KRCM/Beaumont....is it testing the new CP in Shenandoah?

[purpledevil]

Stan, or someone in the Golden Triangle, could you confirm 1380 KRCM still OTA in Beaumont? A check of the dial this afternoon finds me catching a unID at 1380, with Michael Savage on the air. Weak signal, but definitely audible. It's actually clearer than what KGOW is currently. This from IAH airport area at 4:15pm.

 

[TexasTuner]

Nothing's been built at the Shenandoah site yet. With closing coming soon, it will be interesting to see if 1380 stays on the air simulcasting KOLE, or just goes dark.

Texas Tuner

 

[stan]

KRCM is still on the air in Beaumont. With the pending move of KRCM, and the pending sale of KOLE, things look dark indeed for the future of both stations. In apparent preparation for the lack of a local carrier of his program, Dominic Brascia's program is now syndicated for the Talkstar Radio Network.

 

[purpledevil]

Interesting. I wonder where that signal was coming from yesterday. Looking at the coverage map for the new KRCM/Shenandoah I must wonder, what will they program for the trees? That has to be the worst nighttime coverage map I've ever seen.

 

[stan]

With the loss of both KRCM and KOLE, Beaumont's only decent coverage for local AM stations is from 560, 990, and 1450. Perhaps we can count on KSET to provide an alternative to these choices, should they ever get up and running.

 

[CW]

With the loss of both KRCM and KOLE, Beaumont's only decent coverage for local AM stations is from 560, 990, and 1450. Perhaps we can count on KSET to provide an alternative to these choices, should they ever get up and running.

Stan stan stan!!! lets define "Decent"

560?? Hmmm Clear Channel...and the night pattern doesnt favor Beaumont (weird huh?) Also the audio issues...GEESH
990???? Martin's tax write off??? Half the time the station has no audio...or less than 50% mod....cant even be heard in S Beaumont at night because its ground system is non existant....Sad ending for the former KTRM (which was once a great station!)
1450????? After KAYC went away on the frequency, there hasnt been much anything GOOD much less decent...its current format is of no interest to me...and the audio is....well, WHY does 1510 sound BETTER and it carries the same programming?? THAT I dont understand...wish someone would buy 1450 and do something better with it....(or else it needs to be shot and put out of its misery.....from what used to be one of the BIGTIME stations in the area in the 70s to what it is today...pity)
Im not holding my breath on 1300........and its now been more than a year since 1150 went off the air (I dont count their feable attempt using 6ft high horizontal wires as being on the air....Im sure the trees and the squirrels enjoyed the spanish infomercials within 1000ft or so but they had no signal at all over their COL).....I noticed their license has not been renewed yet...even though they did get a callsign change to KBPO (boy there's an old call returning!!). Their request for extension to remain silent has not been acted on.....DAMN, I wish someone would BUY the station and do something DECENT with it.......holding an AM off the air so the owner (and I have not met hium but he sounds like a total DEE DEE DEE) can maybe run up the price? HA! I would just take the license...he can keep the land, etc....its not worth (the land that is!) what he wanted for it anyway! SO much for SERVING a community....self serving is more like it nowadays.....

 

[CW]

Stan, or someone in the Golden Triangle, could you confirm 1380 KRCM still OTA in Beaumont? A check of the dial this afternoon finds me catching a unID at 1380, with Michael Savage on the air. Weak signal, but definitely audible. It's actually clearer than what KGOW is currently. This from IAH airport area at 4:15pm.

1380 is still using a 100ft crankup portable tower at their Beaumont location....the audio sounds like talking through a cardboard tube or worse (like Adam West did on "Family Guy" saying "does it sounds like Im on old time radio?...funny, OLD time radio actually sounded better audio wise...rcvrs were wider and transmitters did 15-20khz or sometimes better!!!)
Last time I was at the new site, I could not find a tower, etc...so I dont think they are testing yet on 1380 (though I think the testing on the 16xx test freq has been done)

 

[stan]

Stan stan stan!!! lets define "Decent"

