Rock 1037 KIOL Signal Problems

[Mike_O]

KIOL Rock 103.7 has made mention on every show that the station is having a serious problem getting a good signal into Houston and that Country music can be the music you will hear. They have even put callers on the air saying all they can pick up is Country {KOUL Sinton-Corpus Christi}.

The stock answer has been that we are working on the problem. I don't know what else they can do at this point. The only hope would be a one in a million shot that the station gets a waiver to move the antenna in closer to Houston. The fact that their signal is likely getting trampled in LaPorte as well, the City of License, may carry some light weight.

Fletch summed it up best tonight, their engineers were hard at work behind the transmitter building smoking one. If I were one of the engineers, at this point it would be the logical option left, nothing more to do inside or on the tower.

Mike O

 

[TexasTuner]

> KIOL Rock 103.7 has made mention on every show that the
> station is having a serious problem getting a good signal
> into Houston and that Country music can be the music you
> will hear. They have even put callers on the air saying all
> they can pick up is Country {KOUL Sinton-Corpus Christi}.
>
> The stock answer has been that we are working on the
> problem. I don't know what else they can do at this point.
> The only hope would be a one in a million shot that the
> station gets a waiver to move the antenna in closer to
> Houston. The fact that their signal is likely getting
> trampled in LaPorte as well, the City of License, may carry
> some light weight.
>
> Fletch summed it up best tonight, their engineers were hard
> at work behind the transmitter building smoking one. If I
> were one of the engineers, at this point it would be the
> logical option left, nothing more to do inside or on the
> tower.
>
> Mike O
>

You can call it "skip". It's an Act of God, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Them's the breaks when you have a rimshotter trying to serve a metro from 65+ miles away.

As far as getting a waiver, I suppose anything is possible, but highly unlikely. The FCC isn't known for granting a waiver that would produce a shortspacing condition-even if the shortspace would wind up being to a station (soon to be) owned by the same entity.

Cumulus paid their money, and took their chances.

Texas Tuner

 

[CCRighter]

> > KIOL Rock 103.7 has made mention on every show that the
> > station is having a serious problem getting a good signal
> > into Houston and that Country music can be the music you
> > will hear. They have even put callers on the air saying
> all
> > they can pick up is Country {KOUL Sinton-Corpus Christi}.
> >
> > The stock answer has been that we are working on the
> > problem. I don't know what else they can do at this
> point.
> > The only hope would be a one in a million shot that the
> > station gets a waiver to move the antenna in closer to
> > Houston. The fact that their signal is likely getting
> > trampled in LaPorte as well, the City of License, may
> carry
> > some light weight.
> >
> > Fletch summed it up best tonight, their engineers were
> hard
> > at work behind the transmitter building smoking one. If I
>
> > were one of the engineers, at this point it would be the
> > logical option left, nothing more to do inside or on the
> > tower.
> >
> > Mike O
> >
>
> You can call it "skip". It's an Act of God, and there's
> nothing anyone can do about it. Them's the breaks when you
> have a rimshotter trying to serve a metro from 65+ miles
> away.
>
> As far as getting a waiver, I suppose anything is possible,
> but highly unlikely. The FCC isn't known for granting a
> waiver that would produce a shortspacing condition-even if
> the shortspace would wind up being to a station (soon to be)
> owned by the same entity.
>
> Cumulus paid their money, and took their chances.
>
> Texas Tuner
>


If a station's transmitter resides in a forest and their programming is so bad there is no one there to hear it (look at Arbitron) does it really make a sound? or a difference?

 

[tex-tin-star]

103.7 has had a problem sence day one with that signal,and they still cant get the problem resovled,i am sure the tried.it is sure going to hurt them.i have a question,ok if you were going to rimshot the houston area,were would you place the tower to get the most croverage out of your signal. north,south,ect?

 

[johndavis]

> Fletch summed it up best tonight, their engineers were hard
> at work behind the transmitter building smoking one. If I
> were one of the engineers, at this point it would be the
> logical option left, nothing more to do inside or on the
> tower.

Sounds like it's time to buy KOUL and turn it off.

