• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

KPUR 1440 Amarillo,TX ,studio location in 1970

A

alok

I recall in 1970 the studios for KPUR ( a RnR station at the time ) were near I-40 as you headed west thru town Excactly where were they located ?Street name ?
That day they were celebrating a particular high school football team ,they mentioned it on the air and as my wife & I drove by ,heading for California they had ballons all over the place near the studio, with the high school colors.
I-40 was below street level in the area and the studios were right above next to an I-40 overpass ,again to the left as we drove west.
The station sounded good too.

Al
 
The KPUR studios were at the southwest corner of the I-40 East service road at South Grand. Was still there in the 1990's, but apparently torn down sometime after that. Appears there is a standalone Starbucks at that location.

I recall the station from living in Amarillo in the late 70's and early 80's. Good Top 40 format. Had a longtime format battle with KIXZ 940 before that station went Country in 1979.

Not sure when the KPUR Top 40 format disappeared (still had it in 1985.) KPUR was off the air for quite a while in the 1990's due to financial problems. I think they may have been Spanish language for a while before flipping to SportsTalk.

The huge expansion of FM in Amarillo has relegated AM in the market to total irrelevance, with the possible exception of KGNC 710. The market has over three dozen FM signals.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Not sure when the KPUR Top 40 format disappeared (still had it in 1985.) KPUR was off the air for quite a while in the 1990's due to financial problems. I think they may have been Spanish language for a while before flipping to SportsTalk.
Click to expand...

Around 1990, 107.1 was classic rock “The Hawk” KHWK. I don’t remember what was on 1440, but, when KHWK became KPUR-FM and went oldies, 1440 ran some version of Spanish-language programming. Don’t know how long it lasted either.
 
Thanks for reply,

I looked at a historical aerial views of that area in 1967 and it shows three radio towers going in line NW to SE,one map type points out 3 radio towers . . .it is hard to see a building that might be a studio. That is odd because I don't recall seeing the towers in 1970 but I did see the building with cars parked in front on S. Grand ( SW corner at I-40 ) ,with like I said all ballons all over the place up in the air 30 feet of so ,of the school colors they were saluting at the time.

As I said it looks like the transmitter site was there too ??? Again I don't recall seeing towers in 1970.

here is link to historical aerials . . . put in Amarillo,TX ,then locate S. Grand & I-40 ,then choose aerials ,then 1967 in this case . . . to check it out,

https://historicaerials.com/viewer

Al
 
Last edited:
I believe the KPUR transmitter was moved to its current location in the late 1960's. The studio building was in front of a small shopping center as of my first seeing it in 1977, no towers.

The aerial photos from 1967 appear to show towers at the supposed previous site. The Wikipedia reference to the transmitter sites is a little vague as it regards I-40 through Amarillo as the same as Route 66, which it is not (66 goes through the northern part of town, several miles away.)
 
Having been involved with KPUR since I was in high school many tears ago, I can fill in a few blanks. They sponsored an Explorer Scouts post for several years. I was in it.

The land became much more valuable that the radio station in the late 60s &early 70s. Construction of the new transmitter site south of town was begun so that the land (except for the small pad where the studio stood) could be sold for a new Walmart and shopping center. The station was originally KFDA and was on T-Anchor Boulevard before I-40 was constructed. After I-40 it was just west of I-40 and Grand St. on the eastbound service road. It was a three tower array, one tall and two short. 5000 watt omni day and 1000 watt directional at night. The new site was just east of Osage St. and south of Hollywood Road (which would become part of Loop 335). After graduating high school in 1972, I got my first announcer job at KCAN in Canyon just south of Amarillo. After about six month, I had had enough of the lunatic that owned it and quit. When KPUR found out I was available, they hired me part time to assist the new chief engineer, George Taylor. It was my job to setup remote broadcasts using a Marti transmitter and to assist George as needed, especially studio maintenance so as to keep him free to setup the new transmitter site. I already had some electronics training and George was an excellent teacher and engineer.

Eventually in 1990, I ended up there as a contract chief engineer. I had the contract on and off several times due to ownership changes. The last time, I oversaw the relocation of the studios to the building where KLSF-FM was located. In 1993 the old studios were demolished and a Taco Villa restaurant was built in its place. The Starbucks is just east of the old studios. According to Google maps, the Taco Villa is still there. Although at one time it was part of another taco chain that went under (Taco Bueno), it appears to have gone back to Taco Villa.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
The huge expansion of FM in Amarillo has relegated AM in the market to total irrelevance, with the possible exception of KGNC 710. The market has over three dozen FM signals.
Click to expand...
Home to the Metro Survey Area:

16 commercial FMs
5 commercial AMs
2 CPs not on the air.
17 non-commercial stations.
20 translators
4 LPFM station
Total of 58 stations.

Total radio revenue in 2020 was just under $6.8 million. The top 6 take half of the revenue; they are KXGL, KXSS, KGNC, KGNC-FM, KQFX and KMXJ.
 
When I left in Amarillo 1996 there were only 16 AM & FM combined including non-commercial. No translators and LPFM did not yet exist. At that time KGNC & KGNC-FM (#1 & 2 total listeners 13 plus in spring 1996 ratings and #1 in each station's target demographic) took almost 40% of the revenue.

On the plus side leaving when I did, it was only one or two winters later that much of the AM facility was damaged by a major ice storm so I missed out on that mess. Would have enjoyed working with the consulting engineer (Jack Sellmeyer) that they brought in though.
 
My dad grew up in Amarillo in the 60s and he told me when people would drive by the KPUR studios and honk their horn, if a DJ was on the air, that DJ would say, "Howdy horn honker."

KPUR was also an affiliate of the Astros in the 90s and early 2000s. Not sure when they stopped their affiliation. I haven't been to Amarillo since 2005.
 
The Rimshot said:
My dad grew up in Amarillo in the 60s and he told me when people would drive by the KPUR studios and honk their horn, if a DJ was on the air, that DJ would say, "Howdy horn honker."

KPUR was also an affiliate of the Astros in the 90s and early 2000s. Not sure when they stopped their affiliation. I haven't been to Amarillo since 2005.
Click to expand...
It was not KPUR that did that. It was a country station across Amarillo Boulevard from the Eastridge Bowling Alley that did that. It was KBUY (later changed call to KDJW). They even had an outside window you could drive past on the side of the building where you could look into the main studio for many years.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom