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Iowa Connoisseur owned KKFD and KMCD Fairfield Sign Off

Looking at the KMCD history card, I see that it was ensnared in the same bankruptcy (Hiawatha Broadcasting) that also affected Centerville's KCOG in the late 1950s.

The KMCD signal barely reached Centerville; I remember trying for it back in the early 1970s on the Zenith portable that I had at the time.

Fairfield is where Maharishi International University (the Transcendental Meditation people) was established, taking over the campus of Parsons College, which collapsed financially in 1973. Quite a few Transcendental Meditation followers have created start-up businesses in Fairfield and vicinity: Fairfield, Iowa - Wikipedia
 
Can't be much ad revenue in Fairfield, Iowa. The AM, if not both the AM and FM probably won't be back.
One Walmart (no local ad revenue most of the time), One new car Ford / Chevy / Lincoln dealership. Limited competition usually means limited advertising revenue. Also "geo political" issues have not helped a lot of farmers.
 
Now, based on what else they own.....if this were 2005 or even the early 2010's, I'd have the theory that they will use this sign off to take their Newton property (95.9 KCOB) and upgrade it or move it more into Des Moines. Newton is 25 miles east of the metro. They could buy KNWM 96.1 from Northwestern -which is quietly for sale since the KNWI 107.1 upgrade- and have some space to have a Des Moines station.

But given its 2026 and the state of radio being what it is...that's just a fun fantasy with no chance. (And even back in the day that might have been a stretch)
 
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Can't be much ad revenue in Fairfield, Iowa. The AM, if not both the AM and FM probably won't be back.

The GM of the cluster has indicated he and some others are working with Connoisseur in an effort to buy the stations.

Fairfield is where Maharishi International University (the Transcendental Meditation people) was established, taking over the campus of Parsons College, which collapsed financially in 1973. Quite a few Transcendental Meditation followers have created start-up businesses in Fairfield and vicinity: Fairfield, Iowa - Wikipedia

Parsons College was widely known as "Flunk Out U" in the 60's. It took just about anybody and virtually everybody got at least a C. The people who weren't good in school and wanted to defer service during the Vietnam draft could typically get admitted and coast through. It lasted barely longer than the Vietnam draft, but its business dropped off a cliff once the draft lottery was changed and deferments had stricter limits imposed.

Fairfield has some businesses, but I think it's mainly known for the university there.

And that university never has more than 1,000 people enrolled at a time. Nearly half the student body is part-time, and I suspect most of them are on distance or correspondence courses.
 
Well, maybe the local GM and some others will buy it.

I will say Connoisseur isn't known for exploring around to see if something works. I assume whatever money it does make doesn't meet their standards and they didn't want to fuss with operating it while putting it back up for sale publicly.
 
Parsons College was widely known as "Flunk Out U" in the 60's. It took just about anybody and virtually everybody got at least a C. The people who weren't good in school and wanted to defer service during the Vietnam draft could typically get admitted and coast through. It lasted barely longer than the Vietnam draft, but its business dropped off a cliff once the draft lottery was changed and deferments had stricter limits imposed.
That's more of a correlation than causation. The proximate cause of the college's collapse was defaulting on bonds. The college had actually lost accreditation in 1967 but regained it in 1970. The college had been in precarious financial shape for several years before closing. Its business model was predicated entirely on reliance on tuition for income; there was no endowment or any other kind of backstop. Interestingly, anyone still at the college in May 1973 (the closure announcement occurred just before graduation ceremonies) was automatically transferred to the University of Iowa, which was (and is) no slouch as an institution.
 
Well, maybe the local GM and some others will buy it.

I will say Connoisseur isn't known for exploring around to see if something works. I assume whatever money it does make doesn't meet their standards and they didn't want to fuss with operating it while putting it back up for sale publicly.
Radio Ottumwa is the dominant operator in the area, so that was probably a factor, too. The Albia station seems to be doing OK, having shed its albatross, highly-directional AM years ago; Centerville is still pursuing a big FM upgrade and is spinning off the AM to another local operator that has a robust online business; Bloomfield is part of the cluster based in Memphis, Missouri. So there was not much to support a small AM-FM combo, something too small for Connoisseur to want to deal with.
 
I wouldn't have assumed it would be too much anyway. Alot of these stations now are pretty cheap compared to even a decade ago.
If you want a comp, at least for the AM station, there's a very recent one, also in southern Iowa: KCOG Centerville, including FM translator, which went for $100,000 including the land for the AM tower. That didn't include the FM, KMGO, which wouldn't have been a comp, since that's a class C1 with a CP to upgrade to a C0. The KCOG sale was by a local owner to a new local owner, so there's that factor, too.

What we don't know is whether Connoisseur offered the Fairfield stations to anyone before deciding to shut them down.
 
A bad sign for other stations in the Midwest and other parts of the US. Small-town USA radio dying. Local voices, local news, local high school sports all gone from both of these stations. They were probably on the speakers in the diner, the quilt shop, the law office, and the mechanic's shop.
That's why I continue to aircheck small-town, old-school radio (like KMGK, KVSV, KDKK) because soon enough they will all be gone too...replaced by static or another satellite religious network. The average adult in Fairfield is probably listening to SiriusXM or Spotify now.
 
Judging by this article, Alpha (Connoisseur’s predecessor) eliminated local content from the Fairfield stations in 2024, much as it did in many other small markets.


And there is this profile from Learfield’s Missouri-based Brownfield agricultural network, written in 2021.


It appears that the stations diminished considerably since then.
 
Are you sure the average adult is paying for their music?
I would say, probably moreso than you'd think. I know of several people in their early to mid 50's who regularly pay for streaming services. I am 45, turning 46 this year. While I dont use paid services 'yet', many of my friends do. Also, my wife is 52 and her favorite genre is Rock/metal. (Not death metal though. But she loves Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, etc.) She regularly streams stuff as well. Remember it's 2026. So those who were born in the 1970's are already entering or well into their 50's, those born in the 80's are already in their 40's and so on. A couple decades ago your average 55 year old never would've dreamed of paying for streaming or using it regularly. But those people are now already in their mid 70's today.

I think the cutoff for streaming services is more around those in their early 60's and above.

Local stations are primarily used for their news and local sports content, but only sought out for those. Music on stations like this isn't their main draw anyway. However, all this being said, I don't know that Fairfield's radio service is particularly impacted by streaming one way or another.
 
A bad sign for other stations in the Midwest and other parts of the US. Small-town USA radio dying. Local voices, local news, local high school sports all gone from both of these stations. They were probably on the speakers in the diner, the quilt shop, the law office, and the mechanic's shop.
That's why I continue to aircheck small-town, old-school radio (like KMGK, KVSV, KDKK) because soon enough they will all be gone too...replaced by static or another satellite religious network. The average adult in Fairfield is probably listening to SiriusXM or Spotify now.
I don't want to agree with this.....but sadly I do. Plus most get their community information from electronic sources anymore online. Social media for example.
 


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