KMCQ On

[ty]

Testing, after hours, signal here is great, with very little multipath. Heading over the slope of a west facing hill, a nice knife edge effect in Sumner.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

Good signal here on the west hill of Kent/Des Moines area. Kinda distorted during some songs.

On the adjacents, 104.3 KAFE and 104.7 KDUX (on my good tuner) are getting oblitterated, where there used to be a decent signal.

Several questions on my mind, Just out of curiosity...

How is the station sounding in Seattle and Mercer Island, with KMIH in the neighborhood? Is it obliterating KMIH or is KMIH obliterating it once you get to that part of the area? Speaking of which... Meanwhile over at their website, http://www.x104.fm, they are announcing a brand new web page coming. Perhaps for their new home on 88.9FM. Anybody know if the frequency swaps are happening real soon now that KMCQ is testing, with 104.1/104.3 situation in Bellingham and Naniamo, and with KMIH and KASB? Are they doing this test to see how it will affect KAFE and other adjacent stations? Anybody have a signal report from that area?

To anyone who didn't catch the test broadcast or can't hear it, they are playing oldies/classic hits right now, crossfading between songs with no commercials or promos, and an hourly ID. Seems to be a popular "test format" when testing a new radio station. This is the 4th time i've heard a new radio station use the format for their initial test broadcasts, even when it's not their final format when they officially come on the air permanently. They'll probably come back on to do testing again later tonight if they stop during the day. They are also periodically shutting the transmitter off and then turning it back on at random times for short periods (part of the testing process I suppose).

I am recording the test broadcast right now as I speak. Glad to see there's now finally some big movement with this whole thing...

 

[FMSteve]

I had a really bad dream last night. In the dream X104 started playing Journey "wheel in the sky" . Then I woke up to Hip-Hop and R & B. This is weird.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

KMCQ is back on the air testing tonight.... Except get this! Tonight they are grabbing a feed from KMIH and rebroadcasting it, except for KMCQ breaking in on the top of the hour with their own ID. I am too far south to normally recieve KMIH even in the best conditions, so I knew at first it had to be KMCQ rebroadcasting them. That and the signal is once again going on and off whenever they mess with the transmitter. I guess this might calm down some complaints that may have come from the testing last night. Pretty neat how they arranged this, however they arranged it with Mercer Island High School. Probably the least KMCQ could do, after this whole mess with them moving into the market came about, and then (rudely) powering up on top of KMIH last night. So looks like, at least temporarially (and sporadically), X104 is getting some bonus coverage in the market.

You can rest easy tonight FMSteve. No more of those nightmares of Journey playing on X104...

 

[FMSteve]

Wow! How did they do that? Hip-Hop for South County! I guess that would be the gentlemanly thing to do, seeing as though they're bumping Mercer Island to another channel. I guess we'll just have to wait until poverty rock lights off on 88.9.

 

[KentMcN]

I listened to it last night too. A good signal in my car, but in my house I didn't recieve it too well on my Stereo in my living room and bedroom, but it came in good on my portable Cd player with my clock radio. I live in Federal Way and it wasn't drowning out KAFE at all when I listened to it in my car. It was really funny that they used KMIH last night to test, but I think they did it for respect for taking over their frequency, which I felt KMIH should have never been on 104.5 in the first place. I wonder when KMCQ will sign on for good and what format it will be?

 

[radioplayer]

Sounds like a real flame thrower coming up from the Enumclaw transmitter site right now. The tests started just after 8pm...that GM over at KMIH is a genius for working out such a slick arrangement with a big time commercial operation like First....! amazing to see a HS station like this perform with the big guys. they deserve all the respect in the world for this. I'm impressed!

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

According to nwbroadcasters.com, it looks like they will be doing this arrangement at least for the next few days. While KMCQ is up and testing, KMIH will be powering down their transmitter to allow for the field strength tests.

I noticed tonight now the signal sometimes slowly gets worse and then slowly gets better, with them tweaking the transmitter power. I'm imagining this image of a couple engineers at the site, turning the transmitter off, climbing up the tower to move the antenna slightly, climbing back down, turning the transmitter back on, talking to one of the other engineers out in the field miles away by nextel going "can you hear it now? is it good now? good!", then repeating the process over and over again. Too bad they don't give the listeners an e-mail address or phone number to call to give their own signal reports. Also too bad it's only temporary at the Enumclaw site. They'll have to do the field strength testing all over again when or if they eventually move to Cougar Mountain, pending the outcome of the KAFE/Nanaimo situation and/or if KDUX takes any kind of action.

 

[KentMcN]

Does anybody know when KMIH and KASB are going to change frequencies, and are they working on it?

 

[searadiofreak]

So, the million dollar question...any speculation as to what this station will be doing formatically?

 

[notalent]

this station does not need to do anything formatically,

It just needs to sell to the highest bidder.

