It was completely off the air yesterday when I tuned in. Nothing about an outage on their website or socials. Has it been off the air for long?
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What's Going on With Candle 88?
- Thread starter Ryan Williams
- Start date
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AnyHuman
Guest
Maybe just an outage? That station has been off for short periods of time before.
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AnyHuman
Guest
KNLE has had it's fair share of problems over the years... One example being a leaky roof that was repaired 4 years ago. Found an article. Project Highlight: Answered Prayers
KNLE once had a much wider listener base than it does in recent years. The fact the operator is pretty much alone running the station speaks volumes. While I love the idea of giving airplay to local musicians, you need familiar songs to attract the audience and build a support base and have the ability to sell underwriting. Just playing local musicians means mostly just the musicians and their friends will listen and likely contribute nothing to the station.
The fact KNLE has had issues over and over is a result of lack of revenue. When the revenue is not there, we revise things so getting the needed revenue is possible. We don't beg a company to do something free but rather we respect their hard work and cost of raw materials by paying a fair price. I understand the operator has a problem with the labels and organized Christian music industry. That is a stumbling block for making his station viable. My point is the station is unsuccessful because the operator chooses to make it that way. You can have a Christian non-comm station and actually pay your bills, do upkeep on your building and take care of emergencies when they arise. That's what the FCC expects you to do. There is nothing 'sell-out' about that.
In fact, revenue to operate and maintain is so important you even tuck a little aside for emergencies. When Covid-19 became a thing all radio stations suffered. Most cut expenses to the bone but they called on those reserve dollars to make up for a lack of donations and underwriting. Those few that never prepared for an emergency quickly vanished. Those that did are still around. Every station knows the way you get funding is by having your radio station on the air to ask for it. Once you're off it's equal to being fired from your job because there's no paycheck coming. You lost your ability to create that paycheck to pay the bills
I have no idea what is wrong with KNLE this time but it is obvious the station is in bad financial shape by choice and because the format is so niche, it is a very ineffective in the Austin market. KNLE could do something, not only as a station but a ministry...much more than it is right now. Consider this, when it's off the air it is not accomplishing the goals of its very existence. It is always troublesome to see station sink so low, especially when self-inflicted. I wish the station to see better days but I suspect that will not be the case.
The fact KNLE has had issues over and over is a result of lack of revenue. When the revenue is not there, we revise things so getting the needed revenue is possible. We don't beg a company to do something free but rather we respect their hard work and cost of raw materials by paying a fair price. I understand the operator has a problem with the labels and organized Christian music industry. That is a stumbling block for making his station viable. My point is the station is unsuccessful because the operator chooses to make it that way. You can have a Christian non-comm station and actually pay your bills, do upkeep on your building and take care of emergencies when they arise. That's what the FCC expects you to do. There is nothing 'sell-out' about that.
In fact, revenue to operate and maintain is so important you even tuck a little aside for emergencies. When Covid-19 became a thing all radio stations suffered. Most cut expenses to the bone but they called on those reserve dollars to make up for a lack of donations and underwriting. Those few that never prepared for an emergency quickly vanished. Those that did are still around. Every station knows the way you get funding is by having your radio station on the air to ask for it. Once you're off it's equal to being fired from your job because there's no paycheck coming. You lost your ability to create that paycheck to pay the bills
I have no idea what is wrong with KNLE this time but it is obvious the station is in bad financial shape by choice and because the format is so niche, it is a very ineffective in the Austin market. KNLE could do something, not only as a station but a ministry...much more than it is right now. Consider this, when it's off the air it is not accomplishing the goals of its very existence. It is always troublesome to see station sink so low, especially when self-inflicted. I wish the station to see better days but I suspect that will not be the case.
I'd also point out that in a way, it sounds like this hostile approach to the music industry might actually shortchange the local or independent artists he supposedly wants to help. I'm certain there's some great artists of Christian faith in the Austin music community, if selectively programmed alongside the familiar songs, it would broaden their audience and accomplish something besides, pardon the phrase, "preaching to the choir."
I'm a firm believer you can (particularly in non-comm) introduce things and broaden the scope of the format, when done smartly. But it has to be presenting some of what people might like alongside stuff they do, not a complete "principled" purist format that doesn't attract and pull in some of those casual listeners.
