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KWRD Henderson - The plot thickens

C

Chuck

From today's FCC Daily Digest:


AM STATION APPLICATIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT OF LICENSE PETITION TO DENY
------------------------------------------------------------------

TX BAL-20080617ACD KWRD 71519 JERRY RUSSELL D/B/A THE RUSSELL COMPANY Voluntary Assignment of License,
E 1470 KHZ HENDERSON, TX as amended
From: JERRY RUSSELL D/B/A
THE RUSSELL COMPANY
To: HANSZEN BROADCASTING
Form 314

Petition to Deny Filed 07/21/2008
by Larry G. Fuss

Opposition Filed 08/01/2008
by Hanszen Broadcasting

Petition to Deny Filed 07/21/2008
by Phillip Burr
 
All I can say is that I feel bad for Hanszen, he is just trying to buy a heritage station and turn it around for the community. But to do so he has to make a deal with the Devil and sell his soul. I do have to give Jerry Haszen credit he does local radio he does a decent job with it and he is making money where the big companies said its impossible to do so. I take my hat off to him!

But in the same breath I feel bad for Larry Fuss and for Phillip Burr, that got tangled up in the Russell web of non-sense.

I'm just going to sit back and wait for the next AM filling window and bid on AM 690 in Tyler.
Phillip Burr can go after 1060's defunct license, Larry Fuss can go get the FMs in Mississippi back, Jerry Hanszen can have KWRD, and Jerry Russell can get thrown in Federal Prison. EVERYBODY'S HAPPY!
 
The naysayers proclaim that AM is dead. Admittedly, it is on life support in many areas, but the amount of passion expressed about this and other legendary AM stations surprises even me. Having a Henderson street address, I can say that the enthusiasm for KWRD is not just among us radio geeks who post here. The people in Henderson seem to be responding very positively. They look at KWRD as a part of their heritage and worth preserving.

Properly done, AM radio can work.
 
Didn't Phillip have some kind of lease/purchase agreement? Is that why he's filing the petition to deny?
 
C414B said:
Didn't Phillip have some kind of lease/purchase agreement? Is that why he's filing the petition to deny?
Click to expand...

He did. I imagine that is the basis of his petition, although I am not privy to the details or his filing.
 
I believe that Phillip Burr signed off the signal in Hemphill. (there wasn't much of an audience there)
 
I was told the story about how Jack Bell of KDET-AM sold a remote to the original owners of KPBL (under their old calls obviously)... Yes, KDET did a live remote at the sign on of another radio station!!! :eek:

I have always considered myself a pretty good salesperson, but I am not sure that I could pull that one off!
 
Just so everyone knows the KZEY towers in Tyler on Lake Park Drive are completely gone. I am furious at the FCC in Dallas for not taking that license completely away from that idiot Jerry Russell. Or should I say Mr. Russell. There is no way that KZEY can sign on the air right now. It has been off the air for over 2 years. The last time I checked, it could only stay off (with an STA) for 1 year. There is no STA on file with the FCC for KZEY to stay off the air for even one year let alone 2! The land that the towers were on was seized by the Sheriff over 2 years ago for back taxes. The land sold for a ridiculous $7,000.00. Russell couldn't come up with seven grand to keep his station on the air????

All I can say is God help Jerry Hanzsen, he is in bed with the devil, and he's going to have to fight the FCC on top of it.
 
I believe when the county auctions off your property for back taxes, you are prohibited from bidding on it. KZEY is long gone, even if the FCC allows the license to be active. No one is going to invest in building a whole new facility for an AM directional station that doesn't even cover the full market.

That frequency wouldn't even benefit a community organizer at this point. ;)

Although I could see putting a hometown radio format on it... complete with Tradio. (I don't think anyone is carrying that show with Dub Murray having passed on.) Still, construction permits, construction costs, lawyer fees, etc, renders the entire project cost-prohibitive.

As for KWRD-AM, there is still hope, if it doesn't die during legal deliberations.
 
136kgb said:
Just so everyone knows the KZEY towers in Tyler on Lake Park Drive are completely gone. I am furious at the FCC in Dallas for not taking that license completely away from that idiot Jerry Russell. Or should I say Mr. Russell. There is no way that KZEY can sign on the air right now. It has been off the air for over 2 years. The last time I checked, it could only stay off (with an STA) for 1 year. There is no STA on file with the FCC for KZEY to stay off the air for even one year let alone 2! The land that the towers were on was seized by the Sheriff over 2 years ago for back taxes. The land sold for a ridiculous $7,000.00. Russell couldn't come up with seven grand to keep his station on the air????

