Clear Channel-Beaumont (and others there)

[CW]

FINALLY!! Evidently someone at CC Beaumont noticed their 92.5 FM was playing in MONO...though they had a stereo pilot on...just noticed yesterday during one song they had stereo sep again!! AMAZING! Not sure what happened (possibly someone had the MONO buttons pressed on the console or some wires were punched down wrong...or ?????) but it is nice to listen to it again when driving in the area....GADS...NOW If we could only get Cumulus to clean up the audio on 1450 and the constant low level HISS on the carrier and the poor audio level; turn up the radio enough to listen and when noone is talking, the HISS comes through...GEESH Louise! It never sounded that bad when I worked there..PLUS not to mention Martin's 990 still transmitting dead air...or actually a slight HUM...for the last week or more! I need to get back over to the north side of BMT and see if they have done anything there...probably not

I see 1150 Port Neches is listed as silent....with both their towers down. I am surprised they even bothered to contact the FCC; considering they have been illegal for over 5 years with no FCC tower registrations OR lights!! The FCC is still mulling their license renewal...but some complaints filed have the license in limbo and the owners are hard up for cash...they want to sell 15 of the 20acre xmtr site for $75,000 (though the entire 20acres is appraised at only $32,000!) and I have yet to figure out HOW they can sell 15 of the 20 and still maintain control of the ground system!! It goes well into the 15acres they want to sell...hhmmmmm

 

[coolcat713]

> FINALLY!! Evidently someone at CC Beaumont noticed their
> 92.5 FM was playing in MONO...though they had a stereo pilot
> on...just noticed yesterday during one song they had stereo
> sep again!! AMAZING! Not sure what happened (possibly
> someone had the MONO buttons pressed on the console or some
> wires were punched down wrong...or ?????) but it is nice to
> listen to it again when driving in the area....GADS...NOW If
> we could only get Cumulus to clean up the audio on 1450 and
> the constant low level HISS on the carrier and the poor
> audio level; turn up the radio enough to listen and when
> noone is talking, the HISS comes through...GEESH Louise! It
> never sounded that bad when I worked there..PLUS not to
> mention Martin's 990 still transmitting dead air...or
> actually a slight HUM...for the last week or more! I need to
> get back over to the north side of BMT and see if they have
> done anything there...probably not
>
> I see 1150 Port Neches is listed as silent....with both
> their towers down. I am surprised they even bothered to
> contact the FCC; considering they have been illegal for over
> 5 years with no FCC tower registrations OR lights!! The FCC
> is still mulling their license renewal...but some complaints
> filed have the license in limbo and the owners are hard up
> for cash...they want to sell 15 of the 20acre xmtr site for
> $75,000 (though the entire 20acres is appraised at only
> $32,000!) and I have yet to figure out HOW they can sell 15
> of the 20 and still maintain control of the ground system!!
> It goes well into the 15acres they want to sell...hhmmmmm
>
Thanks for the info! You do a great job in passing along Beaumont/Port Arthur area radio information. I travel through that area once a month going to Louisiana.

 

[stan]

> > FINALLY!! Evidently someone at CC Beaumont noticed their
> > 92.5 FM was playing in MONO...though they had a stereo
> pilot
> > on...just noticed yesterday during one song they had
> stereo
> > sep again!! AMAZING! Not sure what happened (possibly
> > someone had the MONO buttons pressed on the console or
> some
> > wires were punched down wrong...or ?????) but it is nice
> to
> > listen to it again when driving in the area....


> Thanks for the info! You do a great job in passing along
> Beaumont/Port Arthur area radio information. I travel
> through that area once a month going to Louisiana.
>

Agreed! I wonder if the 92.5 problem was more of the post-Rita problems they had. I think they were broadcasting in mono (although the radio indicated stereo) when they were broadcasting from Beaumont until their tower got repaired in Bridge City.

 

[CW]

> Thanks for the info! You do a great job in passing along
> Beaumont/Port Arthur area radio information. I travel
> through that area once a month going to Louisiana.

Since I spent my early years in the area and worked at several of the stations, not to mention still have some ties there, and my job takes me there quite a bit, I keep my eyes and ears on the area

990 btw is back to playing ABC's Rejoice format again with still a light hum in it...1250 is still off the air though....evidently Radio Maria still has problems...(I am waiting for the taller tower of the array to come down on its own...last time I drove past it, it still looked like it has a lean in it)..

and 1450 is still hissing...funny that 1510 (also owned by Cumulus) doesnt have that problem!

Oh btw I drove by Woodville's 1490 site....was wondering how they were on the air with no tower in the air....suddenly I realized they are using a LOW long wire running between power poles!! EGADS! Horizontal on top of that..talk about no range..(well they do cover the town from that site)...funny how one of the trades talked about KWUD and how they had ordered new steel for a new tower....geesh the old tower was ready to fall anyway...they should have bought a new tower decades ago (this station had the infamous crooked tower...had several "bends" in it)

 

[CW]

> Agreed! I wonder if the 92.5 problem was more of the
> post-Rita problems they had. I think they were
> broadcasting in mono (although the radio indicated stereo)
> when they were broadcasting from Beaumont until their tower
> got repaired in Bridge City.

