Stations going dark, Could it happen in Tulsa?

[Radio55]

The following is from the Radio-Info Home page...

Kelly Communications in Peoria shuts down two stations due to "financial conditions"

Radio's hard times have hit Peoria, Illinois hard - two stations are going dark. Kelly Broadcasting-owned WOAM-AM (1350), which plays adult standards, and WPMJ-FM (94.3), an oldies station, will go silent at the end of today's broadcasting day. Owner Bob Kelly says "Advertising revenue in the Peoria market has been flat for the last 5 years, while operating expenses have dramatically increased, creating a shortage of operating funds, and in today's economic crisis, it's all but impossible to obtain refinancing." Kelly adds, "the company does not have the resources needed to continue to operate." Kelly was contacted by Radio-Info, but did not comment on whether the stations were up for sale.

(end)

What's going on here? Are there simply too many stations on the air? Certainly the ad-revenue pie can only be sliced so many times, but some of these stations going dark have been on the air for decades and have survived one economic crisis after another, only to fail now. Hometown stations, fully staffed and jocked have done well for years, it seems, and now, stations have voice tracking, the best automation systems ever, and still fail. What is happening to our business.... What is it that is crushing the great stations in these communities?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[cooptulsa]

Read about that the other day...the FM was the #2 rated oldies station; AM doing OK for an AM playing standards. A lot of things could have gone into that situation...since radio is so incestuous, I'm of the lean that (since those properties have been for sale) everyone knew how they were struggling, and rather than buy, wait til it got more dire to try to purchase the stations. Notice a couple companies own several properties; don't know ownership limits there...but I can see one of the current operators picking them up and using economies of scale to restore efficiency and profit.

Tulsa? Not concerned about that here. At highest risk would be smaller AM stations...around here they're owned by companies who, if necessary, could feed them from other properties to sustain them. There is NO reason not to make money with an FM at this point.

Thanks for tolerating my bloviation!

 

[billyg]

What's going on here? Are there simply too many stations on the air? Certainly the ad-revenue pie can only be sliced so many times, but some of these stations going dark have been on the air for decades and have survived one economic crisis after another, only to fail now. Hometown stations, fully staffed and jocked have done well for years, it seems, and now, stations have voice tracking, the best automation systems ever, and still fail. What is happening to our business.... What is it that is crushing the great stations in these communities?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

The weak economy is a playing big part why small stations are going dark or moving closer to a big market.

But I think too many small market stations are running on auto-pilot with no local programming now. You can get away with that in a large market, but people in a small town DO care whats on their radios. And they wont buy time if you don't support their community anymore.

 

[Kent]

I can't imagine any of the stations in Tulsa, or very many more than usual anywhere, going dark. Kelly Communications is probably getting more attention around Peoria than usual simply because those stations were doing better than one would expect, and WOAM 1350 had been a part of the community for a long time. Also, Kelly had long been an owner in the Peoria market.

If anyone in the Tulsa area were to go dark, I'd expect it to be someone with a graveyard station nearby. When you think about it, a fair number of stations around Tulsa have gone dark, and some are gone for good. KDLB 1590 in Henryetta went dark almost 20 years ago and has long since been deleted. KRIG 104.9 out of Nowata and what's now KPGM 1500 out of Pawhuska have been dark several times in their history, though they're probably here to stay now that KWON and KYFM in Bartlesville own them. 102.1 out of Wagoner was dark off and on throughout its history, too. It was a simulcast of KTRT 1270 for awhile only to go dark. Then, it became urban "102 Jamz" targeting Muskogee only to go dark and get deleted. Then, a new licensee got it and launched KRQZ, first "Cruisin 102" and later "K-Rock." It switched to country as KTFX and is likely here to stay now under the Payne family's ownership. KXTD 1530 was another one that was dark for quite some time going between formats like country as KTCR, Christian, and all sports, but is, hopefully, here to stay as it's been running Spanish-language programming for more than 10 years now. I'm sure there are others, but those are the main ones that I remember having been dark for an extended period of time.

 

[Sgeirk]

I can guarantee you with some knowledge of how business works...if this guy had those stations THAT long and still managed to tank them to that point...it had nothing to do with the local economy.

 

[JournalGuy]

agree. seems like a good excuse to use.

 

[cooptulsa]

Kent: Thanks for the history of "darkness" in area radio. Wasn't aware of that! And, KTFX is now 101.7 in Muskogee. Did a freq swap with their FM in Tahlequah, I believe.

