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It's Official!!!

Excellent first phase! That li'l 10-watter, carrier-current station's come a looooong way since I was there in the Kendall Hall basement 1958-'62. Embarrassing to say... but, some of the shenanigans we pulled back in the day, probably a good thing it wasn't strong enough to catch more attention.
 
Mr. Zooter-
Could you explain "carrier current" ? Understand 10w LPFM. What is the difference?
 
JournalGuy: As I understand it, a "carrier current" station is one which literally transmits their signal through the local electrical wiring... to pick up the station, you either have to be plugged in to an electrical outlet (like a clock radio) or have your radio VERY near the electrical wiring in the walls; move very far away & the signal is lost.

kudzooter: I know what you mean... I think everyone should be required to start at low power & work their way up... for public safety! :D

Here's two news stories already on Durkee's move; amusing to me, Channel 6 gives a neutral / positive spin, while The World finds the negative in the story! loll...

Durkee Named News Director At KWGS
http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=10078336

Durkee Resigns As Communications Director
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/arti...rticleid=20090326_11_0_MayorK694982&rss_lnk=1
 
It's never been as true as in broadcasting and those at KRMG (including esteemed PD Drew Anderssen) need to remember this...what goes around comes around.

KFAQ has never been and will never be competition for KRMG. But now with KWGS and a real leader at the helm - together with the stations strong listenership - well, this will be interesting.

Oh and KRMG...you might want to now permanently take down John Durkee's Web page that still comes up on a Google search...

http://krmg.com/features/staff_durkee.html

...It's sort of embarrassing for you now, don't you think?
 
Yes, I've wondered if KRMG will............well at least keep a "watchful eye" on KWGS.

And if this is the first stage, I can't wait to see what comes up next!
 
kudzooter said:
Excellent first phase! That li'l 10-watter, carrier-current station's come a looooong way since I was there in the Kendall Hall basement 1958-'62. Embarrassing to say... but, some of the shenanigans we pulled back in the day, probably a good thing it wasn't strong enough to catch more attention.
Click to expand...

Scooter, that was back when KWGS was still broadcast in MONO.

Congratulations to John, and this is a great move considering everything else going on in radio these days.
 
That's all been many moons -- and one just completed crazy night of calling American Legion bingo -- ago. But as best I remember, yeah, the signal was carried on the electrical wires in the immediate TU area. Also had a 10-watt xmitter, can't remember where located but probably in or very close to Kendall, with antenna on a tower I seem to remember being there. Probably was mono, but can't really recall. Anyway, that's many generations ago in all respects -- and Mr. Durkee's addition to the greatness they've been blessing Tulsa with for the past several years, will only enhance a true municipal treasure.
 
kudzooter said:
That's all been many moons -- and one just completed crazy night of calling American Legion bingo -- ago. But as best I remember, yeah, the signal was carried on the electrical wires in the immediate TU area. Also had a 10-watt xmitter, can't remember where located but probably in or very close to Kendall, with antenna on a tower I seem to remember being there. Probably was mono, but can't really recall. Anyway, that's many generations ago in all respects -- and Mr. Durkee's addition to the greatness they've been blessing Tulsa with for the past several years, will only enhance a true municipal treasure.
Click to expand...

Amen to that! Good luck John. The Durkee touch will definitely add to a true T-Town treasure.

O'Shea
 
According to the article, John's salary as Communications Director was $95,000 a year. If the news director position at KWGS even matched it, PLEASE tell me you are hiring reporters and anchors!!! ;)
 
Something tells me it doesn't pay as well as the city, but offers a microphone instead. Durkee probably wanted that mic more than he wanted the bucks. Its nice to see someone still out there with the passion to do radio, even if the money might not be as good.
 
It's also an opportunity to start something from the ground up. That has to be a little enticing. Plus the university/college radio atmosphere may be a nice break from corporate hoopla.
 
