Cowboy 1190

[RadioStarOne]

Who cares anyway? Its just a has-been am radio station! The glory days long long gone and fading fast. It used to matter when am/fm was the only game in town. Today we have so many choices for our music fixes we don't need the weak am radio signals anymore.

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

A TAD BIT SHORT SIGHTED THERE.The daytime signal is a killer .The night time reeks. With technology changing, the AM can and will sound like an FM not too far in the future. Look beyond the horizon,you might see something.

 

[theshadow]

A TAD BIT SHORT SIGHTED THERE.The daytime signal is a killer

Agreed. Daytime sig blows my barn doors off Amigo! ;D
Acoustics could still use a little tweaking (maybe a titch
more bass), but not much.

I have to say that while the naysayers will tell you AM is a dying
breed, it's still very much alive, IMO. I actually have 1190 as one of
my favorite stations to listen to. Can't stand Lonestar 92.5.
Perhaps I just don't "get" it, but I'd be willing to bet I'm not
the only one. I suppose if I were more into the obscure album
cuts of some country artists I'd be more into it, but I'm not. I
like the "hits", even if it's old Johnny Cash, Merle, or George Jones.

The thing that I really like is 1190 fires up the country tunes that
I remember when I was working in country radio during the 90's,
as well as some of the great 80's classics from bands like
Alabama. Many old timers will say that's when country lost its touch.
I disagree. I think that's when country grabbed a foothold, and
exploded in listenership. Garth is a perfect example. There's
something to be said when you're second only to the Beatles in
terms of album sales!.

It's unfortunate that the FM side of the dial here in DFW hasn't
jumped onto mixing the classics with the modern. I firmly believe
it can be done, and is being done with many stations across the U.S.
Take an online listen to 93.7 The Bull in St. Louis some time. You'll
hear the latest from Keith Urban, but you'll also hear some old
Blackhawk, Faith Hill, Clint Black, Brooks and Dunn, and heck,
maybe even some Shenandoah or Kevin Sharp (remember them?).
Those are just a few, but it runs the gamut, and it sounds GOOD,
rather than hearing the same 100 songs over and over.

Why KSCS, The Twister, and The Wolf have not taken the hint, I
don't know. I'm not a programmer. But I sure would like to see them
open up their music libraries some more. There is so much out there
not getting played. I heard Clint Black's "When My Ship Comes In" the
other day or so on 1190. When was the last time you heard that on
FM here?

<soapbox off>

 

[TheLaffer]

A TAD BIT SHORT SIGHTED THERE.The daytime signal is a killer

Agreed. Daytime sig blows my barn doors off Amigo! ;D
Acoustics could still use a little tweaking (maybe a titch
more bass), but not much.

I have to say that while the naysayers will tell you AM is a dying
breed, it's still very much alive, IMO. I actually have 1190 as one of
my favorite stations to listen to. Can't stand Lonestar 92.5.
Perhaps I just don't "get" it, but I'd be willing to bet I'm not
the only one. I suppose if I were more into the obscure album
cuts of some country artists I'd be more into it, but I'm not. I
like the "hits", even if it's old Johnny Cash, Merle, or George Jones.

The thing that I really like is 1190 fires up the country tunes that
I remember when I was working in country radio during the 90's,
as well as some of the great 80's classics from bands like
Alabama. Many old timers will say that's when country lost its touch.
I disagree. I think that's when country grabbed a foothold, and
exploded in listenership. Garth is a perfect example. There's
something to be said when you're second only to the Beatles in
terms of album sales!.

It's unfortunate that the FM side of the dial here in DFW hasn't
jumped onto mixing the classics with the modern. I firmly believe
it can be done, and is being done with many stations across the U.S.
Take an online listen to 93.7 The Bull in St. Louis some time. You'll
hear the latest from Keith Urban, but you'll also hear some old
Blackhawk, Faith Hill, Clint Black, Brooks and Dunn, and heck,
maybe even some Shenandoah or Kevin Sharp (remember them?).
Those are just a few, but it runs the gamut, and it sounds GOOD,
rather than hearing the same 100 songs over and over.

