KWJC Classical KC cutting 4 people and 2 open jobs & going to syndicated programming

[radiofan2023]

Just saw this RadioInsight article that KWJC/Classical KC is cutting 4 positions and will be moving to syndicated classical programming instead of local shows.

Classical KC To Eliminate Local Programming As Part Of KCUR/KWJC Cuts

University of Missouri-Kansas City's Public News/Talk 89.3 KCUR Kansas City and "91.9 Classical KC" KWJC Liberty MO are the most

radioinsight.com

I wonder where they'll get the syndicated programming from. They ran Classical 24 in the past:

91.9 Classical KC Debuts In Kansas City

University of Missouri-Kansas City has completed its $2 million acquisition of 91.9 KWJC Liberty/Kansas City from William Jewell College and

radioinsight.com

I hope the local programming on KCUR isn't going to be affected eventually, their local news shows are great!

 

[TheRob]

I don't think KWJC had much in the way of locally-produced content in the first place. That "community engagement producer" in the article was doing two hours in the morning, then two more hours in the late afternoon. Pretty much everything else is syndicated.

 

[b-turner]

I'm old enough to remember the original KXTR when they had their open house sometime in 1968 or early 1969 (leaning toward 1968). I begged my parents to take me. They were in a house in Independence, Missouri (think it was red). They had just opted to go 24 hours. They were Beautiful Music with news 6am to Noon. At noon they went Classical and at Midnight opted for Jazz all night. In a short time they went Classical 24/7. I recall talking with Tom Green who did mornings complaining about the low pay. Later I recall the evening jock being excited there were now 20 commercials on the log each weekday, noting that's almost one an hour on average.

Disclaimer: My friends and I were frequent visitors to KXTR back then. They'd let us rummage through the trash can for discarded news summaries from the teletype machine we'd gleefully rush back to our pirate station (a 100 mw kit from Radio Shack) for newscasts amid the top 40 hits we could afford from cashing in soda pop bottles and our allowances. It was just more cool to read teletype rather than write headlines from the afternoon daily in Kansas City.

 

[radiofan2023]

I'm old enough to remember the original KXTR when they had their open house sometime in 1968 or early 1969 (leaning toward 1968). I begged my parents to take me. They were in a house in Independence, Missouri (think it was red). They had just opted to go 24 hours. They were Beautiful Music with news 6am to Noon. At noon they went Classical and at Midnight opted for Jazz all night. In a short time they went Classical 24/7. I recall talking with Tom Green who did mornings complaining about the low pay. Later I recall the evening jock being excited there were now 20 commercials on the log each weekday, noting that's almost one an hour on average.

Disclaimer: My friends and I were frequent visitors to KXTR back then. They'd let us rummage through the trash can for discarded news summaries from the teletype machine we'd gleefully rush back to our pirate station (a 100 mw kit from Radio Shack) for newscasts amid the top 40 hits we could afford from cashing in soda pop bottles and our allowances. It was just more cool to read teletype rather than write headlines from the afternoon daily in Kansas City.

Their antenna is still in Independence. Do you still have any of the teletype summaries or not?

 

[b-turner]

That teletype is long gone. I would have been in 6th and 7th grade visiting KXTR back then.

Come to think of it, Dwight Comer was a friend and Comer Carpets in Independence was a major KXTR advertiser in the early days. Maybe that's why we were always welcome to stop by.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Their antenna is still in Independence. Do you still have any of the teletype summaries or not?

KXTR moved to the KLSI/KMXV tower when that was built in the late 1980s just off East 63rd Street Trafficway near Interstate 435. It looks like that it has since moved to one of the other towers near Interstate 435.

But…KWJC *is* on that tower, and still shows as being owned by Ingram Media. Bob Ingram bought KXTR in 1975 and, it appears, his family has kept the tower on Swearingen Road.

 

[radiofan2023]

KXTR moved to the KLSI/KMXV tower when that was built in the late 1980s just off East 63rd Street Trafficway near Interstate 435. It looks like that it has since moved to one of the other towers near Interstate 435.

But…KWJC *is* on that tower, and still shows as being owned by Ingram Media. Bob Ingram bought KXTR in 1975 and, it appears, his family has kept the tower on Swearingen Road.

Thanks for the info

 

[Mark Roberts]

I'm old enough to remember the original KXTR when they had their open house sometime in 1968 or early 1969 (leaning toward 1968). I begged my parents to take me. They were in a house in Independence, Missouri (think it was red). They had just opted to go 24 hours. They were Beautiful Music with news 6am to Noon. At noon they went Classical and at Midnight opted for Jazz all night. In a short time they went Classical 24/7. I recall talking with Tom Green who did mornings complaining about the low pay. Later I recall the evening jock being excited there were now 20 commercials on the log each weekday, noting that's almost one an hour on average.

