Maybe plans have changed again, but I can't see why they'd want to hold onto 101.1 now especially.
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Northwest Arkansas KURM to sign off
- Thread starter Kent
- Start date
Looks like 100.3 won't be a simulcast after all. Real FM To Launch In Northwestern Arkansas
I am a 1995 graduate of John Brown University in Northwestern Arkansas. I knew they had an online Christian hip hop and pop station and this is what I expected for them to do. I listened to KLRC 101.1 when I went there and had wished back then that they would have had a Christian CHR station. I would have listened to it. When I was there most kids listened to KMCK 105.7. KMCK was always playing in the weight room where I went every other day. I wonder if they would now play Real FM but I have my doubts.
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Fun fact: at one point, JBU owned KMCK.
Yep. And it continued operating its former sister station, KUOA 1290, long after selling 105.7. Didn’t your family buy 1010 in Waco from JBU also?
JBU also turned out several high profile talents, like Mark Pollitt, from when it owned 1290 and 105.7.
You and I were in the same area at the same time. My first semester at the University of Arkansas was when it won the national championship in basketball. I knew several people from Siloam Springs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew a few of them, too.
Yes, that is correct. I ended up doing a deeper dive on JBU's broadcasting history a few years ago to better understand the history of 1010 and the how and why it came to be. It was very interesting.
In addition to the JBU connection, one of my siblings graduated from U of A so I am very familiar with the NWA market and one thing I haven't been able to figure out is why KLRC has stayed on both KLRC and KLAB (the old KLRC on 101.1).
JBU runs a very strong operation, so they probably have a good reason, but in my experience 101.1 doesn't really add anything to the 90.9 signal. Not to mention the Bentonville and Fayetteville translators also carrying KLRC. I'm glad to see Real FM getting actual FM distribution, but I am surprised it hasn't happened sooner and that it is going to be on the KURM signal, which mostly misses Fayetteville.
Robert Douglas
Banned
"I haven't been able to figure out is why KLRC has stayed on both KLRC and KLAB (the old KLRC on 101.1)."
I agree. 101.1 is just a subset of the much greater 90.9 signal. So, really it's just wasted. So why move the new format to 100.3 where fewer than maybe 50,000 people can hear it?
I agree. 101.1 is just a subset of the much greater 90.9 signal. So, really it's just wasted. So why move the new format to 100.3 where fewer than maybe 50,000 people can hear it?
I've been told JBU owned and operated a handful of commercial stations in the 70's and 80's, many of which operated secular programming. I've only been able to confirm KUOA, KMCK, and 1010 in Waco were owned by JBU, though. I don't remember when it sold KUOA 1290, but I seem to remember it operating it well into the 90's. I don't know who operates it now, but I understand it airs a regional Mexican format today. A friend of mine was interested in the station about 10 years ago, but the tower situation was a mess he said.
If your sibling was there in the mid-90's, I might have known them. I was surprised to find, a month or two ago, that a student worker whose office is across the hall from mine was the daughter of an old friend of mine from Arkansas 30 years ago. You know what they say. In Texas, you grow up hating Arkansas, but 2/3 of your friends end up going to school there. I was one of the 2/3. My ACT was one point too low to qualify for admission to University of Texas as a freshman. I met the class rank and the GPA requirements, but you needed either a 26 or 27 on the ACT, and I never could quite make that.
I can't figure that one out either. I was originally told JBU was going to sell 101.1, but I was later informed those plans had changed. Not sure if it decided to hold onto 101.1 because it wasn't going to fetch the desired price, or if there was another reason. It also seemed like selling 101.1 was part of how JBU was going to pay for getting 90.9 built and on-air. So, it may have gotten enough donations that it didn't need to sell a station to help fund the cost of signing on. Still, I would've either put Real FM there a long time ago or sold it since it could be used as a commercial allocation.
That is cool. So around 1994 was your first semester. I was at John Brown from January 1992 to December 1994. I was an older student in my mid-20's. I went to the University of Arkansas 2 times for a violin or cello recital for an arts class and another time to take a test to qualify for graduate school. I made a few other trips to Fayetteville and Springdale for something to do as well as Tulsa and Oklahoma City a couple of times and Wichita once. Most were before the 4 lane 412 highway connecting Springdale with Siloam Springs was built. I loved that area and the winters are much better than central Illinois where I am from. That would be interesting if we knew some of the same people. As an introvert I was shy though and did not have very many friends. I found making friends with a couple of international students easier. They were my only friends. One was from Belize. I found international students to be more humble.
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I remember reading when 90.9 first signed on that some people in Fayetteville had trouble receiving 90.9 so they could try 101.1. Maybe that is why but I am not there to compare signals.
101.1 would be a better signal for Real FM and 100.3 would extend 90.9's signal further north than 101.1 so that is what I thought they would do but they are not.
I tried listening to Real FM online and I just do not like rap music. I liked Christian music in the 80s, 90s and 2000s especially the Christian CHR at those times from bands like Petra and David Meece etc., but I do not like Christian music anymore. If I was there now I would listen to Classical music on KUAF. 91.3.
