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Everett Disappointment

L

LITTLEBOYBLUE

KING covering fire in Everett using tower cam while they set up mobile team. So I checked the map and see the fire is burning about a block away from KRKO ... so dial in to see what's up. They're in baseball game. End of game ... figure they will go to coverage ... lots and lots of spots ... and still not a word about a major community news event.

I REALLY WANT TO ROOT FOR THESE GUYS ... lots of strikes in trying to be a community station ... but this is extremely disappointing as it relates to the "Snohomish County Voice" I thought the station wanted to be .... especially when news LITERALLY happens outside your window.
 
Does KRKO even do much local news? Last time I listened while driving North, they seemed to focus on sports, and sports-talk. My guess is they probably had a minimum wage board op running the game that weekend, then "Otto" took over to run the rest of the day.

Perhaps no excuse, but being part owner of some small market stations myself, the harsh reality is that one typically can't afford to have qualified news people available nights and weekends, even on call.

I have been creative with one of my stations, in that the local County Emergency Services Manager has my cell phone number, and calls if he thinks there is a news or life-safety matter that does not warrant EAS activation, but should be on the air. I have the ability to VPN into the station, and upload a pre-recorded, (at my home), news report into the automation, then play the cut-in within seconds of delivery. So far, I've only had to do that once in six years.
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
KING covering fire in Everett using tower cam while they set up mobile team. So I checked the map and see the fire is burning about a block away from KRKO ... so dial in to see what's up. They're in baseball game. End of game ... figure they will go to coverage ... lots and lots of spots ... and still not a word about a major community news event.

I REALLY WANT TO ROOT FOR THESE GUYS ... lots of strikes in trying to be a community station ... but this is extremely disappointing as it relates to the "Snohomish County Voice" I thought the station wanted to be .... especially when news LITERALLY happens outside your window.
Click to expand...

Sadly, that's just what KRKO has become. And they think they deserve 50,000 watts for this + ANOTHER flamethrower on 1520. I'm ashamed of KRKO,...I'll bet even little ol' KSER at least MENTIONED this one...

As far as "affordability" is concerned, I mean, if they're so confident they can afford two 50,000 watt power bills, then they sure as hell can afford a minimum wage announcer fresh out of broadcasting school at the very least. I'd rather hear that than nothing at all.
 
Way to go, Kelly .... very creative and all that a situation really warrants. Don't have to have someone on the payroll all the time to cover stuff....but a phoner from ANYONE at the station would at least send a message that "yeah, we're aware our downtown is in BBQ mode".

Not casting stones at KRKO specifically as much as I am the industry. Get so tired of hearing "we are LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL" and b-crap like "Radio Heard Here" as slogans that will "save the industry" but when it comes to practice, it falls down time and again beause it's too expensive to be a broadcaster. So...if that's the case...go be a banker or a dry cleaner or a 7-11 attendant where you can control your costs. Having a licensed communications toy is SUPPOSED to live up to a public service reputation once in awhile. Even if format doesn't dictate that ... when you're serving a specific community it seems like it WARRANTS it. Same criticism would apply to Anacortes, Mount Vernon, Olympia ... places where your livelihood is more about participating in the community than spinning a Maroon 5 tune!
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
I REALLY WANT TO ROOT FOR THESE GUYS ... lots of strikes in trying to be a community station ... but this is extremely disappointing as it relates to the "Snohomish County Voice" I thought the station wanted to be .... especially when news LITERALLY happens outside your window.
Click to expand...

I gather that you don't believe that Skotdal is so tapped out and exhausted by his decade-long fight with the NIMBYs over the KRKO towers that he has neither the energy nor the money to do any real local radio. That seems like a reasonable explanation to me.

What I don't understand is why he is insisting on putting up two MORE towers at the KRKO site for his Snohomish 1520 when it appears that he could get nearly the same night power by using all four of KRKO's towers for both stations at night. I mean, which would he rather have, two AMs in your area or another decade-long fight with the NIMBYs? Also, KRKO's one tall tower seems to have been designed for 1520's ND daytime operation; thanks to the high efficiency, it would take less than 20 kW to get the same daytime coverage as he is proposing with 20 kW from a shorter tower. There is no special "letterhead value" to 20 kW, as there is with 50 kW, so why wouldn't he use the tall tower at 12 or 13 kW or thereabouts during daylight hours? Maybe he will yet amend his 1520 application to make these changes. Is there some value to waiting before amending the application?
 
I haven't really followed the whole 1520 situation, but typically once one gets approval, (including shoreline, EIS, and land use), from the local authorities to build some new towers, then it is easier to add more. The NIMBY's, (as they've been called here), have used up their powder with local government trying to block the originals. It will still be met with opposition, but not nearly as much.

As for why they want to mess with 1520? My guess is to increase the value of the properties as a whole, and sell them, (both in advertising and eventually a sale), as a "combo" of sorts. Typically combo sales run AM and FM, but chances are slim they could find an affordable FM anywhere. That being said, can Snohomish County support another local AM station?

A bad frequency, and poor ground conductivity up there in Everett means they'll have to throw as much power as feasible into the antenna system to get any decent coverage on 1520 kHz. From a pure business perspective, with values of AM stations continuing to decline, they may not have a choice.
 
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