft-rock cassettes as well, which I listen to on occasion. AOL Radio with (((XM))) is great, not only because of their great selections of '60s-'70s oldies, but because the programming is entirely commercial-free. Seventies on Seven has no DJs ("jocks" as they are referred to these days); Sixties on Six has the old jingles every top-40 station in the country had in the '60s, live jocks, and of course the best selection of oldies from the '50s through the early '70s (before disco).

All hit music has migrated to FM these days, leaving just about every major city in the US with nothing much to listen to on AM--unless you like talk, sports or preaching. All-news stations are good for keeping up with the news while you are driving or otherwise on the go, but other than that, AM is little more than 24/7 talk, talk, talk.

AM music radio is not entirely dead yet, however, as there are music stations in smaller towns and cities. WNIO 1390 and WAKR 1590 are two music stations (standards) that still survive in northeastern Ohio; the first is in Youngstown, about 100 miles from Cleveland, and the second is from Akron, about 30 miles south of Cleveland. If you want to hear good AM music from anywhere else, however, you have to look around the dial at night. WSM in Nashville, for example, still plays country-western and (I think) still has the Grand Ole Opry. I'm sure there would be a storm of angry phone calls and e-mails to the station if it ever dropped that program or the C&W music it plays the rest of the time.

AM and FM radio, however, are losing much of their listener bases to Internet and satellite radio. The big 50kW giants operated by huge media conglomerates such as Clear Channel, CBS Radio, et al. all stream over the Internet; as a result, many listeners are abandoning OTA (over the air) FM radio for the live streams over the Web. (I have three stations bookmarked in my browser--two from Phoenix, Arizona and AM 740 in Toronto.)

Like it or not, the times are changing, and AM radio is not even a ghost of its former self anymore. AM, for the most part, is talk radio these days, and will continue on this course indefinitely (at least as far as the 50kW giants are concerned). Internet radio stations and satellite radio are the services many folks listen to in the 21st century; the glory days of top-40 AM radio are gone forever except for the efforts of small stations in small towns and cities, which are trying to keep the memories alive. There is even a small FM station, operated by a school district in the next county south of here, that plays standards and big-band music from the 1930s through the fifties. I can get it just fine OTA, even in stereo, as I am only perhaps 20 miles from the transmitter; however, if I listen to it these days, I do so via its Internet stream. Their web URL is http://www.wkhr.org; their callsign is WKHR, operating at 91.5 FM.

[Jeffhs]

I've noticed some of the same thing here in the Pittsburgh area. Mom likes to listen to KDKA-AM in the morning and sometimes I hear in the signal some interference like someone firing up a diathermy machine or a heavy motor. Come to think of it, KDKA's signal isn;t as great at time since they switched to the new 1994 antenna and retired their 1937 one. They should have kept the latter.

When I lived in suburban Cleveland, 18-20 miles east of the city, I had excellent AM reception, but one station in particular (50kW then-WGAR-AM 1220) would come in louder than normal whenever I would pass by a pole that supported the school speed-limit sign (I lived near an elementary school at the time). I've always wondered why. The only explanation I can come up with that makes any sense to me is that I may have been directly in line with the station's daytime signal pattern when I walked near that pole. I did not notice this, however, with the other 50kW station in Cleveland (then-WKYC-WWWE-AM, now WTAM 1100) or with any of the smaller stations (Cleveland has a handful of 5kW stations, one 1kW station, and a bunch of stations 1kW or less in the suburbs).

I was not aware that KDKA-AM had changed antennas in the mid-'90s. What happened? Did the old tower come down in a storm? If the original antenna tower had been up since 1937 (57 years), it may have been due or even overdue for a change.

KDKA-AM, like most 50kW AM stations these days, must share its frequency (1020 kHz) with smaller stations, in accordance with new FCC rules that did away with clear-channel AMs (and allowed former daytime-only stations to operate full-time under certain conditions) in the mid-1980s. It may be, since KDKA is no longer a "clear channel" station, that its signal isn't as strong during the day as it once was; at night, the station may have to reduce its power output and/or change its signal pattern so the latter is directional (concentrating the signal in one direction). The station may be running directional during daytime as well.

