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KRKO - Did I Miss The Memo?

C

CorporateSuit

I noticed last week that KRKO is now BOOMING into the Seattle market. (I'm on the south-eastside and it's a strong signal!!). Wow, I'm impressed. So they did increase their wattage out of Everett?

However, I tried to find their website...and the www.krko.com domain resolves to the Everett Herald and there's really no content for KRKO Fox Sports 1380.

I was trying to find a program guide because I thought a heard a promo liners saying "Dan Patrick" at 6 AM (live, right?) and..."The Babe" at 3 PM...."The Babe?" Nancy Dunellon is in this market again (streaming out of Florida)?? No way!

Full disclosure: I was responsible for bringing her to Seattle area in 1991. However, I watched her sabotage herself at every turn, at every job, even dating back to Florida. As talented as she is (maybe was, considering the condition of her health), she just couldn't get out of her own way.
 
I also wondered about the web site redirect. Could be new partnership; but the concern is that the old site had a lot of great content about history and more. Maybe it's coming back in the future (he said, hopefully).
 
The website it redirects to is everettpost.com, and to me they'd be well-served if they put the logos for KRKO and KKXA somewhere on the homepage like KIRO (both of them) & KTTH does on mynorthwest.com. Perhaps when KKXA starts streaming its product that could happen.
 
How about they kill the IBOC on BOTH KRKO and KKXA? KFBK is all but a memory at night here in Monroe due to KXA's IBOC.

-crainbebo
 
I too wish KRKO and KXA would just drop the IBOC. The sound of both of those stations is so low fidelity that it's hard to listen to either station. I like the music on KXA but the sound is unlistenable. It sounds like neither station broadcasts anything above 4 or 5000 cps. I used to listen to KFBK here in Monroe but with the KXA IBOC on, it's gone. I really don't know why they would ruin the sound of both stations so that virtually no listers could be served by the IBOC. Can somebody tell me why the IBOC "listeners" are more important then the people listing on the normal AM frequency?
 
I'm sorry, but IBOC? What does that stand for?

As for the promo, it must have been for The Fish at 3 PM, not the Babe.

Again, their signal is really strong and I'm enjoying it. I least I don't have to listen to so many ads about mortgages, testorerone treatments and quak doctors--and roofing.
 
Heck -- I receive KXA - 1520 at night all over the central valley - from Fresno to Bakersfield. Do they really need all of the power at night ??? I can't receive the 1520 at night -- in Port Hueneme - Ventura -- only 75 miles away. What gives ?? Turn down the un-needed power at night. Please !!!
 
The IBOC noise from 1380 makes listening to 1400 from Bremerton sound like it's being jammed by the Soviets. Not sure if it's the same degree of interference on the strong signal of 1360 from Tacoma. Likewise, that's what 1520's IBOC does to the signal of 1540 from Bellevue in much of the Seattle area. Not that they're keeping out competitive rivals by doing that. Just making the AM band less listenable than it already is. KRKO and KKXA's 50kw signals should be enough to attract listeners without having to cover up all of the fist and second adjacent stations.
 
MisterGort, KXA and the Port Hueneme station are two different issues.
Port Hueneme has never had a great signal in California's Central Valley, where Oklahoma City often dominated. That never bothered me when I lived there, because I much preferred KOMA in those days.
You may not want to hear KXA, but even if it left the air, that might not significantly increase your Port Hueneme signal, which does better on the northern California coast than in the San Joaquin Valley.
 
Hey Mutliplex. Thanks to you -- but I never said that I wanted to listen to the Port Huemene 1520 over listening to KKXA --. I said that I could not hear the Port Hueneme station -- and it was only 75 miles away. My point still stands. I can hear a station that is over 800 miles away but can't hear a station on the same channel only 75 miles away. I no longer can even hear the 1520 from Ok City anymore -- at night in the central valley. I just get KKXA and alot of noise on 1520. KKXA needs to turn down the power or check its antenna system.
 
Assuming that KKXA is operating within its authorized parameters, which I have no information on ...
There are many situations like that. Using Central Valley reception, from Bakersfield, how about these?
1110: Often KFAB in Omaha dominates the Pasadena CA station.
1130: CKWX Vancouver usually kills KRDU Dinuba.
1270: Almost everything in the known universe dominates KJUG-AM Tulare (if they still have that call with their new format.)
1300: KOL Seattle and KROP Brawley CA, among others, always wiped out Fresno's 1300.
I do need to check and see if KKXA is stronger at night than they were, because they were formerly pretty weak at my location.
The station's owner often monitors this board, so if KKXA has a problem that needs rectifying, you may get your wish.
 
