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1460 AM Kirkland 1961-2014

Bongwater

Bongwater

Yes, it's all true. KARR 1460 AM Kirkland is leaving the air. They lost their lease (and as I heard it told to me, Family Radio/KARR once owned the property of their transmitter site. But sold it for a quick cash infusion and leased it from the buyer. If so, it's a suicidal blunder for ANY AM radio station. But then again, it might have been an early warning sign of things yet to come with Family Radio.)

The station signed on originally as Country KCDI. Then R&B KYAC, AOR KILO, Country KGAA, Went from daytime to 24/7 in 1984 as Music of Your Life KARR and finally Family Radio, retaining the KARR call letters.
 
Tried to listen to the signoff ... I got to the party a little late (about 6:03p) and sounded like they were promising to try to find a new way to serve audiences in Seattle/Kirkland, and instructing people to tune to the web in the interim. Then launched back to network but it was getting hammered by out-of-town signals.
 
They were repeating that message every hour at the top of the hour over the past couple of weeks- that's probably what you heard. I recorded it in the morning on Friday. I can post it somewhere or send somebody an mp3 of it if they want to post it on a Soundcloud site.
 
KUTI has gained loads of "DXers" on 1460!

-crainbebo
 
Went by xmitter today ... they already have a big bucket machine (old days we called them "steamshovels") parked next to the xmitter building. Doesn't look like they plan to waste much time preparing the site for something new.
 
Ok this is slightly offtopic, but since we're talking about that site I may as well post it here.
1. What happens to KKDZ's night operation?
2. Why does KWSU have to sign off at midnight? I can understand having to sign off either at local sunset or at sunset at another station that KWSU has to protect, but even in Hawaii it's been dark for a couple hours when KWSU has to sign off. What's up with that?
 
Maybe it's because KWSU is an educational station. Maybe they don't have the $$$ to run BBCWS from 12-6AM.

-crainbebo
 
KWSU was 24/7 when I lived in Moscow, ID in 1998. They recently got a translator on 93.3 MHz in the Palouse, so signing off the AM at midnight is possible, if only as a cost cutting thing (the power bill of a 5,000 watt AM who's only benefit is for the handful of public talk radio listeners that commute a lot in the tri-state area is pretty impressive....)
 
Bongwater said:
KWSU was 24/7 when I lived in Moscow, ID in 1998. They recently got a translator on 93.3 MHz in the Palouse, so signing off the AM at midnight is possible, if only as a cost cutting thing (the power bill of a 5,000 watt AM who's only benefit is for the handful of public talk radio listeners that commute a lot in the tri-state area is pretty impressive....)
Click to expand...

Another highly unlikely, yet plausible twist is Disney could donate their old used radio station to Northwest Public Radio. They'll get a nice tax deduction for it at least and WSU can have a true Seattle outlet for their NWPR News network (much to KUOW's chagrin, of course.....)
 
Yah... probably not too likely there. Even as a daytimer, a Seattle signal would be worth money to someone.

As for power savings... I did some quick numbers. Guessing about 8kWh (modulated, newer transmitter), and around 15 cents per kWh, the monthly savings to the University would be around $220. Even that seems high to me, but I haven't had to pay a station's power bill in awhile.
 
A possible variation of this...Disney donates 1250 to WSU so they can share same frequency & content and no sunsetting ... and picks up 1460 for full-time Disney content. Xmitter for both would need to be relocated...but a new location involves both signals anyway so .....
 
Good idea. My thought - 1250 Pullman would stay KWSU, but Seattle would be KWSS - "K Washington State Seattle".

-crainbebo
 
Bongwater said:
KWSU was 24/7 when I lived in Moscow, ID in 1998. They recently got a translator on 93.3 MHz in the Palouse, so signing off the AM at midnight is possible, if only as a cost cutting thing.)
Click to expand...

KWSU was indeed an all-day enterprise. The seattle frequency had to protect KWSU. Several radio owners tried to get nighttime coverage for the seattle frequency, occaskionally by blustering, sometimes by offering money, sometimes by appealing to need for african-american nighttime needs. But it was under Fred Danz operation that 1460 got nighttime seattle permission, of sorts, from WSU college. Third hand information, but I was told Danz asked what hours WSU listners were awake. Told them college folk should be studying from sunset to midnight, but then should go to bed. Stying on all night was wasteful. So WSU conceded that the station would sign off at midnight (or 1 a.m.) so that Seattle frequency could go boost it's nighttime power to daytime strength, throwing away dusk and earky evening hours in Seattle to get what it could of the overnight parts. I never heard that any Danz money was involved, but of course it did save WSU's nighttime electric bill.
 
vstredicke said:
KWSU was indeed an all-day enterprise. The seattle frequency had to protect KWSU. Several radio owners tried to get nighttime coverage for the seattle frequency, occaskionally by blustering, sometimes by offering money, sometimes by appealing to need for african-american nighttime needs. But it was under Fred Danz operation that 1460 got nighttime seattle permission, of sorts, from WSU college. Third hand information, but I was told Danz asked what hours WSU listners were awake. Told them college folk should be studying from sunset to midnight, but then should go to bed. Stying on all night was wasteful. So WSU conceded that the station would sign off at midnight (or 1 a.m.) so that Seattle frequency could go boost it's nighttime power to daytime strength, throwing away dusk and earky evening hours in Seattle to get what it could of the overnight parts. I never heard that any Danz money was involved, but of course it did save WSU's nighttime electric bill.
Click to expand...

Fact checking, people, fact checking. KWSU is on 1250, not 1460. Don't know which station Danz was involved with but KWSU couldn't care less about 1460 KARR's night time operation.

Val
 
I'm not sure the Danz family had anything to do with either of them.

Long ago, the Pigeon point tower, which SRO owned until recently, was the daytime transmitter site for 1590. SRO picked that station up during the KSND - KUUU days, if my dates are correct, and ran it as a sister station to KZOK.

1590 ran from Pigeon Point during the day, and switched to their Bainbridge Island directional site at night, until eventually licensing both modes at Bainbridge.

As far as I know, the 1460 issue was just a matter of the licensee not owning the dirt under his towers. 1250's restriction was always a matter of keeping KWSU happy. Prior to their night operation in Kirkland, they were daytime-only. As far as I know, 1250's only connection to SRO was their daytime use of SRO's Pigeon Point tower.
 
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I'm not sure why I brought up KWSU, I think it was probably the common tower location with KKDZ, and it seeming odd to me that the station signed off at midnight rather than sunset.
 
Grounded Grid said:
1590 ran from Pigeon Point during the day, and switched to their Bainbridge Island directional site at night, until eventually licensing both modes at Bainbridge.
Click to expand...

That must've happened shortly after the switch to KJET. The 1590 daytime signal used to be, along with KXA on that T-wire, one of the weakest Seattle AM signals in Lynnwood. Then it improved a little.
 
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