How far are you from KDKA's transmitter? If you are some distance away, the signal could be weak to begin with; any interference could chop up or even mask it entirely.

Interference to AM radio is a real problem these days, even more so than it was, say, 25 years ago. Today we have cellular telephone towers, pager towers, police radio, etc. all operating at the same time. If you are near any of those towers, your AM radio reception could and likely will be riddled with noises; the noise you report on KDKA's signal that sounds like diathermy could be interference from a nearby cellular or pager transmitter.

Noise levels in apartment buildings are often high as well. I live on the first floor of a 2-story building; my AM reception is often marred by noise, especially on my Zenith C-845. I oftentimes cannot hear a 50kW sports station on 850 or a talk station on 1100 because of the high noise levels. The problem is especially bad when listening to AM on my C845 because the radio has a 6BJ6 RF amplifier that works for both bands, AM and FM; the tube winds up amplifying everything the antenna picks up, including the signals. The irony is, IMHO, that there is no noise whatsoever on FM on any of my vintage radios. Being a ham radio operator, I ought to know why: because AM signals are much more prone to interference from sparking brushes in motors, microwave ovens, etc. than are FM signals. FM is almost completely immune to noise interference, which may be yet another reason why hit music left AM and migrated to FM. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to vintage and classic rock, not to mention classical music. :thmbsp:

BTW, I was very sorry to hear (have read in one of your posts) that another of your cats has passed away. I know the feeling, as I had to have my first white cat, Shawn, put to sleep in 2002 (he was in the last stages of severe liver damage at the time, according to the vet). My second cat, Jonah, also pure white and looking exactly like Shawn, however, is doing very well. He's sleeping on the floor about three feet behind me as I write this.

Seventeen years is a very long life for a cat. I'm sure both Pansy and Boo have left you with tons of nice memories. I know my Shawn did, and Jonah will too, when the day comes (heaven forbid) that he either dies on his own or I have to have him put to sleep.

Just remember all the good times you had with Boo and Pansy, and you'll be just fine. If I remember correctly, you still have several other cats around, so you'll have their company for at least a few more years.

[radiotvnut]

I forgot to mention that I do scan the AM dial at night. The music stations I've found so far are: WDIA (R&B), WSM, KWKH(?), and WMC (all three are classic country). I heard once that WSM actually planned to switch to sports talk format; but, their current listeners raised enough sand to stop them from doing it. Sometimes I will hear a "music of your life" station; but, I never have been able to catch the call letters. Everything else is talk, talk, talk, yak, yak, yak,... There is an AM station (WIRY, NY) that streams it's audio over the internet. I believe they actually still play records on the air. Now, that's rare in the 21st century!

[radio63]

[QUOTE= Originally Posted by NowhereMan 66: Maybe when I get the time, I'll start a pets thread somewhere.[/QUOTE]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your kitties. I have lost pets before and it is always a traumatic process. I have two cats which are a lot of company. That would be great to start a pets thread. I bet it would generate a lot of interest.

Gilbert

[NowhereMan 1966]

I wish they would bring back more music on AM, I have about 10 or so old AM radios with nothing to listen to on them. A few years ago we had a great AM radio station down here on 1260, it played oldies during the day and old radio shows at night (but as for the oldies mostly 50s and early 60s stuff which I like better than the later 60s and 70s stuff which is nearly all you get on the current FM oldies stations around here). Now 1260 went classical, which I don't like to listen to at all. Sometimes when I'm up late at night I like to listen to Coast to Coast / Art Bell on 640 KFI, but as far as talk goes that's all I listen to. I was just thinking to try hooking up the audio output of my computer up to my signal generator then to an antenna to see if I could broadcast AM to the old Truetone radio on my desk, sort of like the equivalent of playing old tv shows on a dvd player hooked to your old tv but for the old radios.

We seem to have quite a few stations on AM that plays music here in the Pittsburgh area. We have one on 620 when they don't do doctor shows as well as their sister station at 770. I found one in the 1100 kc area, I was using a 1965 Magnavox 8 transistor radio to listen to it as I was grilling dinner. It was a simulast of an FM music station. We also have others too. Don't know if you have a lot of AM music in the LA area or not but I guess if you go fishing, you'll find some.

