EDB VV License LLC just canceled the license for KMPS-AM Hesperia/Victorville on 910.
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Another gone in Southern California
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K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
As AMs continue to drop in number. Eventually the band will all be the major signals plus whatever AMs have translators (and probably not all of the latter, either).
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What an interesting story. This 700 watt AM station was once owned by Infinity. About 30 years ago, they parked the heritage call letters KRAK on this station. Those letters were previously on a longtime rock station in Sacramento. The station became part of CBS Radio, and then was part of the sale to Entercom. When Entercom flipped KMPS Seattle to soft rock, those heritage call letters were parked on this same AM station. In 2019, Entercom sold the station and the letters to a local company for $1 million. A few years later the station went silent due to financial issues. It came back for a short time, but apparently now it's done. The end of a station that served no real purpose other than the parking lot for heritage call letters.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
No wonder they never went after a translator. 😜
This is something that can only happen in the Victor Valley.
I did a quick scan of AM here in eastern Vermont this afternoon. Only stopped on four frequencies: 1010, 1400, 1480 and 1490. Three music stations (classic country, AC and classic hits) and a conservative talk station, all with FM translators. Can't imagine there's much of an audience for the AM signals on any of the music stations. I'm sure the operators of those stations would be glad to keep only the FM signals if they could. At some point, the FCC will have to allow AM-less translators, then bite the bullet and tell the unfortunate owners of AMs that never applied for translators (or are in locations where all available FM frequencies are taken) that they are out of luck.
Who allowed all of these 500 watt stations to sign on in the first place? I can’t imagine this signal was even profitable 30 years ago
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Many of them started off as then-Class IV stations with 250 watts, then got power increases as the FCC made blanket authorizations. In retrospect, the Commission had exactly the wrong idea in trying to fix AM interference issues; they should have instead enforced the rules on what are called "unintentional radiators", such as fluorescent lighting and AC "wall wart" adapters.
Minor correction. KRAK was Country.
Correct. I was thinking about its predecessor KZAP.
Entercom parks call letters a lot. Here in Sacramento, 1320 AM is KIFM, a longtime set of San Diego calls that got parked here when the SD station became KXSN in 2016.
And 106.5 FM is KUDL, which had a decades-long run (1971-2011) in Kansas City, at 98.1 (now KMBZ-FM) and from 2011-2014 at 1660 AM. That was a straight swap, with 1660 Kansas City getting 106.5 FM Sacramento's calls of KWOD.
And 106.5 FM is KUDL, which had a decades-long run (1971-2011) in Kansas City, at 98.1 (now KMBZ-FM) and from 2011-2014 at 1660 AM. That was a straight swap, with 1660 Kansas City getting 106.5 FM Sacramento's calls of KWOD.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
You meant Audacy, of course, but that behavior indeed started when they were Entercom.
iHeart (going back to Clear Channel) used to park calls a lot, but I haven't seen that happening as much in recent years.
What's wild is that Infinity bought it in the first place---an AM/FM combo including 103.1, for $3.5 million.
Yeah. Should have been more clear. Said "Entercom" because that's who they were when the Sacramento call parks were done.
So it looks like in terms of local AMs the Victor Valley is down to just 960 and 1590, 540 being long gone. Am I missing anyone?
Remember, the market per Nielsen goes all the way to Barstow. One of the problems there is that no AM and few of the FMs cover even a significant portion of it. I believe it has the lowest family and personal income levels of any rated market in CA, also.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Here's the relevant portion of the Nielsen market designator map, from David's site. When you see everything in proportion to each other, it is obvious why there is little no to cohesion in Victor Valley. It's just too damned big.
Incidentally, if you do go look at the whole map, you will see a lot of market names in various parts of the country in non-bold italics against white backgrounds. Those are markets that Nielsen has withdrawn from over the years, and the only reason they would do that was that not enough stations were subscribing. And that, in turn, means that listening levels were so low that ratings became meaningless as a sales tool.
Some of those were never rated except in the annual national survey. For example, that hugely populated area between LA and Riverside/San Berdoo was never part of either market... LA did not want it "back in the day" because the local stations in the Inland Empire took a lot of listening and would reduce overall shares. And the IE stations did not want it because of too much LA listening.
The other white areas on the map never had measurement. Riverside East is basically Desert Center and Blythe with little radio service. Look at how much of Nevada has never been surveyed... and probably never will be.
KUDL dates farther back, actually, being the original call letters of what's now 1380 KCNW. KUDL dates back to 1953. KUDL tried to compete with WHB for the Top 40 audience in the 1960s and early 1970s. One of the DJs was "Jeff Christie", who later went to KMBZ under his real name, eventually getting fired for his commentaries, went to Sacramento, and went to fame from there. You know him as Rush Limbaugh.
KUDL-FM was originally KCJC, and was actually licensed to Kansas City, Kansas (as is KFKF!) but that doesn't matter for the legal ID. KUDL-FM was once owned by William F. Buckley, Jr., and made him a lot of money. And, yes, they called it "Cuddle" on the air.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Well, I compared old maps to new ones (thanks to your making everything available) and to take one example, the Yakima-Pasco-Richland-Kennewick (WA) market used to have color designating its market boundaries ... and then one year, poof! it went to non-bold italics and the color gone ... but the border is still defined with a purple line. Officially, according to the legend, those are television DMAs without a radio metro survey area. (The oldest map at World Radio History, from 1987, did show it as the Yakima-Tri Cities metro, so I know I'm right on this one, even if I am wrong about others.)
I have known for some time that white areas without borders adjacent to defined markets are essentially "no man's land". Including that infamous Inland Empire area you mentioned.
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