I'm a firm believer you can (particularly in non-comm) introduce things and broaden the scope of the format, when done smartly. But it has to be presenting some of what people might like alongside stuff they do, not a complete "principled" purist format that doesn't attract and pull in some of those casual listeners.
Being a short stick Class A on the north side of the market (and not on one of the western hills towers) doesn't help things. You also now have competiton from K-Love and Air1 with much better signals.
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AnyHuman
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KNLE has filed a license renewal and an EEO program report on March 19th... https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=kn...=&lmspl=&party_type=LICEN&latd=&lond=&lang=en
If it's still off I expect KNLE will come back soon.
If it's still off I expect KNLE will come back soon.
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AnyHuman
Guest
Just remembered I heard something a few years ago that scared me... Don't really want to say what on here except maybe in a PM... For all intents and purposes you guys might want to proceed with caution when contacting KNLE.
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AnyHuman
Guest
Did they ever return to the air?
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AnyHuman
Guest
From their Facebook page, someone commented a couple weeks ago about how no one answers the phones, and someone else wrote 4 months ago about how the same thing was on a loop back then over and over.
What is KNLE playing now, or has anyone heard it recently?
What is KNLE playing now, or has anyone heard it recently?
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AnyHuman
Guest
Is KNLE Austin still making it? Not sure who else is running it along with the older man who owns it. He applied for another station in Thorndale TX in the last non-commercial filing window. Probably will extend KNLE's coverage.
Sad, because 88.1 is a decent allocation. He (by far) is the worst steward of any frequency in the Austin market - and that’s really saying something! 88.1 is always broadcasting in one channel, barely audible or just flat out silent. Waste of electricity.
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AnyHuman
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It's supposed to broadcast on one channel... 88.1 FM.
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AnyHuman
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If I was the owner, I would switch the transmitter to mono if my equipment only allowed for 1 stereo channel of audio.
Maybe call him and ask? He's an older man (in his 70s at least). He gives the phone number out periodically on-air along with asking for donations.
Something must not be right though, you'd think someone would have helped him by now. (someone told me he's possessed, but don't really have solid proof)
Maybe call him and ask? He's an older man (in his 70s at least). He gives the phone number out periodically on-air along with asking for donations.
Something must not be right though, you'd think someone would have helped him by now. (someone told me he's possessed, but don't really have solid proof)
Here's the deal. He has run the radio station properly at one point. I don't buy ignorance. I think if you looked at his history you would find him becoming more and more distant from reality all along, alienating himself from his support and backing. In essence he has been going in the deep end an inch at a time. Now he finds himself a loner, likely bitter and not one you want to associate with. Like so many of this personality type, they blame their situation on others, not himself.
What is clearly the case, he lacks the support and seeming ability to make 88.1 function properly. This has been ongoing for years. He refuses to give up because his ego won't allow it.
I honestly don't think Thorndale will happen. How could it based on KNLE's track record?
What is clearly the case, he lacks the support and seeming ability to make 88.1 function properly. This has been ongoing for years. He refuses to give up because his ego won't allow it.
I honestly don't think Thorndale will happen. How could it based on KNLE's track record?
In standard FM broadcasting only one program can be transmitted on "the two channels" because FM stereo receivers derive the left audio channel from the main broadcast (modulated) channel plus the (38 KHz upconverted) subchannel (sum) and derive the right audio channel from the main channel minus the subchannel (difference). More rigorously, the main modulated channel always carries "the" mono signal in turn defined as L+R and the 38 KHz subchannel (if present) carries a signal of L-R. Not counting Ibiquity HD, there may or may not be additional subchannels for additional programs osually not used together using sum/difference relationships. One such subchannel commonly was upconverted to about 67 KHz.
On (fortunately) rare occasions I have heard broadcasts of just the left audio channel (or was it just the right?). Most likely a loss of one of the audio channels of the studio to transmitte feed. Once it was an "oldies" station where most of the content was mono (lots of old 45 RPM records) so it took awhile before a stereo selection with a lot of channel separation was played and the deficiency was noticeable on the air.
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