In the world of radio we have some tools to help us better understand AM and FM that can tell us more than what we’re hearing on the radio dial.
And in this day and age of Internet streaming, we can find out which radio stations provide streaming services.
It’s called Radio Locator and it uses the website (radiolocator.com). All you have to do is put in the call letters of a radio station or of any city in the United States, Canada or Mexico and it will give you a number of details on any radio station in North America.
One feature is that it provides the coverage area of radio stations. And in the case of AM, the coverage area during the day and the coverage area at night most often are not the same. Many AM radio stations decrease their power at night to protect others on the same frequency.
There are numerous other features. You can find radio stations from your location. It will use your location, if it’s known, to provide a list of radio stations in your geographical region. As mentioned, type in the city or call letters, find a station by format, and finally who is streaming and who isn’t.
Let’s say you like the Chicago Black Hawks hockey team. Radio Locator will help you find WGN, 720-AM which streams the Black Hawks. It can also tell you the power of said radio station that might help determine if you can receive it in your geographical area.
Just go to (radiolocator.com) and type in Chicago or the call letters, WGN, and it will tell you exactly where the transmitter is located, the format, the power, etc.
I recently found an unfamiliar radio station on 750 AM. All I knew was the frequency. After a Google search, it told me it was in Melfort, Saskatchewan. So, I typed in Melfort and found it to be CKJH. From that point, I was able to get its power output, 25,000 watts, the number of transmitting towers it uses and it’s grid coordinates. I also found out it serves the nearby city of Saskatoon.
Another station was found on 1060 AM. Not being familiar with it, I listened until I heard a commercial about Grossenburg Implement, a John Deere dealership. I know there is a Grossenburg Implement in Winner, S.D., so I thought it must be in South Dakota someplace. Winner is close to Pierre so I typed “Pierre” into Radio Locator and there it was, KGFX, 1060 AM in Pierre.
It has a classic country format, uses 10,000 watts of power and uses four towers to broadcast. And after looking at a daytime coverage map, it shows the fringe area reaching just to the north of Bismarck. I live 155 miles northwest of Bismarck. Yes, it surprised me because I shouldn’t be getting KGFX where I live.
FM is a bit different. Because FM radio waves don’t travel as far as AM radio waves, we most often know what those radio stations are on our dial. However, sometimes we can be surprised by this as well.
This time I’ll use KQZZ, 96.7 FM in Devils Lake as an example. It broadcasts from a tower just to the west of Fort Totten and its fringe area to the west reaches just to Drake and Towner and north and east to Langdon and Park River.
According to Radio Locator, KQZZ transmits 38,000 watts of power, yet I’m able to receive it on any given day and I live roughly 75 miles northwest of Drake.
On the other hand, there is another radio station in Devils Lake on 102.5 FM called “Cruiser 102,” and legally called KDVL. I like that radio station and even though it broadcasts 100,000 watts from just east of Fort Totten, I’m seldom able to receive it. KPPD, Prairie Public Radio in Devils Lake, is on 91.7 FM and is always available on my radio dial, but it is farther north and west, near Minnewaukan, so the logic there makes sense.
Streaming from overseas can provide good results. Let’s say there’s something important going on in a city in Belgium that you absolutely need to know about. You can find Belgian radio stations and Radio Locator will tell you if the station broadcasts in English or French and whether it provides an Internet stream.
Radio Locator is free to use, but there is a limit of 25 entries in a 24-hour period. There’s also a premium option that you pay for and can get unlimited access.
