kal - the biggest barrier to contemporary AM DXing is noise pollution. Computers, compact flourescent bulbs, shitty Chinese-made power supplies in modern electronics such as big-screen TVs, your neighbour's grow-op, hydro lines especially those with bad transformers. Without being smug, I daresay it's worse in the cities than out here in the sticks where there's enough space between my antennas & sources of RF noise. Blame Industry-Canada (or whatever they're called these days) the FCC etc for not enforcing more rigid standards. However, before you get discouraged, others ARE DXing from urban locations but are sometimes hampered on occasion due to an unforseen noise source. To get the most out the hobby in 2016, a good hi-quality amplified, tunable loop such as the Quantum DX Pro v3.0 I am using is a must. The passive Terk Advantage works great on a cheapie budget but won't drag out the real weak ones ypu're after. Many urban AM DXers prefer using one of the current crop of excellent portables - such as the Sangean ATS-909X or new Tecsun PL880 which is getting good reviews. This allows you to jump in the vehicle, head away from the crowded, urban areas away from the noise for some serious DXing. The Icom R7x series of desktops receivers that jon mentions are no longer made or available. Among my receivers, I use the excellent Icom R75 - the last production unit of these just recently sold out. i won't bother getting into the subject of outdoor, wire ,flag or beverage antennas unless you have a ton of real estate to work with.
The IRCA hard-copy references that jon mention are good to have. However, these are out of date before they even hit the printer. I Do recommend joining IRCA if you want to share resources/loggings/station info with an eager world-wide community dedicated to AM DX. There are a number of excellent, current station listings & logging info always kept up to date. The best Canadian station reference guide is by Dan Sys, well-known contributor to RW. Dan's monthly "Canadian Radio News" takes care of the current changes" Hopefully, there's some info here you can use, & we'd welcome having some more re-discover the fun of DXing the AM dial at night