1490 and 1380 AM

[abcparamount]

Could someone explain the relationship between these two stations? 1380 shows in ratings, 1490 does not. Yet 1490 has a stronger signal and has "Fox" Sports logos. Is 1380 a Fox affiliate or not?
Seems to be no explanation anywhere on either website, or radio locator. Thanks in advance....

 

[stljohn]

Both are owned by Simmons but they serve different communities: 1490 East St Louis, 1380 St Louis.
1490 may have stronger signal but its barely listenable in St Louis even during day.

They both run Fox programs; 1380 runs some nights/weekends, 1490 weekdays.
When I've checked 1490 on the weekend I think I hear local talk and gospel. Not sure if they run Fox then.

If you go to the 1380 website team1380.net they have listen live links to 1380 programming and 1490 (foxsports).
And I just cranked 1490 up online, Jim Rome show is running with Fox sports ID.

 

[abcparamount]

thanks. only 1380 shows up in ratings. I guess hardly anyone listens to 1490. It's weird, 1490 goes to a 1450 website...which is confusing. I thought they both served the same market. East St. Louis is separate from St. Louis? More power, but less signal...go figure!

 

[mbatchelor]

1380's daytime signal is actually much better - where I live in St. Charles County, which is the largest middle class suburban area of the St. Louis Metro Area, 1490s 1kW signal from East St. Louis doesn't exist at all.

1490 WFFX plays 100% Programming from Fox Sports Radio, while sister station, and main station "1380 The Team" is live and local throughout the day, but they do air some Fox programing in evenings and overningts.

I have no problems hearing 1380 during the day as far north as Troy, MO and as far south as Farmington & Rolla with a good clear signal on a decent car stereo, whereas even by day 1490's anemic 1kW graveyard signal sounds faint even in St. Charles - at night, the signal is shaky by the time you get around 70 & Lucas & Hunt - 1380s nighttime signal isn't much better - they both are pretty terrible. Many years ago, 1380 was the home of KWK, which prior to losing its license in the 1970s, had a full time 10kW signal broadcasting from Terminal Row in St. Louis City, and one of the best signals in town, but by the time the station went back on the air later in the 70s, other stations had upgraded, and 1380 was relegated to its current 5kW daytime, and 1kW nighttime from two separate sites on the east side.

The 1380 signal has has a long and checkered past in St. Louis, spending a lot of time off the air in the 60s and 70s, and was off the air briefly in the 90s as well. The station has had more sets of call letters and formats than you can shake a stick at...Top 40 KWK, Oldies KGLD, 1380 KASP (which was St. Louis' first all sports station), a Top 40 Simulcast of 106.5FM once again as WKBQ, Syndicated Talk KRAM, a simulcast of Country Kix 106.5, Black Oriented Talk KKWK, Marconi Award Winning Jazz Station KZJZ, Southern Gospel KSLG (K SoLid Gospel), and the calls held over to the current sports format that Simmons installed on the station in 2004 - by far the longest lasting format on the station.

1490 on the other hand, spent most of its life as WESL, which aired various Urban oriented formats over the years targeting the local East St. Louis and inner city community. Simmons did keep an Urban format on WESL for awhile as Soul Classics 1490, but pulled the plug relatively quickly in favor of Fox Sports Radio.

 

[abcparamount]

Mike, thanks so much for that information. I now have a much better idea of what is going on there. So 1490 was never much of a real player in the market, but 1380 certainly tried hard enough. I wonder what their combined market value would be, and if they would be sold individually or as a package?

 

[vacuum tube]

I don't believe that KWK was ever 10KW. It was 5KW fulltime from the present day site with separate patterns day and night, if memory serves correct.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Agreed. Back in the era mentioned (1970s), the max power
allowed on 1380 and all other regional freqs was 5 kw.

As far as two area stations having a tie-in years ago, if you've
seen old film footage of Sportsman's Park from the late 1940s
or early 1950s, it probably has shots of some outfield wall signs,
one of which touts the Cardinals radio broadcasts as being on
WEW 770 (1 kw-D) for day games and WTMV 1490 (250 w-U)
for night games.

When did KMOX start their long-running association with the
(baseball) Cardinals, and what station(s) broadcast the Browns
before they bolted for Baltimore? (Not to be confused with
Barefoot In Baltimore by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. ;D)

 

[mbatchelor]

I don't believe that KWK was ever 10KW. It was 5KW fulltime from the present day site with separate patterns day and night, if memory serves correct.

I stand corrected regarding the power, but they current day/nite sites were not employed until 1978 when Doubleday Broadcasting returned the station to the air after being dark for 5 years. Lots of info about that era of KWK at:

http://www.kwk106.com/

And a bit more info on 1380 - when the station was sold to Emmis along with 104.1 and 106.5, Emmis donated the station to a local church - they operated the station from the KKWK format forward until they sold the station off to Simmons. If memory serves (I'd have to look up the FCC docs to be sure), they paid $4 Million for 1380, and $1 Million for 1490.

 

[mbatchelor]

I don't believe that KWK was ever 10KW. It was 5KW fulltime from the present day site with separate patterns day and night, if memory serves correct.

I stand corrected regarding the power, had a nice chat with Paul Salois who was an engineer there back in the 60s, and it was indeed 5kW fulltime. but The current day/nite sites were not employed until 1978 when Doubleday Broadcasting returned the station to the air after being dark for 5 years. Lots of info about that era of KWK at:

http://www.kwk106.com/

And a bit more info on 1380 - when the station was sold to Emmis along with 104.1 and 106.5, Emmis donated the station to a local church - they operated the station from the KKWK format forward until they sold the station off to Simmons. If memory serves (I'd have to look up the FCC docs to be sure), they paid $4 Million for 1380, and $1 Million for 1490.

 

[stljohn]

Clarification: I guess it depends on your radio but I live in St Charles and my car radio picks up 1490 during the day, I listened to Jim Rome today. 1490 came on in the late 6os as an R&B soul station same as the original KATZ, I listened to it then. Simmons picked them up a year or two ago and they are not running Fox sports 100%. I know on Sunday they run what they have always run on Sunday: gospel. The also run East St Louis community programming various times on the weekend.

 

[radioman148]

Was 1380 WIL back in the day or is my memory failing me?

 

[mbatchelor]

Was 1380 WIL back in the day or is my memory failing me?

1380 was KWK - 1430 was WIL, then was WRTH for several years, and then was WIL again for a couple of years before Bonneville sold the station to Bob Romanik and it became KZQZ.

 

[abcparamount]

How's KZQZ sounding these days? Ratings seem to be holding at a certain level. I think People Meter changeover might just give them a boost.

 

[radioman148]

Was 1380 WIL back in the day or is my memory failing me?

1380 was KWK - 1430 was WIL, then was WRTH for several years, and then was WIL again for a couple of years before Bonneville sold the station to Bob Romanik and it became KZQZ.

Thanks!