The AM Forum

..i drove by the tx site on sunday..it's the former cbc station...anyway, i was wondering how many of you out there listen to it. they changed their format abit, with new ownership, and some were not pleased.....but...they still offer something that seems lacking on the am broadcast band, meaning music. just was thinking if there is a future for music, and not just talk radio...

..sk..

Hi Tim,

I remember when this station was CBL, Toronto. It was a 50,000 watt clear channel flagship station of the CBC. When I was in college, I worked part-time in the early 1970s as a broadcast engineer for a station in New York that was also on 740 khz. We had to shut down at sunset to protect CBL. As soon as I pressed the "Plate Off" switch on the big Gates rig, CBL Toronto would come booming through on the off-air monitor. A very impressive signal, indeed. Because of the Canadian content requirements imposed by the Canadian Government in the early '70s, we used to hear Ann Murray about every half-hour on CBL! A lot of Gordon Lightfoot, too, not to mention numerous obscure or unknown Canadian artists that you would never hear on any of the U.S. broadcast stations.

At any rate, I have not listened to the station that replaced CBL (or their format) for a few months. I recall the programming was mostly jazz and pop music from the '40s thru '60s. Has this format recently changed?

73,

Bruce

I've listened to them in the past, sounds really good on an old radio like my crosley 25ay. they were CHWO then they changed calls to CFZM.
Shelby KB3OUK

I love it except for the name.

http://zoomerradio.ca/

what's a zoomer?

I listen most nights when they are coming in to the repro GE cathedral by the bed. I listen to the romance show with Ziggy,(Stardust)  and the 'race music' &blues show after midnight (Midnight Blue)

They also let the jocks pick the music. It's got a very tiny bit of the old time radio magic that existed when I was a kid.

Hello Tim:

I listen to 740 every night on the way home from work during the winter months.
A very solid signal here in Chicago. Norm Edwards is the host.
I get a little flack fom WGN on 720 if I head north of the city.
Excellent use of a 50 KW signal with good audio.

Lou

Hi Tim,

Yes like Lou I also get them here but for awhile I thought I was hearing KRMG in Tulsa Okla. because I thought they were on 740.  I thought to myself, KRMG has sure changed hi hi.  I'll have to look in radio-locator.com and check my information.
Well, at night they cut power to 25 KW and have a deep null to the northeast and I guess now we know why if we didn't before.

Anyway, on the way home listened to the buzzy buzz or whatever you all in new england call it on 1030, WBZ, and toyed with what a cool ham call WB3Z would be hi hi.  Just checked and it's taken.  oh well.

got home from work a few minutes ago and heard K1JJ booming in on 3885 on my little Grundig YB400 portable in my living room.  He was working the guys out in 7 land.   

Hey Lou you had a great sig. with ur Johnson 500 on the CR Net Saturday morning also listening to that with the Grundig.

Rob

Heya Tim! I hear them pretty well down here in NC once the sun goes down. Steve had told me they boom into Virginia and he wasn't kidding. Great station, though they did move to more of a moldie oldies format after Moses took over. Used to be more big band/swing as I recall. Sunday night it the best, Scottish music followed by Irish Happy Hour until 8PM. Then George shows up with Big Band Sunday Night, all the big swing tunes from Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Louie Prima and so on. Great stuff!

Derb, that Midnight Blue show is really more of an R rated tunes show. They play a lot of suggestive stuff from back in the 30s onward, even heard Clarence Carter doing 'Strokin' one night. Think that was from the late 70s/early 80s.

Really makes the Super Pro rock, and the EV floor speaker rumble.
 

hell yeh.  8)

Tim West,

Definition of a Zoomer:  A Boomer (as in baby boomer) with Zip...
And they do have a music director that picks all the music per the bosses directions...

The boss (Moses) is also a wheel in CARP, the Canadian  version of our AARP.

Yes, Tim Smith, I listen to AM740 here on the streaming audio via the computer.
There is a bible thump-er day timer there, sunup to sundown in Chester, PA...

I liked their format mo-better before Moses Zinaimer took over...

I listen to "Zoomer Radio" all the time on 740!  The signal is very good over here after dark.  The audio is not so overly compressed that it sounds bad - a syndrom of virtually every radio station that plays old music like that.

I like it!

Regards,

Steve

Rob
Have you thought of W3BZ instead of WB3Z??

And Derb you have gotten pretty rambunktious lately wanting R rated music. Sounding like the DERB we know and love.

Hard to believe that a Government would tell a radio staion that they have to play a certain artist every half hour. Then it must be true that stations in Canada have to play Paul Anka tunes also?

Phred

I listen regularly in Eastern PA, and from the car in Eastern PA and Central NJ.
It reminds me of Martin Block's "Makebelieve Ballroom" on WNEW NY.

73
Steve WA2DTW

I listen to it a lot when my wife and I go camping.    We stay up late at night outside, play cards or games and have AM 740 on the portable radio.    Late at night, going to sleep in the tent-camper I put the portable radio on auto-off for 60 minutes and go to sleep listening.    I wish we would have some decent stations in the U.S. like this one.

I used to listen to a Canadian station around 1040 on der dial. They also had a 40 meter simulcast  and when they faded on BC, I could listen all day to the 1 KW signal 40 meter frequency. They abruptly stopped the 40 meter broadcast and I therefor sent them an email asking them why? What do you think their response was??

You guessed it, not a word was received from them. Yacking with HLR, he stated that most Canadian stations of the day ran a simulcast on the SW to reach the fur traders way out in the bushes. Did any others out there ever hear any of these broadcasts and are any still doing it?

It sure was a great bygone era for me ;D :'( ;D :o

"Hard to believe that a Government would tell a radio staion that they have to play a certain artist every half hour. Then it must be true that stations in Canada have to play Paul Anka tunes also? "

And others...............


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Ar79f8aN8


klc

The William Shatner version of the song sucks big time, but I love the graphics.  Someone should transpose those visuals to the original Beatles version.

For a sample of another good AM station that plays music, try listing to streaming audio from KRSN 1490, Los Alamos, NM.  Of course, if you happen to be in the area, listen for the real station.

http://www.krsnam1490.com/

If you loved Shatner....


For your listening pleasure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC73PHdQX04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Rqj7TqSlM&feature=fvw

There is a station in Toronto that broadcasts in the AM band and the 6 MHz shortwave band.   I think it is on 6070 or 6020.

That station is CFRX, Toronto on 6070 kHz.  They relay CFRB 1010 kHz.

The station has been on the air since the 1930's.  There used to be many other Canadian relay stations in the 49m band, but only one or two remain.

CFRX went silent a couple of years ago.  Apparently their Bauer transmitter blew a modulation transformer.  A few months ago they got back on the air with a new solid state transmitter.

Tim, VE6PG had a strong lead on it and was supposed to have been given the old Bauer, but last time I talked to him, he indicated that the deal had apparently fallen through.  Some other dude from the States had worked out a deal and beat him to it, but at the last moment for some reason got paranoid about trying to move the transmitter across the border, and last I heard, the whole thing might have ended up going to the dump.  Stupid people.

740 has a very good nighttime signal into the DC suburbs with superb audio. I listen occassionally as it is pretty much the only big AM signal that I can tune in playing music at night. WSM is now wiped out by IBOC hiss from New York.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

..at that site, is also the cbc's 860kc transmitter. it is still active as a cbc transmitter. i dont know how long these stations will be around, from these sites. they are located west of toronto, and with all the urban sprawl, it is becoming prime real estate. cfrx/cfrb is still on 6070. as well, there is a station, relay of cbc in newfoundland on 6160. very good signal.
 as far as timmy's claim of shortwave relays for trappers in the bush, give your heads a shake. it might have worked, back in the 1700's, but there are not trappers in the bush. one of those legends about canadians on dog sleds, igloos, snow year round, etc...
 btw, the govt. did not tell stations which music to play. what they were doing was, encourage stations to play more canadian artists. regardless of who they might be, or connection to music.  i do enjoy AM 740, but moses has changed things. he is well known here, starting new tv networks, formats, etc...

..sk..

Timmie didn't say that, it was my poetic un-licensed way of writing. There must have been a reason for use of short wave up there. It must have been for reaching people in remote areas.

 Sorry if I'm offending anyone. I love Canadians and would love to live there but unfortunately it's my understanding that I would need $40,000 in cash and could prove that I would employ others, and not be a Royal Pain In The A++ just to live there. At least that's how it was put to me. Can that be true??

Speaking of 740 kHz AM, does anyone in the Boston area remember WCAS, Cambridge? A little 250-watt daytimer, but they rocked.  They took a lot of listeners away from the big ones like WBCN during their limited broadcast hours.

