A Saturday afternoon drive thru most of southeast Arkansas reveals:
*All 4 of the MRS stations in Pine Bluff have now bit the dust. The last one to remain on the air, KZYP-99.3 FM, has been off for over 2 weeks now. Over on the Mississippi board, it was rumored that the FCC was in that state this week to investigate MRS. Maybe they'll come on up 65 and on to P.B. They probably can go inside the stations without a key from what I've heard. The only stations on the air in Pine Bluff now are: KCAT-1340 AM, KTRN-104.5 FM and the UAPB smooth jazz station.
*KXJK-950 AM (Forrest City) continues to have the best AM processed sound I believe I've ever heard. Techincal wise, it could compete with AM stations in at least markets 20+.
*KVSA-1220 AM (McGehee, Dermott) continues on. They play modern country, with about a 5 second pause between songs, no jingles or anything and news at the top of the hour. Funny thing though, each time I've heard them, they've always had the top 20 country songs of that period on the air. Oh well, at least they keep their music current.
*KWRF-860 AM in Warren has ended it's long simulcast with country sister KWRF-105.5 FM, at least about 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time, the automation gets hung or something and sends the FMs' country programming over to the AM without warning. KWRF-AM is now beautiful music. KWRF-FM remains country in mono. That's right, KWRF-FM has never been in stereo.
*P.Q. Gardner's Community Radio Network of stations in Monticello are all on the air. Processing wise, KGPQ-99.9 FM has to be the best. It carries a satellite soft A/C format and of the 4 stations overall, KGPQ is the best. Respectable sounding spots, o.k. jingles and a almost flawless interface with the satellite (no small achievement). KHBM-FM 93.7 carries a satellite classic rock format with songs that no ones' heard of. The satellite interface is pretty rough. The spots are way over modulated and can come in the middle of a song. KXSA-103.1 FM (Dermott), the country station, has horrible processing, holes that you could drive a train through, and spots that sound like they were recorded inside a manhole. And last and certainly least, KHBM-1430 AM, continues with it's adult standards format. From the weak signal, I would say that the transmitter wasn't operating with anymore than 200 watts of power. No spots, no I.D. or anything. It sounded like it was just the raw satellite feed. It's strange indeed that 1 of the 4 gets all the attention and the other 3 are just left to go to pot.
Since this board has gotten so dead, maybe this will stimulate some discussion.
*All 4 of the MRS stations in Pine Bluff have now bit the dust. The last one to remain on the air, KZYP-99.3 FM, has been off for over 2 weeks now. Over on the Mississippi board, it was rumored that the FCC was in that state this week to investigate MRS. Maybe they'll come on up 65 and on to P.B. They probably can go inside the stations without a key from what I've heard. The only stations on the air in Pine Bluff now are: KCAT-1340 AM, KTRN-104.5 FM and the UAPB smooth jazz station.
*KXJK-950 AM (Forrest City) continues to have the best AM processed sound I believe I've ever heard. Techincal wise, it could compete with AM stations in at least markets 20+.
*KVSA-1220 AM (McGehee, Dermott) continues on. They play modern country, with about a 5 second pause between songs, no jingles or anything and news at the top of the hour. Funny thing though, each time I've heard them, they've always had the top 20 country songs of that period on the air. Oh well, at least they keep their music current.
*KWRF-860 AM in Warren has ended it's long simulcast with country sister KWRF-105.5 FM, at least about 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time, the automation gets hung or something and sends the FMs' country programming over to the AM without warning. KWRF-AM is now beautiful music. KWRF-FM remains country in mono. That's right, KWRF-FM has never been in stereo.
*P.Q. Gardner's Community Radio Network of stations in Monticello are all on the air. Processing wise, KGPQ-99.9 FM has to be the best. It carries a satellite soft A/C format and of the 4 stations overall, KGPQ is the best. Respectable sounding spots, o.k. jingles and a almost flawless interface with the satellite (no small achievement). KHBM-FM 93.7 carries a satellite classic rock format with songs that no ones' heard of. The satellite interface is pretty rough. The spots are way over modulated and can come in the middle of a song. KXSA-103.1 FM (Dermott), the country station, has horrible processing, holes that you could drive a train through, and spots that sound like they were recorded inside a manhole. And last and certainly least, KHBM-1430 AM, continues with it's adult standards format. From the weak signal, I would say that the transmitter wasn't operating with anymore than 200 watts of power. No spots, no I.D. or anything. It sounded like it was just the raw satellite feed. It's strange indeed that 1 of the 4 gets all the attention and the other 3 are just left to go to pot.
Since this board has gotten so dead, maybe this will stimulate some discussion.