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KIKK has rebranded

P

purpledevil

Guest
Now known as "Talk 650, a presentation of CBS Radio" KIKK has dropped the CNN audio feed and has now positioned itself as a full time talk staton. I never liked listening to the CNN feed on 650 personally, and believe this is a much better representation of what KIKK has become over the last year. There is a lot of competition in the AM talk format, but hopefully KIKK can make its own unique mark on the community. With Brent Clanton in the morning drive, they definitely have a formidable show that should compete strongly with stations like KPRC and KSEV. Good luck to all those affiliated with KIKK.
 
Now...if the engineering staff just gave a damn about the audio on the station...they could compete!
 
With only 250 watts, it's an uphill daytime battle.

Isn't 650 AM a clear channel daytimer anymore? It was when I worked there in the late 60s, and on 300 watts it covered Houston and 9 or 10 neighboring counties. We had listeners in Beaumont, College Station and Columbus.
 
KIKK has one of the most remarkable signals in the country. That 250 watts on that frequency still covers many hundreds of square miles of upper Texas coast. Now if they could just graduate up from that Level Devil/Sta Max combination, they might sound pretty good.
 
RonParker said:
Gee, Do you think that they have the Sta Max set to "Double Recovery" time?
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Well, Ron...it's like this. When Tindle walks by it, he puts it on "Double Recovery." When Woodard walks by, he flips it back down to "Single Recovery."
 
I worked there on two separate occasions. 1st in 1975 and I was there across the hall from KIKK while I was on 95.7 The Wave from 2002-2007. I can't tell you how many times, I had to sign it on, because nobody bothered to show up for their shift and sign it on. Therefore, I did.

Now back to the signal. Since the time when it could get out really good, there has been a large encroachment of signal degradation due to electrical interference from many sources including computers. If your stuck in traffic under an overpass, good-bye signal. Go through downtown Houston in the canyons of the buildings you will here a lot of interference. Additionally, years ago there were only three stations on 650: WSM Nashville, KIAK Anchorage, and KIKK Pasadena. More stations have cropped up on 650 which adds into the degradation.

The inconsistent sign-on time doesn't help either, From September through February, KIKK signs on at or after 7AM. The exception to this, is the change over time from Daylight Saving, 7:45AM to Central Standard when the sign on is at 6:45AM. In December it's 7:15AM.

Sign-off times from October through March is all before 7PM. November and December it's 5:30 and January it signs off at 5:45PM.

Now, if it will continue to webcast, it could do a great job, especially with Brent Clanton in the morning.


 
I was able to pick up KIKK on the way to work in Port Arthur this morning. It came it fairly well.
 
As usual, Chuck Tiller has nailed it. The KIKK clear channel status certainly helps, but the 250 watt signal simply can't penetrate all the ambient interference factors. KSKY in Dallas has 20 KW.

KIKK desperately needs a CP at least go to 1 KW as the cheapest move, or, more effectively, set up a directional tower complex on the north side to blast into town while protecting KSKY. Unfortunately, that takes $$$. Buddy, can I borrow a mill . . .
 
That is the most random schedule ever. Just stick Clark Howard wherever there's a hole. And they expect viewers to be able follow along? Um, no ....
 
intx said:
That is the most random schedule ever. Just stick Clark Howard wherever there's a hole. And they expect viewers to be able follow along? Um, no ....
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No different from plugging in CNN whenever there isn't a brokered show. Sounds like they're getting Clark cheaper.
 
KIKK has a good signal but poor programming. If CBS treats this as their dumpster, maybe someone else (a non-profit) might appreciate it. Houston Public Radio can use this as KUHA for the daytime news/talk programming currently on HD-2 during their Classical daypart. Sound quality may not be as good for the public radio listeners used to FM, but it is better than nothing since most don't have HD radios in their cars or homes but most radios have AM.
 
Interestingly, Talk 650 is now carrying CBS news programming throughout the day but sadly they are only carrying the first five minutes of CBS World News Roundup...it's refreshing to hear a CBS network radio newscast for a change...I can't bear to listen to Faux and HLN's translation to radio was always tough to listen to without the ability to view the visuals...
 
radiobop said:
Interestingly, Talk 650 is now carrying CBS news programming throughout the day but sadly they are only carrying the first five minutes of CBS World News Roundup...it's refreshing to hear a CBS network radio newscast for a change...
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Really? I'll try to catch it at the hour once it's back on in the morning. Too bad KTRH isn't owned by CBS Radio otherwise we'd have a half-way decent news/talk station with the network/local hourly news updates.
 
fredcantu said:
XERCG in Cd. Acuña, Coahuila recently moved from 1600 to 650 and bumped up its power to 5kw.
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Supposedly XERCG made the move in 2006, but the power increase (from 1kW?) does appear to be recent. I've seen a couple of mentions that the station is operating at night, but the power level isn't known. In any event this would certainly complicate any proposed daytime upgrade for KIKK. One more station that might also come into play is KTIB over in Thibodaux, which would require adjacent channel protection.
 
Long story short (as the legend for many, many years has gone): as long as there is a WSM on 650, there won't be ANY kind of changes...as far as a power increase, or increase in hours goes...for KIKK as long as it is on 650.

As I recall, somebody (maybe Leroy Gloger himself) pissed-off someone at WSM. Ever since then, they have kept an eagle eye on the 650 kHz frequency licensed to Pasadena, Texas.

Speaking of signal...I listened to KIKK all the way from Houston to Beaumont Saturday afternoon (yesterday afternoon) with no problem whatsoever.

Oh...and it sounds like they may have tweaked the audio some!
 
radiobop said:
I can't bear to listen to Faux and HLN's translation to radio was always tough to listen to without the ability to view the visuals...
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KIKK was the terrestrial version of a news channel on the satellite radio services. The anchors should consider about the radio audience too but it's no substitute for a radio-based all news channel.
 
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