The End of an Era...

[Media Mogul]

The University of Central Arkansas turned 1230 KCON in Conway off for the final time. If all went as scheduled, Monty Rowell was to flip the switch just before 5:00 AM.

The tower site is on "prime property" that the school apparently needs for continued growth. KUCA 91.3 will continue, but it looks as if the AM station is now gone forever. The license is being turned back in to the FCC, and apparently will be deleted barring any unforseen action.

This is truly a sad day for the history of Arkansas radio! There were alot of great talents that got their start there...

http://www.thecabin.net/stories/031007/loc_0310070001.shtml (Free registration is required...)

 

[Kent]

Gotta agree. It is a pretty sad situation. KCON 1230 had been struggling for quite some time and was donated to UCA as I recall. Ironically, its format ended up taking the place of the classical format at KUCA when the reverse was originally supposed to happen. A few months ago when I was visiting Little Rock, I tuned into both KCON and KUCA, and both were simulcasting most of the day except for commercials as KCON aired commercials while KUCA covered network breaks with PSA's. KCON also broke away to do freeform college radio during part of the day. It was interesting to listen to that and remember that I used to do the same thing and sounded just as bad when I was new to the business!

 

[Ramblin]

My first "live" gig was on KCON, Paul Logan hired me on in '78 even after I froze up doing a time-check during my job interview. Did my first Marti broadcast there (didn't even know what a Marti was), as well as my first play-by-play, news gathering and writing, copywriting, and morning show. Once put then running-for-governor Bill Clinton on-hold for about 10-minutes when he called in during "Trading Post" (only had one line!).

I remember my pay: $650/mo and $15 a game, w/all the games I wanted. We did UCA, Hendrix, UCA, CHS, the church school in town (don't remember what it was called), Vilonia, Greenbriar and a couple others. I had more spendable income then than I do now.

Probably learned more my 8 months there w/Logan, Kent Morgan, Ben Brannon, Rita Richardson, Becky Rogers, Monty Rowell, et al, than I've learned since.

Sorry to see it go.

 

[radiosaur]

Sadly, it won't be the last small AM to go...

 

[mikl73]

turning that station on a couple years back while driving through and hearing drum & bass music was an odd feeling... hearing that on the radio is intresting enough but on am radio even.

 

[Media Mogul]

That begs the question that I will pose to all of you... in this day and age could a real go getter have taken the old news/weather/sports full service format and made a go of it?? Would any of you dare try a standalone AM given the opportunity?

I probably would have before Y-107 came along.... I love AM radio, but it is awful hard to sell unless you've been there for fifty years OR you are the only listenable signal in town. And even then..... well it is sure a challenge.

 

[mikl73]

look at Forrest City & Wynne... plenty of decent fm signals yet the 2 dominant local stations are KXJK & KWYN am

 

[radionut925]

What will happen to coverage of University of Central Arkansas sports? ???

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

I just spoke to Monty Rowell on the phone...

The Omnitronix went to an engineer in Eastern Arkansas
The 2 Collins 20V3's have been taken to the dump as of this morning
The tower has been taken down or will be taken down by it's new owner shortly
The KCON studio/processing will be kept as they are goign to investigate, over the next several months the possibility of doing "KCON Internet Radio

The license will NOT be sold and they are simply turning it in, with respect to the donor..... who gave it to UCA back in the late 90s with the stipulation that it not be sold, or apaprently, even gifted to someone else.

Monty has been with the station for nearly 3 decades, so it's quite a sad time for him honestly, a bit of history now gone.

Oh, Mr. Merrill... Monty says a BIG HELLO to you and had tons of good things to say about you :=)

 

[Media Mogul]

What will happen to coverage of University of Central Arkansas sports? ???

They will keep the UCA games on KUCA 91.3 FM.... Whatever team is playing on the road will get the airwaves, and then the home game will be broadcast on the internet. They have a radio network for football that has been administered by Crain Media and Y-107....

 

[radiosaur]

That begs the question that I will pose to all of you... in this day and age could a real go getter have taken the old news/weather/sports full service format and made a go of it?? Would any of you dare try a standalone AM given the opportunity?

I probably would have before Y-107 came along.... I love AM radio, but it is awful hard to sell unless you've been there for fifty years OR you are the only listenable signal in town. And even then..... well it is sure a challenge.

ummmm.......Maybe. IF you were the only one doing the format, and did it really local...and if you weren't trying to get rich from it, just make an honest living...and lived at the station....

maybe.

 

[txradiochick]

Probably learned more my 8 months there w/Logan, Kent Morgan, Ben Brannon, Rita Richardson, Becky Rogers, Monty Rowell, et al, than I've learned since.

Hey...speaking of...where's Rita Richardson? She taught me more about news reporting than any teacher ever did! I thought the world of her and still do!

 

[txradiochick]

Oh, Mr. Merrill... Monty says a BIG HELLO to you and had tons of good things to say about you :=)

Hey Grant...I don't think we've ever met but I had to be the smarty-pants here and say...

