Radio Experts Input Needed

[Roburt]

Love going through old US R&B radio stn charts. It's amazing what 'obscurities' you find lurking on them. Of course, if you have an interest in what was on their charts, it spills out to include who their DJ's were, did those DJ's run their own little labels, what area a stn would broadcast to (how far their signal reached) & similar associated topics.

There are quite a few decent books out there by old soul radio DJ's or by guys in the know about US black radio. It's a pity those halcyon days are long gone -- I just about never bother to tune into any US radio stns when we have been wintering down in Florida for the last 10 years.

ANYWAY, back to my point. Radio stns such as Nashville based WLAC had night time R&B shows -- their DJ's including Gene Nobles, John Richbourg and "Hoss" Allen. Their signal would reach right up to the US / Canadian border at night, so folk who liked soul would tune in from hundreds of miles away. 

A radio stn that was quite influential over on the west coast was KSOL (Syl Stewart being one of their DJ's for a short while). I'm posting below, some tech info on the stn. Also one of their charts & a 45 that was on the chart (though as it was on a small NY based label, no idea why it would have figured on a west coast radio stn's chart).

MY QUESTION ... KSOL reduced it's signal strength at night from 1000 watts to 250 watts. No doubt, this was also coz the signal reached farther at night, so it didn't need to be as strong. BUT why do radio signals reach much further at night ?? It doesn't seem that logical to me (unless it's coz the atmospherics are so much better after sunset).

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Roburt

[Roburt]

A US radio stn down in Florida. This outfit kept it's full signal strength up over the full 24 hour period. I guess it's signal (at night) would reach some of the Caribbean islands.