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Longview KFRO now Fox Sports Radio
- Thread starter gbranch
- Start date
C
C414B
Guest
And the "Wheel of Formats" spins again....
JR Curtis must be spinning in his grave.
JR Curtis must be spinning in his grave.
TOH id is "East Texas' home for Fox Sports Radio. KFRO Longview, KCUL Marshal." I could make out faint audio of KCUL yesterday and it was running FSR.
For whatever reason, KFRO is still signing off at around 6 PM. Is this a money saving tactic by ETRG, or does anyone think that the transmitter site has had some type of failure in the directional night array and ETRG is not spending the money to fix it. Their "1kW" daytime signal also does not seem to be up to snuff as it barely makes it to Kilgore.
It's sad to see the once great "Voice of Longview" in such condition.
For whatever reason, KFRO is still signing off at around 6 PM. Is this a money saving tactic by ETRG, or does anyone think that the transmitter site has had some type of failure in the directional night array and ETRG is not spending the money to fix it. Their "1kW" daytime signal also does not seem to be up to snuff as it barely makes it to Kilgore.
It's sad to see the once great "Voice of Longview" in such condition.
Greg Branch said:
There's an older post a few years back that said KFRO's transmitter burned up in a lightning strike years ago, and Waller put in an old transmitter on its last legs.
It's sad the people at ETRG are running KFRO-AM like a Ghetto Slumlord. I noticed is been off this weekend. Hopefully they are repairing or replacing equipment. I wish they'd sink some money into 1370 like Clear Channel did when they fixed up KDOK (with a BE AM A1 and Omnia One AM Processor) when they went True Oldies.
Running sports on a weak and tinny sounding signal isn't going to get any listeners, and I bet KFRO-AM wont pass any FCC inspections in its current condition.
Chuck, a little off topic, but has the Omnia 1 AM made a big difference in the sound?
everydayguy said:
Yes, it has. It is a very good little processor. I like it. I'm also a big fan of the BW Broadcast stuff. I almost put their DSP-AM processor in place, but I was buying an Omnia 11 for KZQX, and took advantage of a "buy one, get one free deal," they had a few months ago.
Greg Branch said:
KCUL 1410's pattern goes northeast toward Texarkana and nulls out Longview and anything S-SW. Still ETRG is neglecting it too. When it was broadcasting christian programming, I've caught it while driving to-from Shreveport with very distorted audio or dead air. And KFRO-AM is back on with a weak signal and low audio.
And KDOK 1240 sounds very good but still very bassy. I can hear some distortion when its playing songs that have a busy "thick" sound (ELO's "Turn To Stone") or 80's hits with heavy electronic bass. I dont think its the Omni's fault. I have a tape of when it was running True Oldies and it was doing that too. (sorry for being off topic too)
billyg said:
Clear Channel didn't replace the transmitter because they believed in fixing up anything!! They replaced it because the power bill was cut by almost 2/3rds!!! KOCA/KDOK 1240 was running a very bad conditioned Collins 20 V3. The tubes alone were getting to be 1600.00 for a set. It was purely a financial reason. Dudley Waller replaced the tube Continental stereo transmitter at KFRO with a 1975 Harris MW-1. The MW-1's were not known for their great fidelity. Even with a good processor it will never sound as good as a tube transmitter or a modern solid state. The MW-1 was the first solid state transmitter ever made! (that ran). There is no financial reason for ETRG to replace the transmitter at KFRO, there is no money to substantiate it.
billyg said:
Some of it may be the actual audio file that is playing. I do have a few that sound like crap. I'm trying to sort them out when I hear them. Don't know about what It sounded like when it was True Oldies. I only listened a couple of times and didn't care for it. That's about all I remember...
600kogo said:
Those 20 V3's are some of the most handsome AM transmitters ever made (KROZ had one in the 80's-early 90's that btw sounded great with a Optimod AM) but were power hogs.
Still KFRO's MW-1 really needs some TLC, it may not be great sounding but the modulation has been too low since Waller put it in. Crank that sucker up! And I hope East Texas Radio Ghetto will eventually sell it.
Sadly Jerry Russell's engineer/wannabees really screwed up that transmitter. Instead of buying blowers from Granger for 30.00 each for the tube chassis he made them chop up the tube chassis and take two blowers out of the bathroom exhaust fan and forced them into the transmitter. That box was a mess. It was a bigger nightmare getting it out of that building. The building was built around the transmitter building and I had to break down the door frame to get it out then had to go down 3 stairs, and we only had an hour to get it out as Russell had been evicted and the lawyers for the owners of the land gave us 1 hour to get what we wanted out, and there were no lights or power!!!
A day that neither I nor Chuck Conrad will ever forget !
A day that neither I nor Chuck Conrad will ever forget !
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