Do you know that AM 740 (zoomer radio) from Toronto has the most coverage of any station in North America, not only covering all of Ontario from Windsor to Kingston and north to Parry Sound and North Bay, but 28 states also? That's all of central North America! That's in the daytime! And the format....OLDIES 40s to the 70s mostly with some 80s for Canadian content mostly.
Just love it that not only is this the last few AM commercial stations playing music but my era to boot.
http://www.zoomerradio.ca/what-was-that-song/?time=afternoon&dt=
So for those who say radio is dead.....I don't know about that. They are similcast very local on 96.7 FM in central Toronto.
You can also see on their website the log of what was played in the last 24 hours.
At night Zoomer radio can be heard on a good radio as far as New Orleans! Amazing!
Now why would a station want to go digital and loose all that coverage?
Digital AM is a poor excuse to attempt to mask interference caused by fluorescent lighting Hydro and all kinds of other man-made interference do to those part 15 devices that radiates all this interference.
Any High noise area the interference is going to cut over the station you will notice it by the reception cutting in and out. It's not a miracle worker. Plus all the deaf receivers will still be deaf unless they make more stringent standards for receiver manufacturers.
Too bad the station doesn't go C-Quam AM stereo.
RE: "Do you know that AM 740 (zoomer radio) from Toronto has the most coverage of any station in North America, not only covering all of Ontario from Windsor to Kingston and north to Parry Sound and North Bay, but 28 states also? That’s all of central North America! That’s in the daytime!"
---------------------------
Sorry, but the useful _daytime_ coverage area of CZFM, Toronto is much less than that.
The map below shows their 1.0 and 0.1 mV/m groundwave field intensity contours, including the effects of Earth conductivity in that region.
In the AM broadcast band, a field intensity even greater than 1 mV/m cannot provide relatively noise-free reception by consumer-level receivers in areas with local r-f noise sources such as SCR dimmers, switch-mode power supplies, noisy wall-warts etc.
And of course, other daytime stations using 740 kHz would prevent useful reception in areas where their groundwaves were ~equal (or better) than that of CZFM.
Rich - - - Great coverage map. Where do I find those?
I've dealt with the quick-n-dirty maps provided by Radio-Locator, but this one's got some real pepper sauce going on. How can I find the site that has them?
I recognize that map, it's at https://www.nf8m.com/nf8m/us-medium-wave-pattern-references/ . You select daytime or nighttime coverage for any frequency and it will provide results as shown above in Rich's post. You can even download the database for offline use. Pretty cool.
Oh yeah.. the downloadable offline version of the maps can be got from the creator at http://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/
CFZM is clear channel. no other stations there to interfere directly.......
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CFZM is a Canadian Class A clear-channel radio station, licensed in Toronto, Ontario, which airs at 740 kHz and in downtown Toronto at 96.7 FM. The station airs an oldies format branded as Zoomer Radio, with the slogan "Zoomer Hits". Its studios are located in the Liberty Village neighbourhood, while its transmitter is located in Hornby.
CFZM is the only remaining adult standards-formatted station in North America that broadcasts a 50,000-watt clear channel signal. Like most clear channels in this region, CFZM's nighttime signal can be heard in all of the eastern half of North America, dependent on atmospheric conditions. CFZM and WSM are the only two remaining clear channel stations that primarily broadcast music.
CFZM's daytime signal can be heard in most of the Ontario Peninsula, as far west as the Michigan Thumb, and as far east as Syracuse, New York. Its signal strength allows it to have an audience in nearby cities such as Pittsburgh and Buffalo, New York, where local standards stations have gone defunct.The nighttime signal can reach as far west as Minneapolis and Winnipeg, and as far south as New Orleans.
From Boomer's post above:
"The _nighttime signal_ can reach as far west as Minneapolis and Winnipeg, and as far south as New Orleans."
This sentence from the Wikipedia text quoted above is accurate, but it doesn't apply to their daytime groundwave coverage area — which is close to what is shown on the map I posted.
CZFM operates on one of the former "clear channels" assigned to Canada, but these days there are quite a few other AM broadcast stations using 740 kHz in the daytime. A few of them are shown on the coverage map I posted.
Zoomer Radio used to be CBL, a CBC outlet. That and CBM on 940 kHz were favorites for my brother and I back decades ago.
Those were Canadian Broadcast Corporation outlets. They boomed into our Hartford, CT location at night and were heard on the big heavy HQ-140X and many other radios.
Both 740 and 940 were/are Canadian clear channels. In the case of 740, we could and still can hear two outlets -- one in Boston, MA and one on Long Island that go off at night to protect Zoomer. There is a little dinky 940 in CT that goes off at night to protect that Canadian clear channel as well.
Brooce