Their audio was sucking and sounding bad before Rita..I dont think you could blame this on the hurricane.

 

[Mike_O]

CW, would just like to add that I also appreciate your reports on the BMT Region. My job used to take me to BMT and Orange at least once a month, but hasn't for a few years now and don't head that direction very often to hear "up close" what is going on in local radio.

The noise floor is so high where I live that only KLVI is really listenable. KDEI 1250, KOLE 1340, KIKR 1540 can be received if I'm in the right spot at home. I get much better reception at my parents near Cypress than home near the Galleria area.

I haven't had time to really listen to the radio as a DX'er in some time now, but had noticed that KLVI was getting some very unwanted Spanish language interference at night. For years 560 was clear of interference at night. Don't imagine there is much KLVI can do that will solve the problem.

Mike O

 

[jras20]

Re: Speaking of sounds....

I just fliped through KXGJ to see if anything diffrent has happened, still the same format of KEYH simalcasts, but it seems to have a very loud volume. 96.9's KIOX sound quality seemed to have gone down hill as well. That was realy the first times I have listened to those 2 stations since they fliped from X-97 & KXGJ Pure-country was over the weekend.
<P ID="signature">______________
jras20</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by jras20 on 10/31/05 08:05 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[stan]

KCOL back on Beaumont tower

this morning - 103.3 simulcast of KKMY was gone as KCOL's tower in Bridge City apparently took a hit from last night's storms. Again the sound quality was poor - sounded like mono although a stereo carrier was present.

 

[CW]

Re: KCOL back on Beaumont tower

> this morning - 103.3 simulcast of KKMY was gone as KCOL's
> tower in Bridge City apparently took a hit from last night's
> storms. Again the sound quality was poor - sounded like
> mono although a stereo carrier was present.

Hmm the 103.3 translator is on today (Hint to CC, move it to 104.3 or 104.7...would make more sense; DUH!) Also the 92.5 signal according to my gear is normal for them being on the Bridge City tower; will do more checking if I can..also found out CC Beaumont is looking for a new Chief Engineer (and maybe asst? Otherwise they would have promoted him?) Seems their last Chief Engineer has been gone since just after Rita..not sure if the storm was the reason or what?? I know the rumors have been flying about the New Orleans CC Engineering Manager, John Buffaloe, getting fired by CC after not returning a station to the air within 4 hours after Katrina; figures...(and I have no doubt that is true...knowing CC and their egotistical managers). As to what happened in Beaumont, I do not know but will try to find out from some contacts.

 

[stan]

Re: KCOL back on Beaumont tower

> > this morning - 103.3 simulcast of KKMY was gone as KCOL's
> > tower in Bridge City apparently took a hit from last
> night's
> > storms. Again the sound quality was poor - sounded like
> > mono although a stereo carrier was present.
>
> Hmm the 103.3 translator is on today (Hint to CC, move it to
> 104.3 or 104.7...would make more sense; DUH!) Also the 92.5
> signal according to my gear is normal for them being on the
> Bridge City tower; will do more checking if I can..also
> found out CC Beaumont is looking for a new Chief Engineer
> (and maybe asst? Otherwise they would have promoted him?)
> Seems their last Chief Engineer has been gone since just
> after Rita..not sure if the storm was the reason or what?? I
> know the rumors have been flying about the New Orleans CC
> Engineering Manager, John Buffaloe, getting fired by CC
> after not returning a station to the air within 4 hours
> after Katrina; figures...(and I have no doubt that is
> true...knowing CC and their egotistical managers). As to
> what happened in Beaumont, I do not know but will try to
> find out from some contacts.
>

I think that you are correct about 103.3 returning to the KKMY simulcast later in the day after I originally posted (I was dealing with other problems at work and couldn't update what I had originally written). Whoever CC hires needs to tweak their equipment - the sound quality has suffered for some time on all the Bmt cluster. Even the KLVI audio sounds like the radio isn't tuned in, and my radio is tuned digitally to 560 AM. Its been like that for months.

 

[CW]

Re: KCOL back on Beaumont tower

> I think that you are correct about 103.3 returning to the
> KKMY simulcast later in the day after I originally posted (I
> was dealing with other problems at work and couldn't update
> what I had originally written). Whoever CC hires needs to
> tweak their equipment - the sound quality has suffered for
> some time on all the Bmt cluster. Even the KLVI audio
> sounds like the radio isn't tuned in, and my radio is tuned
> digitally to 560 AM. Its been like that for months.

Yeah, too much high end clipping on the processing and no de-Esser on the mics either!(that would kill the SSSSSS sound on local mics)....months ago it was muddy and low compared to KTRH or KPRC....now it is almost as loud but sounds terrible!! 106.1 is sounding somewhat better...but 104.5 still needs more work...(listen to 103.3 KBIU and then 104.5, KBIU sounds much better!) 92.5 also sounds too loud....I think the clipping in the FM processor is too high...sounds grungy on the hot audio end...I dont listen to KYKR (not a country fan) so I cant comment on that

 

[stan]

The problems continue

KCOL went off the air completely yesterday afternoon and is still not on - not even taking over 103.3. This happened last weekend as well and by Monday morning they were broadcasting from Beaumont briefly. They must not have any engineering support on weekends.