560?? Hmmm Clear Channel...and the night pattern doesnt favor Beaumont (weird huh?) Also the audio issues...GEESH
990???? Martin's tax write off??? Half the time the station has no audio...or less than 50% mod....cant even be heard in S Beaumont at night because its ground system is non existant....Sad ending for the former KTRM (which was once a great station!)
1450????? After KAYC went away on the frequency, there hasnt been much anything GOOD much less decent...its current format is of no interest to me...and the audio is....well, WHY does 1510 sound BETTER and it carries the same programming?? THAT I dont understand...wish someone would buy 1450 and do something better with it....(or else it needs to be shot and put out of its misery.....from what used to be one of the BIGTIME stations in the area in the 70s to what it is today...pity)
Im not holding my breath on 1300........and its now been more than a year since 1150 went off the air (I dont count their feable attempt using 6ft high horizontal wires as being on the air....Im sure the trees and the squirrels enjoyed the spanish infomercials within 1000ft or so but they had no signal at all over their COL).....I noticed their license has not been renewed yet...even though they did get a callsign change to KBPO (boy there's an old call returning!!). Their request for extension to remain silent has not been acted on.....DAMN, I wish someone would BUY the station and do something DECENT with it.......holding an AM off the air so the owner (and I have not met hium but he sounds like a total DEE DEE DEE) can maybe run up the price? HA! I would just take the license...he can keep the land, etc....its not worth (the land that is!) what he wanted for it anyway! SO much for SERVING a community....self serving is more like it nowadays.....

All right, I was too liberal with the word 'decent'. ;D
I meant to say that the move of KRCM to broadcast to the trees north of Houston didn't make sense to me (I'd like to see THAT business plan), plus the pending sale of KOLE to an out of town owner, probably means a format change to some non-listenable programming similar to that of 1450 and 1510. The engineering of all AM stations in the triangle is disappointing, but since this board talks about KGOW and their ongoing engineering issues, it is not unusual. The issues in the Beaumont area are that either 1) no one cares about how bad these AM stations sound, or 2) there is little or no income being derived from these stations, so little is invested in them. I could understand 990 and 1150 having this problem more than stations owned by big media conglomerates such as Clear Channel and Cumulus. Or maybe these stations have lost experienced engineering personnel and no longer have a clue what they are doing.

By the way, anyone at Clear Channel, I REALLY enjoy listening to KQXY on KLVI. Perhaps your "engineer" could talk to the "engineer" at Cumulus and figure out just what is causing this issue. Or maybe this is a subliminal way for KQXY to garner more listeners - they certainly need all the help they can get.

 

[AndyWaldrop]

Could this bleed-over have anything to do with their (KLVI's) EAS system? While KLVI is the primary EAS source for the triangle, KQXY is the secondary EAS source. Perhaps the problem is related to this somehow.

 

[AndyWaldrop]

Could this bleed-over have anything to do with their (KLVI's) EAS system? While KLVI is the primary EAS source for the triangle, KQXY is the secondary EAS source. Perhaps the problem is related to this somehow.

Oops...just noticed that this was addressed on the TEXAS board. Nevermind (using my best Emily Latella/Gilda Radner impression). ;D

 

[dx7]

Regarding 1150-AM, CW wrote:

"DAMN, I wish someone would BUY the station and do something DECENT with it.......holding an AM off the air so the owner... can maybe run up the price? HA! I would just take the license...he can keep the land, etc....its not worth (the land that is!) what he wanted for it anyway"

I totally agree, CW -- 990, 1150 and 1450 are total wastes of the spectrum - but I'm curious: what would you program on 1150-AM? What format does the Triangle need that it's not getting? Can a standalone AM in Jefferson County make any money?

 

[CW]

Regarding 1150-AM, CW wrote:

"DAMN, I wish someone would BUY the station and do something DECENT with it.......holding an AM off the air so the owner... can maybe run up the price? HA! I would just take the license...he can keep the land, etc....its not worth (the land that is!) what he wanted for it anyway"

I totally agree, CW -- 990, 1150 and 1450 are total wastes of the spectrum - but I'm curious: what would you program on 1150-AM? What format does the Triangle need that it's not getting? Can a standalone AM in Jefferson County make any money?

Oh, I could think of at least one such format..........maybe two.....990 is the real waste....a Class B with 1 KW 2 tower directional that USED to cover the entire area.....but nowadays cannot even get to the south side of Beaumont....but SHOULD!!!

1150 has always been a loner.....I worked there as a DJ when it was KSUZ and Les Ledet owned it...even with its 63 watts of nighttime power, WJBO in Baton Rouge covered it in Beaumont (well when it was on the air!) and even ave it fits in Port Neches..but then the sampling loops were busted for the last 2-3 years it was on....so no telling what the pattern was...

1450 used to cover Port Arthur ok (at night it was a little iffy).......but with all the stations going to 1KW on the Class D channels at night, so much for that....heck, last time I listened while visiting family in Groves, the 1450 out of Crowley, LA was covering Beaumont up at night.......now that sucks!