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KEBE Jacksonville & KTLU Rusk

C

cotton belt

Guest
KEBE AM 1400 in Jacksonville and KTLU AM 1580 in Rusk have both found themselves in a precarious situation. As of July 1, 2020, each will have reached one year of inactivity and subject to license revocation. Both facilities were taken silent by Paul Coates, simultaneously with the 4 FMs once owned by ETRM. The FMs have since been sold to the Educational Radio Foundation of East Texas, and returned to the air with new Christian based formats. 1400, 1580, and their respective FM translators remain silent and "pending sale", however.

I pen this thread to simply bring attention to the pending loss of these two old, historic, AM signals in ETX. This isn't KNGR up in Daingerfield here. These two signals hold historical significance in their respective towns, and have launched the careers of many big names in the industry. Had it not been for State Representative Emmett Whitehead, through his resources with KTLU and the Cherokeean, the Rusk State Hospital would be nothing more than a shuttered and dilapidated building sitting on an overgrown pasture next to US 69 today.

KEBE has an equally interesting and rich history in Jacksonville. Founded by Bill Laurie in 1947, KEBE was probably best known as the station upon which Dudley Waller built his Waller Media empire at 402 S. Ragsdale. Once the longtime country powerhouse "KEBE Corral", it would span over 5 decades in ETX. Waller would also be responsible for launching the career of Tom Perryman on KEBE. Rick Watson and Jim Lord would also spend many years at the KEBE Corral. Ultimately, KEBE would give up the ghost in 2007, beginning a simulcast with its former FM sister station in Pittsburg. Sold to local interests in 2014, it became a simulcast of Standards formatted "QX-FM" from neighboring Kilgore. An FM translator has been granted for KEBE, but to my knowledge has never come on the air. KTLU also has an FM translator, K280CL, which did operate for over 30 years; first in Palestine, then moved to Rusk as part of the relocation of the then KWRW to Troup.

I, for one, hope that Paul Coates will bring both facilities, and their respective FM counterparts, back to operating before the deadline. To lose these two facilities would be an absolute travesty and a very sad and unfortunate ending for the pair.
 
KEBE

This doesn't make me happy. I owned KEBE for a while. It simulcasted my QX-FM format. After fixing up the physical plant (New Nautel transmitter and other things) I sold it to to North Texas Radio Group, who got a translator for it. (The translator was on the air for a while at 104.7) They subsequently sold it to East Texas Results Media. AKA Paul Coates & Mike Huckabee. As far as I can tell, they have been horrible owners and not good stewards of the public trust. I hope somebody rescues these stations before the clock ticks down.
 
Chuck said:
As far as I can tell, they have been horrible owners and not good stewards of the public trust. I hope somebody rescues these stations before the clock ticks down.
Click to expand...

I never realized NTRG signed K284CT on the air, but you are absolutely correct. License to cover was granted on 4-18-2018, and a simultaneous STA silent notification was filed with KEBE on 7-1-2019. I have heard KEBE-FM on the air at 95.1 a couple of months ago; strangely enough, broadcasting one side of a landline telephone conversation.

Not the biggest oddity produced by NTRG down here in ETX either. Down near Frankston, new sign on KVUT 99.7, which is licensed to Cuney of all places, is running heavy metal. You read that right, heavy metal. On a 100 watt pipsqueak signal, serving mainly the livestock and foul of Anderson County! It reaches Frankston, population of about 1,200, with a rimshot signal.

"Saving" either of them would be difficult, unless Coates lights them back up himself. For any interested suitor, an immediate LMA would have to be negotiated and implemented to get KEBE (and the translator) back on the air in the next 3 weeks. Without divulging more than I should, the asking price for both the AM and translator is under 6 figures.

I'll tell you what, Chuck, I've never had any in person interaction with either gentleman, but the excuse of not being able to generate advertising dollars for the cluster listed in the STA filed last year, struck me as peculiar. Mr. Waller made a comfortable living in Jacksonville for many years, with 1400 as his foundation. Of course, he was a trusted, community oriented, businessman that people knew well and understood that when they had his word on something, it could be taken to the bank as gold. Apparently, Paul Coates and his associates didn't give the same impression to the business owners in and around either J'ville or Rusk.

I can not, for the life of me, understand why on earth Coates even bought 1400 and 104.7 just to take them silent. Consummated the purchase with NTRG on June 28th, and took it silent just 3 days later.

I hope you don't take this as firing a shot your way, Chuck, but I can't imagine this is the fate Mr. Waller envisioned for his baby, when he sold it to you in '14. Regrettably, it is not keeping anybody entertained anymore.
 
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KEBE

I'm sure Dudley Waller would not be happy. After selling KEBE to me, he was quite pleased with the direction the station was taking. I'm pretty sure he was a regular listener. In the three years or so that I owned it, I put a lot of time, effort and cash into it. We had quite a few listeners in Jacksonville, but got absolutely no support from the city or its people. I've learned that if you want to run a small town radio station you need to actually live in that town, not 50 miles away. You have to go to all the local Rotary Club, Lions, Kiwanis, VFW etc. rubber chicken lunches, and be very visible.

Because I wasn't a native of Jacksonville, many conversations started with the prospective client saying, "You're not from around here, are you?" I got tired of investing time and money with nothing to show for it. I sold it to North Texas Radio Group with the understanding they were going operate it. Basically, all they did was continue to simulcast our QX-FM programming while applying for a translator. Once the translator deal was cinched, they flipped it to Coates, who paired it up with the Rusk station as a simulcast. I listened to it a few times while traveling through Jacksonville. I can't imagine that very many people would listen for long. It sounded terrible. I got a lot of complaints about the format flip, although it was not something I did.