All I can say is God help Jerry Hanzsen, he is in bed with the devil, and he's going to have to fight the FCC on top of it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up on the fall of KZEY. It's too bad that the towers are gone and with the hope of 690 kilohertz is all for naught. All the hopes and dreams of what we do with 690 in the future are blown in the wind. And on top of that Russell still obtains the license. Shoot, he might as well save the sanity and broadcast online for all I care. I wonder where he could get the money to do that?
 
Broadcast online? Are you nuts? If he can't manage a profitable set of terrestrial radio stations, he'll be screwed in cyberspace!

Let's review the fall of the Russell empire. I take you back to 2002.

KZEY 690 AM. Russell had bragged that KZEY billed 80,000/month at one point. By mid-2002, it was billing in the mid 30k range. That was not a problem because he had gutted the airstaff, automating the entire day except for 6a-noon, which was filled by a minimum wage worker who never talked. He had 1-2 sales people, an office manager and a traffic director, who oversaw traffic and book keeping for the entire company.

KOFY/KMHT - Sources reported this station billing as much as 30k/month, but I suspect billing had dropped off around the 15k range. No problem. THis station had no air talent, all spots were agency produced, or broadcast in English, and the station shared the sales staff with KZEY.

KWRD-AM - Was billing 10-15k/month when Russell bought it. Once he gutted it, billing fell to 3k per month.

KYYK/KNET - Billed 50k monthly with 20k in expenditures. Three production personnel, a morning jock on KYYK, a morning jock on KNET (who worked 5a-3p) and an evening jock on KNET, an office manager and a sales person.

Total billing? 118k/month., 12-15 employees, three offices and four tower locations. If you can't turn a profit on that, you're incompetent. Plus, billing should have been much higher... its just that the company refused to build a product to sell.

You see, the fact of radio that MRS Ventures never got is that radio is the business of selling an audience to an advertiser, not the business of selling spots to a sucker. MRS was never interested in building, or even keeping an audience. I'm not saying they should have hired all-live airstaffs or ran ridiculous promotions... just maintaining signal quality would have gone a long way. Plus, MRS should have never squandered what profit they did make on trying to obtain run-down stations they had no intention of restoring.

Incompetence + stupidity + vindictiveness + pride = disaster.

(I've got to quit posting on these MRS threads... it's not good for my cardiovascular.) :-[
 
musicsweep said:
Hey Breeze,

Maybe you should launch KZEY-online! :)
Click to expand...

Good idea, 'Sweep. At least it won't be called "The Station Wit' The Flava." In fact, that slogan was so early '90s. My idea of that is this: urban oldies. There hasn't been a station like it since KTYL did that since back in '99-2000. But it's a longshot to try, though.
 
musicsweep said:
Hey Breeze,

Maybe you should launch KZEY-online! :)
Click to expand...


Good idea...but I'm sure Russell would have something to say about that. This whole mess sounds just like some women I have known...didn't want their man but didn't want anyone else to have him, either.
 
LABreeze said:
musicsweep said:
Hey Breeze,

Maybe you should launch KZEY-online! :)
Click to expand...

Good idea, 'Sweep. At least it won't be called "The Station Wit' The Flava." In fact, that slogan was so early '90s. My idea of that is this: urban oldies. There hasn't been a station like it since KTYL did that since back in '99-2000. But it's a longshot to try, though.
Click to expand...

I've often wondered about that. There have to be a bunch of 50-something black listeners who have no use for today's hits, be they rap, hip-hop or whatever. I'll bet they still like Gladys Knight and the Pips. I do, and I'm not black. I think it would be a format that would do well. There is a lot of great music to choose from.
 
It sounds like KWRD received it's 83w nighttime authority. I heard it broadcasting monday night the Cowboys postgame show and then satellite AC late into the night (even with some local commercials) here in Kilgore. Not the best signal but listenable.
 
billyg said:
It sounds like KWRD received it's 83w nighttime authority. I heard it broadcasting monday night the Cowboys postgame show and then satellite AC late into the night (even with some local commercials) here in Kilgore. Not the best signal but listenable.
Click to expand...


Hmmm...wonder if Hanszen et al. were able to clear the license transfer logjam? Haven't studied the Daily Digest lately to see. Guess I could query the FCC database if I weren't so lazy this morning. ;D
 
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