Kelly Mac Resigns as PD of KTCX in Beaumont TX

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://news.****************/articles/n41652/Kelly-Mac-Resigns-as-PD-of-KTCX-in-Beaumont-TX

After broadcasting & working remotely for 19 months, Cumulus Media Beaumont, TX has eliminated their real estate footprint in there and has relocated and merged the studios, office and staff with its cluster in Lake Charles, LA. Effective Monday, January 24, KTCX, KAYD and KQXY will now operate and broadcast from Lake Charles, LA which will now require Beaumont employees to relocate to Lake Charles or commute 130 miles daily (round trip).

 

[stan]

You think they’d switch the other way and move the Lake Chuck folks to Texas. Is their real estate in Louisiana better than what they had in Beaumont?

 

[AnyHuman]

I'm sure in a few years everything will be operated remotely from one location anyway... Doesn't the FCC require stations to have local studios though?

 

[stan]

I'm sure in a few years everything will be operated remotely from one location anyway... Doesn't the FCC require stations to have local studios though?

Doubtful. Look at the EMF stations.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm sure in a few years everything will be operated remotely from one location anyway... Doesn't the FCC require stations to have local studios though?

No. That requirement was removed recently, though. A station can now have an internet or satellite connection at the transmitter site and have no office or studio other than that location.

Stan's reference to EMF is a good example.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

look at the ratings for Beaumont, TX and Lake Charles, LA.. and that will tell you all you need to know about why this happened the way it did.

 

[Kent]

You think they’d switch the other way and move the Lake Chuck folks to Texas. Is their real estate in Louisiana better than what they had in Beaumont?

Don't know if Cumulus owns it or not, but the Lake Charles location is just them while they definitely rent office space in Beaumont. I believe a good portion of the operations of the Beaumont cluster was already handled in Lake Charles, too.

I have to wonder if this type of consolidation could be coming to more Cumulus markets. It has the same people running Fayetteville and Ft. Smith in Arkansas, which isn't much different from how Beaumont and Lake Charles were set up. It also has several Michigan clusters that would seem to be ripe for a consolidation as well as two one station operations in Indiana that could seemingly be moved into the Indianapolis offices. I know Cumulus has been talking about moving its Jefferson City, MO stations 35 miles north to Columbia for several years now, too. It mentioned it supported eliminating the main studio rule so it wouldn't have to have a separate studio for KJMO 97.5 when the FCC floated proposals to get rid of it.

 

[ContinuousWave]

I'm sure in a few years everything will be operated remotely from one location anyway... Doesn't the FCC require stations to have local studios though?

The local studio rule was done away with a few years ago....the LCH studios are all new, rebuilt after Hurricane Laura tore them up...Beaumont's were older...cheaper to combine in the new location.. though Beaumont is a bigger market

 

[Chuck]

I'm sure in a few years everything will be operated remotely from one location anyway... Doesn't the FCC require stations to have local studios though?

Not anymore. The local studio rule went out about a year ago. That's why you are seeing the big broadcasting companies closing local studios and sales offices. It seems stupid to me, but that's the way it is.

 

[stan]

By the way, the iHeart studios have apparently moved somewhere else instead of I-10 in Beaumont. Perhaps they’ve done away with them altogether.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

By the way, the iHeart studios have apparently moved somewhere else instead of I-10 in Beaumont. Perhaps they’ve done away with them altogether.

as has been discussed elsewhere, they are in lake charles, la now

 

[Kent]

By the way, the iHeart studios have apparently moved somewhere else instead of I-10 in Beaumont. Perhaps they’ve done away with them altogether.

iHeart is now at 4310 Dowlen St. Not sure how much of an operation it actually has there, but it at least has offices there.

 

[stan]

iHeart is now at 4310 Dowlen St. Not sure how much of an operation it actually has there, but it at least has offices there.

Probably everything is there because the studios on I-10 will be torn down to make way for the freeway construction.

 

[stan]

as has been discussed elsewhere, they are in lake charles, la now

That’s cumulus that moved to Lake Chuck.