What's the most distant station that you can hear on a regular basis? (NYC, AM)

[tvdxer]

I asked a while ago what the most distant station YOU EVER HEARD on each band was. Now I'm going to ask another similar-but-different question: what is the most distant station you can regularly hear. Please include the radio / antenna used in your responses.

For AM during daylight hours, the Duluth area has poor ground conductivity, and on most radios the farthest station that can be received is either WNMT 650 Nashwauk, MN on the Iron Range on the worser radios or 50,000-watters WCCO 830 and KFAN 1130 on better radios. However, on certain extra-sensitive radios, you can hear numerous lower-powered stations across the Twin Cities and Northwest Wisconsin.

At night it's become a mess with HD Radio "buzzing" adjacent frequencies, but WWL 870 comes in pretty reliably from New Orleans.

For FM, on my car radio during the day, it would be WIMI 99.7 "The Storm" from Ironwood, Michigan , at about 100 miles the way the crow flies. There's something about that direction in general which seems to enhance long-distance reception at all times of day from my house and its vicinity. During the night and sunrise hours Twin Cities stations are regular receptions, at farther than 120 miles; however, I wouldn't count on listening to them while driving as they fade out with the changing topography. In the city itself they're absolutely inaudible due to the "intermod" caused by having multiple 100-kw transmitters in close proximity. In fact, you can't even hear WKLK 96.5 from Cloquet, MN, in the city, despite it being only 15 miles away.

In the radio in my house, a Sony XDR-F1HD connected to a rooftop APS-9B antenna on a rotator, it's KRVX 103.1 "The Raven", Wimbeldon (Jamestown), North Dakota, at over 280 miles, which fades in and out of the static on even the worst days.

[DOUBLE H]

Where I'm at without fail it's KNX in Los Angeles. 1070 am. I listen to it around midnight for a little bit. All news format with traffic reports on the 10's. And yes they give out traffic reports even at late night.

[YtownGuy]

In eastern Ohio, I'd have to say WWL New Orleans or KMOX St. Louis. This time of year, "regular" isn't as regular as in the winter.

[bostonguy1960]

Here in Boston, sometimes I can get 780 WBBM Chicago at night but not that good. WPHT 1210 AM in Philly is usually good, as is Baltimore around 1080/1090 AM. D.C.'s 1500 AM comes in reasonably well.

Of, course, the NYC stations can be rather strong at times in Boston.

Toronto's 740 AM comes in well overnight outside of Boston. I can get a couple Montreal stations also.

Detroit's WJR is OK at times but WGN in Chicago is unreliable. I've heard 1000 AM from Chicago, but not well. Can't get KMOX in Boston but could in South Jersey growing up.

I'd think Hartford's WTIC would be strong in most of the upper northeast.

On Lake Shore Drive in a car at night, Boston's WBZ is rather good most of the time. It also comes in strong in Ottawa.

1100AM in Cleveland has come in well a times here in Boston at night.

[tvdxer]

My AM night-time dial (selected portions):

