KTDR has had a rather troubled past. They began with a bang in 1986 with a very major market bent and state of the art facility with all the bells and whistles. I managed to last 6 months as PD at the station, the longest stint in their early days. Del Rio, a city of about 35,000, enjoys Laughlin Air Force Base with almost 5,000 more folks a few miles out of town and the city of Ciudad Acuna across the river in Mexico.
KTDR was Top 40. It shared the market with a more AC leaning KDLK and country stations KLKE and KWMC. While KTDR was the 'market leader' the advertisers thought the station was too 'hard' for the typical customer. KDLK commanded the lead in billing especially when Larry Mariner with impressive stints in San Antonio. I did sales at KDLK and KLKE for about 5 years in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
KTDR always suffered from too many owners. As a former employee, I never felt my work was recognized. I recall having a heart to heart with one owner about taking a 2 hour lunch. He demanded I work 40 hours a week. I told him I was at the station at 5:30am for the morning show and usually left for home about 7pm or later plus attended all remotes and in-site promotions we did Saturday and Sunday. He must have not been a math genius because he again said I had to work 40 hours a week. I asked him what 40 hours I needed to be there and I'd only work 40 hours. I was not being singled out. Everyone has such stories. As a result, the revolving door and the work atmosphere took most of the steam out of their sales as this also extended to the sales department. The result was the station sort of floundered, never living up to what it could be.
Long after leaving the market, it seems the station went to computer driven and pretty much stayed afloat on a shoestring. As you might suspect, partners in the station seemed to have problems with one another and from what I understand, selling KTDR was delayed while agreements with partners were worked out.
KTDR has a new owner and has for a couple of years or so. With a good format and a good sales department they should do well. They'll face the long term great reputation of KDLK and the AM counterpart. But Del Rio is a great market on all fronts. In closing, if my old boss at KDLK and then KLKE, Larry Mariner was going to be my competitor I'd look at another market versus take him on. There's a few I know in this business that have built such a solid footing and lead in their market, I just would rather not challenge it.
Meanwhile, I'm glad to hear KTDR is sounding good and hope it takes its rightful place, living up to its full potential. I hear the group that bought KTDR is a good broadcaster and good broadcasters certainly improve the value of radio on all fronts.