I'm still a talkshow junkie although I cut back except for Glenn Beck and Michael Savage, it seems like to me Rush and to a lesser extent, Sean Hannity are too much like Republican "yes men." There are times I feel burned out, heck I really feel both sides do not have the interests of the common people at heart. I tend to be very conservative socially, morally, and militarily while moderate or even somewhat liberal economically so I tend to favor the independent or independent conservative over the more established ones. Anyways, AM is almost dead at times for me, where I work at I cannot got AM at all so I listen to the local FM talkers (I kind of took to Dennis Miller a little) or FM music, barring that, old radio shows like CBS Radio Mystery Theater and Dimension X on my computer workstation.

I like it when WABC 770 runs their weekend show on Saturdays from 6 to 10 PM with music, it sounds great over my Maggie transistor radio and fabulous over my 1953 Philco.

Chuck

[NowhereMan 1966]

When I lived in suburban Cleveland, 18-20 miles east of the city, I had excellent AM reception, but one station in particular (50kW then-WGAR-AM 1220) would come in louder than normal whenever I would pass by a pole that supported the school speed-limit sign (I lived near an elementary school at the time). I've always wondered why. The only explanation I can come up with that makes any sense to me is that I may have been directly in line with the station's daytime signal pattern when I walked near that pole. I did not notice this, however, with the other 50kW station in Cleveland (then-WKYC-WWWE-AM, now WTAM 1100) or with any of the smaller stations (Cleveland has a handful of 5kW stations, one 1kW station, and a bunch of stations 1kW or less in the suburbs).

I was not aware that KDKA-AM had changed antennas in the mid-'90s. What happened? Did the old tower come down in a storm? If the original antenna tower had been up since 1937 (57 years), it may have been due or even overdue for a change.

KDKA-AM, like most 50kW AM stations these days, must share its frequency (1020 kHz) with smaller stations, in accordance with new FCC rules that did away with clear-channel AMs (and allowed former daytime-only stations to operate full-time under certain conditions) in the mid-1980s. It may be, since KDKA is no longer a "clear channel" station, that its signal isn't as strong during the day as it once was; at night, the station may have to reduce its power output and/or change its signal pattern so the latter is directional (concentrating the signal in one direction). The station may be running directional during daytime as well.

How far are you from KDKA's transmitter? If you are some distance away, the signal could be weak to begin with; any interference could chop up or even mask it entirely.

Interference to AM radio is a real problem these days, even more so than it was, say, 25 years ago. Today we have cellular telephone towers, pager towers, police radio, etc. all operating at the same time. If you are near any of those towers, your AM radio reception could and likely will be riddled with noises; the noise you report on KDKA's signal that sounds like diathermy could be interference from a nearby cellular or pager transmitter.

Noise levels in apartment buildings are often high as well. I live on the first floor of a 2-story building; my AM reception is often marred by noise, especially on my Zenith C-845. I oftentimes cannot hear a 50kW sports station on 850 or a talk station on 1100 because of the high noise levels. The problem is especially bad when listening to AM on my C845 because the radio has a 6BJ6 RF amplifier that works for both bands, AM and FM; the tube winds up amplifying everything the antenna picks up, including the signals. The irony is, IMHO, that there is no noise whatsoever on FM on any of my vintage radios. Being a ham radio operator, I ought to know why: because AM signals are much more prone to interference from sparking brushes in motors, microwave ovens, etc. than are FM signals. FM is almost completely immune to noise interference, which may be yet another reason why hit music left AM and migrated to FM. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to vintage and classic rock, not to mention classical music. :thmbsp:

BTW, I was very sorry to hear (have read in one of your posts) that another of your cats has passed away. I know the feeling, as I had to have my first white cat, Shawn, put to sleep in 2002 (he was in the last stages of severe liver damage at the time, according to the vet). My second cat, Jonah, also pure white and looking exactly like Shawn, however, is doing very well. He's sleeping on the floor about three feet behind me as I write this.