SOMEONE HAD SOMETHING GOOD TO SAY ABOUT YOU!!! ;D

After all the flack you've taken from time to time in here I had to throw that out to make you chuckle! According to Stuart Smalley...you're good enough, smart enough and doggone it...most of us like ya.

FYI...smarty-pants would NOT be part of my normal vocabulary...but I dunno how to fake cuss on here.

 

[Media Mogul]

Probably learned more my 8 months there w/Logan, Kent Morgan, Ben Brannon, Rita Richardson, Becky Rogers, Monty Rowell, et al, than I've learned since.

Hey...speaking of...where's Rita Richardson? She taught me more about news reporting than any teacher ever did! I thought the world of her and still do!

Rita Rich ardson is in Russellville. I still hear her on KARV from time to time, but she is actually pastoring a small church at the corner of 2nd and Independence. She's a heck of a lady. She spent some time as head of the Arkansas River Valley United Way and she does a lot in the community. I've never seen anyone who will work as hard. When I worked at KARV, there were many days that I would come in early to do the morning show or something and she would be there at 5:00 AM.... and then after whatever ballgame we had just done she would be there late at 10:30 or 11:00 at night. She's an amazing lady that is for sure.

Oh, Mr. Merrill... Monty says a BIG HELLO to you and had tons of good things to say about you :=)

Hey Grant...I don't think we've ever met but I had to be the smarty-pants here and say...

SOMEONE HAD SOMETHING GOOD TO SAY ABOUT YOU!!! ;D

After all the flack you've taken from time to time in here I had to throw that out to make you chuckle! According to Stuart Smalley...you're good enough, smart enough and doggone it...most of us like ya.

FYI...smarty-pants would NOT be part of my normal vocabulary...but I dunno how to fake cuss on here.

Haha.. That's pretty funny. Hope you are doing well down there in Texarkana!

 

[MontyRowell]

Heard about this site for the very first time yesterday. I appreciate everyones kind words regarding KCON-AM.

I just returned from what use to be the transmitter and tower site where today at 1:05 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the tower was brought down. Demolition is continuing on the building that housed the transmitter. With the exception of a little bit of legal work, my work on KCON-AM is done.

This has been a very difficult last few weeks....Saturday morning when I took it silent, it was just awful and sad. I just can't think of any other way to describe it. I would not wish this on anyone.

Anyway, I appreciate everyones thoughts over the past few days and you might even hear from me from time to time now that I have found this board.

Tombstone shall read:
KCON-AM 1230
November 13th, 1950---March 10th, 2007
May She Rest In Peace With All Of The Great Stations That Have Gone Dark

Respectfully Submitted.

Monty Rowell
General Manager of Broadcast Services
University of Central Arkansas
:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

 

[Rich Moellers]

Monty:

I can't imagine signing off a station forever, and hope I never have to find out. I remember when the station was deeded to UCA, I found out about it watching the scroll on CNN Headline News.

Good luck! Keep sending young broadcasters to Morrilton and Russellville!

Rich

 

[MontyRowell]

Monty:

I can't imagine signing off a station forever, and hope I never have to find out. I remember when the station was deeded to UCA, I found out about it watching the scroll on CNN Headline News.

Good luck! Keep sending young broadcasters to Morrilton and Russellville!

Rich

Thanks...Rich

Like I said it was not fun.

Hope things are going well in Morrilton. Havn't been home in a while, but still listen to your stations when I'm passing through.

Best of luck.

Monty

 

[radioboss]

Monty,

Even though I haven't lived in Conway in 21 years; KCON was THE station to listen to.

I may have not had the opportunity to work with you or for you; you are truly a "Class Act" and even though we did compete against each other (KTOD), I appreciate all of the hard work you have done for the station, Conway and Faulkner County.

I am glad to see that you are still involved in broadcasting and especially running KUCA. That's where I cut my teeth in the business (under Dr. John McCormack) from 1980 - 1982. I hope that KUCA never dies.

I am living in Pennsylvania now, having owned 2 AM's and 1 FM; now, I have turned my direction into owning five TV stations in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Contact me sometime.

Sam Jordan
[email protected]

 

[MontyRowell]

Monty,

Even though I haven't lived in Conway in 21 years; KCON was THE station to listen to.

I may have not had the opportunity to work with you or for you; you are truly a "Class Act" and even though we did compete against each other (KTOD), I appreciate all of the hard work you have done for the station, Conway and Faulkner County.

I am glad to see that you are still involved in broadcasting and especially running KUCA. That's where I cut my teeth in the business (under Dr. John McCormack) from 1980 - 1982. I hope that KUCA never dies.

I am living in Pennsylvania now, having owned 2 AM's and 1 FM; now, I have turned my direction into owning five TV stations in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Contact me sometime.

Sam Jordan
[email protected]

Congratulations Sam....it's GREAT to hear from you
Hope everything is go well for you.

Monty

 

[MontyRowell]

Another final note on the KCON-AM issue.

I received an e-mail this morning from a gentleman in the FCC Audio Division informing me that our request to cancel the license on radio station KCON-AM had been received on March 14th and approved.

That's about as final as it gets.

Monty Rowell :'(