Month: March 2023

United States

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License cancelled
3/13/2023: KCMX-880 Phoenix, Oregon

Dennis Gibson to irca iog (2023-03-15)

Wow! That one is another oldie. Used to be on 580 for years, then moved to 880. Nice verie letters from both frequencies. I know on 580, they had a monster signal in Southern Oregon. Could be heard here all day and night. But after they moved to 880, the signal was not as good.I first QSL’d then in 1965 as KWIN. They were Country at the time. I got them in Seward AK. Then again from Oregon in 1979 as KCMX 580. A third time in 1999 as KTMT-880. As KWIN they were a strong signal and had the ads to prove it.

Patrick Martin (2023-03-15)

Canada

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I help out every year on updating the NRC AM LOG and I have some stats you may find of interest. Below is a list by year and te number of AM radio stations on the air in Canada for that year

2011  329     
2012  317     
2013  300     
2014  276     
2015  261     
2016  256     
2017  246     
2018  232     
2019  216     
2020  210     
2021  208     
2022  205     

The incredible shrinking AM radio band NOT counting TIS/HAR stations this is licensed broadcast stations.

Shawn Axelrod to irca iog (2023-03-12)

Space Weather

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DARK PLASMA ERUPTION AND CME: On March 11th, a huge filament of magnetism filled with dark plasma erupted from the southwestern limb of the sun. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the structure hurling itself into space:
https://spaceweather.com/images2023/11mar23/darkprom.gif
“Dark plasma” is not a special kind of plasma; it’s just cooler and less luminous than the background sun. It is also denser than surrounding gas. These characteristics give the material extra “punch” as it flies out of the sun’s atmosphere.
This eruption formed a CME, which was seen flying away from the sun shortly after the blast. NOAA analysts have modeled the CME and determined that it could graze Earth’s magnetic field on March 15th, producing a G1-class geomagnetic storm. 
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2023-03-13)

United States

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Here are a couple of recent format changes

Salem has dropped Spanish on KNTS-1680 and is now conservative talk //KKOL-1300.  The change happened at the somewhat odd time of 7:15 a.m. on March 1.   There was no fanfare or announcements to mark the occasion.   It sounded like someone threw a switch and that was it.  Or more likely, a line of code threw the switch.

Meanwhile, KBSN-1470 Moses Lake WA has switched from newstalk to “Real Country”.   Not sure when it  happened, probably some time in the last month or two.  I first noticed the change a couple weeks ago.

Bruce Portzer to irca iog (2023-03-12)

Australia

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Does anyone know, what is going on with Melbourne 1629 kHz?
This report from the US West Coast:
“Just found that Radio Rhythm – Melbourne on 1629 and listed as “inactive” is now playing 50’s and 60’s oldies. The TX must be the old Rhythm one since the offset is still 1628,9785. The carrier is also clearly visible in your screenshot.
A bit of a mystery who this station is though, I’ve been listening now for about 30 minutes and no ID, nothing. Great music though.”

Mauno Ritola to ICDX-AM iog (2023-03-10)


I can definitely confirm that there is an oldies station operating here in Melbourne on 1629kHz. According to the ACMA database it is VMS264 operating from Angling Club Esplanade Williamstown Vic AUS. It is licenced from 5/1/23 to 3/1/24.
No IDs heard as yet, just continuous oldies music, more from the 1960’s.
The signal comes through at reasonably good strength here at my location when using an indoor loop.

Robert Copeman to ICDX-AM iog (2023-03-10)