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Post by CAwasinNJ on Dec 21, 2018 1:39:01 GMT -6
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Dec 21, 2018 11:58:18 GMT -6
Thank you. I was wondering whether this would make it on the boards or not. Yes, my wife and I are in the process of purchasing the Morey's properties along with another set of stations here, KWLO and KPVO. I have been a long-time member of the board here and lurked occasionally but haven't posted much, so I should probably share who we are, what we are doing and why for anyone who may be interested. First, some background: My name is Frank Mueller and I've been obsessed with radio since I visited my first station, KHOP in Modesto, CA, when I was 13. I did college radio at a community college in Atlanta and another in Nashville before moving to Utah to go to school. Once I got here I worked for Simmons as a board op, for Charlie in Nephi at KYKN as a account exec and news person, and for Bob Morey for 8.5 years, starting as a producer and finishing as ops manager. After that, we moved to Las Vegas where I spent 12 years, first as OM then GM for KUNV, UNLV's public radio station. My wife was also in the industry there as the business manager for the Nevada Broadcasters Association. Last year the Morey's let me know they were shutting down and interested in selling and asked if we wanted to buy, which started this whole crazy process.
I have dreamed about owning a radio station but it has always seemed like an impossible dream as stations have gotten ridiculously expensive and national interests have pushed the local guys out, so I'm still amazed we are getting to do this. My wife are passionate about two things and we hope we get to do both with this venture. First, education. I am incredible grateful for all the people who gave me learning opportunities for my passion and we hope we can get to do the same. I also teach part-time at UVU and taught at UNLV and my wife was very involved with the broadcast scholarship program in Nevada, so we are really excited to give students a chance to intern and have real responsibilities. Second is being local broadcasters. While we understand why the industry has gone the way it has, we really believe with the growing competition to terrestrial radio, being locally focused will be the biggest reason to keep people tuned in. Utah County is growing like crazy and there is a major lack of stations that are really focused on its unique needs. We are so excited to be able to do that.
I hope you'll tune in as we get things up and going with these stations. I'm always open to thoughts, feedback, suggestions, comments, criticism, etc. While I'm not on here daily, I try to check in often and I'm always amazed at the sense of community and the vast wealth of knowledge that I find here. Thanks for letting me share in that.
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Post by David on Dec 21, 2018 15:51:18 GMT -6
Glad to hear that someone with a passion for radio has bought these stations, and I wish you the best of luck in getting them back on the air. $100 K for an AM & FM station along with an FM translator is a reasonably good deal, but the transmitting equipment needed isn't going to be cheap. IIRC, KSRR's tower collapsed and KQMB's transmitter finally died. That's going to be a big initial expense, but it can be recovered in a year or two if the stations do well. Congratulations!
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Dec 21, 2018 17:32:37 GMT -6
David, thank you! I looked at the AM tower. It's folded in half but there's probably about 100' of salvageable material and it's a Rohn, so new segments shouldn't be too hard to get. The bigger expense is going to be finding a new place to construct as the land did not come with the sale. I haven't completely ruled out diplexing if I can find a suitable site. The failed transmitter is also coming in the sale so I'll have an engineer look at it and see if it can be revived. It's a BE FM-30T which is a pretty solid unit, though I'm not thrilled about the kind of power bill I'd be getting from a tube transmitter, so replacing it would probably be a mixed blessing. Either way, it's not going to be cheap, but there is so much potential here I think it's worth the investment. We're certainly putting all we have into it
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Dec 21, 2018 18:11:16 GMT -6
Super cool! I look forward to tuning into your stations on the occasions I travel through Utah County. I used to make a point to tune into 1400 when I was there. Last Saturday when I was there KWLO 1580/99.9 was playing some great Christmas music. The FM signal sounded great. I hope, when you're up and running, you'll consider streaming your stations on the internet so those of us to the north can check them out as well. If not, though, I'll enjoy them while traveling south on I-15. Merry Christmas!
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Dec 21, 2018 18:26:47 GMT -6
Thanks! We are planning on streaming all the stations. Right now I'm working with the KWLO owner on the programming so we can take over with an LMA until the sale goes through. I'll be sure to post once we have that all up and going.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Dec 25, 2018 0:38:44 GMT -6
As I already said privately, thank you for posting all that Frank. I think getting as much of a glimpse inside the working of some radio stations is going to be fascinating. You're saying all the right things and I really really hope this is a big success for you. Not that we aren't going to have constructive criticism along the way of course. One thing I'd like to suggest if you'd like to get even more radio geeks involved in the process. Are you familiar with Scott Fybush? He writes Northeast Radio Watch and does the Top of the Tower podcast (among other things.) You might want to check him out at fybush.com and see if he'd like to do an interview with you. All the things you said are right up his alley.
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Post by David on Dec 26, 2018 12:03:23 GMT -6
David, thank you! I looked at the AM tower. It's folded in half but there's probably about 100' of salvageable material and it's a Rohn, so new segments shouldn't be too hard to get. The bigger expense is going to be finding a new place to construct as the land did not come with the sale. I haven't completely ruled out diplexing if I can find a suitable site. The failed transmitter is also coming in the sale so I'll have an engineer look at it and see if it can be revived. It's a BE FM-30T which is a pretty solid unit, though I'm not thrilled about the kind of power bill I'd be getting from a tube transmitter, so replacing it would probably be a mixed blessing. Either way, it's not going to be cheap, but there is so much potential here I think it's worth the investment. We're certainly putting all we have into it As a licensed ham radio operator, I'm very familiar with Rohn towers and their durability. Probably 50% of Rohn towers are sold to hams, LOL! And as you can probably tell from my signature, I'm a huge fan of vacuum tubes as well, so I hope you can salvage the failed KQMB transmitter. I've always favored the warm sound of tube audio over solid state equipment. Vacuum tubes are also more resistant to ESD discharge, so there's that to consider as well. Happy New Year, and best of luck with KSRR & KQMB!