101.1 would be a better signal for Real FM and 100.3 would extend 90.9's signal further north than 101.1 so that is what I thought they would do but they are not.
I tried listening to Real FM online and I just do not like rap music. I liked Christian music in the 80s, 90s and 2000s especially the Christian CHR at those times from bands like Petra and David Meece etc., but I do not like Christian music anymore. If I was there now I would listen to Classical music on KUAF. 91.3.
I would be interested in the stations JBU used to own as well and their history. When I went to JBU KLRC 101.1 used to air instrumental music for a couple of hour around dinner time. I would listen to it sometimes. At my age now I would have liked that a lot more now. KLRC would sign-off at midnight every night and I often was listening when they signed off. Their studios were on campus. I got a tour of it one time.
94.5 Panama City, from 1983 to 1986 was owned by Brown Broadcasting along with AM 1080.
en.wikipedia.org
WFLF-FM - Wikipedia
Very interesting. I did not know JBU owned any other stations outside of Northwest Arkansas. I wonder what the format was as the wikipedia article does not specifically say and why JBU bought it94.5 Panama City, from 1983 to 1986 was owned by Brown Broadcasting along with AM 1080.
WFLF-FM - Wikipedia
That program was called "Reflections" and was about the only time I listened to KLRC. It reminded me a bit of KOAI.
I vaguely remember KLRC signing off at midnight. I can remember hearing KCFX a few times after KLRC signed off, but, other times, I got splatter from KTXR 101.3.
Ok, the name "Reflections" is kind of familiar. Why KOAI?
When KLRC 101.1 signed off I would sometimes listen to KGLC 100.9 Miami, OK which played worship music.
I had a Denon AV receiver with Bose speakers and could play music loud at times. I loved that setup but the selectivity was bad on it. I also had a Sony walkman. I would listen to music all the time while doing homework. I also had a little 13 inch Craig TV. I did not watch TV very much but did watch NBA Basketball during the Jordon era, Star Trek and Coach.
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Brown owned and upgraded what is now KGLK (107.5) in the Houston market. They also owned 1370 AM in Los Angeles.
You mentioned Panama City already and I believe there was one or two others, but I am going blank at the moment.
I don't think all of these ownership periods were concurrent though.
You mentioned Panama City already and I believe there was one or two others, but I am going blank at the moment.
I don't think all of these ownership periods were concurrent though.
Growing up in Texas and Oklahoma, KOAI was my smooth jazz reference.
I forgot about that, but KGLC did have a Christian format for a brief time in the 90’s. In Fayetteville, 100.9 was always Eureka Springs when it came in. It was religious at the time, and Hestand ended up with both it and Miami and flipped both to soft AC. I remember 100.9 being mostly teaching and preaching, though it might've occasionally played music. Not being super religious, I didn’t listen to Christian music very often. In addition to KLRC, Fayetteville had Christian music on KREB 99.5 “B99,” though I don’t think it lasted very long. KOBC was audible there and had a translator on 100.1, though I seem to remember that translator swapping between KOBC and KZKZ. 94.9 was southern gospel as “The Higher Power,” and 107.3 out of Poteau ran a Christian country format that you could get on home stereos and good car radios.
I had an Emerson home stereo. I still have it, though it's been sitting in my basement since I moved into my current house in ‘16. I had an LS4 indoor antenna. I was surprised by what I could get.
When it came to TV, I just had a loop for UHF and a set of rabbit ears. Still, I was high up enough in elevation that I could get KYTV and KOLR from Springfield and KOAM and KODE from Pittsburg/Joplin in addition to KHOG 29, KPOM 24/KFAA 51, and translators that had KFSM and Fox. It was a little weird because the people on the other end of my building got KOTV and KTUL from Tulsa but couldn’t get Springfield or Joplin.
Hestand, there's a name I hadn't seen in ages. I vaguely remember then-KGND 107.5 being based in Vinita, before he bought it. Don't recall the full time format but recall hearing rock on there really late nights on weekends at one point. Then Hestand got it, and moved the studio to Grove and programmed what was a rarely updated AC format until he sold it to OSU.
When it signed on, it was co-owned with KVIN 1470, which had an oldies format. KGND was an AC at first. It signed on a Sunday afternoon. I heard it within its first hour of launching. I had just wired my home stereo through the outdoor TV antenna at my parents' house. I was previously able to get KMEZ out of Dallas on 107.5. Wasn’t much of a loss to 14 year old me!
Like I said, it started as an AC, maybe even a soft AC. Starting about 1992, it was the Tulsa affiliate for American Top-40 with Shadoe Stevens after KAY 107 dropped it three years earlier. It eventually shifted to what would be called a classic hits format. It was actually pretty good for its day, but it seems like it had a transmitter failure. It was off-air for almost a full year, and it signed back on with the AC format you described.
If I remember correctly, it was Hestand who signed it back on, and, yes, he sold it to OSU. He recently sold KGLC to LandGo out of Joplin. The rest of his properties were for sale last I'd heard. I understand he's in his early 80’s and is past ready to retire.
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