Question about 92.7/1400 am in Tucumcari

[Radiogeek500]

Are these two stations owned by the city of Tucumcari? I remember seeing a sign on I-40 after we entered the state that mentioned Tucumcari for having the usual travelers services and it also mentioned the 92.7 and 1400 frequencies. That got my attention, I have never seen a city sign even small towns mention their radio stations that service them. Just wondering what the deal is, thanks.<P ID="signature">______________
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[Kent]

> Are these two stations owned by the city of Tucumcari? I
> remember seeing a sign on I-40 after we entered the state
> that mentioned Tucumcari for having the usual travelers
> services and it also mentioned the 92.7 and 1400
> frequencies. That got my attention, I have never seen a city
> sign even small towns mention their radio stations that
> service them. Just wondering what the deal is, thanks.

Well, I'm not completely sure what the deal is, but as I understand it Quay Broadcasting is the owner and has owned those stations for quite some time. As you might guess from visiting the website, they own a cluster in Roswell, too.

 

[voicetrack]

I dont know anything about the owners, but I listened to 92.7 when I was in Tucumcari early this month and they were running some of the worst small-town production I've heard in years. Over modulated, under modulated, garbled and mispronounced words; and that was all in the same spot! <P ID="signature">______________
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[ajhenderson]

> > Are these two stations owned by the city of Tucumcari? I
> > remember seeing a sign on I-40 after we entered the state
> > that mentioned Tucumcari for having the usual travelers
> > services and it also mentioned the 92.7 and 1400
> > frequencies. That got my attention, I have never seen a
> city
> > sign even small towns mention their radio stations that
> > service them. Just wondering what the deal is, thanks.
>
> Well, I'm not completely sure what the deal is, but as I
> understand it Quay Broadcasting is the owner and has owned
> those stations for quite some time. As you might guess from
> visiting the website, they own a cluster in Roswell, too.

I always thought James Crystal (KXXT/Phoenix, WFTL/South Florida, etc) owned KINF in Roswell (there was talk that they should move it's 50kw stick on 1020 into Phoenix to replace lower-powered 1010). If KTNM is owned by the same folks that own KINF as the page implies, I'd guess it's JCE-owned.

 

[gbranch]

> Are these two stations owned by the city of Tucumcari? I
> remember seeing a sign on I-40 after we entered the state
> that mentioned Tucumcari for having the usual travelers
> services and it also mentioned the 92.7 and 1400
> frequencies. That got my attention, I have never seen a city
> sign even small towns mention their radio stations that
> service them. Just wondering what the deal is, thanks.
>

Tucumcari has always been a "traveler's oasis" of sorts, going back to the old US66 days. The radio stations always seemed targeted to travelers more than the residents. I suspect that the city and the stations have some sort of marketing agreement in place to advertise local business to people passing through.

 

[Kent]

> I always thought James Crystal (KXXT/Phoenix, WFTL/South
> Florida, etc) owned KINF in Roswell (there was talk that
> they should move it's 50kw stick on 1020 into Phoenix to
> replace lower-powered 1010). If KTNM is owned by the same
> folks that own KINF as the page implies, I'd guess it's
> JCE-owned.

James Crystal owns KINF but hasn't operated it for even a day. He bought it from Quay in 1998 or '99 and immediately turned around and LMA'ed it back to Quay.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

This thread has been silent for 6-years, but I will take a chance and respond-- it's an itch I have to scratch since I once worked at KTNM & it's FM affilliate, KQAY.

KTNM's calls showed on highway billboards due to it's PWA with the local economic development board, which itself receives funding from the Tucumcari City Commission.

KTNM sold at auction in 2010 on the steps of the Quay County Courthouse. The anthology of it's ownership includes a run of close to 20-years by Johnny Dunn, who also owned an interest in Roswell's KBCQ. Dunn bought KTNM from a fellow with the last name of Roddy (?), circa 1980. Dunn, himself an alumni of KTNM's staff in the '60's and early '70's, is the brother of Charles Dunn, owner of Tucumcari's Dunn Funeral Home.

The "old" KTNM secured a loyal listener base by catering to LOCAL programming needs, offering services not available from stations in Amarillo, Clovis and Albuquerque. Sadly, Tucumcari's economy erroded starting in the '70's, thanks to a newly opened extension of I-40 which bypassed traffic to the south of town, poor municipal governance, weak agricultural markets and the closure of Southern Pacific Railroad's local operation in 2002. Advertising revenues slid concurrently, so the station necessarily turned to syndicated programming for much of it's broadcast day. In my judgement, KTNM has never reclaimed the character of it's smalltown sound.

My tenure at KTNM ended in 1976, while the station was still managed by then co-owner Smokey Joe Barnes.

 

[fybush]

I drove through Tucumcari in July, on a Sunday evening, and KTNM and KQAY were both strictly off the satellite, without even local IDs at the top of the hour...and nobody home at the building a block off Route 66.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Scotty--

That would be on the east side of Date Street, about 1-block south of Tucumcari BLVD, or Old 66, next to the park. JP

 

[fybush]

Yup. Got some nice shots of the (empty) building and the tower. Would have stuck around longer, but I was trying to make it from Tulsa to Gallup in one day...

 

[nmradioguy]

Yup. Got some nice shots of the (empty) building and the tower. Would have stuck around longer, but I was trying to make it from Tulsa to Gallup in one day...

The station is in the process of being sold. The application is pending with the FCC. It will be sold along with the Roswell cluster.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Had you stuck around, you might have also snapped a pic of a boarded-up Tucumcari City Hall, with a FOR SALE sign out front.

Pardon my cynnicism, it's just that I loved and cherished the Tucumcari of the early 1970's. It was a vibrant, if quirky little town back then, in a time when neighbors fought at the drop of a hat over silly stuff, but took care of each other just the same. It was also a time when KTNM was a fully-staffed, engergetic group of jocks and sales reps who enjoyed the personal connection so easily forged with hungry local radio listeners.

I ended up there on the rebound from a failed, though silly romance, and my latest unceremoniously humiliating termination in the Albuquerque market, this time from Beautiful Music KPAR. Ostensibly enroute to my home state of New York, my car broke down. Much to my shock, a dozen or so Tucumcari townsfolk quickly flocked to my aid, one of whom even hired me at the local Cable Access TV channel to do the evening local news. I would vacate that position months later for better pay (believe it or not) at KTNM.

The Tucumcari of 1973 had a population of 7400. Thanks to faulty economic planning, along with the arrest and conviction of at least one city manager for cocaine trafficking, one local VFW commander jailed for his 2nd conviction on the same charges, at least one school teacher arrested and convicted for selling pot to teens, and a local economy on the skids, that number has since dwindled to closer to 4000 (ignore that new census sign, claiming pop. 5000).

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

NMradioguy-- Thanks for the heads-up. Was not aware that KTNM is in the process of yet another sale. I wonder who the buyer might be.

Since joining Radio-Info.com, I've been writing on this, as well as the RADIO THROUGH THE YEARS threads. I can't get enough of it. Now recuperating from hip replacement surgery, so I have a lot of time on my hands to log on. Look forward to reading any more info that pops up on KTNM or the Albuquerque market, where I spun my wheels for almost 4-years.