Rumour about KOOL on AM!?

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

I don't think there would be a format change for 94.5, there already was one a couple of weeks ago. Oldies and 70's rather than just oldies.

The slight '70s bump up may have been a smokescreen as KOOL seems to have
bumped it back down. Yeah, you hear the occasional 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
but where are the likes of Escape (The Pina Colada Song) or We Don't Talk Anymore?

I'm still noticing Jackson Browne "Doctor My Eyes", Steely Dan "Do It Again", Ace "How Long", Pure Prairie League "Amie", and suddenly a lot more Elton John other than "Crocodile Rock".

 

[davideduardo]

In a way, it's too bad that there isn't a single AM station that could be heard throughout most of the state. New Mexico has KKOB, Colorado has KOA, and Utah has KSL. We don't have a single station that can be picked up in all major cities of the state.

KKOB and KSL and KOA do not cover their entire states daytime, when most listening takes place. In fact, the 5 mv/m of KOA, daytime, barely covers 15% of the state. Similar can be said for KSL and KKOB.

In fact, no significantly sizable state has a station that covers the whole state.

 

[davideduardo]

.

There was no reason whatsoever for any AM station to run more than 5000 watts back then since 90% of the population of the county lived within 20 miles of downtown Phoenix. It's too late to get a big signal now, and even if it were possible it isn't necessary since (IMNSHO) there is no need whatsoever for 50 kW AM stations anymore.

Quite the contrary. AM in large metros is plagued by man made interference. In many areas, a signal strength in excess of 10 mv/m is needed, and most 5 kw stations, even low band ones, can not cover a large metro with such a signal.

The reason many coastal AMs have gone to 50 kw (such as WADO in New York on 1280) is that 5 kw is just not enough, and 50 kw barely makes it today.

I was working for a large market AM on a low dial position where we ran 100 kw day and night. Even that was not enough to overcome the noise in parts of town, so we went directional on purpose to push more power over the city...

 

[davideduardo]

Does anyone know if there was ever an application for big signal in this town?

When the 1 A clears were replicated in the 70's, the ones put in the southwest were blocked by local signals in PHX.

840 went to Vegas, too close to 860.
720 to Vegas, also, and too close to 740.
660 to Window Rock because of grey area coverage.
1020 to Roswell, too close to 1010.
890 to St George, too close to 910.
1210 to Guymon, too close to 1190 and to KRIZ.

About the only channel PHX coould have gotten was 1100 which went to Grand Junction due to gray area coverage.

Recently, there was a plan to move Roswell 1020 to PHX and take 1010 off the air. It apparently could not be engineered to work with KTNQ in LA.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

In fact, the 5 mv/m of KOA, daytime, barely covers 15% of the state. Similar can be said for KSL and KKOB.

David, isn't it the 0.5 mv/m plot that's normally used to show coverage area?

 

[pberger]

David, I was thinking population, not area, when I said KOA, KSL and KKOB cover most of their state.

 

[KeithE4]

David, I was thinking population, not area, when I said KOA, KSL and KKOB cover most of their state.

So do KFYI, KTAR, XTRA, and KKNT, as well as all the 100 kW FM stations on South Mountain.

75% of Arizona's population lives within 75 miles of downtown Phoenix. This area covers the entire Phoenix metro (2/3 of the state's population by itself), Pinal County, Prescott, and Globe-Miami. All of the above-mentioned stations cover this much territory, with only XTRA and KKNT having some coverage problems at night due to their directional antennas.

 

[ajhenderson]

In fact, the 5 mv/m of KOA, daytime, barely covers 15% of the state. Similar can be said for KSL and KKOB.

David, isn't it the 0.5 mv/m plot that's normally used to show coverage area?

Yes, by the sales department.

 

[davideduardo]

In fact, the 5 mv/m of KOA, daytime, barely covers 15% of the state. Similar can be said for KSL and KKOB.

David, isn't it the 0.5 mv/m plot that's normally used to show coverage area?

Useful coverage in metros is around 10 mv/m (below that, in metros the size of Phoenix, there are essentially no diary returns) and, maybe, in quiter areas, 5 mv/m works in more rural areas.

Different contours are used for protection purposes in allocations, but the reality is that unless the signal is pretty strong, there is no listening.

In theory, several of the Phoenix AMs "cover" Prescott, but in fact, you can not listen to any of them (or any South Mountain FM) in that city... the signals are either non-existent or noisy or below the capture ablity of average receivers.

 

[davideduardo]

So do KFYI, KTAR, XTRA, and KKNT, as well as all the 100 kW FM stations on South Mountain.

75% of Arizona's population lives within 75 miles of downtown Phoenix. This area covers the entire Phoenix metro (2/3 of the state's population by itself), Pinal County, Prescott, and Globe-Miami. All of the above-mentioned stations cover this much territory, with only XTRA and KKNT having some coverage problems at night due to their directional antennas.

I have a BA Receptor in Prescott, one of the better radios for fringe reception made today. I can not get any Phoenix station at anything approaching listenability (or at all) on the West side of town in a relatively noise free (no overhead power lines) environment.

 

[KeithE4]

I have a BA Receptor in Prescott, one of the better radios for fringe reception made today. I can not get any Phoenix station at anything approaching listenability (or at all) on the West side of town in a relatively noise free (no overhead power lines) environment.

I was making a rough guess based on what I've heard on my car radio. I can hear KFYI & KTAR almost all the way to I-40 east of Kingman on US 93 and the FMs are good for at least 30 miles past Wickenburg and pretty much all the way to Tucson. I haven't been to Prescott in many years so I'll take your word for it.

 

[davideduardo]

I was making a rough guess based on what I've heard on my car radio. I can hear KFYI & KTAR almost all the way to I-40 east of Kingman on US 93 and the FMs are good for at least 30 miles past Wickenburg and pretty much all the way to Tucson. I haven't been to Prescott in many years so I'll take your word for it.

In the car, and provided there is no vehicle with noisy ignition, I can usually drag 550 or 620 to the hilly area just before Quartzite... but in towns (like W'burg) they get a bit ragged.

In Prescott, I am right on the edge of the National Forrest, so there is not much man made noise, but the signals are just not there in the house; in the car, if I was very ocmpelled to listen, I could get them but with noise.

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Yet another change.... as of this afternoon, KOOL's logo is back to what you would see in 1997!! Uh, need I say more :-\

Go see for yourselves, I used Archive.org and got their page from '97: http://web.archive.org/web/19970107234832/http://koolradio.com/

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Yet another change.... as of this afternoon, KOOL's logo is back to what you would see in 1997!! Uh, need I say more :-\

Go see for yourselves, I used Archive.org and got their page from '97: http://web.archive.org/web/19970107234832/http://koolradio.com/

Correction: The logo used in the KOOL Loyal Listener Club email was the old one... The "new" logo on the website is of the old one, but enhanced to look a little bit newer.

I guess Bill Gardner did foreshadow the fact that there will be a logo change when he said their t-shirts were "obsolete" a few weeks ago.

:'( ...