KLRK Technical problems, anyone?

[radioguyntx]

I notice that 92.9 goes off the air CONSTANTLY, at least once a month. They were off most of the night about a week ago. Off air, but had a carrier. Now yesterday, on the way to work I was channel surfing looking for a station to listen to. And they were off air, I was like huh, bad luck, eh... Figured they would be back up later that day, checked all day long, into last night... nothing. But they're back today.. Other than them being on/off all the time, I think it is a great station, plays good music, a mix of everything I like.

So this brings me to my question, what would cause something like this, well other than the fact of a crappy eng?

As always thanks for listening to me babble on, and ask (probably stupid) questions.

-RG
*Note* I don't know where this belongs, so if it is in the wrong place, please move it.*

 

[kb5tmd]

Is KLRK from Waco?

 

[charles123]

Is KLRK from Waco?

never heard of this station

 

[radioguyntx]

yes, it is in waco.. Star 92.9

 

[rbrucecarter5]

yes, it is in waco.. Star 92.9

There is no trace of them in Plano unless there is skip. The frequency is dominated by KNIN, which is so strong I have it on a preset in my car. KBEZ Tulsa comes in more regularly than the Waco station.

 

[greg.hahn]

So this brings me to my question, what would cause something like this, well other than the fact of a crappy eng?

Crappy management.

The engineer isn't going to shell out the bucks from his own pocket to fix something, and very often management doesn't want to pay either. So you end up with situations like this. (I'm not saying that's the case here, because it could be anything.)

Or....maybe it's just a combination of poor resources and bad luck. Let's say their primary STL failed last week, and they had no immediate backup. (No backup equipment is almost always a management issue.)

So their poor engineer gets a loaner from someplace, which is an old unit that worked great for 18 years before it was pulled from service, and now it's what somebody calls a backup. And it fails the first day.

That would fit your description, and possibly not a bit of it is the engineer's fault.

Maybe the primary STL fails a lot. Maybe the GM goes to the NAB show (he would never pay for his engineer to go) and finds some STL manufacturer from Europe that is half the price of a Moseley or Harris or BE. And that's the STL that always craps out.

Or maybe he has good equipment, on a T1, and he negotiated a deal with some cheapie phone company to provide T1 services, and they aren't at all reliable, and they only have two technicians for the whole state of Texas.

Maybe the the automation crashes. Maybe they run unattended, and don't even know it's off the air, because the GM and the PD are out on the GM's boat getting drunk.

Maybe the automation is crashing because the PD didn't do the logs right, and didn't even check them because he was high on drugs.

Lousy bums. No wonder radio is in such a mess!

 

[purpledevil]

I believe there is still an application to move KLRK/Marlin to 97.5 and KWTX/Waco to 92.9. Can't seem to find it in the FCC site, but I remember this one being filed a couple years back.

 

[radioguyntx]

That's a new one to me... One other thing I have noticed is that KLRK 's audio is, well what's the word I am looking for? .. It's not as loud or as crisp as the other stations around. Lets say I have it on 102.5 (KBRQ) the volume is at 15 and im enjoying the music, Now I switch over to 92.9 (KLRK) I have to turn it up to 20 before it is as loud as KBRQ was, and even then it doesn't sound as good. Don't get me wrong, I love the music, it's what Waco needed for a long time. It's a good station, it just needs to iron out the wrinkles technically before they loose listeners. (If they haven't already)

 

[War Of Attrition]

I believe there is still an application to move KLRK/Marlin to 97.5 and KWTX/Waco to 92.9.

This whole thread should really be on the Texas board, but what you are thinking of is a docket from 6 or 7 years ago.

Perhaps Chip could add to this discussion. The submitted docket involved moving around something like 20 stations. The goal was to move another full-market signal into San Antonio (can't remember the frequency) and Austin (Lakeway) at 97.3, thus requiring KWTX in Waco to power down. The plan also involved moving KLAK into DFW (Keller) as a rimshot.

If I recall, KLRK was to change City-of-License to Waco and broadcast from the Clear Channel tower at their Waco studios as a C2 while KWTX would downgrade to a Class A in Marlin with Clear Channel taking the much better 92.9 signal.

The whole deal hasn't been touched in a while and is likely dead.

 

[radioguyntx]

I thought Simmons media owned KLRK, how would they broadcast from the clearchannel tower? Also, how is 92.9 a better signal? As I stated above, 97.5, 99.9 and 102.5 have a much better sound to them than 92.9...

 

[Kent]

I thought Simmons media owned KLRK, how would they broadcast from the clearchannel tower?

Happens all-the-time. Most tower sites have multiple tenants. So, Clear Channel would probably just let Simmons use one of its towers in exchange for its consent to modify its station.

Also, how is 92.9 a better signal? As I stated above, 97.5, 99.9 and 102.5 have a much better sound to them than 92.9...

I don't remember all of the changes requested, but it is possible that 92.9 may have ended up a better signal than 97.5 once everything was done. It doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon, though. I've heard the issue isn't completely dead in that there was a northern set of proposed changes and a southern set, and they could be done independently of each other. It was the northern set of changes, which would have resulted in KLAK 97.5 being moved to Keller, that was dismissed as defective. I believe that was because the former owner of 93.7 had originally agreed to downgrade the station to a C2 only to never file the application. So, the southern set of changes, which included moving KWTX to Lakeway at 97.3 and KLTO to Converse, might still be doable. However, this proposal was first made in either late 2000 or early '01, and there have been no further filings since the combined set of changes was dismissed.