It would have been between 1967 and 1975 when nine Independence investors formed “Senthesound Corporation”. They moved the station from Mission, Kansas and built the Swearingen Road tower. It had slightly better coverage than the typical 100 kw, 500-foot HAAT setup common in the Midwest in those days. I think its HAAT was around 650 feet. (The city of license always was Kansas City, MO, though.) WDAF-FM/KYYS and KCMO-FM/KFMU/KCEZ also had better than typical coverage thanks to being on the towers of their co-owned TV stations. Bob Ingram, who was a real-estate developer, bought KBEA radio around 1972. This was when the KBEA/KBEY combo was split up, with the FM, KBEY, going to Mark Wodlinger et al., who turned it into Top 40 KBEQ, thus initiating the decline of WHB - though WHB held on a lot longer than its cross-state sister station KXOK, which was similarly “Super Q’d”. Anyway, Ingram bought KXTR in 1975 and moved the studios back to Mission, where KBEA was based.

KXTR was also noted for not paying its announcers very well.

Over time, Ingram started a business magazine, which continues today, and bought “The Independent”, chronicler of Mission Hills society. He may have viewed KXTR as a prestige object that helped his profile among the denizens of Kansas City society who made their money in Missouri and spent it in Kansas. Around 1990, a deal was announced to sell the KBEA/KXTR combo, with the new owner moving the classical format to the AM. There was something of an outcry and, regardless, the sale fell through. KBEA went to children’s programming…when that was a thing…in 1994, and was eventually sold, but KXTR continued. It is amazing how long that it did manage to hold on.

 

[Murfradiojim]

I never heard of the 1990 proposed sale. That is interesting! KBEA was always an interesting station to me. Seemed like in the late 80s it was part news part MOR. Then they ran business news before eventually going MOYL. And no one listened to the station

 

[Mark Roberts]

I never heard of the 1990 proposed sale. That is interesting! KBEA was always an interesting station to me. Seemed like in the late 80s it was part news part MOR. Then they ran business news before eventually going MOYL. And no one listened to the station

I went digging through my files: it was 1987; the buyer apparently couldn't come up with the money for the stations. Ingram wanted to sell but, ultimately, couldn't find a buyer. His wife was chair of the Lyric Opera; that, he said, was the reason he couldn't switch KXTR from classical.

Did you hear the last day of KBEA on Halloween 1994? (Gosh, it's almost been 30 years!!) Much of the day was a live broadcast from the New York Deli on Troost, and sounded like it was being done through a pay phone. I actually recorded that, as the impending changeover to children's programming was telegraphed well in advance. There were some listeners who showed up to the deli; I guess every station has at least a few listeners.

 

[radiofan2023]

I went digging through my files: it was 1987; the buyer apparently couldn't come up with the money for the stations. Ingram wanted to sell but, ultimately, couldn't find a buyer. His wife was chair of the Lyric Opera; that, he said, was the reason he couldn't switch KXTR from classical.

Did you hear the last day of KBEA on Halloween 1994? (Gosh, it's almost been 30 years!!) Much of the day was a live broadcast from the New York Deli on Troost, and sounded like it was being done through a pay phone. I actually recorded that, as the impending changeover to children's programming was telegraphed well in advance. There were some listeners who showed up to the deli; I guess every station has at least a few listeners.

What children’s programming did they switch to, was it a Radio Aahs affiliate?

 

[Route66Fan]

What children’s programming did they switch to, was it a Radio Aahs affiliate?

Yep, it was a Radio AAHS affiliate from 1995-1998.

I remember getting some Pogs from Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO, that had an advertisement for "Radio AAHS 1480 AM" on them.

I had to find an image of the Pogs on eBay as I don't know where mine are right now.

List of Radio AAHS affiliates from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia article on KCZZ 1480AM, Mission, KS (Kansas City, MO)

EBay listing - Vintage Pog / Milk Cap * Radio AAHS 1480am * Bin190

 

[radiofan2023]

Yep, it was a Radio AAHS affiliate from 1995-1998.

I remember getting some Pogs from Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO, that had an advertisement for "Radio AAHS 1480 AM" on them.

I had to find an image of the Pogs on eBay as I don't know where mine are right now.

List of Radio AAHS affiliates from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia article on KCZZ 1480AM, Mission, KS (Kansas City, MO)

EBay listing - Vintage Pog / Milk Cap * Radio AAHS 1480am * Bin190

Cool, I didn't listen to it then but I did when it was a Beat Radio affiliate in 1998, it was like nothing else on in KC at that time (other than maybe Night Tides on KCUR, but I didn't know about that show then).

