Re: [IRCA] 1090 in Megheeco

["John Callarman" <JohnCallarman@xxxxxxx>]

Back in the '40s, when my parents had the radio on through the evening hours to listening to the network comedy shows, dramas, and the Richfield Reporter at 10 p.m. in Corvallis, Oregon, our NBC outlets that gave us reliable coverage were KFI-640 and KPO-680 ... no problems with them at all, QRM-wise. KIRO-710 Seattle was a distant third. KGW-620 Portland, with 5 kw., didn't make it the 85 miles down the Willamette Valley with anywhere near the nightime signal as the two California powerhouses. 

For CBS, KNX-1070 beat KOIN-970, though KOIN had a relatively clear time of it in the '40s. Stations that crept up beneath the Portland outlet were WDAY, KVAI (Amarillo) and CJIB in Vernon, BC. 

ABC, in the '40s, was more difficult. KGO-810 and KEX-1190 both were, if I remember correctly, 7.5 kw. By 1948, when I was particularly interested in Jim Hawthorne's 10:30 to 11 p.m. show, neither station would carry it, except for KEX on Saturday night only, particularly disappointing since they both had increased power to 50 kw and were equally dominant. The most reliable reception of the Hawthorne show came from KTKC-940, in Visalia ... but in mid-season, KFRE bought 'em out, shifted from 1340 to 940, and dropped ABC to run CBS shows. Drat. I really had to fight QRM on weeknights to hear Hawthorne ... sometimes on 790 KVOS in Bellingham and/or KECA in Los Angeles would be heard, but KGHL in Billings caused QRM. Later, when KWIL, 11 miles away, shifted from 1240 to 790, I lost any of those stations, but by then Hawthorne was no longer on the network. 

XERB, Rosarito Beach, with its mail order XERF/Border Baby style programming, and KING in King County, Seattle, battled. Some nights one would dominate, other nights it'd be the other. It didn't have to be auroral, which occurred much more rarely in the Pacific Northwest than in the Midwest and East Coast at similar and lower latitudes. 

Back in my early days of DX'ing, CBK-540, WSM-650, the Chicago clears, WMAQ, WGN, WBBM, WLS/WENR sharetimers, had the frequencies all to themselves, as did WBAP/WFAA-820, KRLD-1080 and WOAI-1200 in Texas. Less often but still regularly heard, even on an old Philco upright living room machine, were WNBC-660, and WCBS-880. WJZ-770 couldn't make it through KOB, which was operating temporarily on 770 because it got forced off 1030. WHO-1040 was also easily heard from September to May. WHAM-1180 was rarer, and occasionally WWVA-1170 would slip through KVOO's powerhouse signal. Even after Bellingham, San Jose and San Diego came on 1170, KVOO still dominated. WCAU-1210 was easily heard at night, WBZ-1030 less often, but I recall hearing 'BZ one afternoon in full daylight in Corvallis, a little after sunset in Boston, of course. KYW-1060 was heard regularly until CFCN in Calgary moved up from 1010 to make way for CBX. I still recall the CFCN s/off announcement, in which the announce!
 r told us that the next five and a half hours of silence are sponsored by the (so-and-so) mattress company. Sleeping on a so-and-so is like sleeping on a such-and-such. (I made up that last line, hah!) I still remember the TOH, well elocuted rhyme-time line, "Ten-Ten, CFCN."

DXing seemed a bit easier then, too, because most of the stations were carrying network programming and didn't go local until TOH and BOH. Often, we'd hear a slight echo effect from another station carrying the same network show. I nearly fell out of my chair one night as I listened to an ABC show from KASH-1600 in Eugene and, at the TOH, after the network ID, KASH ID'd and unmistakably in the background was WAPX, Montgomery.

KXEL-1540 in Waterloo used to dominate at night as well, back when they were one of the north-of-the-border stations that did Border Baby mail order type commercials at night. Wonder if the XEL part of the call meant they were trying to sound like XERF just 30 kcs. up. (We'd never heard of kHz back then!) 

Maybe, maybe ... AM will sufficiently die that all the clutter will be culled away and foreign stations will be easier to hear. About the same time, I guess, the U.S. gets back on an even economic keel ... or CPBS owns all the stations!

Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon 
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