740 AM station

[Dan Starnes]

I have been playing around the last couple nights with my radios. Discovered 740 AM that I pull in pretty good on my Hallicrafters. Seems it is bout 800 miles from me way up in Toronto Canada from what I can determine. Lots of 50's style music, and I like it. Winter storm here this weekend and of course very cloudy, we will see tomorrow when it clears if I can still listen.
Dan

[drh4683]

great station. I listen to it too at night on my zenith royal 2000 which sees alot of use here at the house. They have a good variety. The local station here that plays that type of music is 1480 and its a "music of your life" station based in NY, NY. They transmit all over the country, but on very low power transmitter. I hear the same songs all the time over and over and it gets a little annoying. There were many great instrumental and easy listening tunes of the 50's-60's and you can hear them on CHWO 740.

[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by Dan Starnes

I have been playing around the last couple nights with my radios. Discovered 740 AM that I pull in pretty good on my Hallicrafters. Seems it is bout 800 miles from me way up in Toronto Canada from what I can determine. Lots of 50's style music, and I like it. Winter storm here this weekend and of course very cloudy, we will see tomorrow when it clears if I can still listen.
Dan

This is CHWO in Toronto, and it's one heck of a good station. For those who can't get it over the air, here's their webpage, where one can listen to an audio stream of their programming: http://www.am740.ca/main.htm
Tom

[radiotvnut]

We had one of those "music of your life" stations here on 1450 sometime in the mid '90's. I think it was WMGP; but, I can't remember. That frequency was originally WQIC up until about '92 or so. They played R&B and Soul but no (c)rap. It was mostly older stuff. Since that station was sold, that frequency has been just about anything: music of your life, southern gospel, sports talk, and African American gospel.

I am glad you can get a decent music station at night. It seems like all I can get down here at night is talk, talk, and more talk. Sometimes, I'll find some music; but, it's usually so noisy and fades in and out so bad that I just get fed up and turn it off. The two music stations that I get the most are WSM - Nashville & WDIA - Memphis. You can bet the talk stations come in loud and clear!

[MarkM]

The last "Music Of Your Life" format station in this area became JACK-FM a few years ago. Along with that one of the classic rock stations became MIKE-FM. I hate these stupid "male-name-FM" stations. It's like someone with a blandly loaded ipod decided to throw it into shuffle & add some commercials.

CHWO comes in great here in the fall & winter, it tends to skip right over MO in the summer though. It's about the only actual station I ever listen to on the old AM sets anymore. Aside from that it's MARK-AM (haha) fed into my AMT3000 transmitter

[Keefla]

http://www.odxa.on.ca/chwo/reports.html

[Randy Bassham]

The only thing I can hear in Southeast Missouri on 740 AM is KRMG Tulsa

[Brian]

I listen to 740 all the time on the car radio and really enjoy it through the Philips 6731 in hi-fidelity mode. Of course living in Toronto does not hurt. It broadcasts a stream of music that seems always in my appreciation range and even the commentary is balanced and enjoyable.

[MarkM]

Originally Posted by Randy Bassham

The only thing I can hear in Southeast Missouri on 740 AM is KRMG Tulsa

That doesn't surprise me Randy. CHWO seems to be completely overridden by KRMG when I get as far south as Rolla.

[jonman]

I get 740 late at night here in Michigan. I sleep with a walkman on at night and look for 740 when Coast to Coast is boring. I like the station, but wish it had a better sound quality then offered within the AM band.

[Jeffhs]

I live in northeastern Ohio, over thirty miles from Cleveland but within a mile of the south shore of Lake Erie. AM 740 comes in here quite well all the time, which is good because the "music of your life" format left the Cleveland area in 2000 or so after having been transferred to several other stations. There was a station on 850 (the last one in this area to do this format) which ran MoYL for several years, then the station increased its power to 50kW and shortly thereafter switched to ESPN sports. The big-band music went with it, or more accurately, the format disappeared from the AM radio dial entirely in this area. There are still a couple of 5kW AM big band stations I can hear here from out of town (1390 and 1590, both anywhere from 35 to 90 miles east of here), but, again, nothing left in the Cleveland area.

