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KOHO 101.1 will flip to NWPB Jazz

dxsphere

dxsphere

KOHO 101.1 was donated to the Sleepy Lady Foundation and has entered an agreement with NWPB to operate the station. On Monday April 19, the station will flip to NWPB's Jazz format based at 89.9 KJEM.

radioinsight.com

KOHO-FM To Join NWPB’s Jazz Network

With the upcoming closing of the donation of AC 101.1 KOHO-FM Leavenworth/Wenatchee WA from Icicle Broadcasting to Sleeping Lady Foundation,
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
Andy Travis said:
Love public radio, but KOHO was a unique station, and it will be missed in its current format. Unique blend of music for sure.
Click to expand...
I agree, it was a pretty good station. When I was going to school in Ellensburg, I used to listen to KOHO on the way back to Moses Lake from George until Dodson Road exit (164) when KPLW's translator would take over.
 
Same with what Kyle is saying - I'll definitely be streaming KOHO here and there up to the KJEM-89.9 flip next week. A unique station that will be missed in Wenatchee. I believe they used to be jazz (or smooth jazz) way back in the early '00s or late '90s.
 
I was surprised to hear Chris Hanson this morning but it appears to be pre-recorded filler. (The studio camera is now gone too.) All local spots have been remived under the Foundation. Station announcements of the format change hint at local content but I doubt it. I suspect it will be an all-Pullman rebroadcast. No need to carry the baggage of local real estate, Since the announcement of the Icicle donation the radio staff knew their days were numbered.

From all points of view (and sounds) the old KOHO is no more. NWPB just has to flip the "jazz" switch on the console,.
 
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They flipped a day early. Jazz is on KOHO's stream as of 4:00 PM on Easter Sunday. Last song, whenever it was, was 'Cool Kids' by Echosmith. Then 'Ants Marching' Dave Matthews Band, 'Don't Wanna Know' Maroon 5, 'Beautiful' Bazzl and 'One Night' by Griff.

RIP KOHO Radio, 1999-2022.

If anyone wants an aircheck from their final week of broadcasting, I have a 7-9AM aircheck from April 15th that I can post up here or on the Internet Archive soon.

Anyone who misses KOHO can try KPND 95.3 in Deer Park/Coeur D'Alene. You won't be disappointed.
 
I caught the 2 pm TOTH ID from KOHO 101 in George today.
 
crainbebo said:
They flipped a day early. Jazz is on KOHO's stream as of 4:00 PM on Easter Sunday. Last song, whenever it was, was 'Cool Kids' by Echosmith. Then 'Ants Marching' Dave Matthews Band, 'Don't Wanna Know' Maroon 5, 'Beautiful' Bazzl and 'One Night' by Griff.
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Not quite - I'm hearing AC on KOHO's stream as of 22:24 PT. What you heard at 4 pm was either a preview or an error that was corrected.

Also, for whoever edited the Wikipedia article, KOHO is being transferred to the Sleepy Lady Foundation, and will be operated by NWPB/WSU per agreement, but WSU will NOT own KOHO outright when the flip occurs. This means that some point down the road, KOHO could technically break off from NWPB and flip back to the old format - or on the other hand - WSU could outright acquire it. Either way, I would LOVE to see an HD Radio upgrade for KOHO, with the current/old format put on HD2.

When the flip does occur, the Wikipedia article should state
Owner Icicle Broadcasting, Inc. (pending transfer to Sleepy Lady Foundation)
Operator Washington State University
 
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I have been editing that Wikipedia article to reflect the KOHO flip. Anyone else can edit it to reflect more of the basis for the flip.

Yikes, I figured KOHO did flip. Maybe they were 'previewing' KJEM on KOHO earlier...
 
I went back to George today and heard good 'ol KOHO. On its last full day too.
 
In a way, going to jazz brings things pretty close to full circle. When KOHO first got going, they had a live AM show hosted by a musician, who would play guitar and mandolin live and interview local guests. The studio was kind of amazing- with recording studio level equipment that would make no sense normally. The studio was on Harriet Bullitt's resort property, Sleeping Lady Resort, about 3 miles S of Leavenworth. They had a local news guy, and otherwise played a mix of (automated) Americana, smooth jazz and AAA. After 6 it was classical. Not commercially viable of course, but as a plaything of a wealthy lady it was pretty cool. Sleeping Lady hosts a lot of musical events, and they recorded many of these for later airplay. It was a commercial station in theory, but.