Not that it would help building penetration for KIOL any, but it would be one less thing to kill the station on tropo skip.<P ID="signature">______________
...co-moderator of the Satellite Radio, Phoenix, and San Diego boards...</P>

 

[Mike_O]

> 103.7 has had a problem sence day one with that signal,and
> they still cant get the problem resovled,i am sure the
> tried.it is sure going to hurt them.i have a question,ok if
> you were going to rimshot the houston area,were would you
> place the tower to get the most croverage out of your
> signal. north,south,ect?
>
If IIRC from a post that CW made stations send a better signal north-south, such as KTHT 97.1 Country Legends, which can be heard from near Texarkana to south of Houston and does not seem to be affected by the tropo conditions like the stations to the east and west of Houston. Hopefully CW will repost the info, I don't want to write something CW posted from my memory and be incorrect. KTHT may just be one of the lucky stations that has an excellent signal for a rim-shot station. In answer to your question, I would believe that north of Houston would give you better coverage than east or west, but separation of stations would prevent any of the Dever's antenna farm signals from moving to the north, as would coverage of a City Grade signal 3.14mV/m {70dbu} over the City of License for most all the rim-shots that are licensed to Beaumont or Port Arthur.

I agree 100% with you Texas Tuner, Cumulus knew what they were getting into with the 103.7 signal and at 65+ miles when the tropo picks up any station is subject to interference, especially a rim-shot. I know it is nothing new, KQBU 93.3, KTJM 98.5, KQQK 107.9 {especially bad}, KKHT 100.7 all have the same problem as KIOL. KFNC 97.5 never has had a good signal where I live, for whatever reason.

I would concur that the chances of a waiver from The FCC would be highly unlikely, a million to one shot. It would open up a Pandora's box that The FCC has no desire to get involved.

Mike O

 

[TexasTuner]

> > 103.7 has had a problem sence day one with that signal,and
>
> > they still cant get the problem resovled,i am sure the
> > tried.it is sure going to hurt them.i have a question,ok
> if
> > you were going to rimshot the houston area,were would you
> > place the tower to get the most croverage out of your
> > signal. north,south,ect?
> >
> If IIRC from a post that CW made stations send a better
> signal north-south, such as KTHT 97.1 Country Legends, which
> can be heard from near Texarkana to south of Houston and
> does not seem to be affected by the tropo conditions like
> the stations to the east and west of Houston. Hopefully CW
> will repost the info, I don't want to write something CW
> posted from my memory and be incorrect. KTHT may just be
> one of the lucky stations that has an excellent signal for a
> rim-shot station. In answer to your question, I would
> believe that north of Houston would give you better coverage
> than east or west, but separation of stations would prevent
> any of the Dever's antenna farm signals from moving to the
> north, as would coverage of a City Grade signal 3.14mV/m
> {70dbu} over the City of License for most all the rim-shots
> that are licensed to Beaumont or Port Arthur.
>
> I agree 100% with you Texas Tuner, Cumulus knew what they
> were getting into with the 103.7 signal and at 65+ miles
> when the tropo picks up any station is subject to
> interference, especially a rim-shot. I know it is nothing
> new, KQBU 93.3, KTJM 98.5, KQQK 107.9 {especially bad}, KKHT
> 100.7 all have the same problem as KIOL. KFNC 97.5 never
> has had a good signal where I live, for whatever reason.
>
> I would concur that the chances of a waiver from The FCC
> would be highly unlikely, a million to one shot. It would
> open up a Pandora's box that The FCC has no desire to get
> involved.
>
> Mike O
>

You mention 97.1...that station always has had great coverage both in Beaumont and College Station, even when it was a C1 under the KRTK and KKTL calls. 100kw at just under 1000 feet. Signal generally poor in dowtown Houston, but we used to get calls from Beaumont and College Station all the time...go figure! The original plan under the ownership of Preferred Media was to go to a full 2000' tower (or as close as we could get) but land wasn't available at the time (the existing operation is much higher; evidently the land opened up or the subsequent owner just offered the timber company more money for extra land).


Texas Tuner

 

[eepstein]

KOUL really a threat?

Residing in the Austin area, but travelling to Houston a few times per year, I have never heard KUOL over KIOL. It is hard to imagine that that Corpus station actually overpowers KIOL is certain parts of Houston. It is true that KIOL will always have a weak Houston signal and will never get any ratings, but for some reason its just hard to believe that KUOL ever has any effect on it more than once in a while. Personally, I have never gotten either station up here, even on the strong eastward tropo days. Normally anything on 103.7 at my house belongs to KVIL.