Also agree with JournalGuy on the Peoria deal...you tank at this point, you've brought it on yourself.

 

[nobodyofimportance]

The link below is to a local paper from the Illinois Radio Info board. http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,110802.0.html

http://www.pjstar.com/homepage/x282356814/Peoria-radio-stations-to-close

After the article there are a few comments... I found this one to be interesting. Any local stations running their ship like Kelly was running his?


[QUOTE FROM THE COMMENT SECTION OF THE PJSTAR.COM WEBSITE]
jhacker

It is sad to see two radio stations actually go dark. I don't think I've seen this happen in Peoria in my lifetime. I do have to admit that I'll miss the True Oldies format. I work at Cat Mossville, and 94.3 WAS one of the few decent stations I could receive at work. However, I want to throw my .02 worth because I don't want people to be totally deceived. The demise of Kelly Communications is a combination of several factors. The big factor is mismanagement. I have known several people that have worked there over the years. I wouldn't have sentenced even my worst enemy a term with Bob Kelly as their boss. How about the time when several employees were bilked out of money from their paychecks? Then when they did cash their Kelly paychecks, they bounced. Kelly Communications is almost solely responsible for the demise of Rock 106 and WTAZ. Kelly took Rock 106 with a promise to buy, ran one of the country's most highly renowned rock stations into the ground, then couldn't (or wouldn't) come up with the cash to buy it. Kelly then took the long-standing talk station WTAZ and switched it to some crappy rock format just to put Howard Stern on it. Once again, this was because the purchase of Rock 106 fell through. These are just some of the misdeeds that have come from the L-shaped building on 3641 Meadowbrook Rd.

Working for Bob Kelly and crew did have some advantages. His browbeating style of direction did give several highly talented people the motivation to get the hell out of Peoria and advance their careers. Take for instance Andy Masur. He moved on to be a sportscaster at WGN radio, and is now the sportscaster for the San Diego Padres. Then there's Jack Shell. He started on 94.3 when it was KZ-94.3, and moved through several medium to large markets. Now he's a big-time jock at WKDF in Nashville.

So, to say that the demise of WPMJ and WOAM is because of the soft economy? That is partially true. However, years of bad management has hurt the Kelly Communications that was once an empire. I'm a firm believer in the saying, 'You reap what you sow.'

On a side note, I wholeheartedly agree with the comments of 'jlfjaf1' above. Local radio has become so stale because of deregulation that it has few listeners. Radio stations run on the cheap, hiring the cheapest talent they possibly can, voice-track (record their shifts), and wonder why people don't listen? All I can say is DUHHHHHH!! These radio companies must actually get competent people to manage them, then make an investment in talent and promotion in order to get a return from their investment. They must also serve the community they're licensed to. It's not merely enough to have automated studios with no soul in the building. No wonder people pay for radio!!

[/QUOTE]

 

[stan]

In the late 1970s, I seem to remember a radio station in Cushing, maybe an AM station that I passed by while driving one week. I think some of the smaller town AM stations are dropping by the wayside.

 

[cooptulsa]

Reminds me...went back to Jersey four years ago for my neice's wedding and decided to drive to my first station ever, WJIC in Salem. 1510...250 watt daytimer...started there in 68. Pulled into the driveway to find four feet of grass and weeds, an abandoned building and that tiny stick in the back of the lot. I got a little concerned when I couldn't tune in the station on the way to it! Did some asking on the Delaware blog and found out the FM they started up in 71 is now operated out of Wilmington; claim was the AM was also being operated out of there but couldn't find it.

Refer to "favorite radio story" for my adventure there...

 

[billyg]

In the late 1970s, I seem to remember a radio station in Cushing, maybe an AM station that I passed by while driving one week. I think some of the smaller town AM stations are dropping by the wayside.

That was KUSH. I believe it was owned by a former 60's KAKC DJ (Don Kelly?).

And I remember the old KXVQ 1500 in Pawhuska. It was the first commercial station I worked for in 1982-3 and a summer stint in 1984. What an antique shop, mostly 60's vintage equipment.

I remember it had a old Collins 212G control board. The owner said he got it used from a station in Tulsa. Years later I saw photos of the original KAKC studio and it had the same model board.