She bought KOZI in Chelan and Z-Country in Wenatchee, mainly to keep them in local hands. I knew change was on the way when she told my wife and I on a visit to the resort that she was consolidating operations in "the city" and that she needed the stations to "carry their own weight" if I remember correctly. She also asked me what I knew about radio sales, and I replied truthfully "not enough to help here..."

Anyway, KOHO went to Hot AC and was frankly pretty awful. A lot of the actual energy and talent (like sometime poster here Randy Roadz) was diverted more towards the country station and even little KOZI. KOHO stumbled along as an afterthought for quite some time there. More recently, they have started to move into a more interesting programming space, but at this point the lady found local buyers for the other two properties (like she always wanted I think) and she has a succession plan in place for all of her various endeavors. Sleeping Lady Foundation holds the license for now, but would not be shocked to see it donated at some point to WSU Regents/NWPB in exchange for scads of underwriting messages for the Foundation and it's causes/events. The resort has been a huge sponsor of NWPB for years already.

And, yes, it was KING Broadcasting money that bought all of this.
 
It was AAA up to about noon or so, and after getting out of the student teaching period around 3:00 I noted jazz. KJEM is probably on 101.1 for good at this point...
KOHO used to be KLVH in the '90s. Were they owned by somebody else at that point? I believe the FM Atlas said it had a jazz format of some type - smooth jazz? KJEM-type jazz?

"She bought KOZI in Chelan" = probably why Joe Michaels (former KING-TV announcer) is STILL heard here and there with sweepers and IDs for Community Radio KOZI. What a great station that is...it's like a throwback. Full service and still plays soft rock songs from the '70s. They added Delilah at night recently (it was during COVID).
 
I wonder if they're "previewing" the Jazz format again. It's a good idea to wait on any Wikipedia edits until at least tomorrow, just in case the AC/AAA format comes back.

Edit 19:02 PT - Whatever's playing on KOHO is NOT a simulcast of KJEM. Currently, KOHO is playing John Coltrane / Giant Steps while KJEM is playing Ike Quebec / Willow Weep for Me.

Edit 19:05 PT - NWPB is currently originating programming on KOHO, but it's directed locally, separate from KJEM. I'm curious as to whether this is another preview and whether KOHO will directly simulcast KJEM or be separate.
 
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As of 2100 hrs., KOHO is back with its old format. The flip hasn't yet happened. Tomorrow's the day though.
 
Thanks for the alert.

Some OT stuff
Meanwhile, KWDR-93.5 in Royal City has been running dead air for over a week now. No one has bothered to go up to Saddle Mountain and fix it. I *believe* K272ED 102.3 is still running regular format, but I can barely get a trace in the Quincy Valley.
I always travel down from Ryegrass to get into Quincy, it is interesting to hear the change in conditions day by day. Sometimes 104.3 Pullman is strong and steady a good chunk of the way, other times it's weak. Today, Lewiston wasn't in at all, and Spokane was stronger. KEWU beat out the Moses Lake translator on 89.5 for a few miles.
 
I think K272ED is still up - I can get it here in Moses Lake occasionally along with KWRL.

The 89.5 translator here (K208BY) has been off the air for a few months pending sale to Riverview Baptist Church (KOLU); I can get KEWU and KSOH depending on where I'm at.

Ryegrass is quite an interesting place - at the eastbound rest area, you can get Seattle, Spokane and the Palouse, while at the westbound rest area, you can get Portland, Seattle and occasionally Spokane and the Palouse.

Have you ever DXed along the Vantage Highway? There are three west side hotspots along the right side of the road before you get to Beacon Ridge: 46.984130 -120.265181 (Seattle/Victoria BC), 46.977636 -120.243709 (Portland OR), and 46.976865 -120.239019 (Seattle/Tacoma). The Wild Horse visitor centre is a big Spokane/Tri Cities hotspot if you haven't been there before - it's open April-November.

Across the river to the east, the westbound (headed toward Ellensburg) vista point at Exit 139 is a Portland hotspot. The eastbound vista point where the statues are is a Tri-Cities hotspot.
 
One last fish tale. Early on in the web 1.0 world, KOHO's website indicated that they were broadcasting with 100,000 watts and their coverage map looked suspiciously like KPQ-FMs. That info didn't stay up all that long. If true it sure would be interesting news to the feds!
 
KOHO's stream just went silent after the midnight TOTH ID. I believe it has now flipped, although I'm not 100% sure. KOHO doesn't come in over here thanks to a stupid translator out of Ephrata.
 
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