I'm sure you're aware that WWV is still out there ticking. I keep an old portable more or less permanently tuned there, just so I can adjust all the clocks for the little bit of "creep" they accumulate between DST jumps back and forth.
Unfortunately, the EM pollution has gotten so bad that even "modern" radios with sensitivity and selectivity much better than the old ones we listened to can't sort out those distant stations like we could with the crude stuff we had "back then."
In the late 50s, I'd frequently pick up late night (or early morning) jazz and big band stuff from Chicago (about 750? miles away) on my car radio (AM). I also remember pulling off to sit and listen, and having trouble picking out the major constellations in the night sky because there were so many stars that the patterns didn't stand out that much. Now there's so much light pollution - and ground level smog/haze - that you're lucky if you can see the "major" stars on a "good" night.