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"The Answer" moves from 1590 to 1300 AM

T

Treehouse SWL

I rarely have to commute these days, but I still am in the car long enough on occasion to do an AM band scan. Lo and behold, I found religious talk on 1590, and Puget Sound Media's site says Relevant Radio is now the format there and "The Answer" format will stay on 1300 AM, which has been simulcasting 1590 for months and months before today.

Any idea if Salem might sell off 1590? I can't imagine it's a huge revenue generator, but I know little about the business side of radio. Heck, I still miss having KJET on 1590 back when I was a teen.
 
Relevant Radio is a Catholic radio service. But Salem is owned by Evangelical Christians. So I assume Relevant Radio based in Milwaukee is going to buy AM 1590 from Salem. 20,000 watts days and 5,000 watts nights. Seattle already has another Catholic station, 1050 KBLE. That station carries mostly EWTN programming. So Catholics in Seattle now have two choices on the dial, EWTN on 1050 and Relevant Radio on 1590.

This means KKOL 1300 will be the new Seattle home for Salem's conservative talk network, which in most cities is called "The Answer." KKOL is 50,000 watts days non-directional but only 3,200 watts nights directional. The website for TheAnswerSeattle.com says 1300 AM.

In some markets (NYC, LA, etc.) there is a local host in AM Drivetime. But KKOL appears to just be taking the Salem Talk Network 24 hours a day.
 
Technically 1300 outputs 50kW days. They have been in a Battle Royale for some time now with the locals at the xmitter site. They have been on a long running STA where they are allowed to be between the night time 3.2kW and 50kW due to blanketing interference issues. If you are having trouble getting sleepy some night you should download the entire correspondence file on that one. War and Peace and Interference.
 
Gregg. said:
Relevant Radio is a Catholic radio service. But Salem is owned by Evangelical Christians. So I assume Relevant Radio based in Milwaukee is going to buy AM 1590 from Salem. 20,000 watts days and 5,000 watts nights. Seattle already has another Catholic station, 1050 KBLE. That station carries mostly EWTN programming. So Catholics in Seattle now have two choices on the dial, EWTN on 1050 and Relevant Radio on 1590.

This means KKOL 1300 will be the new Seattle home for Salem's conservative talk network, which in most cities is called "The Answer." KKOL is 50,000 watts days non-directional but only 3,200 watts nights directional. The website for TheAnswerSeattle.com says 1300 AM.

In some markets (NYC, LA, etc.) there is a local host in AM Drivetime. But KKOL appears to just be taking the Salem Talk Network 24 hours a day.
Click to expand...
Catholic KBLE has an FM xlator, ironically broadcasting from the Protestant daytime tower of KCIS "Christian Information Station" Edmonds (actually in Shoreline.) This is of course the former tower of KCMS Spirit 105, before they rose up/ascended to Cougar Mtn.
 
So it appears that interference was becoming a problem on 1590. This is not surprising, as the AM band is full of interference in 2022… but is 1300 an upgrade?
 
So what moves to 1590?
KTIL near Tillamook, OR and KLFE 1590 are my most common on 1590 and qutie strong fseom 1500 or more miels away at night
 
seatownmedia said:
While 1590 has a decent signal, it is irrelevant today.
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Last night up here in w3est central Alaska, I had classic rock from KTIL mixing with the catholic talk from 1590 Seattle.. whatta mix!
 
KJET in the 1980s was literally a nightly lifeline for Alternative fans in Eastern WA and Alaska where stations of that kind of format simply did not exist and MTV was banned/not available. Or were too low power to reach much farther off campus. It was pretty strong, even at 2,500 watts and even fairly steady most of the night clear to Coeur d'Alene.

For forgotten '80s Alternative fans in the days when that weird screeny thing you're looking at looked something like this, that meant a lot. It meant rock really didn't have to sound like The Marshall Tucker Band or Molly Hatchet.

It meant they weren't alone.

JadeRadio.jpg
 
Salem is not Evangelical Christian owned. They are simply a radio company trying to turn a profit. Salem is successful in Christian programming as a niche. They do Conservative Talk and Business Talk as well as Contemporary Christian music formats. They willingly lease stations to those with the dollars regardless of religious background.
 
b-turner said:
Salem is not Evangelical Christian owned. They are simply a radio company trying to turn a profit. Salem is successful in Christian programming as a niche. They do Conservative Talk and Business Talk as well as Contemporary Christian music formats. They willingly lease stations to those with the dollars regardless of religious background.
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Salem is most definitely evangelical Christian owned and controlled. Ed Atsinger and Stuart Epperson who founded the company still own half of the stock and Ed Atsinger served as CEO until his retirement at the first of this year.

That they run non-religious formats or broker time on some of their stations is irrelevant as to the pursuasions of the owners and executives.
 
My point is the owners of Salem are choosing religious and conservative talk formats because they turn a profit from doing so NOT because it fits their personal views. For example, I like classic rock but if I owned a station I would choose the format that is needed and can likely turn a profit but I hope that format would be classic rock.
 
I don’t personally see anything wrong with any of the formats that are being run by Salem. I’m sure that the catholic programming on 1590 is at helping to keep them in business. At least this programming is on an AM signal that most people don’t care about in 2022.
 
The programming of Relevant Radio on 1590 appears similar in scope to what I've heard on KBLE -- national shows and a few call in shows aimed at non-Catholics as well as Catholics.
 
Only speaking in terms of profit. I have nothing against this station other than the question of revenue. If that is not important to the owner then I stand corrected.
 
And here's something else to ponder; KNTS 1680, the intended x-band replacement for 1590 is being sold below market value to the operators of KKDZ and KZIZ for $225k. The idea supposedly is get out of 1680 too even at a glorious loss in spite of what the deferred rules say about mandatory shutting off one station or the other inevitably. Most likely case is the FCC rolls over. I can't imagine them hitting everybody with a "Make Up Your Mind" order by now after what? 30 years of this?

Seems like Salem is scaling back in Seattle. At their peak, they had 820, 1300, 1360, 1590 and 1680. Now it's down to 820 and 1300. Seattle really was never their prime market. Not where everybody else does religion, wingnut talk and multicultural programming better than they do.
 
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