It used to have a great daytime signal, 5000 watts that could get into Tulsa, but 500 watts critical hours to protect KSTP in Minneapolis. It was a pain to power down, sometimes as early as 3:30 pm in December..and there went any listeners we had in Ponca and B'ville! It was dark for a couple years, and later the people who owned KRIG bought 1500 and moved the transmitter closer to get a better signal into Bartlesville, but only at 500 watts.

 

[Les Stock]

KEOR Atoka signed off 1110 a few years ago to make room for a station in the DFW area on that frequency. It was reassigned to 1120, with Catoosa as its new city of license. You can see its new towers and transmitter building, already built out, at 106th North and Peoria. Because of its proximity to KMOX, nighttime authorization seems unlikely. Anyone besides me think KEOR will never get lit again?

 

[Bob Oshea]

55-
I think everybody has a piece of the puzzle. Economy, bad management, bankruptcy, too leveraged, sub-prime, de-regulation....who really knows. It's more sad than scary. Peoria, while not a giant of a market, is a solid little market. Illinois is feeling the economy meltdown like everybody else, maybe more so because of all of the concentrated industry in the state. I mean everything in this country can be found in Chicago. All other Illinois cities seem to exist economically because of Chicago after a fashion. Then take a short trip to Michigan and Ohio. It is just an absolute tragedy. Flint, Detroit, Cleveland, etc., ad nauseum, all are suffering in a way the rest of us have not yet seen and hopefully won't have to. You ask for thoughts? Here is a thought: Pray for this nation like you've never prayed before. I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Bob O

P.S. Coop, when you bloviate you're supposed to say 'excuse me'.

 

[radioforelife]

Speaking of "102 Jamz" in Muskogee, I had never heard of its existance until this post. Was it a good station?

 

[Kent]

102 Jamz didn't last long at all. I don't think it was on for more than a few months. As for whether or not it was a good station, I couldn't tell you. I've never been much of an urban listener. So, I don't know what's good versus what isn't when it comes to urban!

 

[Les Stock]

KEOR Atoka signed off 1110 a few years ago to make room for a station in the DFW area on that frequency. It was reassigned to 1120, with Catoosa as its new city of license. You can see its new towers and transmitter building, already built out, at 106th North and Peoria. Because of its proximity to KMOX, nighttime authorization seems unlikely. Anyone besides me think KEOR will never get lit again?

I may have spoken too soon. Something's happening on 1120...Sunday afternoon, they were tracking pop hits of the 50's and 60's.

 

[charlestace]

The station on 1120, licensed to Catoosa, is a 2 kw directional daytimer with, as you might expect, a hard null in the direction of St. Louis. Undoubtedly it will have a fine daytime signal to the south (into Tulsa), but my question is: why bother? Even in the unlikely event you managed to get a one-percent share of the audience, you couldn't make any money with it.

 

[MN Maniac]

There are WAY too many stations on the dial, both AM and FM. This causes interference, reduces coverage, and thus decreases value of individual stations.

If the FCC would just allow the free market to work, this problem would sort itself out. The weaker sticks would go dark, thus allowing the survivors to become stronger and more solvent. Of course, it was the FCC who alllowed the dials to become oversaturated in the first place with Docket 80-90, breaking down the AM clears, downgrading Class C's under 450m to Class C0, and especially the AWFUL practice of allowing religious satellite translators on EVERY second adjacent channel to local broadcasters!

 

[GeneSavage]

Listening this afternoon, 1120 seems to have a pretty decent signal over most of Tulsa as was predicted, but the processing is non-existent and presentation is less than stellar (gaps between all songs you could drive a truck through, a legal ID sounding like it was recorded using one of those plastic stick microphones that come with new computers).

If 60s music is what they're going to program... isn't that already what 1270 is doing?

I wish them well... no, REALLY...

 

[GeneSavage]

IDEA: They are barely northeast of downtown Tulsa and their signal shoots south-southwest. Most AMs don't penetrate buildings very well, but in their case they should get into the high-rises, I would think.

Since you're daytime-only anyway, your most practical audience to go after is in-office listeners. Your signal gets into downtown buildings.

Should they super-serve the downtown office workers? Perhaps with a beautiful music format, or something else (non-duplicated on FM) that would appeal to 9 to 5-ers downtown?

Then you get all those lovely new businesses going in downtown who already serve the downtown office workers to advertise... hm... that ALMOST sounds like it might make money, promoted right...

I wasn't impressed with beautiful music on 930 WKY in Oklahoma City, but maybe it would work on 1120 here... opinions?