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Nobody Home at KGTK 920

For those outside of the 101.1 coverage area, this is what they sound like, as of 8/28/20. I picked them up on top of Thorp Mountain, on the north end of Kachess Lake at 5854' elevation. This was heard on the balcony of the lookout that is up there. Gorgeous views BTW.
www.mediafire.com

K266BM 101.1 Olympia 8 28 20 (KGTK-AM) Thorp Mountain 5854' - horrible hum and output

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.
www.mediafire.com
 
bobdavcav said:
As for anyone buying 920, I know someone who would, but then again, that person would buy a 10 W day 3 W night 1240 in Wilkeson if such a thing existed. As for KGHO, do they still have any translators, or did they get rid of them all?
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The last time I checked, they still were running a 104.1 translator in Tacoma, but I'm really not sure if that is still in operation. Their main signal on 99.9 in Aberdeen seems to get out fairly well, covering Grays Harbor and providing decent coverage into other parts of the county. Of course, go too far and KISW wipes them off the air.
 
crainbebo said:
For those outside of the 101.1 coverage area, this is what they sound like, as of 8/28/20. I picked them up on top of Thorp Mountain, on the north end of Kachess Lake at 5854' elevation. This was heard on the balcony of the lookout that is up there. Gorgeous views BTW.
www.mediafire.com

K266BM 101.1 Olympia 8 28 20 (KGTK-AM) Thorp Mountain 5854' - horrible hum and output

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.
www.mediafire.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for documenting that. I'm sure there are examples of stations that sound even worse out there, but this one is pretty bad.
 
fordranger797 said:
The last time I checked, they still were running a 104.1 translator in Tacoma, but I'm really not sure if that is still in operation. Their main signal on 99.9 in Aberdeen seems to get out fairly well, covering Grays Harbor and providing decent coverage into other parts of the county. Of course, go too far and KISW wipes them off the air.
Click to expand...
Does KGHO still have the 92.7 in Hoquiam? That one went out really well, made it pretty well into Pacific Beach and Moclips. Meanwhile, the old 98.5 'main' signal was nowhere to be found last time I was out there, nearly 10 yrs ago. All I had was an extremely faint CIOC Victoria.
I also notice(d) that KAHS-LP doesn't get out really well either. 106.5 is gone before you get to the Lytle Seafoods store on 109.
 
crainbebo said:
Does KGHO still have the 92.7 in Hoquiam? That one went out really well, made it pretty well into Pacific Beach and Moclips. Meanwhile, the old 98.5 'main' signal was nowhere to be found last time I was out there, nearly 10 yrs ago. All I had was an extremely faint CIOC Victoria.
I also notice(d) that KAHS-LP doesn't get out really well either. 106.5 is gone before you get to the Lytle Seafoods store on 109.
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They might still have 92.7, but I am not sure. That particular transmitter was located with the other Grays Harbor FMs, so that gives it a bit of a boost toward the coast.
 
For anyone who cares, it looks like KITZ is still operational. KGTK is just static, and that is the station that actually feeds 101.1. Whatever muddy programming they were running before is completely absent.
 
Are you sure? From the clip that was posted here, I would think the same thing, but you could actually sort of hear something in the background. As far as I am concerned though, that kind of audio quality should be illegal. If the point of a station is to serve the public, this one isn't. When I heard it yesterday, I thought to myself, "you could be the most passionate gun owner in the world and I couldn't see you listening to this."
 
It's an odd view that in 2021, the way to reach gun rights enthusiasts in a largely blue market is with an AM radio station (even with a translator.) They have forums, podcasts, etc. Seems a niche of a niche - even most conservatives in the coverage area are probably not as passionate about gun centered programming or third tier talk shows.
 
bobdavcav said:
Are you sure? From the clip that was posted here, I would think the same thing, but you could actually sort of hear something in the background. As far as I am concerned though, that kind of audio quality should be illegal. If the point of a station is to serve the public, this one isn't. When I heard it yesterday, I thought to myself, "you could be the most passionate gun owner in the world and I couldn't see you listening to this."
Click to expand...
I tuned into 920 just yesterday to see if I could hear anything. Maybe I was mistaken, but I could not hear anything at all coming from that frequency. It's possible that there was audio somewhere in the background, but it definitely wouldn't be anything that a regular listener could decipher. Anyone remotely interested in the content would likely be listening online, or on KITZ (if they are willing to venture to AM radio). You are correct about the translator though. It sounds like static, and then all of a sudden you might hear something resembling an actual program in the background.
 
