Classic Country

[davideduardo]

Billy, didn't Charlie Pride have an interest in some stations in Oklahoma as well? I know Roy Clark did at one time, so the idea country performers owning stations is not a new one.

Buck Owens: Phoenix and Bakersfield... legendary country stations. And I believe Roy Acuff owned a station in TN (maybe on 1600 IIRC) in the 60's....

 

[600kogo]

Kenny Rogers also owned a station in Crockett, Texas, and of course Jim and Mary Reeves owned KGRI AM/FM in Henderson, Texas. And they owned WMTS AM/FM Murfreesboro, TN

 

[billyg]

KEYN & KQAM were top-rated adult contemporaries at the time, with the first being a 100kw FM.

I dont remember KEYN ever being a Adult Contemporary station. It was Top 40-CHR for almost 20 years until they flipped to Oldies around 1989. KQAM 1410 was Oldies during the time Pride owned the stations.

 

[billyg]

Most 1-A clears show up in multiple markets. I looked up a few, like WHO that shows in 5 markets. Or WSB, which despite a terrible signal, shows in tow markets. Or WGN that routinely makes the book in more than a dozen markets. WSB has not shown in another market for 6 years, and then it was a 0.7 in Florence, AL. That sure brings 'em in to the Opry.

I wonder why WSM has a weaker and nosier signal than WLAC, which booms into Texas clear at night (even with IBOC). Is it because of 650's old Blaw-Knox tower or other stations on the same frequency?

 

[LibertyNT]

The Blaw-Knox has nothing to do with it.
Its a combination of lower frequency, more stations and more noise.

1510 is a much better skywave frequency than 650.

 

[davideduardo]

I wonder why WSM has a weaker and nosier signal than WLAC, which booms into Texas clear at night (even with IBOC). Is it because of 650's old Blaw-Knox tower or other stations on the same frequency?

The low frequencies are less "short wave like" than the high end of the band. So 1510 may benefit from the better skywave propagation of higher dial position stations.

While some engineers will argue this point, if you ask any veteran AM DXer they will tell of the transcontinental reception of high band stations with low power, yet have few stories to tell about lower on the dial stations.

Also, WLAC at night protects the NE and the NW, but pushes more than a 50-kw equivalent towards Texas.

An example of a high band station that made lots of money from night skywave over 4 decades ago is KOMA 1520 in Oklahoma. You could listen and hear ads for movies opening in Jamestown, SD and Raton, NM or for rock 'n roll shows coming to Lamar and Pampa. KOMA's 50 kw threw nothing to the east and northeast, and covered a 200 degree arc of the west quite well.

 

[LibertyNT]

An example of a high band station that made lots of money from night skywave over 4 decades ago is KOMA 1520 in Oklahoma. You could listen and hear ads for movies opening in Jamestown, SD and Raton, NM or for rock 'n roll shows coming to Lamar and Pampa. KOMA's 50 kw threw nothing to the east and northeast, and covered a 200 degree arc of the west quite well.

XERF was like that too, with reception reported in Russia!

 

[davideduardo]

XERF was like that too, with reception reported in Russia!

Few US stations did not get reports of reception from Scandinavia and, occasionally, polar zones of Russia.. including most of the Class IV stations even when they were running 250 watts at night.

 

[radiofan1980]

KEYN & KQAM were top-rated adult contemporaries at the time, with the first being a 100kw FM.

I dont remember KEYN ever being a Adult Contemporary station. It was Top 40-CHR for almost 20 years until they flipped to Oldies around 1989. KQAM 1410 was Oldies during the time Pride owned the stations.

KEYN leaned to the "softer" side, at least in the late 1970s. I know it got harder in the 80s.

For example, when Toto's HOLD THE LINE came out in the late 70s, KEYN's PD edited out the guitar solo. Didn't know the song had a guitar solo until I heard it on another station.
During the late 70s as it was more AC, the station also played popular oldies from the 60s and early 70s like "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys and "I Hear You Knockin'" by Dave Edmonds.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Also, WLAC at night protects the NE and the NW, but pushes more than a 50-kw equivalent towards Texas.

WLAC's night pattern has three lobes roughly 120 degrees apart, with one aimed right at Texas. Night reception of WLAC has always been quite good in the state.