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Dec 27, 2018 15:40:48 GMT -6
As I already said privately, thank you for posting all that Frank. I think getting as much of a glimpse inside the working of some radio stations is going to be fascinating. You're saying all the right things and I really really hope this is a big success for you. Not that we aren't going to have constructive criticism along the way of course. One thing I'd like to suggest if you'd like to get even more radio geeks involved in the process. Are you familiar with Scott Fybush? He writes Northeast Radio Watch and does the Top of the Tower podcast (among other things.) You might want to check him out at fybush.com and see if he'd like to do an interview with you. All the things you said are right up his alley. Thanks! Great suggestions. I'll have to check out Scott's stuff. I'm always interested in getting whatever knowledge I can. I love the online world we're in now that makes it that much easier. Thanks again!
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Dec 27, 2018 15:46:54 GMT -6
David, thank you! I looked at the AM tower. It's folded in half but there's probably about 100' of salvageable material and it's a Rohn, so new segments shouldn't be too hard to get. The bigger expense is going to be finding a new place to construct as the land did not come with the sale. I haven't completely ruled out diplexing if I can find a suitable site. The failed transmitter is also coming in the sale so I'll have an engineer look at it and see if it can be revived. It's a BE FM-30T which is a pretty solid unit, though I'm not thrilled about the kind of power bill I'd be getting from a tube transmitter, so replacing it would probably be a mixed blessing. Either way, it's not going to be cheap, but there is so much potential here I think it's worth the investment. We're certainly putting all we have into it As a licensed ham radio operator, I'm very familiar with Rohn towers and their durability. Probably 50% of Rohn towers are sold to hams, LOL! And as you can probably tell from my signature, I'm a huge fan of vacuum tubes as well, so I hope you can salvage the failed KQMB transmitter. I've always favored the warm sound of tube audio over solid state equipment. Vacuum tubes are also more resistant to ESD discharge, so there's that to consider as well. Happy New Year, and best of luck with KSRR & KQMB! I didn't know that about Rohn's. I'm a ham as well but not nearly as involved as I should be. I just got my Technician's class last year and am still getting into it. I hear what you are saying on the vacuum tubes and actually have a couple vacuum mic preamps in my studio. I've just heard from a power consumption standpoint the tube transmitters can be higher, though I'm not sure how much higher. I didn't know about the ESD difference, which is certainly something to consider. Thanks for the things to think about. Happy New Year to you as well!
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Post by radiowyoming on Feb 5, 2019 11:50:18 GMT -6
Thanks! We are planning on streaming all the stations. Right now I'm working with the KWLO owner on the programming so we can take over with an LMA until the sale goes through. I'll be sure to post once we have that all up and going. I can see, or rather hear... that KWLO has changed formats from country to oldies. I’m over in Laramie Wyoming about 325 miles and have been getting a decent signal at times from the station at night. Took awhile to figure out who it was since directories, sites and etc still list it as country For what it’s worth, I have a GIANT loop antenna and an Icom IC746PRO radio. Paul
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Post by David on Feb 5, 2019 13:09:17 GMT -6
Anyone know what the formats for KSRR and KQMB will be?
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Feb 6, 2019 11:16:27 GMT -6
Thanks! We are planning on streaming all the stations. Right now I'm working with the KWLO owner on the programming so we can take over with an LMA until the sale goes through. I'll be sure to post once we have that all up and going. I can see, or rather hear... that KWLO has changed formats from country to oldies. I’m over in Laramie Wyoming about 325 miles and have been getting a decent signal at times from the station at night. Took awhile to figure out who it was since directories, sites and etc still list it as country For what it’s worth, I have a GIANT loop antenna and an Icom IC746PRO radio. Paul That's some incredible DXing, especially since we're on the same frequency as a powerhouse out of AZ. I'd love to see a pic of the antenna. We're also streaming at utahsgoat.com if it makes it any easier
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fmdj1
Bronze Level Member
Posts: 143
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Post by fmdj1 on Feb 6, 2019 11:17:41 GMT -6
Anyone know what the formats for KSRR and KQMB will be? I'll PM you. I have the formats but am not quite ready to post them on a public forum yet. I will say that neither are being done in Utah County right now.
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Post by amanuensis on Feb 6, 2019 12:05:48 GMT -6
I can see, or rather hear... that KWLO has changed formats from country to oldies. I’m over in Laramie Wyoming about 325 miles and have been getting a decent signal at times from the station at night. Took awhile to figure out who it was since directories, sites and etc still list it as country For what it’s worth, I have a GIANT loop antenna and an Icom IC746PRO radio. Paul That's some incredible DXing, especially since we're on the same frequency as a powerhouse out of AZ. I'd love to see a pic of the antenna. We're also streaming at utahsgoat.com if it makes it any easier The Arizona station was all I could pick up yesterday evening, but the FM translator came in great in Lehi. Lost it at the Point of the Mountain. A broad spectrum Oldies format sounds great.
I am stuck at home today (in West Jordan) so I will listen to the stream.
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