The rest is a mystery. I do hope somebody will rescue the station. It is actually a pretty nice facility with a good tower, decent masonry transmitter building, a recent Nautel J-1000 transmitter and a Harris SX-1 that has had a lot of work done to it, as a backup. I rebuilt the studio in the Waller Building. It was't fancy, but was quite functional. Everything worked (It didn't when I got it). The last time I saw it, the translator had a new Elenos transmitter which for some un-explainable reason was running off the output of the BW Broadcast AM processor. No wonder it sounded bad.

The last two owners did the station no favors. In fact, neither even bothered to update the remote control to call a different number than mine. I've had it call me as recently as a month or so ago.

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking ...
 
As of yesterday, 6-24-2020, ETRG has filed Resumption of Operations for 1400 KEBE & 104.7 K284CT in Jacksonville. Can not verify this from my QTH, although I could get a fair signal from 1400 prior to the shut down last July.

Nothing filed yet for KTLU/K280CL Rusk.
 
Not sure that I would consider what I heard as a full resumption of operations, but I understand why I am not hearing programming from 1400 at my place. Drove down to Jacksonville, parked in the back lot at 402 S. Ragsdale, briefly reminisced of the good times of days past, and found that KEBE & K284CT are both on the air, however, both are broadcasting dead air. It's as if someone went out to the transmitter, turned them both on, and just left. I assume someone is supposed to be cracking a mic and mentioning "KEBE Jacksonville" at the TOH, but that has not happened in the 3:00 or 4:00 hour. I can't pick up 1580 from here in Jacksonville, and have no desire to waste more gas driving on down to Rusk, so the mystery there continues. I will mention that O had to get south of Mt. Selman before 1400 began to come up from the static, so perhaps not running the full 1kW?

Seeing the Waller building quiet and dark is rather depressing, to say the least.

I really need to get back to work. Way too much time on my hands these days.
 
Further update: programming has returned to 1400/104.7. Currently playing "Lean on Me" by Club Nouveau. I'm listening to it on the truck radio in Bullard, so the coverage area for KEBE seems to be back to normal.

104.7's audio sounds atrocious, while 1400 has a nice, rich, full sound.
 
What's the station calling itself now? Or just playing disco music?
 
AnyHuman said:
What's the station calling itself now? Or just playing disco music?
Click to expand...

Branding is "95.5 K-Hits" on KEBE/K284CT. Rebroadcasting KOME in Glen Rose, apparently. Not sure what kind of deal has been worked out between ETRG and Chisholm Trail, but that's what is airing across 1400/104.7. I had no idea KOME was moving from 95.3, but lo and behold, that's what recently happened, and now it is also available in J'ville TX.

Paul Coates filed for Resumption of Operations on KTLU and K280CL yesterday, indicating that on the 27th they, too, have returned to the air. I have not verified this, as of yet, but I'm near certain that they have resumed broadcasting, as well.

Not sure from where you got disco, but the format is classic hits, with a classic rock skew. It's basically what we used to call Rock 40. Quite jarring for me to hear 1400 playing Great White's "Once Bitten...Twice Shy", after hearing Mr. Waller run country music on it for the better part of 5 decades, then the crooning sounds of Standards "QX-FM" afterwards.

As for audio, 1400 has lost the lows. It sounds as if the bass levels have been dropped to nil. On the translator, 104.7 has too much bass, with the highs missing, giving it a "muddy" sound.
 
From RadioInsight:
"East Texas Results Media sells 1400 KEBE/104.7 K284CT Jacksonville and 1580 KTLU/103.9 K280CL Rusk TX to William Wachter, Mike Greene and Julie Harrison’s Chisolm Trail Broadcasting for $100,000. Chisolm Trail owns Classic Hits “K-Hits 95.5” KOME-FM Tolar/ 106.5 KITT Meridian TX. Both KEBE and KTLU began simulcasting KOME-FM when they resumed operations this summer."
 
At least one of the principles of Chisholm Trail is also involved in My Town Media, which owns stations in Kansas and Missouri, possibly Oklahoma, too.
 
I traveled through the Tyler/Longview area yesterday and heard 104.7, think this is the same 104.7, but it was playing gospel music I think. The trebble dominated with no bass that I could tell.
And to Chuck, what's up Chuck? I also heard your 105.3 All Hit Radio and it sounded good. Is that the only FM outlet you have besides 100.3 KZQX? KZQX was very weak for me though, but that one sounded good too.
 
AnyHuman said:
I traveled through the Tyler/Longview area yesterday and heard 104.7, think this is the same 104.7, but it was playing gospel music I think. The trebble dominated with no bass that I could tell.
And to Chuck, what's up Chuck? I also heard your 105.3 All Hit Radio and it sounded good. Is that the only FM outlet you have besides 100.3 KZQX? KZQX was very weak for me though, but that one sounded good too.
Click to expand...
I'm still here, running QX-FM (KZQX) and KDOK. I spend a great deal of my time working on the Texas Broadcast Museum in Kilgore. www.texasbroadcastmuseum.org You need to come and see us. We're open on Friday's and Saturdays from 10 AM until 5 PM.
 
The 104.7 you heard is in Winnsboro The original 104.7 LPFM was transferred to a local church that ran if for about three years, but lost interest. The licence was surrendered a few years ago. The QX-FM format moved to 100.3 about ten years ago. It has evolved since then. You can listen on line at www.qx-fm.com if you like.
 
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