some corrections
Let's get a few things straight about the "who" part of the KSET posts.
.As to 1300, actually, Tom Clay was one of those behind the Freedom 1300 format. (nope, The format was created by Chip Darby, Tom just handled the paperwork and getting the stuff on the air. He was NOT station manager under the last format....and was NOT the one who came up with the "win a gun" contest, you can credit that to Chip Darby as well. Lee Melton was the station manager in the KSET version, but had nothing to do with Freedom 1300. He doesn't own one of the bars on Crockett Street, he promotes comedy shows, but he does not own anything. Melton and the original staff busted their butts to create the station, and the demise of the station was not due to the actions of the staff at the 5550 Eastex location. The station went off the air not because of Bill Hill's health (though it was a contributing factor) but because of personal money problems that Mr Hill had. KSET left several advertisers with their money taken up front and no ads run on the air, but Melton and Clay had nothing to do with that, and Chip and Tom offered EVERY one of the advertisers that had not gotten the ads the opportunity to run the schedule they had paid for, and most of them took them up on the offer. Several did not.
..There were several local attempts to buy 1300 while it was off...but bank financing fell through.
Clay was never involved in any business dealings regarding the station and Melton NEVER got a LMA done where they were able to put the station back on the air.
The Freedom LMA was done by Chip Darby. He bought the equipment and rented the studios, but was never able to get a deal in place with Bill Hill regarding the purchase of the station. A problem that Melton had as well, nothing on paper. Jerry Proctor, a radio broker in Livingston also has his hand in the station, and was in business with Bill Hill on LPTV ventures and was the broker of record for the sale of the Silsbee AM/FM to Bill. The owner is shown as Proctor-Williams, Inc, a company 100% owned by Bill Hill. The mailing address is the family home in Port Arthur on Avalon where Bill Hill and his wife lived for years Bill NEVER lived in Silsbee. He owned 101.7 before selling it to Cumulus for couple of million but his wife's cancer wiped all the profit out from that...and obviously the writer of the post doesn't know Bill or he would be aware that Bill Hill suffers from congestive heart failure and COPD and lives over near Texas City. Hill's son did start to buy the land the towers are on, but didn't feel it was a good idea to continue to pay for them, so they have been foreclosed on by the owners of the land.
As for what now with 1300, there will be litigation, and it will go on for awhile. The information posted by ContinousWave was all either second hand gossip or outright lies. You now have the truth. And if you want to confirm it, ask Darby, Clay, or Melton...they will tell you that this is the real story.