Why KSCS, The Twister, and The Wolf have not taken the hint, I
don't know. I'm not a programmer. But I sure would like to see them
open up their music libraries some more. There is so much out there
not getting played. I heard Clint Black's "When My Ship Comes In" the
other day or so on 1190. When was the last time you heard that on
FM here?

<soapbox off>

The Wolf IS opening up there library with older stuff. Ronnie Millsap, Garth, Alabama, Willie, Merle, Clint Black etc

Too bad you have to hear ZZ Top, 38 Special, Van Morrison with it.

 

[theshadow]

Too bad you have to hear ZZ Top, 38 Special, Van Morrison with it.

Aaah, yes...

Lest I forget Da Wolf. Like as I may, my dose occasionally
of La Grange, Brown Eyed Girl, and Hold On Loosely, THAT,
followed by a Toby Keith, Sarah Evans, or even Montgomery
Gentry, spells a locomotive slamming into an RV for me. Now
a little Sugarland "Something More" followed by Richochet's
"Daddy's Money" .....now you're talkin'.... Crank 'er up
Bubba'....

 

[Neil56]

What's up with this station? It's been on auto-pilot since early June. No announcers, no commercials with the bizarre exception of "Joe" doing occasional traffic reports weekdays. Why do they bother with that? Does that fulfil some minimum obligation?

Seems like somebody could do something with 50,000 watts. It comes in better than just about any other AM station. Of course at night, that's a whole 'nother matter. Maybe that's what the problem is. What do I know? I don't work in radio.

 

[MikeShannon914]

I had heard that Clear Channel was dissolving the LMA they have with First Broadcasting, but on First's website, it's still listed in their "portfolio." Perhaps there was a fleeting thought there on First's behalf that a staffed station would be more valuable to sell, but with a salesman or two who could only seem to generate tradeouts, there was no money coming in to pay Hollywood Henderson, Moby and the like. Sure, Moby probably was bartered, but when you don't have your own spots to play during those designated times, where does the income come from? Also, First is investing heavily now in engineering services, setting up their own division that works exclusively on expanding lackluster stations' coverage areas. Perhaps they don't want the hassle of hiring/firing personnel for something that can achieve a 0.4 with just a hard drive.

I understood that the LMA was merely a guise for Clear Channel's hiring of First as a "realtor" to peddle off 1190. CC went on record a couple years back about having "an AM station that's the odd man out amongst a cluster of FMs" and was considering dumping it. Normally, one would call on First when they wanted to sell off a limited coverage, poor performing station at a fire sale price...First would buy it for nothing, then do the research and pay for the upgrades, throw some random music product on the airwave thereafter, hike the price and put it on the market and make an obscene profit. But with 1190, the coverage is already maxed, the frequency's history speaks for itself, and there's not much for First to make off the deal aside from a small commission. If the station was publicly advertised, and for a fair price, it should sell with no problem. At this point, CC's probably in no hurry, thinking that an AM in a Top 10 market could grease the wheels with some of the cluster selling they've been doing lately...ya know, buy 5 in Duluth, get 1 Dallas station free?

Then again, who would want the monthly engineering bill to keep those 12 towers in Rockwall fully adjusted and in phase, just to crank out an abysmal nighttime signal? About the only purpose served with that array is to let little airplanes and gliders know they're getting close to the McLendon/Chisholm Airstrip.

"Joe" is likely Total Traffic's Joe Cucionatti, since CC owns Total Traffic.

 

[CW]

I had heard that Clear Channel was dissolving the LMA they have with First Broadcasting, but on First's website, it's still listed in their "portfolio." Perhaps there was a fleeting thought there on First's behalf that a staffed station would be more valuable to sell, but with a salesman or two who could only seem to generate tradeouts, there was no money coming in to pay Hollywood Henderson, Moby and the like. Sure, Moby probably was bartered, but when you don't have your own spots to play during those designated times, where does the income come from? Also, First is investing heavily now in engineering services, setting up their own division that works exclusively on expanding lackluster stations' coverage areas. Perhaps they don't want the hassle of hiring/firing personnel for something that can achieve a 0.4 with just a hard drive.