Andy Travis said:
It's an odd view that in 2021, the way to reach gun rights enthusiasts in a largely blue market is with an AM radio station (even with a translator.) They have forums, podcasts, etc. Seems a niche of a niche - even most conservatives in the coverage area are probably not as passionate about gun centered programming or third tier talk shows.
Click to expand...
It definitely seems like a hard, if not impossible, sell. Especially when you consider that 920 and the accompanying translator is effectively unlistenable, the business model seems completely unsustainable.
 
They're probably stunting. Look at how much interest their dead air format has created right here. They could zoom up into the Top 10 ranked Olympia stations at this rate.
 
Yes, Gaussian Noise is the true "Quiet Storm" format. Folks spend money for "white noise" generators so perhaps there's a future in this alternative sound. Yes, "the Soundtrack of the Galaxy".

I'll be in the Olympia area in the coming weeks and will dedicate a radio button to the channel...
 
Or bird sounds. KLSY did that before they went to Spanish Religion. Seriously, KGTK could hook a microphone up into the Capitol State Forest and let us listen to the sounds of nature. Mixed periodically with John Denver songs and the mandatory TOH ID.
 
Perhaps the experts can shed some light on this question: what would the value of 920 realistically be at this point? I am not an expert by any stretch, but I don't see any way to make that operation profitable. The daytime coverage isn't bad with 3,000 watts, but the nighttime coverage is terrible. 7 watts isn't going to cut it, and you're basically left with a daytimer AM. The translator certainly has some value with decent coverage in the populated areas of Thurston County, but what format could realistically work? This might be a scenario when throwing in the towel is better than trying to force this to work.
 
fordranger797 said:
Perhaps the experts can shed some light on this question: what would the value of 920 realistically be at this point? I am not an expert by any stretch, but I don't see any way to make that operation profitable. The daytime coverage isn't bad with 3,000 watts, but the nighttime coverage is terrible. 7 watts isn't going to cut it, and you're basically left with a daytimer AM. The translator certainly has some value with decent coverage in the populated areas of Thurston County, but what format could realistically work? This might be a scenario when throwing in the towel is better than trying to force this to work.
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There are a lot of variables. Does it own land for the AM? It has two translators, and their coverage may be worth more... but they have separate owners. Are the translators part of the deal, or are they being leased by the AM? The AM sold for $300 k in 2004.

Without land, it is likely worth, maybe, $120 k if the translator deals are secure... perhaps even more if the translators have a buy-out clause. The AM alone is not worth anything unless it has resalable land.

That is just a wild guess, but it's a starting point for others to ad their speculations and evaluations.
 
DavidEduardo said:
There are a lot of variables. Does it own land for the AM? It has two translators, and their coverage may be worth more... but they have separate owners. Are the translators part of the deal, or are they being leased by the AM? The AM sold for $300 k in 2004.

Without land, it is likely worth, maybe, $120 k if the translator deals are secure... perhaps even more if the translators have a buy-out clause. The AM alone is not worth anything unless it has resalable land.

That is just a wild guess, but it's a starting point for others to ad their speculations and evaluations.
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KGTK leases space on the KBRD tower and in their shacky shack. FM Translators are owned by Brian Spencer. The transmitter was with Noah on the ark. Not much to buy there.
 
Roxanne said:
KGTK leases space on the KBRD tower and in their shacky shack. FM Translators are owned by Brian Spencer. The transmitter was with Noah on the ark. Not much to buy there.
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That's the problem with installing old junk at a site which is difficult to access. It always breaks, and takes the contract engineer days to get there. And what happens when you find the problem and need to order parts? Literally, one eats up an entire day getting to Three Sister's Mt. and back. When the snow flies, your transportation choices are: snowmobile, snow-cat, or helicopter. Hard to justify that kind of trouble and expense for a translator tied to a crappy AM station.
 
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