> > Originally licensed to Bay City in Matagorda County,
> > southwest of Houston, not Baytown which is east of Houston.
> > It was the second radio station I worked in the beginning of
> > my career. KIOX was the call letters, before this buffoon,
> > somehow got it and thought he could move it to southwest
> > Houston and nobody would notice. How he got the KFCC calls
> > are dumbfounding. Why, in the 1st place would the FCC allow
> > it? Poor management on their part is my only conclusion. It
> > simply slipped through the cracks.
>
> The guy who owned KFCC literally picked the equipment up,
> put it on a flatbed truck and moved it to Missouri City one
> weekend back in 1995. What they were really doing is
> anybody's guess, but I've been told that they ran 2500 watts
> daytime and around 600 watts (?) nighttime, using different
> patterns.
>
I was already living in the Voss-San Felipe area when Don Werlinger, who was supposedly the owner at that time, moved the station. If they were running 2500 watts it had to be unmatched and not grounded very well. The daytime signal was more consistant with KILE's 600 watts they run from south of Reliant Stadium. However, I think he upped the power at night, or was using different patterns as you state, the nighttime signal was quite good on a fairly crowded frequency. There was an application filed with the FCC to move KFCC to Missouri City with 2500/500 DA1 with almost total null to west to protect KWHI. It was on hold "for radiation hazard" until the license was revoked.
>
> >
> > Certainly 1270 KFJZ Ft Worth noticed. I may be wrong about
> > this, that cat was sentenced to some prison time. KIOX had
> > been operating on a temporary permit since 1969. It had so
> > many violations it was ridiculous.
>
> KESS 1270 Fort Worth complained, but Tom Whitehead at KWHI
> 1280 in Brenham really raised hell and that was probably the
> main reason that the FCC ordered KFCC back to Bay City.
> KFCC's studios were on Rockley, just down the street from
> Channel 14. Their format for the most part was talk during
> the day and oldies at night, and what an obscure mix of
> oldies it was; it sounded like B-sides of one hit doo-wop
> groups, mainly from Philly and NYC. Somehow the owner's
> name escapes me, but he is the same guy who moved 1560 from
> Port Lavaca to Bellaire. That station, of course, is now
> KILE (under different ownership, of course) and is expected
> to fire up their new 50,000 watt transmitter soon.
>
I imagine it was the late Tom Whitehead, he was and the family is very protective of the coverage area of KWHI. They filed for 10000 watts with the FCC not too long before the Major Modification Window for AM was to open. The bulk of the the 10kW is towards metro Houston daytime from a transmitter site NW of San Felipe and SE of Bellville over half way to Houston, but the night antenna of 72 watts stayed on the west side of Brenham. If they were serious about getting into the Houston market they would have filed during the Major Mod Window to move to Missouri City or in that area with a serious power at night. The application is just a spoiler so no one could file for 1270 or 1290 in the Houston area. Brenham is just barely covered by the 5mV/m signal and with the high interference level on 1280 during evening Critical Hours, I don't see how their proposal will fly. The FCC has DENIED it once, but somehow they were able to get it reinstated, but now will sit there for years without any activitity. Which is what the family wants. KGOL had an application that sat from March 3rd, 1987 until an amendment was filed on May 20th, 2005, over 18 years and 2 months! It is good to see the FCC is going to try and streamline some things.
Is KILE going to finally fire up the 50kW transmitter? Any antenna's to run a signal into yet? The CP for KILE runs out August 28th this year and the FCC does not give extensions any more, except in extreme cases. Like the DTV Licenses for the NYC/NJ stations on the WTC.
>
> > The 3 towers are still there. Vines are growing up the
> > tower. Very eerie to see.
>
> It may live again, as someone applied for 1270 in Bay City
> during the AM major change filing window back in January
> '04. But probably not.
>
I agree there is little chance of 1270 being resurrected in Bay City. The last time I had driven by the transmitter site, the building was in bad shape and I doubt the towers are in all that great condition. The parameters applied for is the same as KFCC/KIOX and the FCC today would not allow the overlap of signals that KIOX and KHWI had before the license revocation. I can't see why anyone would want to build another station in Bay City? KZRC 92.5 has been on the market forever and with stations in Palacios and Matagorda and Bay City, there is not the population or businesses to support all those stations. There are two non-comms on the air with a third on the way that is going to be looking for cash from a not extremely wealthy county. The nuclear power plant may be in Matagorda County, but if most of the population is getting weatlty, they are hiding it very well. There has also been a station listed on 1210 for Bay City on the FCC records for the last ten years that no one has ever built. Bay City is a great place to live, but not to build another radio station. Most people in Bay City listen to the Houston FM's, the Senior Road Towers have a City Grade signal into Bay City.
There is too much that went on at KFCC/KIOX to rehash here. If you go to the search engine
www.dogpile.com and enter in LICENSE REVOCATION RADIO STATION KFCC you will have plenty to read over. The short form is FCC MM Docket 96-173 from either dogpile or the fcc site. Interesting story. I have an idea that KILE/KGUL might have some interesting stories buried in there also.
O ekiM