I understood that the LMA was merely a guise for Clear Channel's hiring of First as a "realtor" to peddle off 1190. CC went on record a couple years back about having "an AM station that's the odd man out amongst a cluster of FMs" and was considering dumping it. Normally, one would call on First when they wanted to sell off a limited coverage, poor performing station at a fire sale price...First would buy it for nothing, then do the research and pay for the upgrades, throw some random music product on the airwave thereafter, hike the price and put it on the market and make an obscene profit. But with 1190, the coverage is already maxed, the frequency's history speaks for itself, and there's not much for First to make off the deal aside from a small commission. If the station was publicly advertised, and for a fair price, it should sell with no problem. At this point, CC's probably in no hurry, thinking that an AM in a Top 10 market could grease the wheels with some of the cluster selling they've been doing lately...ya know, buy 5 in Duluth, get 1 Dallas station free?

Then again, who would want the monthly engineering bill to keep those 12 towers in Rockwall fully adjusted and in phase, just to crank out an abysmal nighttime signal? About the only purpose served with that array is to let little airplanes and gliders know they're getting close to the McLendon/Chisholm Airstrip.

"Joe" is likely Total Traffic's Joe Cucionatti, since CC owns Total Traffic.

The ONLY reason CC bought 1190 is that Lowry Mays wanted A&M football in Dallas when he visited...they paid $18mill for it and considering the daytime is 50KW with ok coverage, not bad ......the night signal COULD be changed since CC owns cochannel KEX in Portland and WOWO was downgraded...but that was never done (odd).. There was a plan to file for 1KW at the day site for night use and it would probably cover DFW overall better than the 5KW night site..but an unbuilt Canadian allocation stopped it (The Canadian station was eventually dropped from allocation but then I think KC has an 1190 that upgraded ITS night signal....CC screwed up again).....Then the constant change of formats, etc....
No, CC just was plain stupid in buying such a good station and not doing anything with it.

OH BTW the Rockwall site is DAMN stable.....no adjustments needed.....only issue in the last decade or so was a cell tower that got built almost in the main lobe without properly notifying and not detuning for 1190.....the null toward WOWO went up about 10-20%...evidently noone complained.....the foward pattern on the site has remained constant (compared to the original field strength readings done by the consulting engineers when the site was built)......so that point is a lost argument.

 

[jd]

...the night signal COULD be changed since CC owns cochannel KEX in Portland and WOWO was downgraded...but that was never done (odd).. There was a plan to file for 1KW at the day site for night use and it would probably cover DFW overall better than the 5KW night site..but an unbuilt Canadian allocation stopped it (The Canadian station was eventually dropped from allocation but then I think KC has an 1190 that upgraded ITS night signal....CC screwed up again)....

For a few years, CW, I thought that 1190 might have done better by using the old 1150 site off Luna Road and Royal Lane at night, even with less power. But the same thing that made the 5kW nighttime pattern outdated soon after it was built, the population growth to the north, would have made the Luna Road site inadequate, too. And now KVCE 1160 is using a nighttime site up the road near Lewisville. Oh well, it was a thought.

Offhand I'd say that using a site closer in and still northeast, like KAAM (but with a pattern resembling KMKI), would work better than anything proposed from the day site. Kansas City does have a CP for nighttime but it's not for much, just increasing power from 250 to 500 watts. Like you mentioned the WOWO downgrade might help, but there's still the problem with XEWK 1190 Guadalajara and good old 1200, CC's WOAI. So it would still be really tough to get a substantial nighttime upgrade for KFXR. Having worked at 1190 years ago, I'm familiar with all the little "notches and nulls" in the nighttime coverage and why they're there! Then there's that healthy "incidental"(?) lobe over in Kaufman County. I also had an original map from Cohen & Dippell Engineering dated 1972, somewhere around here...

 

[Neil56]

Thanks for the explanation. It's too bad the listener loses out in all this.