KUHA now in mono

[Mediafrog+]

Noticed that KUHA has been transmitting in mono the past couple of days. This just a few days after they cleaned up their muddy audio problems and restored the high frequencies. Perhaps a potential buyer planning a spoken word format wants proof of performance of a mono signal on 91.7?

Meanwhile, the K217GB translator on 91.3 is still in stereo.

 

[Anonymouse]

Or could they be switching it to mono because mono works better on weak signals? Maybe they're trying to reach more people. The musical programming might continue.

 

[purpledevil]

Or could they be switching it to mono because mono works better on weak signals? Maybe they're trying to reach more people. The musical programming might continue.

No, Frog has most likely hit the nail on the head. They are testing out distance capabilities sans stereo, so it appears. 91-7 has run in stereo since it's days as Rice Radio. It's a brand new transmitter, so this has been done on purpose by the University.

For what...we can only guess...but where there's smoke, there's fire. Put your faith in the Froggy One, Mouse. He has a knack for this sort of thing.

 

[b-turner]

Mediafrog may be right on this one but there is a remote possibility equipment malfunction or compatibility might be an issue or even that the transmitter is running at less than 100% for a technical reason, so to recover lost coverage from running at under 100% they turned off stereo. The reasons may never be known unless the engineering team is asked directly.

It could be something where you have egg on your face like me. Our audio went out. We checked everything, scratched our heads, checked again and finally found the connector was just loose enough to not make contact. How it came loose in the first place was beyond explanation. Funny how the first thing you should check is the last because you perceive the problem as a major issue versus a minor one. I say this to toss out, might an engineer have switched it to mono to do something and forgot to switch it back to stereo? I know I sure make my share of mistakes!

 

[Mediafrog+]

KUHA was still in mono during the Tuesday morning commute, but was back in stereo at lunchtime, so the problem (?) was fixed.

Still no word on a potential buyer for KUHA ten weeks after the sale was announced. That may take a while, as UofH might be taking a multi-million dollar loss on the station.

 

[Anonymouse]

KUHA was still in mono during the Tuesday morning commute, but was back in stereo at lunchtime, so the problem (?) was fixed.

Maybe they saw these posts and know we're speculating on possible future spoken word programming. I admit it could have been an accident though, I am just wondering why they never fixed it until you posted here. They should have noticed.

 

[b-turner]

It seems to me if it was oversight, it would have been caught very quickly but a bad part might have taken a while to replace. That bad part scenario is just as likely as going mono to show a potential buyer their mono coverage. Curious minds still wonder.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

It seems to me if it was oversight, it would have been caught very quickly but a bad part might have taken a while to replace. That bad part scenario is just as likely as going mono to show a potential buyer their mono coverage. Curious minds still wonder.

The station is walking dead - they probably don't care about maintenance. I would liken it to HD-2's, like KRBE-HD-2 which has been off for a month. They don't care any more at KUHA, HD radio is a colossal flop so they don't care at KRBE. This is the free market in operation. Things that generate revenue get attention, things that don't are ignored.

 

[b-turner]

I doubt the folks at KUHA think that way. The cost to operate KUHA versus it's income have placed it up for sale. You can bet they want it well maintained and humming along so they can get the most they can for the station. In the meantime, they have a station generating income and every little bit helps. While KUHA is 'walking dead', I suspect they're giving it the ol' spit shine to look its best to potential buyers.

 

[purpledevil]

I doubt the folks at KUHA think that way.

Nobody in their right mind thinks that way, Bill. Believe you forgot to keep in mind with whom you are responding. I understand, it's hard to keep track of the "multi-millionaire" and all of his vast array of broadcasting accomplishments.

You can just forget about it, Bruce. You will not, I repeat, will not hijack and destroy this forum like you helped accomplish on the DFW one. I will never give you the in-road. Go blow some of your vast fortune on some new material for your efforts. You're still using the same material from 8-10 years ago. Try something new, for Pete's sake.

Poor ol' Robert Bass...he's all alone up there now talking to himself...c'mon down, Robert. We Houstonians will be glad to talk shop with you.