On a side note, I am glad to see that the Cox sisters are making an offer to take the company back private. Maybe after Cox radio gets off the stupid stock market they can start fixing some of the issues they currently have. Hopefully things will turn around soon at KRMG. There's still a lot right with them but the wrongs are beginning to really show up now too... Durkee never should have been allowed to bail out. They should have done what it took to keep him, within reason of course. It's one of the many things that is wrong with today's commercial radio. Replacing excellent talent that costs money with cheaper and just acceptable but cheaper talent is one of the many things that will severely injure this industry if we keep it up.
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
Something tells me it doesn't pay as well as the city, but offers a microphone instead. Durkee probably wanted that mic more than he wanted the bucks. Its nice to see someone still out there with the passion to do radio, even if the money might not be as good.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if it's something like the appointed positions in the rest of government. In other words, if the mayor's office turns over, John would be likely to find himself out of a job. A former co-worker and friend of mine took a position as Communications Director for the Missouri Department of Corrections and found himself out of a job after the state elected a new governor. In Oklahoma, non-appointed state positions are, or at least used to be, covered by a merit system, which prevents workers from losing their jobs due to political reasons. However, appointed positions and city/county positions didn't used to be covered by the same system. Texas had similar rules, and I seem to remember one north Texas county turning over almost all of its employees all the way down the office support and custodial staff a few years ago. In other words, it's possible John felt a lot more security at KWGS. After all, higher education is always going to be around!
 
Folks---- Thanks for the kind words.

I am very exciting about the opportunity at KWGS. I’ve listened to KWGS since the days of “Sub-Terrainian Rock“. (the late 60s for you youngsters in the audience)

I am also trilled that my salary is no-longer public record <grin> but your speculation is correct. It is less than city hall---but comparable to what I got from Cox. Public Servanthood was challenging and at times fun, but I really missed the creative outlet of radio. (You can only get so creative designing water-bill inserts.)

Rich Fisher, Frank Christel, Casey Morgan, et al at TU have already been fabulous to work with and I appreciate their trust as we launch the news initiative. Carol and I are going to take a vacation---(wow in the middle of the spring book---that has never happened before) and I'll start at TU later in April.

Again, I thank you for your support and well wishes---- especially from folks like Bob O and the legendary Scotter B.

Perhaps I should hire NightAire. He turned out to be a pretty good investigative reporter.
 
John, welcome back to what my KWGS mentor, the late Robert Comstock always called "playing radio." Hope you and Carol have a great official vacation; gotta believe getting back behind the mic and news desk will be more like a continuing one.

While we're saluting the new newsness of KWGS, let me reach back and pass some much deserved kudos for what they were doing the last time I called Tulsa home, back in the late 1980s. Ed Dumit was still very active, and Sam Baker put their news operation on a par with any of the commercial ops of the day.

Isn't it refreshing to see that, just as radio as an investment dream has turned into such a nightmare, the public broadcasters still give it a dignity, and fulfill that old idea of "serving the public interest, convenience and necessity."
 
John Durkee said:
Folks---- Thanks for the kind words.

I am very exciting about the opportunity at KWGS. I’ve listened to KWGS since the days of “Sub-Terrainian Rock“. (the late 60s for you youngsters in the audience)

I am also trilled that my salary is no-longer public record <grin> but your speculation is correct. It is less than city hall---but comparable to what I got from Cox. Public Servanthood was challenging and at times fun, but I really missed the creative outlet of radio. (You can only get so creative designing water-bill inserts.)

Rich Fisher, Frank Christel, Casey Morgan, et al at TU have already been fabulous to work with and I appreciate their trust as we launch the news initiative. Carol and I are going to take a vacation---(wow in the middle of the spring book---that has never happened before) and I'll start at TU later in April.

Again, I thank you for your support and well wishes---- especially from folks like Bob O and the legendary Scooter B.

Perhaps I should hire NightAire. He turned out to be a pretty good investigative reporter.
Click to expand...
 
*BLUSH* John, you're very kind... I was honored to get to help a tiny bit with the news department at KRMG when you & I were there at the same time (continuing coverage during the ice storm... WOW!). I'm convinced it was the opportunity I had under you to read a handful of newscasts that led to my news position at The Sound.

Whether behind the scenes, or in front of the radio, please know I'll be cheering you on! While my sources for TU's decision to launch a news department must remain, out of necessity, anonymous (a good reporter never reveals his sources, after all), I'll tell anybody and everybody who will listen that I think you're the best thing to happen to Tulsa radio news in 25+ years.

_________________________________________________

Link fun: you made it to The Oklahoman website:
http://newsok.com/tulsan-john-durkee-resigns-as-communications-director/article/3356564?custom_click=pod_headline_ae

...And, KRMG finally decided you needed to go away:
http://krmg.com/features/staff_durkee.html
 
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