KFRO-AM and KCUL-AM to flip to Christian "The Way".

[billyg]

It's been nearly a month since the alleged beginning of AM1370/1410 finding "The Way". Has it actually started? Or is ETRG still showing its incompetence in flipping formats?

It's flipped but I'm hearing long stretches of dead air on 1370. That's no "way" to get people to listen in.

Dead air, junk religious programming and lousy sounding audio,besides 600 and 1240 thats AM radio in Longview-Kilgore-Gladewater Texas. The owners dont care what their stations sound like and who listens to them.

 

[jd]

Dead air, junk religious programming and lousy sounding audio,besides 600 and 1240 thats AM radio in Longview-Kilgore-Gladewater Texas.

Yes, and a couple of days ago I noticed that KOFY 1060 was gone, with nothing but a dead carrier. I was going to mention it at the time but decided it wasn't newsworthy.

 

[gbranch]

I tried listening to the Lobo playoff game Saturday on KFRO because the KKUS signal was severely degraded due to tropo coming in, but the game audio on KFRO was unlistenable. It sounded like poor quality phone audio, and was much worse than it was before KFRO switched to "The Way."

At night, it appears that the station continues to transmit but is just dead air.

ETRG really "screwed the pooch" with this one. At least do something worthwhile with the signal like True Oldies Channel.

 

[600kogo]

If you dont like it listen for the advertisers on KFRO, make a list of them and then go to the advertisers and tell them you will never shop there again as long as the terrible Christian talk is on KFRO! The only way to change the station is through ETRG's wallet!

 

[billyg]

If you dont like it listen for the advertisers on KFRO, make a list of them and then go to the advertisers and tell them you will never shop there again as long as the terrible Christian talk is on KFRO! The only way to change the station is through ETRG's wallet!

Sadly ETRG's is probably making more money from Moody broadcasting for broadcasting that junk than just simulcasting KKUS.

Yes, and a couple of days ago I noticed that KOFY 1060 was gone, with nothing but a dead carrier. I was going to mention it at the time but decided it wasn't newsworthy.

Right now 1060's off the air. Hopefully a tree fell on a nearby powerline and cut them off.

I've caught 1060 broadcasting blues or jazz until 9:10 pm at night, leaving the transmitter on all night (again), no EBS test, tinny sound with little or no audio processing to keep them constantly loud, and recently a loud rumble through the audio. It's being ran into the ground just like KLUE and KZEY.

 

[Chuck]

It's being run into the ground just like KLUE and KZEY.

It's sad, but are you really surprised?

 

[billyg]

It's sad, but are you really surprised?

Nope! Not with Russell owning and neglecting it. I'm surprised 1060 has stayed on the air this long and hasn't received a fine from the FCC.

 

[600kogo]

7 years ago I put 1060 back on the air using a Gentner Telephone hybrid. It sounded terrible (due to 10kw of RF getting back into the hybrid), but it was on the air like that for a week until the program line got installed. Russell doesnt care he needs to sell or turn in the license.

 

[Chuck]

Russell doesnt care he needs to sell or turn in the license.

I don't think he could get very much for it. It would be a total make-over for a new owner, not that much different than starting from scratch. Who knows what condition the existing facilities are in, but I can guess. Add to that, the curse of AM, and you have a fairly unappealing property.

The same could probably be said for KCUL and KFRO.

 

[billyg]

Russell doesnt care he needs to sell or turn in the license.

I don't think he could get very much for it. It would be a total make-over for a new owner, not that much different than starting from scratch. Who knows what condition the existing facilities are in, but I can guess. Add to that, the curse of AM, and you have a fairly unappealing property.

The same could probably be said for KCUL and KFRO.

Right. Like so many AM's KOFY's probably a pile of old equipment thats losing money every day with no takers. Does anyone want to put a million or two into a AM station that's only a daytimer with a dwindling audience? As a friend told me "owning an AM station is like owning a TV station that only broadcasts in Black and White".

And if there's any new(er) equipment it's been poorly treated and maintained because the untrained and amateur staff had no idea how to take care of it.

BTW (off topic) I noticed Waller Broadcasting's building on the loop now vacant with a sign saying "Restaurant coming soon". Where did they move the studios of the Breeze and Brisa to?

 

[600kogo]

Actually Chuck both you and Billy are both incorrect. KOFY has a less than 10 year old folded loop galvanized antenna, the best in Etex! The transmitter is a BE 10kw solid state, again the best in Etex! The processor is an Orban 9000 old but still useable! Sans Hawkins built the tower and transmitter site to be the best. The building is a pile of junk, but that is owned by the farmer that owns the land.

 

[Chuck]

Actually Chuck both you and Billy are both incorrect. KOFY has a less than 10 year old folded loop galvanized antenna, the best in Etex! The transmitter is a BE 10kw solid state, again the best in Etex! The processor is an Orban 9000 old but still useable! Sans Hawkins built the tower and transmitter site to be the best. The building is a pile of junk, but that is owned by the farmer that owns the land.

I think it may be a little older than that, since I'm pretty sure the station was on the air in 1999 running CNN. Even though it was once good equipment, has it been maintained? I'm sure Sans did a great job when he built it, but it's been a while. A lot can go wrong in 10-12 years. Having seen first hand what the other Russell properties looked like, I wouldn't hold my breath about this being much better. At one time, KZEY and KWRD were "nice" too.

I know Jerry Hanson had his work cut out for him when he took over KWRD. It is now a good facility, but it took a lot of work. I would expect a similar situation with KOFY.

 

[Chuck]

BTW (off topic) I noticed Waller Broadcasting's building on the loop now vacant with a sign saying "Restaurant coming soon". Where did they move the studios of the Breeze and Brisa to?