 

[Jonathan7157]

Wut.... how can a radio downgrade happen like this? Crazy!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Wow - not very nice, purple. I guess it is just something personally about me you don't like. Since you brought my efforts into the thread, here is an update. I was silent for a while because the broker I was working with advised me not to tip my hand - potential sellers would jack up the price. Since KUHA is non-comm, I was not interested in the frequency - I want to make money on my investment. Non-comm is a bad idea. Houston also has no legacy oldies station. The closest we had was KILT - but KILT blew up top-40 for country way too long ago for it to be associated with oldies now. The purchase price would have been outrageous if they even wanted to sell, so I never even tried. With no legacy oldies to give oldies a brand, I've really cooled on the idea. I thought about approaching KCOL about an upgrade and move-in (or move closer), but they wouldn't fit the parameters of being a legacy call associated with oldies in Houston. My consultant also told me there were technical issues. The advice of others on here was really good, and I appreciate it. As much as I love the format, David and the others are right and it does not make good business sense. I have other non-broadcasting investments in mind that have more promise. So much for my brief foray into the possibility of station ownership. But - thank you for bringing it up! It was a fascinating exploration and couple of months. Modern broadcast licensing / ownership / business is very complex, and I have renewed respect for those who do it. It is a tough, expensive business with margins that are barely there at best, especially for what I planned. I have no doubt I could grow into ownership, being reasonably astute, but my heart just isn't in the formats that make money. So - no. It is probably retirement for me at some point.

 

[purpledevil]

It is, Bruce. Thought you would've figured it by now, but since not...

I personally don't like you making ignorant statements, such as the folks at UofH don't care about the product they have at KUHA just because it's up for sale. What an ignorant statement, but one that's typical of your standard fare.

Move KCOL to Houston...you know that can't happen! You're not an idiot, Bruce. You just like to play the part of one rather well. Whatever, keep trolling. I'll keep shutting your nonsense down.

BTW, I don't hear you singing the praises of 880 KJOZ playing Motown, 70s R&B, and such. Haven't you located it yet, or just don't want to mention it for fear of losing one of your dead horses to beat?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

It is, Bruce. Thought you would've figured it by now, but since not...

I personally don't like you making ignorant statements, such as the folks at UofH don't care about the product they have at KUHA just because it's up for sale. What an ignorant statement, but one that's typical of your standard fare.

Move KCOL to Houston...you know that can't happen! You're not an idiot, Bruce. You just like to play the part of one rather well. Whatever, keep trolling. I'll keep shutting your nonsense down.

BTW, I don't hear you singing the praises of 880 KJOZ playing Motown, 70s R&B, and such. Haven't you located it yet, or just don't want to mention it for fear of losing one of your dead horses to beat?

You can be mean as much as you want, I will continue to be professional and nice in return.

I am sorry if I offended you by saying the folks at KUHA don't care. That is my opinion, based on the fact some folks are probably going to lose their jobs. It would be very had to maintain a good work ethic under that pressure. Maybe they do and it was an equipment failure. The loss of classical over the air is a great loss to Houston. Of course there is the tiny minority of people with HD radios that can still hear it.

I've had an old software program that predicts station coverage for a while - I forget who gave it to me free. its pretty old but it works again under Windows 10. I've been playing the game of "what-if" I could move this a few miles that way, what would open up. You are right - KCOL would be a no go. KETX is what pretty much blocks it. That is what the consultant said, too. If KETX wasn't there, somebody would have probably done it years ago.

Thanks for the tip on KJOZ, I'll check it out!

 

[purpledevil]

You can be mean as much as you want, I will continue to be professional and nice in return.

I am sorry if I offended you by saying the folks at KUHA don't care. That is my opinion, based on the fact some folks are probably going to lose their jobs. It would be very had to maintain a good work ethic under that pressure. Maybe they do and it was an equipment failure. The loss of classical over the air is a great loss to Houston. Of course there is the tiny minority of people with HD radios that can still hear it.

I've had an old software program that predicts station coverage for a while - I forget who gave it to me free. its pretty old but it works again under Windows 10. I've been playing the game of "what-if" I could move this a few miles that way, what would open up. You are right - KCOL would be a no go. KETX is what pretty much blocks it. That is what the consultant said, too. If KETX wasn't there, somebody would have probably done it years ago.

Thanks for the tip on KJOZ, I'll check it out!

You frustrate me to no end, Bruce. I'm not trying to be mean to you, I just want you to cut out the crap. I've had a couple of good conversations with you over the years, so I know you're not a complete dolt. The problem, Bruce, is that you've been signing the same 3 tunes over and over, for the last 10 years.

Your 3 major points of contention are always as follows:

1. You don't speak or wish to hear a language "foreign" to your ears. i.e. "this is 'Merica...learn the language, foreigners."

2. HD is a vast wasteland of nothing, that nobody cares about but you apparently. BTW, Cumulus made the decision to install HD on KRBE, not KRBE itself or its staff. You act like people show for work on Westheimer, clock in, kick back in the desk chair, and wait for the clock to strike 5.

