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KOKY

K

Keef59

Guest
Citadel says it now plans to dump KOKY and keep KARN-FM. All part of the divestiture requirements to make the ABC deal happen. With Power 92's declining ratings, and KOKY's continued strong showing, is this any surprise? Broadway Joe's wardrobe is being financed via slashing Sonta and Mark Dylan.
 
While Citadel is taking KARN-FM out of the trust and putting KOKY in, remember that it still may not mean KOKY is being divested. It certainly could mean that, but it's far from a given. Citadel may have figured out that it would be easier to put a station that operates relatively separately from everything else into the trust as opposed to having to put a stick without a format in, which is what would have happened had they gone ahead and put KARN-FM into the trust. After all, when a station is put into a trust, it must be operated completely separately from the rest of the cluster. That means no simulcasts unless the station being simulcast is also operated by the trust. From a simple logistical standpoint, getting either a new format for KARN-FM when it goes into the trust or temporarily moving KARN into the trustee's location would have been impossible. Citadel, by the way, did something similar in Oklahoma City; they moved KKWD to 104.9, which was put into the trust, because 104.9 could no longer simulcast WWLS after being placed into the trust.

What you have is one of three scenarios, but which one is anybody's guess. Scenario A: Citadel realized it couldn't get what it wanted by putting 102.9 in the trust and decided it needed to sweeten the offer by ponying up KOKY instead. Scenario B: Citadel will divest the 102.1 signal only and keep the KOKY format, which moves to 102.9 when the new owner comes. Scenario C: Citadel puts KOKY in the trust but still divests 102.9 only to take KOKY back when the new owner closes on 102.9 and the Praise stations.
 
I have always thought that divesting the 102.1 frequency and putting KOKY and its' popular format on the stronger 102.9 frequency and returning KARN to just AM 920 operation made the most sense. With this plan, Citadel gets the most bang for its' buck. Citadel gets to keep the stronger signals, while losing the Class As; Put the KOKY format into Pine Bluff and Hot Springs with 102.9; and all the while not really hurting KARN ratings. 10 years ago, KARN was #2, 3, or 4 in the ratings with only being on 920 AM. Now, it still is pretty much in the same condition ratings wise with both AM and FM operation. People who want to listen to news/talk are accustomed to listening to AM radio anyway.
 
The only problem with KARN being on 920 only is the nighttime coverage to the north where there has been a sizable growth in population in the last 10 years. Even when they had the simulcast on 102.5 it still made a big difference to make the station listenable in the Conway area after dark-which by the way does come pretty early during the winter months. If they lose the simulcast on 102.9, it's too bad they wouldn't consider using the big 1090 signal for the KARN programming and selling time for the God squad on the 5kw signal on 920 where they could still make decent money. That would make too much sense I suppose.
 
Nah. I don't think there would be much interest by these regionally based preachers to buy time on a station that only serves a few central Arkansas counties. Nor would it be particularly valuable to put local origination news-talk on a stick that booms out across the mid-South. The current arrangement is preferable.
 
I may be wrong on this - and if someone else knows better please let me know, but KARN-920 AM was directional at night in order to protect KLCN-910 AM in NE Ark. Since then, KLCN has demolished its' 4 tower directional array and is non-directional day and only has flea power at night. They might be able to upgrade the signal on 920 AM, but it would take some hard figuring in order to do this. KVCE-1160 AM in Highland Park (Dallas), TX a few years back upgraded its' signal and it booms into Dallas during the day. It might be something to think about. But I still think that KOKY will be put on 102.9 and KARN will be on 920 AM.
 
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