 

[searadiofreak]

Yes, but it's never too early for the speculation to begin...

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

There was talk some time ago of Clear Channel wanting the station, but with them selling off stations left and right recently IMO I doubt that they might still want it.  If they did get it I'd think they'd probably move Funky Monkey to 104.5 and sell off 104.9.  Could also make the station Urban or "Extreme" hip-hop, which I think would fill a small format hole in the market.

I think Bonneville still wanted an FM talk station in the market but did not want it on KBSG.  Not sure if they'd want to shell out that many bucks for the station though.

Bustos could be another possibility, with another spanish format on the FM dial.

CBS Radio... I don't have any idea of a format they could try on the station if they got their hands on it.  Maybe a Soft Rock/Lite AC format to compete with Warm, or another FM Talk "Free FM" outlet. 

Entercom, Fisher, or Saudusky....nah.  Don't think so.  Stranger things have happened though...

If none of them are interested we could see a new player in the market, like Citadel or Emmis.  No clue on what formats they would prefer, other than something to compete with KUBE.

Alot of christian broadcasters would probably love to get their hands on the station, with another K-Love or Way-FM station or something similar (then turn around and create a bunch of translators feeding off the station from here to Neah Bay).

Does anyone know if they are trying to sell the station now?  Or if they are waiting until they can get it up to Cougar Mountain before selling it?

 

[radioplayer]

Stephen,

The logical thing would be to hang onto this property until all the details are worked out and First Broadcasting gets the station truly "into" the Seattle Market by way of Cougar Mtn. The value of this move alone would net them an easy 10 to 15 Million more, even if they had to reduce power a little to accommodate such a move.

Right now even without programming and being on the air they are worth big bucks, but it's a long way from truly wringing out all the money. If I owned the station, I'd sit on this and play it out. The potential between what it's worth today versus 2 years from now could be anywhere from 30% to even double what it is today. It's all going to depend on what Canada and KAFE will settle for. Once the dust clears, the station will be very valuable indeed.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

I was thinking the same thing.  KMCQ could probably put a temporary format on the air, just to satisfy the FCC when their license goes from constuction status to full service and sell a few spots, and make a few thousand bucks before the station is sold and moved, or even continue broadcasting Mercer Island's KMIH until they are sold, where KMIH would have a temporary simulcast on both 104.5 and 88.9.  It's kind of a "stay tuned" situation I guess. Anything could happen between now and when the dust settles on the Canada/KAFE situation. If a major broadcaster were to purchase the station right away before the move to Cougar Mtn., it would be sort of a gamble.

 

[KentMcN]

I doubt KMCQ will be sold or move to Cougar Mountain. Who started this stupid rumor anyway, someone who works for Clear Channel?

 

[tillman]

Don't they start most of them?

 

[Shiny Knob]

I doubt KMCQ will be sold or move to Cougar Mountain. Who started this stupid rumor anyway, someone who works for Clear Channel?

Actually, KMCQ's alternate proposal for a station in Kent shows the Ackerley Tower as their transmission site. You're not supposed to file such things with the FCC unless you have reasonable assurance that the site is available.

One has to assume they had such reasonable assurance, considering the litigation surrounding the applications on behalf of KMCQ.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

If I recall (I think it was a P-I article), there was something in the sales contract between Mid-Columbia and First, saying that the seller (Mid-Columbia) would receive more money for the station if buyer (whoever buys it from First) started operating on Cougar Mountain...

EDIT: Found the article right here... http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/300075_radiobeat18.html

 

[radioplayer]

I doubt KMCQ will be sold or move to Cougar Mountain. Who started this stupid rumor anyway, someone who works for Clear Channel?

KentMcn:

You ought to check out First Broadcasting's website and do some homework on this subject. This company SPECIALIZES in yanking up stations from far away and then tries to "rimshot" them into larger metros all over the U.S. After setting up the "move", they sell. It's a cash cow business for them....kinda like picking up a house in say, small town eastern Washington and driving it west on I-90. Park it just about anywhere in King Co. or better yet, along the shores of lake Washington with a place to park and presto! That house is now worth a million or two, even though you got it for a cool 150K back on the other side of the cascades.

First Broadcasting will go through the halls the Congress and the floors of 12th St NW and beyond to get this move finalized in such a way that it nets them the highest dollar $$ amount possible. They will gladly pay Mid-Columbia their contract fee and anyone else some change if in the end they pick up the lion's share of the cash.

The trick for First is to get that 2K spacing moved up to 4K. If KAFE and Canada say OK, watch for construction activity up at Cougar soon. In the meantime, they’ll light up the KMCQ at Enumclaw and make some more money in the process. You can see my comment on the Oregon page regarding KHAL which is another sham this company will pursue in due time. They're just in it for the $$ cash.

It would be great PR for KMCQ to use KMIH programming too. It might even give them a few more points to later use with the elected political folks in the area.