KCUL in Marshall

[AM1000]

I remember seeing this station 12 or so years ago with its 2 towers off the side of I-20. There were 3 or 4 cars in the parking lot. A nice little working local AM radio station. Drove past it again last month and was sad to see the building has deteriorated to a point that of near collapse. The front door appeared to be wide open, the dirt parking lot full of tall weeds, clearly uninhabited for a while. The call letters on the bldg were missing pieces to the point of being unreadable. I could hear a strong signal on 1410 with syndicated programming. Does anyone know if they are still have functioning studios / transmitter from that site?

 

[mmnassour]

The Wiki says it's programmed from Tyler, with the transmitters at the original site. Also that it's owned by something called Access.1 of NY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCUL_(AM)

 

[Chuck]

Assess 1 is also known as East Texas Radio Group. They also operate KYKX, KOOI, The Ranch (which simulcasts on KCUL and KFRO (AM)) and La Invasora. The last time I visited the KCUL studios, they were functional, but in a very sorry state of repair. Audio from "The Ranch" was running through the console at the time, but that was about it. Otherwise, it looked like a real "fixer-upper."

 

[billyg]

I visited KCUL about 10 years ago and their studios were in really bad shape, with old worn out equipment and holes in the carpet.

Its a shame Access one shut KCUL down for just expanding the signals of KOYE and KKUS. They used to have the Marshall Mavericks football games and local DJ's most of the time.

 

[mmnassour]

Do you think that maybe, just maybe, if we limited the number of stations a person or group could own to ONE...that radio would once again have some kind of soul and commitment to service, to at least the somewhat partial extent of not trying to squeeze each and every ounce of blood out of this analog turnip?

Nawwww.......

 

[gbranch]

Do you think that maybe, just maybe, if we limited the number of stations a person or group could own to ONE...that radio would once again have some kind of soul and commitment to service, to at least the somewhat partial extent of not trying to squeeze each and every ounce of blood out of this analog turnip?

Nawwww.......

That's an admirable goal. But I think that if KCUL wasn't owned by ETRG then it would have been relegated to the trash heap of East Texas radio stations long ago, along side the likes of KLUE, KZEY, and KGRI. These multi-station ownership groups and simulcasting arrangements are at least keeping some of these little stations that would otherwise not be able to survive as a stand alone operations on the air. Unfortunately, in our world of multiple modes of entertainment, radio stations are no longer the heart and soul of a community.

 

[Chuck]

I'm afraid Greg is correct. Most of you know I'm a fan of small, local radio stations, but there is a point of diminishing returns. Operating a 500 watt AM station has to be a very difficult journey. I suspect that even when KCUL was a local Marshal station, at least in recent years, it was propped up financially by the FM station. The current situation really isn't much different. Give ETRG credit for keeping it there.

Even if you were to purchase several of these small AM's, you'd probably need to network them together and provide common programming between them most of the time, and separate them for special events of extremely local interest, like high school sports, church services, etc. .

There are a lot of things that would be great to do in radio, but the problem seems to be the money to do them simply isn't there.

 

[mmnassour]

I know....I'm a dreamer.....

It might be an interesting thread to have a roll-call of those small town Texas stations that are staying true to their soul and continuing to serve their original community.

 

[Chuck]

When I first joined the TAB (Texas Association of Broadcasters) one thing I really enjoyed was meeting other small station operators. They are a dedicated group. Almost without exception, they are great group of people with interesting stories to tell. Be happy that a lot of them survive.

 

[C414B]

I suspect that even when KCUL was a local Marshall station, at least in recent years, it was propped up financially by the FM station.

As far back as the mid-90s when I was on-air there, that's exactly what happened. The AM was running Southern Gospel off the bird while the FM was live and local. True, there were some simulcast instances (like when the Mavs were playing) but essentially it was a stepchild to the FM.