Fort Smith Double Red Dirt 96.7 and Espn Radio

[RadioRonnie285]

As I was going through updating my radio market listings for Fort Smith I discovered that while only a translator/am station combo that Red Dirt 96.7 is owned by G2 media while Fayetteville is owned by Rox and has a CP to expand its signal towards Fort Smith. The size of the TV market is large enough to give us two radio markets with only a handful of stations available in both. I do not see how 96.7 Fort Smith would survive if 96.7 Fayetteville builds out its CP. The CP has KXRD Fayetteville upgrading to a C2 from a tower south of Fayetteville instread of the current C3 signal that has its tower north of the City.

Looking at the hitthatline.com website I see that Espn Radio that rimshots Fort Smith on 96.3 claims it cover most of West Arkansas through multiple signals including 95.3 which serves Fort Smith. Wikipedia has it as variety hitsMax fm but I found a facebook page showing ESPN on that signal but the last post was back in August.

Does anyone have any information that is more updated, thanks

 

[exdjted]

KERX 95.3 is the ESPN station for Fort Smith. KTTG 96.3 is licensed to Mena and doesn't really have a good signal into Fort Smith. It is listenable south, and actually had a sales office in Hot Springs for whatever that was worth. I really have no idea what effort Pearson puts into ESPN outside of Fort Smith and Fayetteville.

On KXRD, if and when they do complete their CP, I believe by rule G2 will have to resolve the interference, probably by relocating to another frequency since their translator lies within the 50 dBu contour of the new full-power signal of KXRD. It does appear there are a couple of frequencies they could shoehorn a translator on, but that market is really saturated. Bott does have a translator listed for sale on RadioTVDeals that G2 could buy to move to if they were so inclined.

Personally, I believe Fort Smith is a hugely over-radioed market, and G2 does have another AM/Fx combo they could move the Red Dirt Country format to now in order to preserve that audience and figure out what to do with the Gospel format.

 

[Kent]

As I was going through updating my radio market listings for Fort Smith I discovered that while only a translator/am station combo that Red Dirt 96.7 is owned by G2 media while Fayetteville is owned by Rox and has a CP to expand its signal towards Fort Smith. The size of the TV market is large enough to give us two radio markets with only a handful of stations available in both. I do not see how 96.7 Fort Smith would survive if 96.7 Fayetteville builds out its CP. The CP has KXRD Fayetteville upgrading to a C2 from a tower south of Fayetteville instread of the current C3 signal that has its tower north of the City.

I believe Ted's correct that the translator in Ft. Smith will have to relocate if it causes interference to KXRD once the CP is built out. The FCC updated its rules on translator interference a few years ago, however, that allowed translators to cause a limited amount of interference on the fringe signal contours of a full-power station. Since no one in the Ft. Smith area has any history of listening to KXRD, the translator is unlikely to generate the required number of listener complaints. That one may come down to signal contour maps. In terms of profit survival, red dirt has never been a format that has drawn enough listeners to make money. I'm guessing Rox is doing okay with it in Fayetteville, though, as I was quite surprised it replaced the Coyote with red dirt. That seemed counterintuitive to me, but kudos to them for doing something rarely done and somewhat adventurous.

KERX 95.3 is the ESPN station for Fort Smith. KTTG 96.3 is licensed to Mena and doesn't really have a good signal into Fort Smith. It is listenable south, and actually had a sales office in Hot Springs for whatever that was worth. I really have no idea what effort Pearson puts into ESPN outside of Fort Smith and Fayetteville.

I occasionally got the old KOUA 96.3 in Fayetteville, but it was rare. I didn't have any incentive to check it out on the home stereo once it became KTTG. I could get that Branson Country format quite well on 92.9 out of Springfield, and I didn't enjoy it in the first place. During football season, I occasionally stream KAKS. I believe Pearson just has one stream for all of its ESPN stations. Pretty sure I heard multiple station ID's when I last listened, though I'm not 100% positive.

Personally, I believe Fort Smith is a hugely over-radioed market, and G2 does have another AM/Fx combo they could move the Red Dirt Country format to now in order to preserve that audience and figure out what to do with the Gospel format.

That is for sure. Even 35 years ago, that was a tough place to make money. Having owned a station there, you know that firsthand. Around 1991, KISR even filed for bankruptcy, though the Bakers were ultimately able to work out their debts.