Jeffhs said:
"my Zenith C845 (probably the best AM DXing radio I've ever owned) with its built-in Wavemagnet"
Just for grins, have you ever tried AM Dxing with your Icom ham transceiver? I believe that most of these units contain a "general coverage" receiver which will tune the broadcast band. Connected to a loop antenna or length of wire, a modern Icom
might well do better than a 50 year old (or so) consumer product. I use my Icom 8500 a lot for AM Dx... The sensitivity, lack of spurious responses, bandwidth choices and upper as well as lower SSB modes provide a definite advantage over a standard "consumer grade" radio for Dxing.
Jeffhs said:
"it would not surprise me if there is only one engineer on duty after midnight and/or after normal business hours, as it doesn't take many people (I don't think, anyway) to operate a radio station programmed almost entirely from satellite feeds."
The situation may be even
worse than you describe. The satellite receivers are usually run by a computer and some of the programs may even have been downloaded in advance, and are just playing off of the computers' hard drive. No need for anybody to be there.
The chief engineer or contract engineer is likely asleep,
but with a cell phone turned on... if any of the stations' operating parameters fall outside of pre-programmed limits, the cell phone will provide instant alert, and in many cases the problem may be corrected through the internet control panel displayed on the phone.
jr