An example of a high band station that made lots of money from night skywave over 4 decades ago is KOMA 1520 in Oklahoma. You could listen and hear ads for movies opening in Jamestown, SD and Raton, NM or for rock 'n roll shows coming to Lamar and Pampa. KOMA's 50 kw threw nothing to the east and northeast, and covered a 200 degree arc of the west quite well.

The KOMA signal to the west is awesome. At night it blasts into Amarillo at local strength, and that is not an exaggeration.

 

[budman1]

KOMA had an awesome signal into Grand Jct Colorado when I was growing up in the late 1970's. Many fond memories of summer nights with a car rado tuned to KOMA...

 

[billyg]

KEYN leaned to the "softer" side, at least in the late 1970s. I know it got harder in the 80s.

For example, when Toto's HOLD THE LINE came out in the late 70s, KEYN's PD edited out the guitar solo. Didn't know the song had a guitar solo until I heard it on another station.
During the late 70s as it was more AC, the station also played popular oldies from the 60s and early 70s like "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys and "I Hear You Knockin'" by Dave Edmonds.

I agree, KEYN (and pretty much all Top 40 stations that survived) were soft in 1980-82 before KKRD flipped to CHR (with many former KEYN jocks) and gave them strong competition. I was studying broadcasting at Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa and listened to KEYN all the time.

KEYN was doing a lot of dayparting and still playing Pat Benatar, Queen, Styx, John Lennon, Joan Jett, J. Geils Band and Devo's "Whip It" during the late afternoon and evenings. I may have a cassette somewhere of KEYN from 1980-1 that I need to digitize.

KELO went the same way before they flipped to MOR around 1982-3. There's a 1979 KLEO aircheck here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEgQTUPIGq8

The Top 40 charts were just weak during 1979-82 when Disco started dying. Too many Top 40 Stations were trying to get an older audience, so the charts were full of AC fluff like "Endless Love", Air Supply, and too many country-pop crossovers. Thank goodness MTV and Mike Joseph's "Hot Hits" woke up the format!

 

[davideduardo]

KOMA had an awesome signal into Grand Jct Colorado when I was growing up in the late 1970's. Many fond memories of summer nights with a car rado tuned to KOMA...

Is that what you'd listen to while watching the submarine races on the Gunnison River with your girlfriend back then?

 

[jd]

Cue the "KOMA Kissing Tone"!!!!

 

[dfwupallnight]

The low frequencies are less "short wave like" than the high end of the band. So 1510 may benefit from the better skywave propagation of higher dial position stations.

While some engineers will argue this point, if you ask any veteran AM DXer they will tell of the transcontinental reception of high band stations with low power, yet have few stories to tell about lower on the dial stations.
...

I'm confused by this. I'm not an engineer, but I am an avid ham enthusiast and what I have always heard is that the lower frequencies carry farther than the higher ones, assuming they broadcast with the same power. A quick Google search seems to confirm this: www.google.com/search?q="frequencies+travel+further"
What gives?

 

[LibertyNT]

While lower frequencies give you more GROUNDWAVE coverage, the higher AM frequencies provide for superior SKYWAVE coverage. The upper part of the AM band begins to exhibit shortwave characteristics the higher you go (it starts at around 1300)

 

[dfwupallnight]

While lower frequencies give you more GROUNDWAVE coverage, the higher AM frequencies provide for superior SKYWAVE coverage. The upper part of the AM band begins to exhibit shortwave characteristics the higher you go (it starts at around 1300)

Didn't realize that about skywave, thanks. AM is such a relic of the birth of radio it amazes me sometimes that it still exists, finicky as it is.

 

[Lancer]

It's hard to get WSM at night in DFW, with KSKY right next door on 660.

You have to get further away from Lewisville to hear any improvement.

 

[dfaulkner]

Heard of this online station from a facebook friend yesterday. Seems to be a mix of new & Classic Country. It's called "True Country." http://tunein.com/station/?StationId=139408&fb_ref=wt&fb_source=timeline

 

[LiveLocal]

KOMA had an awesome signal into Grand Jct Colorado when I was growing up in the late 1970's. Many fond memories of summer nights with a car rado tuned to KOMA...

I have a friend who worked overnights on KOMA in the 60s, he was a screaming Top-40 rock jock. On his first night, he got a call on the request line to play a song for all of the guys getting off shift at the factory. The caller told him the name of the factory, he said "I didn't know we had that in OKC." The caller said, "no, we are in California, in LA."