Maximus wrote:
I don't usually monitor Am broadcast band, but have wondered of late whether
some of the stations I used to hear as kid were still out there to pluck out
of the air :

KDKA Pittsburg, Who Des Moines are two that come to mind.

KDKA and WHO are definitely still around.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html will bring up a search form, you
can type in the call letters & see if they're currently in use and by
whom. Or you can search on other criteria.

In general, all the big 50,000-watt U.S. stations that were on in the
1950s are still around. A small number have changed call letters since
then - for example, KRAK-1140 in Sacramento is now KHTK. WTAM-1100 in
Cleveland changed to WWWE -- then changed back to WTAM.

Actually, most of the smaller stations are still around too, though
they're far more likely to have changed calls. I would educated-guess
about 100 U.S. AM stations have gone silent since the 1970s.

The situation is very different in Canada. Many of the Canadian
stations you may have DXed in the past have moved to FM or gone silent.
Sometimes, other stations take over their dial positions. For
example, the CBC stations you listened to on 740 and 940 and the French
station on 690 are now on 99.1, 88.5, and 100.7 respectively - with a
nostalgia station and two commercial news-talk outlets having taken over
the AM frequencies.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com