MisterGort said:
Hey Mutliplex. Thanks to you -- but I never said that I wanted to listen to the Port Huemene 1520 over listening to KKXA --. I said that I could not hear the Port Hueneme station -- and it was only 75 miles away. My point still stands. I can hear a station that is over 800 miles away but can't hear a station on the same channel only 75 miles away. I no longer can even hear the 1520 from Ok City anymore -- at night in the central valley. I just get KKXA and alot of noise on 1520. KKXA needs to turn down the power or check its antenna system.
Click to expand...

Port Hueneme's 1520 KVTA is flipping to KUNX's former frequency of 1590 very soon, so 1520 will go SS...

-crainbebo
 
Hey kids, that's how AM radio works. The folks in Finland will sometimes hear the station you can't. It doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with power, patterns, etc. The mention of KOL reminds me that we had a deep null towards Eastgate (outside of Seattle) that made it unlistenable at night only a few miles away.
 
KKXA is operating within assigned parameters. Bill is right. This is the way AM radio works, and a trip to the East Coast with short spaced AMs would provide greater understanding of how impaired the AM band can be at night. It is true that the KKXA skywave hits Spokane, Idaho, and parts of California...I've been in those locations and have heard it, and I subsequently checked our monitoring equipment each time. The flip side is that on one of our night nulls to the southeast, we disappear within three miles of the transmitter site - totally gone. And, given the vagaries of skywave propagation, there are fixed positions within our main lobe at night where Portland comes crashing down on us - the cross I bear for lighting up a frequency so close to a co-channel AM. As to the earlier comments about the website, yes. We're short staffed, and it will get fixed, and yes some variant of MyNorthwest.com is ultimately the direction we are headed, too. Life in the independent owner fast-lane isn't always the way you want it to be. KRKO is 50,000 Watts full-time and has been for two years. KKXA is very close to achieving 50,000 Watts full-time. We are only waiting for the daytime upgrade from 20,000 Watts.
 
If that IBOC were dropped and the audio range expanded accordingly, that 50,000-watt signal on 1520 would be a thing of beauty.
 
I'm really curious to know what kind of radio you're using, Multiplex. We have several here at the station, different factory radios in our cars, and they all sound really good! In fact, the HD sounds really good, too.
 
If your HD exciter has a "7 KHz Analog Bandwidth" setting, that shuts off the two inner HD carriers.
Set your processor BW to 7 KHz.
HD's not as robust but the analog audio sounds so much better.
 
Andy, I have many radios. GE Superadios of all generations, a Grundig (can't remember the model number--multiband, selective), two Sony HD radios.
I'm not trying to get on your case at all, but I think the analog sounds awful, and that's where most of your listeners are.
It almost doesn't matter how it sounds in HD, because HD listeners are still a minority and may always be.
But while we're talking HD, I think KRKO's IBOC sounds better than KKXA.
To me KKXA sounds like a 32K Internet audio stream, and while on the surface it may seem to sound better than conventional AM, the swishy nature of the audio is fatiguing.
And there's lots of HD noise in the signal, which I hear in analog when listening in that mode (which is most of the time.)
The other problem with IBOC: it doesn't travel well. I'm in Seattle with decent radios, and I don't listen in a car.
I know you must believe in IBOC's effectiveness or you wouldn't have made the investment twice. But I really think you're hurting yourself.
In today's noisy environment, where you need every decibel of good-sounding audio you can get, I can't imagine how it can help you to sound worse to the majority of listeners than many other stations on the dial.
Incidentally, the worst-sounding AM in Seattle also broadcasts in HD; that's KKDZ on 1250.
They not only sound poor in analog, but even their HD sounds like the audio is coming from a 5kHZ phone line. I've been in this area for six years, and they've never sounded good. I can't understand why KKDZ would make the investment in IBOC, only to be feeding it low-quality audio.
In both KKXA and KRKO's case, I know good audio is present, but unfortunately it doesn't get to the analog listener.
I believe quality is important to you, and you've obviously invested a lot of money in digital equipment.
Unfortunately, the tradeoff you've made makes KKXA difficult to listen to in analog. I think KKXA would be much more attractive to more listeners if the analog sounded better.
 
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