Sheeesh! I know Cleveland is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but, IMHO, it was a a bit much when the city decided to convert every one of its radio stations, AM and FM, to talk/sports/religion and rock and roll, respectively, a few years ago. The only place on FM where big band may still be heard in this area is WKHR-FM 91.5, a small station operated by a school district in the next county south of me. The reception is great in my area and likely throughout the greater Cleveland area as well, owing to the fact that the station's transmitter and antennas are located in Geauga County, Ohio, the elevation of which above sea level is the highest in the area. (The station also streams online at www.wkhr.org.) I feel sorry for the young high school kids who spin the music on that station, however, as they weren't even born when that type of music was king on AM radio. IMHO, it must bore them blamed nearly to tears to have to play music several decades older than they are. (I'm sure they don't listen to that station when they are at home.) I bet many of them wish they had enrolled in a school with a rock-and-roll FM station, as most of the college FMs are in this area. I don't know what the powers-that-be at the 91.5 station were thinking when they decided to program that station with music far older than (and certainly unfamiliar to) the kids who play it on the air.

BTW: The reason AM 740 is unlistenable in Missouri, Oklahoma, and points west is probably because the station's primary coverage area is greater Toronto and the eastern Great Lakes region of the U. S. (Lakes Erie and Ontario), not to mention the northeastern United States. The signal, although it is 50kW, is not meant to reach much further west than northern Ohio or southeastern Michigan (signal pattern restrictions). You might be able to hear it in Detroit or southwestern Ontario, but finding 740 could be a challenge because the Motor City's WJR-760 is a 50kW station, and right next to 740. At night the problem is worse because, at least here in the Great Lakes area, station WSB-AM in Atlanta, also 50kW, booms in at 750--right in between 740 and the Detroit station. If you have a relatively selective receiver this may not be much of a problem, but cheap AM portables with next to no selectivity may only receive 750 and 760, depending entirely on how strongly those stations are audible in your area. If you cannot hear AM 740 OTA for any reason, the station now streams over the Internet as well at www.am740.ca as was mentioned in a previous post.

[Tony V]

I pick up AM740 all the way down here in VA at night. Good mix of music and is a good way to test out my radio collection as theres nothing local worth listening to anymore. Its very rare when i dont pick it up at night. Weekends are the best time to listen in as thats when they play the big band and do-wop. It comes in loud and clear from 7pm till 11pm EST.
-Tony

[Bill H]

I can get it in Northern NJ as well on a good night. Easy S9+. I like to tune around the dial see what I can get at different times. I have an old Atwater Kent 35 that I'll fire up on a longwire to see what I can grab.......

[jukeboxman]

I live in Richmond Va.and pick up AM 740 most nights from about 7 pm till 11:00 pm seems like the power level drops around then, best station i can find, nothing but talk radio left in my area. - Gary G

[Brian]

Last week I got to bed a bit later than usual and popped on the headphones. I've been playing with a Eton S350DL am/fm/sw that I picked up as I wanted to play with sw again but did not want to pay big bucks. It has been by the bedside for about a month continually on to burn in and see if with use the common drift issue is reduced. This is an analog front end tuner rather than digital similar to the Sherwood SEL-300 tune of days gone by. The FM stereo is not too shabby. QC is very variable on these but I seem to have gotten a good one as none of the complaints have yet to pop up on mine but then again it is only a month old. Oh, got off track, sorry. At about 11:30 the station at least on Monday and Tuesday night plays old time radio programs such as Fibber McGee, Sam Spade, and the Green Hornet. As I am into these programs I now have the radio fixed on 740 next to the bed with a set of headphones. I listened to the programs through my Sony STR 6120 that also resides with my full range electrostatics but the sound is different, too good. It does not sound like the '50s listening to my old crystal radio or home brew rgen receiver from back then with magnetic headphones. The Eton comes closer. I have a crystal radio kit and may put it together and get it up and running.