> KIOL Rock 103.7 has made mention on every show that the
> station is having a serious problem getting a good signal
> into Houston and that Country music can be the music you
> will hear. They have even put callers on the air saying all
> they can pick up is Country {KOUL Sinton-Corpus Christi}.
>
> The stock answer has been that we are working on the
> problem. I don't know what else they can do at this point.
> The only hope would be a one in a million shot that the
> station gets a waiver to move the antenna in closer to
> Houston. The fact that their signal is likely getting
> trampled in LaPorte as well, the City of License, may carry
> some light weight.
>
> Fletch summed it up best tonight, their engineers were hard
> at work behind the transmitter building smoking one. If I
> were one of the engineers, at this point it would be the
> logical option left, nothing more to do inside or on the
> tower.
>
> Mike O
>

 

[dlf]

Re: KOUL really a threat?

> Residing in the Austin area, but travelling to Houston a few
> times per year, I have never heard KUOL over KIOL. It is
> hard to imagine that that Corpus station actually overpowers
> KIOL is certain parts of Houston. It is true that KIOL will
> always have a weak Houston signal and will never get any
> ratings, but for some reason its just hard to believe that
> KUOL ever has any effect on it more than once in a while.
> Personally, I have never gotten either station up here, even
> on the strong eastward tropo days. Normally anything on
> 103.7 at my house belongs to KVIL.
>

I live in South Comal County just outside the Bexar County line and KOUL out of Corpus Christi makes fairly regular "visits". I live on the fringe of the KMFR translator at 103.7 and many times KOUL will overpower them. I have heard KIOL a few times here.

I travel to Houston on business and I can verify KOUL blanking out KIOL in the Alvin area and on the west side of Houston. I was in Alvin one evening and KIOL was coming in like a local; when I woke up the next morning, the 103.7 frequency was all KOUL and no trace of KIOL.

dlf

 

[osr]

> Sounds like it's time to buy KOUL and turn it off.
>
> Not that it would help building penetration for KIOL any,
> but it would be one less thing to kill the station on tropo
> skip.
>
Why would you turn it off? Why not simulcast KOUL and KIOL in the event of a purchase by Cumulus and broadcast Rock 103.7 from The Valley to Louisiana? Are there regulations preventing a broadcaster from doing this? It seems to me that this would be the same thing as what KHYS/KJOJ and KIOX/KQQK do.

 

[osr]

> 103.7 has had a problem sence day one with that signal,and
> they still cant get the problem resovled,i am sure the
> tried.it is sure going to hurt them.i have a question,ok if
> you were going to rimshot the houston area,were would you
> place the tower to get the most croverage out of your
> signal. north,south,ect?
>
North. Look at KTHT for an example. They are licensed to Cleveland, Tx and have their antenna just north of Atascocita. KTHT is the most powerful of all of the rimshots IMO. I travel down to Rosenberg frequently and 97.1 has roughly the same strength in Rosenberg as KIOL does here in Houston. Country Legends blankets the city of Houston with a very good signal consistently. Riddle me this, Batman. How is it that a rimshot like 97.1 and 106.9, licensed out of Cleveland and Conroe respectively, have their antennas closer to Houston than KIOL? Conroe is not 60 miles from Houston and neither is Cleveland.

 

[CinnamonRoll]

I think it has to do with how far away the tower is from the towers of neighboring signals, not how far they are from the city.

> Riddle me this, Batman. How
> is it that a rimshot like 97.1 and 106.9, licensed out of
> Cleveland and Conroe respectively, have their antennas
> closer to Houston than KIOL? Conroe is not 60 miles from
> Houston and neither is Cleveland.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Because you dance to disco but you still like rock.</P>

 

[CW]

> North. Look at KTHT for an example. They are licensed to
> Cleveland, Tx and have their antenna just north of
> Atascocita.

HUH?? Where did you get this from? 97.1's 2000ft tower is NW of Shepherd.
Right off 150 on the way to ColdSpring.

> KTHT is the most powerful of all of the rimshots
> IMO. I travel down to Rosenberg frequently and 97.1 has
> roughly the same strength in Rosenberg as KIOL does here in
> Houston. Country Legends blankets the city of Houston with a
> very good signal consistently. Riddle me this, Batman. How
> is it that a rimshot like 97.1 and 106.9, licensed out of
> Cleveland and Conroe respectively, have their antennas
> closer to Houston than KIOL? Conroe is not 60 miles from
> Houston and neither is Cleveland.

Ok...here is the answer! Its not a riddle...Its called spacing of adjacent channels....97.1 is 65 miles from Sr Road where 96.5 is on (3rd adj) AND also must maintain distance from 96.9 down south....97.5 is stuck where its at (Winnie/Stowell) because of 97.1 and 97.9....106.9 has 106.5 to contend with but 106.5 is far south of Houston and thus 106.9 can be closer to Sr Road...nothing there is +/- 2 or 3 channels (400 - 600 khz) away from them.

