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Delilah technical question

Delilah is buying the radio station where she first got her start.. KDUN-AM in Reedsport, Oregon. It's a 50kW Class B daytimer at 1030 kHz, she's reportedly paying a whopping $60,000 for it. According to the "equipment list" in this article, it appears she's getting the tower and transmission equipment, but no studio or related gear is mentioned:

A friend and I jokingly call this station, K-DONe, a play on its call letters and slogan, K-DUNE.

If she doesnt have someone bust their ass and sell, she will lose her ass and lose it quick. The station has been off air alot in recent years.. and each time a new owner buys it, the price is even cheaper.. way cheaper. Part of the program is the power bill.. its gotta be around $5000 a month for that alone.

why K-DONE? This station should've been done a long time ago and had its license handed in. Or, If it were me, Id knock the station back to 10kw day and wouldve gotten an FM translator.
 
Delilah is buying the radio station where she first got her start.. KDUN-AM in Reedsport, Oregon. It's a 50kW Class B daytimer at 1030 kHz, she's reportedly paying a whopping $60,000 for it. According to the "equipment list" in this article, it appears she's getting the tower and transmission equipment, but no studio or related gear is mentioned:

Other than buying a piece of her past, what's the point?
 
A friend and I jokingly call this station, K-DONe, a play on its call letters and slogan, K-DUNE.

If she doesnt have someone bust their ass and sell, she will lose her ass and lose it quick. The station has been off air alot in recent years.. and each time a new owner buys it, the price is even cheaper.. way cheaper. Part of the program is the power bill.. its gotta be around $5000 a month for that alone.

why K-DONE? This station should've been done a long time ago and had its license handed in. Or, If it were me, Id knock the station back to 10kw day and wouldve gotten an FM translator.
I also saw it mentioned elsewhere that this station has been off the air more often than not in recent years, and that the transmission facility supposedly floods often. As @gr8oldies mentions, maybe she just bought it for nostalgia's sake since that's where she got her start in radio, but I'm imagining that, aside from the signal, very little remains of what she'd remember it for - the studio facility, layout, equipment, etc. are most likely long gone.
 
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If she doesnt have someone bust their ass and sell, she will lose her ass and lose it quick. The station has been off air alot in recent years.. and each time a new owner buys it, the price is even cheaper.. way cheaper. Part of the program is the power bill.. its gotta be around $5000 a month for that alone.

why K-DONE? This station should've been done a long time ago and had its license handed in. Or, If it were me, Id knock the station back to 10kw day and wouldve gotten an FM translator.
I doubt she's hurting for operating capital, and could easily afford to dip her foot in the station owner pool without "losing her ass". Pretty sure this is a hobby/labor of love, not a serious business venture that would make or break her.
 
As far as the technical side, there is still FTP and Satellite. I know some stations that carry either or. Back in the early days, it was mostly live. Some stations carried Delilah and Dave til Dawn back to back. Jones Radio Networks sold it to Premiere. Premiere began offering a few different feeds of Delilah on satellite. AC, Hot AC, Gold AC and Canadian (For Cancon reasons)

Nowdays they do have Tesh-like option and have generic cuts with calls. She can also cut a local promo, talk about what’s going on. Does it all from a basement studio at her ranch outside of Seattle. “Let me find a song for you.”


As far as KDUN, they probably just asked her if she wanted to buy it. She has money. I’m sure she jumped at the opportunity. Being on that station got her where she is today. Her start in radio. If she has the money, and wants the station, why not? Probably doesn’t cost much to run and even if it does, I’m guessing she can afford it. $60,000 is not that much. Smaller AM signals have gone for more.
 
Prior to Delilah agreeing to save this pig, I hear their positioning slogan was: Put a fork in us, we're K-Dun!
 
I wondered how she was distributing her show to stations using (at least) 2 distinctly different music formats at the same time with both sounding live, as that'd be nearly impossible to do.
John Boy and Billy did it and may still be doing it. At one time they had three music formats. And it was live because someone doing the classic rock feed messed up and played "Another One Bites the Dust" when there was a serial killer on the loose in D.C.
 
I wish KDUN well. I used to hear them periodically at night. 50KW seems like a bit of overkill, but I guess they're trying to serve the Coos County market as well as Reedsport and Florence. If Delilah can afford to run the station and make it work somehow, power to her.

RE: the coverage map: most 50 kilowatters right next to the seaside have a massive pattern over the ocean. Just sayin'.
 
John Boy and Billy did it and may still be doing it. At one time they had three music formats. And it was live because someone doing the classic rock feed messed up and played "Another One Bites the Dust" when there was a serial killer on the loose in D.C.
My local Classic Rocker, WIMZ Knoxville and nearby WQUT, Johnson City carry the same feed. I can't speak for the rest of the network, or if there are other feeds.

Delilah voice tracks her show; though both local WJXB and Tri-Cities area WXBQ carry the same feed.
 
Delilah should have studied her local geology a little better, especially in the Umpqua and Smith River watershed. A great read is "Tectonic History and Cultural Memory: Catastrophe and Restoration on the Oregon Coast" by R. Scott Byram." One only needs to go up either river a few miles and find historic sand piles - left by the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes. Even without earthquakes the transmitter site floods - not to mention a few years ago the tower was bent by severe winds. Delilah understands the latter at least.
 
I don't think it was about the brand or the money. This is a nostalgia thing, and if you had the money and loved radio, why not? There's stations I have a connection to and bond with that if I could not lose my shirt on, I'd be interested in - while realizing their potential for growth is limited. When you have enough money, not everything IS about money.
 
My local Classic Rocker, WIMZ Knoxville and nearby WQUT, Johnson City carry the same feed. I can't speak for the rest of the network, or if there are other feeds.

Delilah voice tracks her show; though both local WJXB and Tri-Cities area WXBQ carry the same feed.
WIMZ and WQUT are both classic rockers.

WJXB and WTFM have the same format, which is one that many Delilah stations have, but WXBQ is country.
 
I don't think it was about the brand or the money. This is a nostalgia thing, and if you had the money and loved radio, why not? There's stations I have a connection to and bond with that if I could not lose my shirt on, I'd be interested in - while realizing their potential for growth is limited. When you have enough money, not everything IS about money.
That is correct. You make a good point. I guess I just don’t think OR coast small radio stations are a smart buy, but if money is no object...
 
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