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What Is Up with Lewiston and Pullman-Moscow Radio???

R

radiojjh

Guest
On Saturday I drove from Spokane down to Clarkston for a bowling tournament and decided to check out what was happening with radio in the Palouse and down in Lewiston-Clarkston.

To say the least i was very disappointed---not musically, but with a complete and total lack of ANY personality on 104.3 102.5 and 94.1......nothing but a pre-recorded station imager going into a spot break and not even hearing one announcer on those 3 stations......wow...I realize broadcasters are cutting back, but this is very very sad. No wonder people are grabbing their ipods and listening to that instead of radio in some places....music was decent on all 3 stations, but you need something compeling to make people come back and continue to listen. Maybe it's what the stations do on weekends, but at least have some voicetrakking. Otherwise it's nothing but a juke box......am I way off base on this or not????

And what's with 920/KXLY missing their legal i-d breaks during Mariners games....I've heard this many more times than once...Rick the M's play by play guy gives the cue for the ID, and there is nothing but 10 seconds of dead air, and sometimes when you do hear the legal ID, their voice guy can't even say part of their ID right....he says 920 KXLY Spokane---Core-Dee-Lane....it is Core-Duh-Lane....DUH!?!?!?! Gee, I wonder if that guy is not from the Spokane area, hmmmmm?

Just my 2 cents and a very disappointed listener...


JJHemingway....Your Spokane Radio Pal.....
 
OK, JJ, you can be a Hemmingway or you can participate in a bowling tournament in Clarkston, but not both.
 
JJ, I hear you and also am disappointed in what radio has become in some markets. There is a certain lack of accountability, as in the missed KXLY ID's, and it stems from the top. If upper management doesn't care, then it will filter down. This isn't a problem necessarilly of the the talent, or board-ops, it is a problem of lack of programming management and their oversight. Which leads me back to upper management. Too often today we have radio stations run by fiscal managers who have no clue how to run stations from a programming standpoint. The product becomes diluted and the result is nobody wants to buy this diluted product and why should they? Programing people need to get back into a position of authority in many of these markets and the result will be a returned passion to what the product should be. Easier said than done, unfortunately.
 
In many cases you are correct. With music, it's like a restaurant---you can create the best meals, but IF IT'S NOT SERVED UP RIGHT---it will NOT be a successful restaurant.....just my humble opinion....
 
What about Z-Fun 106? I heard they went down the tubes after Deccio sold them......
 
I can vaguely remember hearing a DJ/announcer on KCLK 94.1 when I was in Yakima back in April of 2010, wasn't completely absent of DJs...

I've heard 94.1, 106.1 KZFN, and KMOK 106.9 in Yakima, all with big sticks. Have never heard 96.5 KOZE however with the channel usually open except for sometimes KWLZ Warm Springs, OR will come in.

-crainbebo
 
KOZE is odd. According to its license it is non-directional. However, look at its pattern via the FCC's 60dbu contour page and most of the signal is going south. Even Moscow and Pullman, two towns you think KOZE would absolutely want a healthy signal blanketing is outside of the 60dbu contour. Moscow is what, 25 miles away from KOZE's stick? Meanwhile, tiny Troy, OR at almost 60 miles away is still in the 60dbu contour.

I've caught KOZE on I-90 by Sprague Lake. It was fading in and out, with more emphasis on out. It didn't get much better going towards Spokane either. Extreme fringe for a decent car radio.

Definitely a different duck than 106.1 and 106.9 in terms of signal.

crainbebo said:
Have never heard 96.5 KOZE however with the channel usually open except for sometimes KWLZ Warm Springs, OR will come in.

-crainbebo
Click to expand...
 
Stephanie Sandlin said:
KOZE is odd. According to its license it is non-directional. However, look at its pattern via the FCC's 60dbu contour page and most of the signal is going south. Even Moscow and Pullman, two towns you think KOZE would absolutely want a healthy signal blanketing is outside of the 60dbu contour. Moscow is what, 25 miles away from KOZE's stick? Meanwhile, tiny Troy, OR at almost 60 miles away is still in the 60dbu contour.

I've caught KOZE on I-90 by Sprague Lake. It was fading in and out, with more emphasis on out. It didn't get much better going towards Spokane either. Extreme fringe for a decent car radio.