 

[Kent]

I went digging through my files: it was 1987; the buyer apparently couldn't come up with the money for the stations. Ingram wanted to sell but, ultimately, couldn't find a buyer. His wife was chair of the Lyric Opera; that, he said, was the reason he couldn't switch KXTR from classical.

Seems like I'd heard the would-be buyer in 1987 was a group involving Bo Jackson. If not Bo, it was someone else who played for the Chiefs or Royals. 96.5 would have been switched to urban while 1480 would've taken the classical format. The classical format did last a lot longer than most of us would've thought. Heritage Media seemed bent on getting rid of it, but I understand there was a noncompete that would've significantly inflated the sale price if it changed formats in the three years following the sale. It moved to AM in the Summer of 2000 and remained for about another 10 years. When MU took over the old KWWC 90.5 from Stephens, I told the GM, who was a beer drinking buddy, that he should try to get the KXTR calls since he was obviously going classical with it. I've always thought 91.9 should try to grab them, too.

Cool, I didn't listen to it then but I did when it was a Beat Radio affiliate in 1998, it was like nothing else on in KC at that time (other than maybe Night Tides on KCUR, but I didn't know about that show then).

I remember Beat Radio taking over Radio AAHS at night when it was in the process of liquidating. I always found listening to it kind of funny as it had the dance music with the legal ID being read by Kermit the Frog (or a voice similar to Kermit's)! When Radio AAHS bought Marsh in the early 90's, it flipped KNRB 1360 in Dallas to the children's format as KAHZ, but the other Marsh stations, including KCNW 1380, remained religious. When Hochman bought 1480, I knew it was going to go to some form of Spanish-language programming. He was an acquaintance when I went to college in Arkansas, and launching the first Spanish-language station in Northwest Arkansas to cater to the Mexican immigrants moving there to work for the food processing plants, which had begun to explode in size in the early 90's, was his idea. He had just made a fortune selling his stations in NWA to Cumulus and thought finding emerging Hispanic markets where he could buy stations for relatively cheap would be a good investment strategy. I guess it worked pretty well for him. He retired to Hawaii where he owns a handful of stations today.

 

[radiofan2023]

I remember Beat Radio taking over Radio AAHS at night when it was in the process of liquidating. I always found listening to it kind of funny as it had the dance music with the legal ID being read by Kermit the Frog (or a voice similar to Kermit's)!

I don't remember that, but I was more into the music. That voice might have been the Beat Radio founder, Alan Freed.

 

[Kent]

I don't remember that, but I was more into the music. That voice might have been the Beat Radio founder, Alan Freed.

It was definitely the Radio AAHS legal ID. Seems like it changed to Freed just reading all the stations at the top of the hour after a week or two.

 

[radiofan2023]

It was definitely the Radio AAHS legal ID. Seems like it changed to Freed just reading all the stations at the top of the hour after a week or two.

Oh ok, that makes more sense. I thought you meant Freed was doing the Kermit the Frog voice, lol

 

[Mark Roberts]

Seems like I'd heard the would-be buyer in 1987 was a group involving Bo Jackson. If not Bo, it was someone else who played for the Chiefs or Royals.

It was Theotis Brown of the Chiefs.

When MU took over the old KWWC 90.5 from Stephens, I told the GM, who was a beer drinking buddy, that he should try to get the KXTR calls since he was obviously going classical with it. I've always thought 91.9 should try to grab them, too.

An LPFM at Tarleton State University in Texas has the calls now.

When cable TV finally came to Columbia in 1977, and connected to the CARS-band relay system that crossed Missouri, one of the bonuses was a pickup of KXTR (and KCEZ, now KCMO-FM) from a site in western Missouri. Off-the-air pickup of KXTR was impossible in Columbia after 1967 when KTGR-FM (now KCMQ) went on the air at 96.7. So there may have been some knowledge of KXTR in Columbia, but I'm not sure it would've meant that much by the time Stephens finally gave up KWWC. (Aside: If my memory serves me, it looks like the building that the KWWC antenna was on has been demolished.) The current "MU Classical" call letters, KMUC, bring to mind mucus, which may be great for the School of Medicine, but....

 

[radiofan2023]

It was Theotis Brown of the Chiefs.

He’s a super nice guy, I met him a few times since he was the father of a school classmate. He arranged for our class to tour the Chiefs practice training facility, it was so much fun.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I don't remember that, but I was more into the music. That voice might have been the Beat Radio founder, Alan Freed.

Glad to see he’s still around. I always felt he stood up for his passion and stayed positive in the face of entrenched, systemic obstacles.