They have moved to the Austin Bank Building on Hwy 80 West. The Spanish language station which I believe they now call "Compa" is there. The Breeze seems to be originating from the Jacksonville building.

The restaurant is supposed to be a Panera Bread Sandwich shop. They do pretty good eats.

 

[billyg]

I think it may be a little older than that, since I'm pretty sure the station was on the air in 1999 running CNN. Even though it was once good equipment, has it been maintained? I'm sure Sans did a great job when he built it, but it's been a while. A lot can go wrong in 10-12 years. Having seen first hand what the other Russell properties looked like, I wouldn't hold my breath about this being much better. At one time, KZEY and KWRD were "nice" too.

Right, and even if KOFY has this nice equipment, why has the station had a weak signal and sounded horrible for over a year?

KOFY dates back to around 1973-5 when it signed on in Gilmer TX as Gospel KHYM. Around 1993-4 new owners moved it to Downtown Kilgore next to the Crim theater and I worked there in 1995. I thought it would be great working close to home but it was a mess of old and poorly maintained equipment.

Back then it had an ancient and huge RCA 10K transmitter that drifted off-frequency, popped circuit breakers when it got too hot during the summer, couldn't take high audio (and we had a black gospel minister DJ who loved to scream as loud as he could into the mic) and wouldn't work with the STL. Later they hooked up a radio shack digital timer to a relay system to turn it off and on automatically. The guy who was LMA'ing from the owner shut it down when the control board and transmitter died, and frequent calls to the owner to get them fixed were unanswered.

 

[jd]

KOFY dates back to around 1973-5 when it signed on in Gilmer TX as Gospel KHYM.

That's right, 1973 to be exact. Several years after that I recall hearing them in Dallas with a fairly decent signal. Granted, on one occasion that was with a Panasonic RF-2600 (not a shabby receiver back in the day), but it was strong enough to be heard inside a two-story building downtown. On a car radio KHYM even made it westward to Fort Worth back then also, weak but marginally listenable.

Something has definitely been wrong with the KOFY signal, and as mentioned, it's been that way for over a year (and maybe a lot longer than that).

 

[Chuck]

Radio stations are usually bought and sold with the price determined by a multiple of annual sales. Not that Mr. Russell plans to sell it, but if he did, I can't imagine that the sales would amount to much.

 

[600kogo]

For starters a tube type RCA cant run at temperatures above 90 degrees, RCAs run very hot. Next all AM RCAs are plate modulated transmitters, modern transmitters are Pulse Width Modulation (Pulse Duration Modulation as Continental called it). An RCA can only handle 100% positive and negative peaks if you drive it harder it will burn up the modulation transformer. Modern solid state transmitters can run in excess of 125% positive and 100% negative modulation (its called asymeticral audio). The reason Russell doesnt run it higher is he doesnt have a modulation monitor to find out if hes loud or not and he has no one qualified to determine the proper loudness. When I moved KZEY and KOFY to downtown Tyler, I set the modulation based on my TFT mod monitor for the level coming from the phone company and the studio at the time. It was right for about 2 months.
And concerning the 10KW transmitter it is a BE and the exact same model that BE still offers for 10 KW AM analog transmitters. Its a great box! The last time I saw it 5 years ago it was running a full 10kw.

 

[Chuck]

While I'm sure the transmitter and antenna could be fixed to put out a decent signal, it is not doing that right now. I've never seen the studio, other than driving by, so I have no idea what is inside, but I'll bet it isn't a pretty sight. Without routine maintenance, most studio gear simply wears out after 10-15 years worth of abuse. Items like cassette recorders and CD players are usually cheaper and easier to replace than repair.

That's not to say that it couldn't be fixed. I've resurrected a lot of seemingly worthless equipment myself, but it takes time and money to do so. If this, or any station, goes on the market, an interested purchaser would surely devalue the station due to the way it appears to be right now, not make an offer based on what it could be after everything is "fluffed up."

Between the apparent condition of the station, and the curse of being na AM daytimer, (Sorry, I like AM, but I'm afraid it is either dead or on life support.) it will be hard to unload this station for very much money. I'm thinking a fair offer might be about the sticker price of a Chevy Tahoe. Maybe less...

 

[billyg]

KOFY dates back to around 1973-5 when it signed on in Gilmer TX as Gospel KHYM.

That's right, 1973 to be exact. Several years after that I recall hearing them in Dallas with a fairly decent signal. Granted, on one occasion that was with a Panasonic RF-2600 (not a shabby receiver back in the day), but it was strong enough to be heard inside a two-story building downtown. On a car radio KHYM even made it westward to Fort Worth back then also, weak but marginally listenable.

Something has definitely been wrong with the KOFY signal, and as mentioned, it's been that way for over a year (and maybe a lot longer than that).

KHYM used to have a great tower located about 4 miles west of Gilmer up on a hill. Unfortunately they were also running a RCA 10K relic. My guess is the Kilgore site just doesn't have the same kind of ground conductivity.

From the way the KOFY has sounded it's been fed from a crummy phone line. And from all the dead air in the mornings/evenings has had somebody driving from Tyler to turn it on and off. Really a sad situation.

Between the apparent condition of the station, and the curse of being an AM daytimer, (Sorry, I like AM, but I'm afraid it is either dead or on life support.) it will be hard to unload this station for very much money. I'm thinking a fair offer might be about the sticker price of a Chevy Tahoe. Maybe less...

LOL My guess KOFY will probably be auctioned off and parted out when Russell finally kicks the bucket.

 

[Chuck]

LOL My guess KOFY will probably be auctioned off and parted out when Russell finally kicks the bucket.

I suspect you'd have more fun and less problems by putting the money in a new car...