[IRCA] Domestic MW DX to Enid OK, May 17-23, 2013

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

All times and dates strictly UT [4 hours ahead of `ELT`]. Rx: mostly DX-398 with internal antenna only; or Sony SRF-59 as specified; Nissan stock caradio as specified; FRG-7 as specified

These logs are excerpts from my daily all-band reports, mainly SWBC, also VHF/UHF, sometimes, utility, ham, which may be found in several archives without much delay, such as
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser

And compiled weekly along with extensive news from many other individuals and publications in DX LISTENING DIGEST:
http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html

These logs are in four sexions, Canada [if any], Oklahoma [if any], rest of USA, unidentified, separated by ======= Within each, they are in frequency order

** OKLAHOMA. 1120, May 17 at 1120 UT (how appropriate), praise music in Spanish seemingly from Ca-Tulsa direxion, i.e. KEOR, and no KMOX; then that fades back in with the usual few-Hz SAH, and shortly the PMS is no longer heard, so KEOR at less than 200 km may also have been via sky- rather than ground-wave; unless it was really something else, as IDs are scarce. Lately KEOR has mostly been active in full daytime. Official FCC span for this daytimer in May is 1115-0130 UT; June, 1100-0145.

1120, Saturday May 18 at 1948 UT check on caradio at squirrel haven, KEOR Catoosa is gone again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Tornado radio in OKC: Saturation coverage on local TV and national cable networks.

But around 0055 UT May 21, shortly before sunset, checked the AM stations in Oklahoma City, as I know three of them at least have transmitter sites near the Moore tornado area.

1520 KOKC is on
1000 KTOK is on
 640 KWPN is OFF

Most FM and some AM stations simulcasting one TV station or another
including 1520, 1000, and:
1140 KRMP
1340 KGHM

Regular programming now (if not earlier):
800 KQCV
890 KTLR
930 WKY

Did not check all the FMs for absences, not too familiar with transmitter sites, but 92.5 KOMA and 107.7 KRXO are on.

All this is some 80 miles from where I am.

Further chex, May 21 at 1324-1340 UT, on the DX-398 inside: 

1640, KOAG Enid, still all-ag, but some mention of the tornado; from Floydada HQ or OKC?
1580, KOKB Blackwell & 1020, KOKP Perry local `Triple-play` sports talk but also about the tornado
1560, KEBC Del City, still all-comedy, just what we need??
1520, KOKC on with tornado, TV simulcast?
1490, KMFS Guthrie, fundraiser for Jimmy Swaggart, seems unlocal; later with gospel music
1340, KGHM still talk about the tornado rather than sports
1220, KTLV Midwest City, I can barely hear anyway; not sure if on
1140, KRMP, OFF; had been on last evening post-tornado; power out?
1000, KTOK, on with tornado, TV simul?
 930, WKY, Spanish, discussion of Mexican politix
 890, KTLR, regular religion
 800, KQCV, regular religion
 640, KWPN, still OFF. Paul Walker first thought its four towers were right in the path, but later said they were OK, just off due to power issues

Another check this time on the parked caradio, which has much better sensitivity, 1445-1451 UT:
1560, KEBC, ad during comedy service
1520, KOKC is now OFF!! Power issue? Paul Walker reported that the tornado missed its towers by only 300 feet
1490, KMFS Guthrie, yes, a ``shareathon`` not for the tornado victims
1460, KZUE El Reno, usual Spanish music
1340, KGHM, still tornado coverage, not sports
1260, KWSH, Wewoka, C&W music (near Shawnee which was hit day before; Show & Tell shopper May 15 issue had display ad for this as part of One Ten Broadcast Group, Inc, along with Planet 104.7 KSLE Seminole, and Real Country KIRC 105.9 Shawnee)
1220, KTLV, trace of a signal, presumably this 
1140, KRMP is still OFF
1120, KEOR, Catoosa is off again, no surprise, not tornadic
 890, KTLR, now in Spanish religion
 800, KQCV, still gospel-huxtering in English
 640, KWPM is still OFF; I am hoping to pull in WOI Ames IA on daytime groundwave, but the storm noise level will first have to abate; 5 kW ND, the ONLY public radio station on AM around here. Maybe a trace of a signal between crashes

FM check 1451-1458 UT on caradio:
 88.1, KMSI, Moore! Usual Oasis Network gospel-huxtering
 88.5, KZTH, Piedmont, tornado relief, // 89.7 KJTH Ponca City
 90.1, KCSC, classical as usual
 90.9, KOKF, Edmond, Air One // 91.1 Enid, re Moore, but national net
 91.7, KOSU, Stillwater, `The Takeaway` national show is interviewing KOSU`s Michael Cross. During the strike, KOSU was relaying one of the commercial TV station`s coverage (but all commercials suspended)
 94.7, KBRU, // KFOR-TV 27, all regular TV programming still pre-empted [only KWTV-39 provides network, CBS on 9.2 when 9.1 is pre-empting it; KFOR and KOCO stay with old movie channels on .2s]
 95.1, KQCV, gospel-huxtering like its AM 800
 96.1, KXXY, // KFOR, or partially so
 96.9, KQOB, tornado interview, not sure whence
100.5, KATT, tornado coverage
101.9, KTST, tornado coverage; guess it is still nicknamed ``The Twister``? I never listen to it. Hey, why doesn`t The Weather Channel *name* tornadoes now like they do regular winter storms and `canes?
102.7, KJYO, tornado coverage 

