While looking up some other information one day, I came across some observations about a partial solar eclipse in the central United States on May 10, 1994. I was living in Kansas City at the time, and Kansas City was in the path of the eclipse.
I took a long lunch hour that day, and checked out some AM signals, using my car radio, an NAD 4300 AM/FM tuner, and a GE Superadio III Here's what I observed:
- KFRM (550, Salina, Kansas) could be received in the car without any interference from KSD St. Louis at 11.30 am. The signal was not terribly strong, but the lack of interference was unusual.
- KFDI (1070, Wichita, Kansas) registered a two (on a scale of five) on my home tuner’s signal strength indicator at 11.45 am (the peak of the eclipse). Half an hour later, it was back at zero though still barely audible.
- KFSB (1310, Joplin, Missouri) registered a three at about 11.55 am. Normally, I do not receive this station. It appeared to be simulcasting its FM station, which is a real comedown for one of southwest Missouri’s high-coverage signals. (Since that time, KFSB has gotten a new owner and has been renamed KZRG. KZRG stayed on the air during the Joplin tornado in 2011 and reportedly performed a tremendous service to its Joplin listeners as they tried to recover from the devastating killer tornado.)
- KKLL (1100, Webb City, Missouri) registered a two on the tuner at about the same time. I didn't listen for long; I can normally get it only in the car; normally, it runs a format (Christian easy-listening) that is quite avoidable.
- Traces of KTTS (1260, Springfield, Missouri) were heard at around 12 noon. Normally, it doesn't make it up here [Kansas City] at all. I didn't try KWTO at 560; it usually comes in up here OK.
- While on the way home in the car, I listened to the station at 1530 in Butler, Missouri (KMAM). This small-town station had enough creativity to drag a microphone or two out to its parking lot and have its DJs describe what they were seeing and talk to people driving up, asking what they thought of the eclipse and what they were seeing. Little KMAM was doing a better job of being an on-the-spot radio station than the big-city (and not-so-big-city) talk stations relaying the bloated blathering of Rush Limbaugh, whose career ought to go into eclipse. Well, so much for that wish.
Conclusion: The eclipse seemed to give a bit of a boost on signals that normally come in very weakly at midday.
I couldn't do a comprehensive scan because of my center-city location (due to quite a bit of interference from WDAF and KMBZ at my Kansas City location).