540 CBK, Watrous, SK
550 KTRS, St. Louis, MO
560 local
570 WNAX, Yankton, SD
580 weak
590 weak
600 WMT, Cedar Rapids, IA
610 local
620 KMNS, Sioux City, IA
630 WDGY, St. Paul, MN
640 WOI, Ames, IA
650 WSM, Nashville, TN
660 mix
670 WSCR, Chicago, IL (strong)
680 KFEQ, St. Joseph, MO
690 CINF, Montreal, PQ
700 WLW, Cincinnatti, OH (strong)
710 local
720 WGN, Chicago, IL (strong)
730 CKDM, Dauphin, MB (weak)
740 CHWO, Toronto, ON (strong)
750 WSB, Atlanta, GA (weak)
760 WJR, Detroit, MI (strong!)
770 WABC, New York, NY (weak, occasionally dominated by a Spanish-speaking station)
780 WBBM, Chicago, IL (strong!)
790 KFGO Fargo, ND and others (jumble)
800 jumble of stations
810 WGY, Schenectady, NY and WHB, Kansas City, MO
820 CHAM, Hamilton, ON (occasionally WBAP, Port Arthur, TX dominates)
830 WCCO, Minneapolis, MN (moderate)
840 WHAS, Louisville, KY (strong)
850 KOA, Denver, CO (strong)
860 CJBC, Toronto, ON (strong)
870 WWL, New Orleans, LA (weak)
880 either CKLQ, Dauphin, MB or WCBS, New York, NY
890 WLS, Chicago, IL (strong)
900 CHML, Hamilton, ON (strong)
910 a mix of stations
920 mix
930 mix
940 mix, dominated by CJGX, Yorkton, SK
950 mix, dominated by WWJ, Detroit, MI
960 KMA, Shenendoah, IA and WSBT, South Bend, IN
970 local
980 mix
990 CBW, Winnipeg, MB (strong)
1000 WMVP, Chicago, IL (surprisingly weak)
1010 CFRB, Toronto, ON (HD radio interference)
1020 KDKA, Pittsburgh, PA (moderate, were it not for HD Radio)
1030 WBZ, Boston, MA (weak)
1040 WHO, Des Moines, IA (strong)
1050 CHUM, Toronto, ON
1060 KYW, Philadelphia, PA (weak)
1070 WTSO, Madison, WI (strong)
1080 mix of KRLD Dallas, TX, WNWI Oak Lawn (Chicago), IL, and WTIC Hartford, CT
1090 KAAY, Little Rock, AR
1100 WTAM, Cleveland, OH (strong, before HD Radio)
1110 KFAB, Omaha, NE (strong, before HD Radio)
1120 KMOX, St. Louis, MO (strong, before HD Radio)
1130 KFAN, Minneapolis, MN (very strong)
1140 mix, prob. dominated by KSOO, Sioux Falls, SD
1150 CKOC, Hamilton, ON
1160 WYLL, Chicago, IL
1170 KJOC, Davenport, IA
1180 WHAM, Rochester, NY
1190 WOWO, Fort Wayne, IN
1200 WRTO, Chicago, IL
1210 mix, usually dominated by WHNK, Cleveland, OH
1220 mix
1230 local
1240 soup

[LeisureMan]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

Where I'm at without fail it's KNX in Los Angeles. 1070 am. I listen to it around midnight for a little bit. All news format with traffic reports on the 10's. And yes they give out traffic reports even at late night.

Wow. KNX all the way in Denver? That's pretty good, but they boast about having a huge transmitter that allows them to be heard all the way deep into Mexico.


Just with a small GE radio, I can reach Phoenix and San Francisco (KGO) at night from San Diego.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's when I lived along the coast in SD, we had some cheap Memorex (I think) radio with a tape player and after midnight, we got a lot. Besides the ones listed above, we got Window Rock, AZ (Indian reservation), St. George, UT, Las Vegas, NV, Sacramento, CA, Witchita, KS and western LA!

We used to write down the call letters and cities of these stations, but lost that list long ago. I vividly remember those stations and cities, though.

I find that with analog dials I found a whole hell of a lot more than I do with digital tuners nowadays. Analog allowed you to manipulate the dial just enough to tune a station in better, while digital only goes up or down in whole digits. I have a solitary analog dial radio left (the GE one) and I intend to treat that like gold so I can continue to try and listen for faraway stations that I can not get with digital radios.

[Marv101]

KOA/Denver (AM 850) can be heard after sunset 1,000+ miles away here in Los Angeles every night of the year without fail; of course, it can also be heard in 30+ states after dark as well.

KOB/Albuquerque (AM 770) also comes into LA at night on a nightly basis.

[KC6ZLV]

From Sacramento, 850 KOA Denver, 1030 KTWO Casper, WY, 1000 KOMO Seattle are just a few.