Following OKC-area stations seemed in regular programming: commercials or music as I tuned by:
92.5, 93.7, 98.1, 98.9, 99.7, 104.1, 106.7, 107.7
(Glenn Hauser, Enid, UT May 21, WORLD OF RADIO 1670, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Further post-tornado monitoring of OKC stations:

Around 1820 UT May 21:
1140 KRMP and 1520 KOKC are back on the air; missing earlier in the morning. Paul Walker said, ``Reportedly, there's debris stuck IN the towers or on the towers of KOKC 1520``. 640 KWPN is still off.

1000, KTOK, mentioned that all the Clear Channel stations were simulcasting.

930, WKY Spanish seems to be talking more and playing music less. Around 1820 UT the poor DJ is trying to pronounce numerous OK counties with tornado watches(?), really mangling Pushmatáha (in the southeast)

Next check 2357 UT May 21:
640 KWPN is back on with Lucidol ad; so much for my WOI hopes, unless this too prove to be intermittent. But remains on whenever checked into May 22. Haven`t noticed any IBOC yet; probably too much to hope that recent troubles have eliminated it. 1140 & 1520 still on

1336 UT Wednesday May 22: 1520 KOKC is off again! Still cleaning out the towers? All the others seem nominal.

This was posted by OKCRadioGuy on the OK board at radiodiscussions.com  May 21 at 1618 UT:

``1520, 640, 1000, and 1140 are all OK tower-wise. All are on the air except for KWPN who has generator issues. The Big 1520 is chugging along sipping on diesel. Thank you, FEMA for that big-assed 80's generator and the huge tank next to it. It's come in really handy to keep Moore informed. Most all stations in the market, including 1520, were simulcasting TV audio. 1520 continues to primarily be repeating channel 9 (KWTV), with some cut-ins from their radio news guy. 

Yes, the towers are 1946 Blaw-Knox towers. They are huge, square, angle iron beasts from 1946, when people built stuff to last. It's softer steel, so that probably gives a little more, making them more likely to survive. Old man Griffin did things only one way: 100% right. Those towers are one of the last relics of that legacy at KOMA (KOKC). Ironically, David Griffin's multi-million dollar chopper flew over that area reporting also live via 1520. Some things still are the same. Griffin's still do things 100% right.``

Also from EJM May 21 on same board:
http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=234926.10

``Both All Access
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/118588/radio-withstands-reports-on-oklahoma-city-tornado
and Inside Radio 
http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2655033&spid=32060
have roundup stories of what various stations have been doing.
The Inside Radio one is newer, and notes that Tyler's cluster may be using generator power`` (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

=================

** U S A. 720, May 18 at 1954 UT, caradio bandscan at squirrel haven north of Enid, quiet location (but lite line noise detectable on some MW channels; I can still see powerlines in the distance), baseball game. Can this be WGN? Some player named deJesús. Yes, it`s the Cubs, daytime groundwave all the way from Chicago! I`ve heard it before in the daytime; in winter there is some question whether it`s residual skywave, but surely not now. City to city distance is 667 miles, maybe a bit less to the site.

670, the strange thing is, I am not hearing anything from WSCR, which theoretically should have at least as good a signal as WGN under these circumstances. KLTT Denver, a couple hundred miles closer, is alone with some non-sports talk mentioning area code 303. Why does WGN get out so much better than WSCR? Is the latter not up to par? Unfortunately, Okie stations block the other Chi-town possibilities, 780 and 890 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 960, May 18 at 0500 UT courtesy KGWA`s Fox-hole of hum only, upon otherwise open carrier: some station with local weather, then KMA ID in passing and joining ABC News in progress. Maybe a SBG ran over. Altho ABC news is commonly heard, and always assumed to be primarily from KMA Shenandoah IA (except when KGKL San Angelo TX was malfunxioning), it`s rare to get a real ID from KMA as normally it`s only network programming at 0500-0505 while KGWA is silent (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. I hear that KCKN 1020 Roswell NM is running only 1 kW non-direxional as its 50 kW has failed and is not being fixed by the new owners. That might audiblize it here, no longer nulled toward KDKA (not heard yet and not likely unless KOKP is off), while opening up 1020 for much else in the West (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

==================

UNIDENTIFIED. 580, May 18 at 1953 UT from squirrel haven, a daytime bandscan audiblizes a weak talk station underneath WIBW Topeka KS, the very dominant signal here. Lubbock TX, KRFE? But only 500 watts and supposedly directional westward. I do recall it gets out well. Or is it KJMJ Alexandria LA, 5 kW, non-direxional, and a couple hundred miles further than Lubbock, over a not-so-good ground conductivity path? No nulling and no DFing on the caradio. I guess we can rule out WILL, despite WGN incoming, with WILL`s null toward Topeka and us --- or is it out of order? IIRC they had some problems a while ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 910, May 21 at 0549 UT, open carrier/dead air: DF fits for KVIS Miamuh OK, the nearest and usual dominator (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

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