Hi Hunter,

You are correct, AM stations downtown had a hard time penetrating brick and steel building even if AM radios were much better in the past than now, for receive and for audio quality. The reception issue is moot today if people are not blocked on their networks to be able to stream.

In Ham radio the phrase is "Height is Might". I would rather do 1 watt at 10k feet than 10k watts at 1 foot. The latter is wasted energy trying to penetrate line of sight items around it, where higher elevations are clear path (at least in the plains). Always gives you a wider footprint. I believe higher antenna level helps (not stops) avoid DX tropo effect in the summer where distant signals roll in.

KLOS has a monster signal. KISS in Milwaukee is also grandfathered in. But, in CA due to all the mountains, lot of stations not grandfathered in, utilize same frequency boosters to further their signal. EMF does it here on 94.3, there used to be dead spots that are not full signal and you would have no idea you are in an area with a booster. (see link below) - The one booster in Elmwood Park has a CP on file. That no longer looks like a Booster, that looks like they are trying to move in the stick from Glendale Hts or wherever in DuPage they have the stick these days!

Z