KIOL has 104.1 to contend with...thus it cannot be closer than 65 miles from Sr Road...if it was on the North side, it would be where 97.1 is....(and could be..since both channels are also in Dallas; 97.1 KEGL and 103.7 KVIL) but it could not provide city grade over LaPorte...Its all due to Part 73 and the FCC rules...its no secret.

Its all a game when it comes to rimshots....you have to find a community that has no stations licensed to it and hope the tower site will cover it...
location, location, location!!!

 

[tex-tin-star]

just for fun here.if you had 103.7 and its problem with its signal.what and could you do to fix it,also if you had to do it over what would do different?

 

[slaterradio]

Re: KOUL really a threat?

> Residing in the Austin area, but travelling to Houston a few
> times per year, I have never heard KUOL over KIOL. It is
> hard to imagine that that Corpus station actually overpowers
> KIOL is certain parts of Houston. It is true that KIOL will
> always have a weak Houston signal and will never get any
> ratings, but for some reason its just hard to believe that
> KUOL ever has any effect on it more than once in a while.
> Personally, I have never gotten either station up here, even
> on the strong eastward tropo days. Normally anything on
> 103.7 at my house belongs to KVIL.

Every time I drive into Houston on I-10 to the Beltway, all I can pick up on 103.7 is Country through a lot of static. It is terrible.

It's usually about 8 or so miles down the Beltway before Rock 103.7 begins to come in worth a flip. If I'm go to Whesteimer on the Beltway, I get interferance in the same area, but it's not as horrific.

As I have said before, the best reception I can get of this station is in between Livingston and Woodville in East Texas.

Man, this station is screwed.

 

[slaterradio]

> just for fun here.if you had 103.7 and its problem with its
> signal.what and could you do to fix it,also if you had to do
> it over what would do different?
>

I think buying KOUL might be a smart investment, that is if KIOL's future is that important. If you want your station to do well, you have to strategically eliminate signal issues in order of priority and most importantly, approaching the priorities that are doable.
For KIOL there is no start over or redemption. It is a rimshot signal and there was no way this tower was going to give great coverage in Houston.

I think from day 1, I would have had at least some air talent on the air and had an agressive ad campaign letting my listener's know that more talent was on the way.
I also (obvious to all of you) would have gone active rock, instead of the broad AOR mess they're trying to pull off now. I posted a sample playlist of the kind of station KIOL should be.

I've said it before and I think research on this is pointless. If you look at record sales, lineage and history, there are key artists that make a format.

The Buzz rarely plays 2, and neglects one altogether.
If the Buzz upped their dosage of Tool and Rage Against The Machine and started throwing in some GNR, the need for an active rocker would be greatly reduced.
After all, those are three of the most common artists played on active rockers.

They fit with The Buzz because they are 90's modern rock artists and it's not like we're talking about some fossil band with GNR.
GNR was popular at the same time as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Even Jesus and Mary Chain (if you want to call them popular).

I would have branded the station different and most certainly gone a completely different route with the imaging.

Rock 101 was losing a lot of revenue and ratings, but it still billed quite nicely. That's why approach to a format is so important.

KIOL by no means should have ever become a "metal" station.
90's intensive, established new rock hits in heavy rotation and new music in the later hours of the day--that's the way to go.
The Buzz is almost there, but they're off by a few bands and missing out on completely clobbering KIOL. Right now, they have the club raised, ready to start the beating.
Until The Buzz picks up those few balls they've dropped, the club will continue to be raised with no beating.

 

[osr]

> just for fun here.if you had 103.7 and its problem with its
> signal.what and could you do to fix it,also if you had to do
> it over what would do different?
>
Well, that's easy. First, I wouldn't have bothered building the antenna for KIOL in La Porte. They should have upgraded the former facilities for KVST and sent a signal across Houston from there. If that was not an option, they still should've built the antenna in the northern suburbs of Houston, like KTHT and KHPT. Both of these stations have very minimal interference, if at all. Secondly, I would've had personalities from the get-go. Even if they were waiting for the jocks they have now to complete their non-compete, a warm body at each shift would have given the station an initial identity. It was a jukebox for the better part of 6 months, that should never have happened. Third, if they were going to image themselves as the continuation of KLOL, why did they not purchase the calls, copyrights, and imaging of KLOL from Clear Channel? In essence, KIOL would have simply been a frequency and ownership change for KLOL and would not have lost the huge step that they did as KIOL.

