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Has Waller Broadcasting Become Irrelevant?

I notice that Waller seems to have moved back to Longview. They seem to be in the KFRO building on the Loop. Longview usually gets the short end of the stick in broadcasting, so I think it is interesting that somebody is paying attention to what could be a lucrative market.

Any insight on the move?
 
Is the KFRO studios building still up for sale? I've been intending to go by the tax office in Longview and see who owns the building. Unknown if Waller himself has control of it or if the Curtis interests retained ownership and just leased the building to Waller.

The building sits on some high value real estate, situated as it is amongst two hotels and a Walgreen store. And the lot is awfully narrow, further restricting a businmess with much "spread" to it buying out the location.
 
From the Gregg County Tax Office Website. Waller owns the building - seems under appraised at 114K. No mention of the actual property in the tax record (acreage = 0?). Maybe someone else owns the lot? Regardless, that property is situated in the new "hot" area of Longview, with several new hotels and retail centers going up in the area.

Owner Information
Owner ID: O0029169
Owner Name: WALLER MEDIA LLC
Owner Address: PO BOX 1648
JACKSONVILLE,TX 75766
Property Address: 481 E LOOP 281 LONGVIEW,

Parcel Information
Legal Description: PERSONAL PROPERTY-481 E LOOP 281
Acreage: 0
Cross Reference: P182253
Undivided Interest: 100%
Exemption Codes:

Entity Codes: CLV (Longview City)
GGG (Gregg County)
RDB (Road And Bridge)
SLV (Longview Isd)

Deed Type:
Deed Book:
Deed Page:
Map Page:

Land HS: $0 +
Land NHS: $0 +
Improvement HS: $0 +
Improvement NHS: $114,840 +
Ag Market: $0
Ag Use: $0 +
Timber Market: $0
Timber Use: $0 +

Assessed: $114,840 =
 
I got two questions....is Rhonda still mid-days at the Breeze? And, wasn't KXAL originally licensed to the Pittsburg area?
 
Musicradio said:
I got two questions....is Rhonda still mid-days at the Breeze? And, wasn't KXAL originally licensed to the Pittsburg area?
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, what is now KXAL was originally KGRI-FM in Henderson. It then became KWRD-FM under Chipper Dean. Sometime about 1997 it was sold to Hunt Broadcasting and it became KDVE "The Lonesome Dove." The Hunts were busy buying, selling and moving stations so they could put rim-shots in major markets like Dallas. They moved the station to Tatum and changed it from 99.9 to 101.3. They also purchased a station in Pittsburg, which was called KXAL-FM. Sometime along the way they swapped the call signs, since the Pittsburg station has a better signal. I guess they liked the call letters better. I believe that is how the Waller's purchased them, and they have kept the call signs intact.

So to answer your question about "wasn't KXAL originally licensed to the Pittsburg area?" The answer is "yes," in a convoluted way.

Perhaps "Billy Ray" will chime in with more details.
 
Chuck said:
Musicradio said:
I got two questions....is Rhonda still mid-days at the Breeze? And, wasn't KXAL originally licensed to the Pittsburg area?
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, what is now KXAL was originally KGRI-FM in Henderson. It then became KWRD-FM under Chipper Dean. Sometime about 1997 it was sold to Hunt Broadcasting and it became KDVE "The Lonesome Dove." The Hunts were busy buying, selling and moving stations so they could put rim-shots in major markets like Dallas. They moved the station to Tatum and changed it from 99.9 to 101.3. They also purchased a station in Pittsburg, which was called KXAL-FM. Sometime along the way they swapped the call signs, since the Pittsburg station has a better signal. I guess they liked the call letters better. I believe that is how the Waller's purchased them, and they have kept the call signs intact.

So to answer your question about "wasn't KXAL originally licensed to the Pittsburg area?" The answer is "yes," in a convoluted way.

Perhaps "Billy Ray" will chime in with more details.
Click to expand...

Wasn't KGRI-FM moved to Mt. Enterprise and then eventually over into HELLouisiana?
 
C414B said:
Wasn't KGRI-FM moved to Mt. Enterprise and then eventually over into HELLouisiana?
Click to expand...

Careful, don't upset the neighbors...!

But yes, that's part of what happened. Station wound up in a place called Zwolle.
 
