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Kansas KLOE Goodland silent

Moreover, HD is not all that common in rural areas
I am surprised. If you have an AM station with a translator that is not "tied" to the AM licence and a class A, B, or C FM in the same town, it would be much cheaper to put the translator on HD 2 rather than pay the electric bill for the AM. The only exception could possibly be in an area where the soil conductivity is excellent and your AM's coverage is strong enough that the translator can legally have coverage farther than the 60 DM of the FM. I don't know if any such an operation but if there is such an operation please chime in.
 
This station was a part of the collapse of Rocking M Media in 2022, so hopefully the new licensee is better capitalized or has adequate insurance to make repairs.
I am not sure of the timing but this station being a class D, they should have had an easy time getting a translator. The engineering would have been easy. Just go to radio-locator* enter Goodland KS and use 100 or 150 miles. Lots of "holes".

* I know there is FCCdata.org but I believe the average "non radio experienced" person would find this easier. Of course if you are filing something with the FCC would have to use their site. I wish I knew about FCCdata the last time I did due diligence. It would have saved time finding stuff on the FCC site.
 
I am not sure of the timing but this station being a class D, they should have had an easy time getting a translator. The engineering would have been easy. Just go to radio-locator* enter Goodland KS and use 100 or 150 miles. Lots of "holes".

* I know there is FCCdata.org but I believe the average "non radio experienced" person would find this easier. Of course if you are filing something with the FCC would have to use their site. I wish I knew about FCCdata the last time I did due diligence. It would have saved time finding stuff on the FCC site.

They could have applied in the last windows.

They didn't.

There is no way to rectify that after the fact, at least until/unless the FCC opens a new translator window.
 
Like I said someone messed up. If it was the "Rocking Horse" folks it would not surprise me. Anyone who buys an established station in a "non rated" market and believes they will double revenue in a year with superior programming should be running stations in big markets if it can be done. The last I station I believe did it was WHTZ.
 
KLOE and KNAB were big rivals in the 70’s and early 80’s. KLOE was also one of the last AT-40 affiliates on AM with the affiliation lasting into the early 90’s. The friend and former co-worker who had previously worked at KLOE was always proud of his association with the station, even if the bulk of his ideas programming the station didn’t survive his tenure there.

The KKCI calls, by the way, date back to Bott ownership of the facility. The licenses for it and 107.7 were awarded at roughly the same time, and Bott unloaded 102.5 once it was clear that station would also be religious.

I haven’t driven through that area in almost 25 years, but I remember seeing what looked like large golf balls with “730/102.5” written on them every few miles on the north side of I-70 in Sherman County. Are those still around?
Yes, I saw one of those "golf balls" just last weekend during my annual drive through western Kansas on I-70 for the holidays.
 
This should be a "wake up" to any AM owner. Inspect the ceramic insulators on your tower frequently. Sometimes you get lucky and there is a visible crack. I personally believe a shunt (grounded) tower is the future. No "Austin ring transformer" (isolator) type device required for any future tenants.

I know an operator that got a bank loan to get his tower "upgraded" (replaced sections with a bigger size sections). He has 2 of the big three cellular operators as tenants plus some of the local law and emergency services too. He told me that the rent covers a large part of his expenses.
 
This is in response to radiofan2023's questions about the KXXX control room. I was an announcer at KXXX many, many years ago, in the 60's and 70's. The stations chief engineer, Vern Snyder, was a perfectionist, and the control room reflected that.

The mirror's purpose was to allow the person at the Collins console to see into the three broadcast booths at the back of the control room. Remember, this was back in the day of hand signals between the on air staff and the person at the console.

KXXX had six broadcast booths; three to the rear of the control room, a large area to the front of the control room for groups, the cupola seen above the building, and finally a recording/editing area that was not visible at the console.

When I was at KXXX, the graphic sheet wasn't present, but I believe it's related to the rather complicated procedure that was required in the event that something brought the remote transmitter down. Vern designed a rotary dial system that used a dedicated phone line to the transmitter to bring the unit up, shut it down, and adjust the frequency.

The entire control room looks very different now. The main thing I noticed is the lack of more than 20 reel to reel machines in the huge rack to the right of the console. Back then, most commercial content was on 1/4" tapes, and had to be mounted and cued on the machines. The console operator then started the machines as needed. Also missing are the two huge turntables that were to the left of the console. They were able to handle the 18-20" vinyl platters that were used for 60 minute syndicated shows back then, as well as the 45's and 33's for music.

KXXX has a rich history, While I was there, we were visited by the likes of Walter Cronkite, Doug Edwards, Harry Reasoner, and Charles Karalt. I was in awe of Cronkite, Edwards, and Reasoner, but Karalt was my favorite. He was just 'one of the guys'.

Interestingly, I also had the opportunity to work at KLOE AM-TV in Goodland for a time, before leaving broadcasting.
 
This is in response to radiofan2023's questions about the KXXX control room. I was an announcer at KXXX many, many years ago, in the 60's and 70's. The stations chief engineer, Vern Snyder, was a perfectionist, and the control room reflected that.

The mirror's purpose was to allow the person at the Collins console to see into the three broadcast booths at the back of the control room. Remember, this was back in the day of hand signals between the on air staff and the person at the console.

KXXX had six broadcast booths; three to the rear of the control room, a large area to the front of the control room for groups, the cupola seen above the building, and finally a recording/editing area that was not visible at the console.

When I was at KXXX, the graphic sheet wasn't present, but I believe it's related to the rather complicated procedure that was required in the event that something brought the remote transmitter down. Vern designed a rotary dial system that used a dedicated phone line to the transmitter to bring the unit up, shut it down, and adjust the frequency.

The entire control room looks very different now. The main thing I noticed is the lack of more than 20 reel to reel machines in the huge rack to the right of the console. Back then, most commercial content was on 1/4" tapes, and had to be mounted and cued on the machines. The console operator then started the machines as needed. Also missing are the two huge turntables that were to the left of the console. They were able to handle the 18-20" vinyl platters that were used for 60 minute syndicated shows back then, as well as the 45's and 33's for music.

KXXX has a rich history, While I was there, we were visited by the likes of Walter Cronkite, Doug Edwards, Harry Reasoner, and Charles Karalt. I was in awe of Cronkite, Edwards, and Reasoner, but Karalt was my favorite. He was just 'one of the guys'.

Interestingly, I also had the opportunity to work at KLOE AM-TV in Goodland for a time, before leaving broadcasting.
Thanks for the info! I've never heard of a station with 20 reel to reel machines before. Was the console linked to every broadcast booth?
 
There were a ton of the reel to reel machines, for sure. They were a little bigger than 4u size, I believe, with four rows of five machines in the rack.

The Collins console controlled everything, in all locations. The broadcast booths each had an EV mic and a cough switch, nothing else. The big studio had RCA ribbon mics. It was used almost daily for live music by none other than 'Doc and Esther'. I wish I had a few of those RCAs today.

The teletype room was something to marvel at as well. We had multiple AP ad UPI units, as well as a monstrous weather service machine. I seem to remember it was connected to ESSA.

A lot of folks in broadcasting who stopped in for a tour were shocked at the facility and it's equipment, as well as the large number of people who worked there. There were seven on air personalities, program director, a weather man, three copywriters, five salesmen, mailroom staff, a general manager, receptionist, phone girl, and the big boss. I forgot to mention the two 1st class engineers.
 
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KKCI becomes KLOE, not a surprise exactly

 


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