They fell on hard times in the early 80's, but live to-day as WJIB.  One of the more interesting stories of non-humdrum AM radio.



http://www.740wcas.com/

Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCAS_%28AM%29)

WJIB (http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/6146)

Hi Don, just checked the FCC data and was surprised to learn that the radio station is still licensed for 250 watts. I didn't think any station ran that low power anymore. They can also do 50 watts at night. Never heard the station when I was over there.

Don mentioned KRSN 1490AM in Los Alamos. I stopped at the station at lunchtime yesterday to see if all the equipment had been shipped to the hams who had bought it, and the owner, Gillian, was tracking decent jazz from CDs. They have some specialty shows for various music styles.

I borrowed the manuals for a Harris AM stereo modulation monitor and a Motorola CQUAM exciter. They'll go for sale soon. The Harris box is interesting as it has full synchronous I and Q demods and a PLL. It was designed by Dave W9GR, around 1980s in Quincy.

I used to work with Bob Bittner back in the WNTN days (I was chief engineer for a while after fixing the transmitter that no one else could fix).

Bob funds the station using DONATIONS (and some infomercials that run on the weekends), and it must be working - he's been running the thing for a while now.

The music is very good, but not QUITE as good as "Zoomer Radio" from Canada.  Bob plays some '70s drivel from time to time (what IS this infatuation with '70s music that most radio stations have?).

I live about 40 miles from the antenna site, and they are VERY weak here during the day on a car radio, but quite listenable using a bigger antenna such as a 160 meter dipole.

 Been listening to 740 AM for years. It's nice to see AM radio still being used for entertainment rather the poltically oriented talk stations here in the US . I particularly like the "theater of  the mind" show at 10pm ,mon - thur. Reminds me of my childhood days during the golden age of radio..

...another great thing about the station is, there are very few commercials...kinda nice, not to be beaten over the head with ads for weight loss, lawyers, health insurance companies, etc...

I listen to 740 on Saturday evening when they have the oldies R&R. The rest of their stuff I have no use for or Im in bed. Maybe I'll stay awake for the blues; I have a lot of that raunchy stuff on the PC.

Other Canadians are 940 Montreal  and 1580 in Ontario but dont remember the city.

WJIB 740 has oldies once in awhile but usually not when Im around or Toronto drowns them out.

WCAP 980 Lowell, MA  is big into oldies in the late afternoon and old time radio shows later. Also all Sunday afternoon for oldies. Unfortunately they switch to a directional pattern at sunset and go in the noise and Im LOS from their antennas!

Most of the time I listen to Live 365 and broadcast that all over the property thru a Part 15.5 TX
This one has a lot of those old blues mixed in with R&B, R&R, and Soul

http://www.live365.com/stations/cglasow

And this is the master station index

http://www.live365.com/index.live

Ive only listened to the free stations as there is already way too much to choose from.

Carl
KM1H

That station on 1.580 is CKDO in Oshawa, Ontario. 10 KW. Can't hear it here in Albany, NY but it comes in great near Lake Placid, NY. The reason I posted this is because there must be someone out there losing sleep not knowing where this station is. Now that I have it tuned in on the internet, I'm not sure it's the format is me. Sounds like late 60's stuff. Yuk ::) ::) ::) Maybe early 70's.

My wife & I got picked for the Arbitron Rating survey this year... I wish I could see their faces when
they see I listen to AM 740 Toronto, WGN Chicago and the SW Stuff...(both on SW bands
and XM Satellite radio!)
The survey is pretty cool if ya never seen it, they give you a log book to keep, how nostalgic!
Listening to AM 740 (and other such stations) is pretty cool I must say on vintage gear...
Nothing like hearing "Big Band Sunday Night" through a '36 Super Pro or a 37 RME 69!
Cool sounds...
73
Steve
W8TOW

Did Zoomer 740 start  "60's at 6"  recently or have I just been elsewhere?  Too bad its only an hour before the old fart stuff starts again  ::)

Right now Im tuned to CKDO 1580 which is roaring thru on a SX-62A and bass reflex speaker.

Carl
KM1H

..carl..i'm surprised ckdo is still there...there were announcements, about 5-6 yrs ago on the air, that they were moving to the fm band....

..sk..

They are rebroadcasting on 107.7 FM according to regular announcements/station ID

Carl