Definitely a different duck than 106.1 and 106.9 in terms of signal.

crainbebo said:
Have never heard 96.5 KOZE however with the channel usually open except for sometimes KWLZ Warm Springs, OR will come in.

-crainbebo
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

KZFN has a MONSTER signal out there. I've picked them up in my car as far as Vantage. Their power is a mere 62,000 watts, but you'd swear it was FAR more than that....

KMOK usually cuts out around Cheney, but still a remarkable signal. Most Lewiston radio stations (AM or FM) NEVER have the signal strength levels they're supposed to have in Moscow/Pullman. I don't know of anything significant in the way - and I lived on a hill in Moscow. But I actually received KMOK CLEARER in Cheney (just a hissy stereo) than in Moscow (riddled with some overblast from KZFN, but mostly multipath. I wasn't directly on Paradise Ridge either and had a VERY good and selective factory car/home radios.....)

Haven't been back out there in about 10 years, but I'm guessing nothing has fundamentally changed since. A few new signals, but not much else worth noting........
 
Johnson Butte blocks some of that Lewiston signal. KMOK had a translator at 103.1 on the KHTR tower at one time...When there was a problem with KHTR we could sit in the parking lot, tune in 103.1 on the car radio and if I heard KMOK...then I knew it was OUR trasmitter that had a prob. IF I heard KCDA...then I knew that the power was out on Moscow Mountain where KHTR was located.

As for KOZE...their tower site is on the north side of 95 as you head into Lewiston...and they are a bit further East than KMOK. PLUS KOZE is 25K watts at 2762 feet and KMOK is 99K at 3156 feet..

I could stop in Vantage and hear KHTR clear a bell. I knew if I heard Open House Party...all was OK and we got into the sat show fine. LOL Back to the KHTR signal, I could be heard in CDA...not grat but could hear it...and I remember having discussions with the folks at Superadio (OHP program suppier at the time) about their show and the fact that KHTQ wanted to carry it. I said no and blocked them because the PD up there blcoked me from using a jingle package I wanted. LOL Oh well. BTW KHTR is only 24K from Moscow Mountain at 4610 feet!!!

As for hearing the Lewiston signals in Pullman...I lived in an apartment on a hill and could get 97 rock out of tri cities better than most Lewisotn signals...but for some reason I do remember my ex-gal pals radio got KMOK great...in her dorm on campus. Back in those days you could choose 3 top 40 stations to choose from.
 
KXRX 97 Rock is staticky in Yakima but does quiet the channel enough so that KZTA 96.9's splatter dosen't come in.

For Spokane, I've logged 98.1, 99.9 and 101.1 in Yakima, 98.1 the most often, very weak and staticky only in a couple spots, at 150+ mi.

-crainbebo
 
I was in Republic, WA yesterday for a day hike with my God daughter. I popped a CD out of the car CD player and tuner was on KXRX. Low and behold, at 200 miles away straight line to 97 Rock's transmitter, there was KXRX coming in on the main drag in Republic. The kicker? It wasn't just an ID buried in static. The station reception was listenable, albeit with a little bit of wavering.

Impressive signal.


crainbebo said:
KXRX 97 Rock is staticky in Yakima but does quiet the channel enough so that KZTA 96.9's splatter dosen't come in.
Click to expand...
 
I worked at that frequency back in the early mid 80s, and remember my engineer going on about our odd frequency. There is just NO co-channel interference for miles and miles. Check this out: zero other stations in WA at 97.1. One in OR, KYCH Portland. None in ID. One in BC, 1400 watts in Penticton. 1 in Western MT, That's it. FM can go a long ways when there's not anything in the way, either physically or on the channel. If memory serves, Republic is around 2800 above sea level with some elevation drop to the south. KXRX is on Pikes Peak, OR in the Blue mts. at 4000 above sea level with a considerable drop in elevation to the north. I have listened to the X at the Steven's Pass ski area, regularly and clearly. Makes sense you would hear it in Republic.
 
crainbebo said:
KXRX 97 Rock is staticky in Yakima but does quiet the channel enough so that KZTA 96.9's splatter dosen't come in.

For Spokane, I've logged 98.1, 99.9 and 101.1 in Yakima, 98.1 the most often, very weak and staticky only in a couple spots, at 150+ mi.

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

I forgot, one time I was on a trip in Yakima, and KDBL 92.9 was off the air. With that, KZZU 92.9 was heard from Spokane, albeit some static, but 150+ mi out.

-crainbebo
 
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