3. You love to take a topic such as "KUHA in mono", which has no HD capabilities whatsoever, and turn it into a personal platform to belly ache about the dismal state of HD as you see it. We get it, hell, we got it the first 100 times you said the exact same thing. HD is broken, no one cares that it's broken, and everyone everywhere in anyway associated with the current radio product is there simply to pick up a paycheck, not because they actually take pride in the product they deliver within the medium they inspired to be a part of.

I wasn't offended about what you said, I'm aggravated that what you said is the same dead horse you keep beating on over and over and over. You don't want to learn, you just want to argue. You're at that point in your life that you think you know better than everyone else in the room, and you're not about to be told differently.

Again, you need new material...a new list of gripes, a new direction, a new target of some sorts. If you're going to troll, at least make it interesting. Try baiting people with different types of off-base tomfoolery. The same thing over and over shows you to be unimaginative at best. You can stop with the whole "purpledevil is being mean to me" junk too. No one here believes you are a victim, just a blowhard.

 

[johndavis]

Knowing the engineers in question personally for the last 13 years, they've forgotten more about broadcasting than I've ever known and I learn from them every time I see them. They're not suffering under the pressure of doing their jobs; if anything divesting 91.7 just means they have one less transmitter site to take care of. But if they flipped the stereo off for a couple of days, there was a reason they did it, and it's none of my business to call them and ask.

 

[stan]

Popcorn.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I think you got some valid concerns, and I will try to do better. As far as who is being nice to whom, our respective posts will settle that issue.

You have made some assumptions about me not even knowing me. I am open to meeting for lunch some day - let's clear the air and get to know each other. We have a lot more interests in common than differences, and I bet we would like each other and have a lot to talk about in person.

 

[Mediafrog+]

I am sorry if I offended you by saying the folks at KUHA don't care. That is my opinion, based on the fact some folks are probably going to lose their jobs.

Or maybe there are no job losses. Most of the KUHA staff was laid off two years ago. The station is now little more than a satellite receiver connected to a playout computer that feeds the transmitter. The couple of people that are left probably wear other hats and would be folded into the KUHF operation among other things.

Note that the locally produced concert broadcasts are now also airing on KUHF on Sunday nights. I suspect when Classical vanishes from 91.7 the other syndicated programs will be dropped, and the remaining service on 88.7 HD-2 and online will be the Classical 24 feed full time.

 

[purpledevil]

I think you got some valid concerns, and I will try to do better. As far as who is being nice to whom, our respective posts will settle that issue.

You have made some assumptions about me not even knowing me. I am open to meeting for lunch some day - let's clear the air and get to know each other. We have a lot more interests in common than differences, and I bet we would like each other and have a lot to talk about in person.

I'd appreciate the effort, but there's no assumption on my part, Bruce. You're a pretty transparent individual. I don't know Robert Carter personally, it's true, but I know your kind of person. I agree to an extent that we likely have quite a few common denominators between us, I mean, we're both a couple of old geeks that spend extended periods of time perusing the radio message boards, but the differences that you mention are glaring. I expanded my horizons at 19 years old, much to the chagrin of my parents, and "brought home one of those Mexicans". You see, my Pop was an old Sicilian, my mother a redneck from Horn Hill, Texas. I had to hear that junk growing up. It's really what drove me to be who I am today. They weren't stupid, it's just that their way of thinking was obsolete. Like our kids think about us, Bruce. It's absolutely unbelievable to my son and his girlfriend that I have no idea what the difference is between Snapchat and Instagram, and I still don't understand why in God's green earth they argue with one another because one of them didn't like a picture from the other in a timely manner.

Huh?

Hell to get old, Bruce. Anyway, so yeah, now you know exactly why I honed in on you when you went on those diatribes about the "foreign" music that needed to go back to Mexico and take its listeners with it. After that I started paying close attention to your contributions. That's why I call you a troll. You've been saying the same thing over and over and over again for the better part of the last dozen years. We all know the limitations of HD radio. Most of us realize, that yeah you are correct that the technology isn't what it should be currently, but do you really need to make the same points time and time again? I could live with even that, but then the "opinionation" portion of your posts always wraps it up with an "obviously they don't care" speech. Obviously, they do or they wouldn't keep getting a paycheck for long.

A meal, huh? I'd guess panaderias, pupuserias, cantinas and taquerias are all out of the question...lol. To quote my wife, "It's not a no, it's just a not right now."