Seventeen years is a very long life for a cat. I'm sure both Pansy and Boo have left you with tons of nice memories. I know my Shawn did, and Jonah will too, when the day comes (heaven forbid) that he either dies on his own or I have to have him put to sleep.

Just remember all the good times you had with Boo and Pansy, and you'll be just fine. If I remember correctly, you still have several other cats around, so you'll have their company for at least a few more years.

Another weird thing I noticed when I listened to KDKA-AM is sometimes it would go "out of phase" and have muffled sound, but not recently. I guess I live 15 or 20 miles away from the transmitter and the signal is generally omni-directional and that is both day and night according to www.radio-locator.com. I remember when they switched the tower, for the longest time, their signal cut in and out when we had winter wind storms too. I've picked up KDKA in Florida and Texas although the latter, I had to orient the radio to null out another 1020 station out of Roswell, New Mexico.

I'm surprised how KDKA lost a lot to the first FM talker here in Pittsburgh. WPGB is on 104.7 Mc here in Pittsburgh and they first took Rush Limbaugh away from KDKA and then the Pittsburgh Pirate games. Except for a couple of years in the 1950's, KDKA always carried the Pirates since 1921.

Can't get 1100 too well, you must be prone to a lot of RF interference. I know the feeling when I'm at work, AM is useless.

As to my cats, yeah, it is tough losing them but I'm glad we recently got a new kitten so he is a help. That reminds me, got to give Corky her IV fluids tonight to help her kidneys. Thanks for the condolences.

Chuck

[NowhereMan 1966]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your kitties. I have lost pets before and it is always a traumatic process. I have two cats which are a lot of company. That would be great to start a pets thread. I bet it would generate a lot of interest.

Gilbert


Thanks. Yeah, it's hard, plus my 18 year old cat, Corky, she is diabetic and needs fluids to help her kidneys but I'm glad to do it to keep her around to have a good life. She is a great comfort to me, she comforted me when I had a serious problem at college in 1989 when she was a kitten, in 1997 when Grandma passed away and just now when Boo passed away. I plan on starting a pets thread this weekend in the general forum. She does like to eat a lot though, it's slow putting weight on her because of her age mostly plus her condition but beyond being a little underweight, she is fine.

[Paul C]

Small portables have a "ferrite coil" antenna, which works well.

I used to be quite frustrated about driving around, listening to something on AM, arriving home, and having to sit in the car to hear the rest of the show. Wife - "Honey, what are you doing sitting out here in the driveway? Are you OK?" Yeah, but I could not hear the AM station on my home stereo tuner that I could easily hear on the car radio.

OK, some guys will say, "You need a 'longwire' antenna." I've tried them, they just don't work for AM until you get at least 150' or so of wire stretched out. They just aren't practical.

This is from MTM Scientific, and is a nice version of the "sports fan's loop".

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=64674&stc=1&d=1192291573

It is a tuned loop which gives more gain, is fine tuned with a common tuning capacitor. You can buy the plans, but there are any number of similar loops plans you can find online.

These tunable loops can provide an even stronger signal.

http://www.mtmscientific.com/loop.html

http://www.mindspring.com/~loop_antenna/

http://www.angelfire.com/mb/amandx/loop.html

http://www.midnightscience.com/catalog5.html

A tuned loop construction and operation:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QpGXECoY6zg Tuned loop Part 1

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6HRZcTL15ZA Tuned loop Part 2

You can add just a high impedance earplug/earphone and 1N34a germanium diode to a tuned loop and you have, voila!, a crystal radio!

So, where do you put these antennas? One guy mentioned that he built his loop antenna on the inside of a closet door, and simply swings the door open to closed to aim the antenna. Loops have a figure 8 reception pattern, so you only need 90 degrees of rotation.

Anyway, having a good antenna attached to your tuner will make all the difference in your AM listening.

[goraman]

I'm about to date my self but in the sacramento area we had 3 rock stations KROY,KROI one was AM the other FM I can't remeber which but I belive KROYwas AM and on FM we had good ol KZAP