Mix 103/Hays KS

[Radiogeek500]

Does this station really have a local presence other then the transmitter? Their website mentions jocks and High School Sports coverage and it "sounds" more local then the other stations I heard while rolling through back in April.<P ID="signature">______________
20 Years of POWERFUL music
Power 106 La's Party Station.

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[Pizzle]

> Does this station really have a local presence other then
> the transmitter? Their website mentions jocks and High
> School Sports coverage and it "sounds" more local then the
> other stations I heard while rolling through back in April.
>


I don't know how much stock I'd put in their website. Nothing (like their playlist and music news) has been updated since Summer of 2003. Yikes.

But, to answer your question, I have no idea if their presence is felt in the market or not. The obviously don't rely on web-traffic.

 

[Kent]

> Does this station really have a local presence other then
> the transmitter? Their website mentions jocks and High
> School Sports coverage and it "sounds" more local then the
> other stations I heard while rolling through back in April.

I don't know about now, but it was a very local station when it was owned by Radio, Inc. It was owned by the owner of some McDonald's franchises, and people who worked there used to refer to it as "McRadio." However, they never worried about their paychecks bouncing. Salaries were fairly low, but the cost of living is low in Hays (10 years ago, a two bedroom apartment with washer and dryer would run $300 or less). So, it generally worked out. Its new owner seems to prefer running stations on the cheap, though it does have some fully-staffed stations in a market or two.

 

[noozguy]

Mix was acquired by Eagle Communications, Hays' hometown media conglomerate. They own all the other stations in Hays, plus all but one of the stations in Great Bend (the only full power in the area they don't own is Waitt's KZLS), run the cable company in Hays.

Eagle's MO is to have a live presence all day on at least one station in their market, with some of their other stations having a live morning show. In the past few years, they have become very big on VT/syndicated fare for nights and weekends.

Because of all the cash their cable/internet operations generate (mainly because of the very spotty over-the-air TV reception most of their franchises have), they have the financial resources available. They would be vulnerable to competetors willing to "put the bucks up" against them.

FYI, Hays is apparetnly about to get three new signals. There was a C2 licensed to Hays sold on the recent FM auction, and two class A's in the auction to the south and southwest have proposals in to upgrade to C1's with city grade coverage of Hays.

 

[MN Maniac]

Sorry about coming late to the party. Just now finding this board and thread.

When Radio, Inc. owned KJLS, it was live from 6A-12A. I did middays there from 1997-99. After it was sold to Eagle, more and more voicetracking/satellite programming was added.

Damn fun little station back in the day. We put up a new 1,000 foot stick and fed it with a Harris TD-25 digital transmitter @ the full 100kW ERP. That big stick + flat terrain + relatively few stations on the dial meant that signal went forever. I did an all-request 70s/80s show during the noon hour and regularly got calls from 100+ miles in all directions.