Or....instead of building the antenna, putting all the money into paying engineers to troubleshoot, climb, test, and such, buy an existing citygrade frequency from another company. Imagine how much better KIOL could be if it were located at 92.9 or a strong rimshot like 106.9?

 

[CW]

> Well, that's easy. First, I wouldn't have bothered building
> the antenna for KIOL in La Porte. They should have upgraded
> the former facilities for KVST and sent a signal across
> Houston from there. If that was not an option, they still
> should've built the antenna in the northern suburbs of
> Houston, like KTHT and KHPT.

Neither of those were options....
1) 104.1 is the 2nd adjacent....to be a full Class C, 103.7 has to be 65 miles away from Sr Road in Missouri City. KVST was NOT....neither is KHPT...
KTHT IS...and MAY have worked...but that would also depend on spacing to any 103.3 and 103.5s out there (BOB FM for instance). KVIL in Dallas would not have been an issue due to KEGL being on the same tower (called the Cowboy Tower at Cedar Hill which also has KLUV 98.7, KHKS 106.1, KZPS 92.5 and 94.9 KWRD...I heard 101.1 was looking at moving there back in 01 or 02 but I dont think that happened) and KTHT is ok in its spacing to KEGL.

The land for a 2000ft tower is a LOT..and to get KIOL to cover LaPorte with city grade signal from the north would not have been feasible....In the overall scheme, the current site is the only logical one that would work...

> Both of these stations have
> very minimal interference, if at all. Secondly, I would've
> had personalities from the get-go. Even if they were waiting

106.9 has a cochannel near Victoria iirc...but it is not a full C and when 106.9 built their new 2000ft tower in Splendora in the late 90s, that killed any chance of an upgrade by the cochannel folks down the coast.....but they may cause problems on the SW side of town?!....KTHT does not have a southern cochannel...due to 96.9 in Bay City...pity Cox didnt buy that instead of Liberman and simul Country Legends on both...(calling it 97FM)..
Ahhh hindsight...

> for the jocks they have now to complete their non-compete, a
> warm body at each shift would have given the station an
> initial identity. It was a jukebox for the better part of 6
> months, that should never have happened. Third, if they were
> going to image themselves as the continuation of KLOL, why
> did they not purchase the calls, copyrights, and imaging of
> KLOL from Clear Channel? In essence, KIOL would have simply
> been a frequency and ownership change for KLOL and would not
> have lost the huge step that they did as KIOL.

Clear Channel was not going to give KIOL any help...that would cut into their Rock stations (BUZZ and Arrow income...FORGET that......

> Or....instead of building the antenna, putting all the money
> into paying engineers to troubleshoot, climb, test, and
> such, buy an existing citygrade frequency from another
> company. Imagine how much better KIOL could be if it were
> located at 92.9 or a strong rimshot like 106.9?

Cost of buying KVST from Ben Amato and family $32 million
Cost of building new KIOL tower and xmtr site $3-5 million
Trying to buy an existing citygrade station?? Priceless!
(or rather a HELL of a lot more than $50 mill anyway and THATS IF someone was willing to sell...which they werent at the time...even with Susquehanna selling KRBE to Cumulus Partners, I would expect no changes on it...its a cash cow and Cumulus would be CF'ed to change it!!! but then stranger things have happened!)

 

[CW]

> You mention 97.1...that station always has had great
> coverage both in Beaumont and College Station, even when it
> was a C1 under the KRTK and KKTL calls. 100kw at just under
> 1000 feet. Signal generally poor in dowtown Houston, but we
> used to get calls from Beaumont and College Station all the
> time...go figure! The original plan under the ownership of
> Preferred Media was to go to a full 2000' tower (or as close
> as we could get) but land wasn't available at the time (the
> existing operation is much higher; evidently the land opened
> up or the subsequent owner just offered the timber company
> more money for extra land).

The 2000ft tower for 97.1 was built right next to the original 1000ft tower...
I think there is a new xmtr bldg as well; when Cox bought it, the 816R5 Continental xmtr BARELY fit in the old bldg!...Evidently, enough money got waved in the land owner's face for the extra guy spacing to allow the 2000ft to be built. (Did Jacor/CC or COX build the 2000ft?? I cannot recall when it was built; I seem to recall it was up before Cox bought the station because of the AMFM/CC spinoffs)