Call Sign History
Current Call Sign: KDVE
Facility ID Number: 8491
Call Sign Begin Date
KDVE 11/08/2001
KXAL-FM 01/20/1987
841108IE


Call Sign History
Current Call Sign: KXAL-FM
Facility ID Number: 15982
Call Sign Begin Date
KXAL-FM 11/08/2001
KDVE 10/15/1997
KGRI-FM 03/31/1980
KGRIFM


Call Sign History
Current Call Sign: KTEZ
Facility ID Number: 86142
Call Sign Begin Date
KTEZ 05/07/2002
KGRI 04/10/1998

The original stations were KGRI-FM on 100.1 in Henderson, and KXAL-FM 103.1 in Pittsburg. In 1997, KGRI-FM moved to Tatum, changed freq to 100.3 and changed calls to KDVE. In 1998, a new KGRI was licensed to Mt. Enterprise on 99.9. This was the station that ultimately moved to Zwolle, LA and became KTEZ. I am not sure if 99.9 ever went on the air in Mt. Enterprise, and what's not clear is if the Mt. Enterprise KGRI was in anyway related to the Henderson KGRI-FM. The call sign history seems to indicated that it was not.

In 2001, the calls were swapped between KXAL and KDVE, giving us current KDVE 103.1 Pittsburg and KXAL 100.3 Tatum.

There have been multiple formats on both frequencies. 103.1 Pittsburg was country for most of it's life. They did try a classic rock around 2000, and after that for a short while had an urban format. Then, I think they went back to country before switching to Spanish.

100.3 Tatum was originally country, "The Lonesome Dove", They switched to the ABC Memories format for a while, then simulcasted 103.1's urban and country formats.

I enjoyed Memories 100. They played stuff you just don't hear on the radio anymore. But they had a horrible signal, bad sound quality, and were constantly going to dead air. During the tropo season, 100.3 is virtually unlistenable in the mornings in Longview.
 
The ganging up on the Wallers is ridiculous. I have worked with and known all of them. Bill Waller always treated me with respect and more importantly as a friend the entire time I worked for them. He and Drew helped me on many occasions and I helped them after I left Waller. The Wallers are in an up hill battle with 5 signals that are nowhere close to class "C"s.

You know everyone has opinions on programming, and how to properly build a station, but you know opinions are like rear ends everyone has one and THEY ALL STINK.

KDVE/KXAL for the past 10 years have never got over a .7 share in the ratings, the last time I checked KDVE/KXAL had a 2.6. So they must be getting close at least to doing something right.
 
I probably would've let this thread sink to the bottom of the page... but that's just me. The Waller Broadcasting of today is no where near the Waller Broadcasting of yesterday. I'll just leave it at that.
 
I'm still trying to figure out how this topic went from the changes of a cluster, to talking about the character of owners?
 
The character of the owners shouldn't even be in question when a company has been in business for 50 years in the same area, that alone speaks volumes about the business practices and character of the owners. Yes the stations have changed, but radio has changed all over the country. CBS, ABC, Clear Channel are not the same companies they were even 10 years ago. If you do not adapt in radio you will not survive, and Waller is trying to adapt and try new things. Good for them for trying to be innovative and changing things up with the AC format. Bill keep being innovative and keep trying new things you guys have nothing to loose, and 103.1 and 100.3 appear to be doing well in the ratings. Eventually 102.3 and 95.3 will carve out a nitch for itself, and it will be fine.
 
Dudley's done it all...and made his money. I'll bet he is right where he wants to be. Healthy, wealthy and wise!
 
Anytime one is successful, there will always be those who criticize and make accusations. This is true in radio, newspaper, television, church work, sports, business, service clubs, etc etc etc.

Some attack him personally because they are jealous of his success. Some because they had a bad experience with him, some because they were fired by Waller or his company, and some attack him because they hate anyone who dares automate one single hour of programming, even if it falls between 3-4 a.m.

There are some criticisms of some of the business decisions he made. Some are legit, imo, some are not. I like live/local radio as much as the next guy... but only if performed by a competent air staff. In my experience, talent and work ethic are hard to come by these days. In the absence of a good staff, a jukebox is the better way to go, imo.
 
Musicsweep you are right on the money, and for talent these days most of the good on-air talent has been forced out or has gone to engineering or TV. But today's djs are there because radio pays 75 cents an hour more than Jack in the Box and was 3 blocks closer to their house. Even in big markets I only know of about 6 or 7 really talented on air staff. Tom Perryman in Tyler is one of them.
 
I never really met Mr. Perryman, but I worked with his former co-hort, Dub Murray (now deceased) at KWRD-AM in Henderson. Dub was a former Nashville songwriter and major market DJ who was given his big break in the radio business by Mr. Perryman. Mr. Perryman is a classic, as was Mr. Murray.
 
There is not a finer more honorable man in broadcasting than Tom Perryman. All the people that run stations should take lessons from him. He takes young people and mentors them and teaches them, I just happen to be lucky enough to have worked under Tom. To this very day I am the only one in my area to have a Country Music Hall of Fame member on my resume. It was my privilege and honor to work for Tom Perryman!
 
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