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I saw something that mentioned there was once a station located in Buckley on 740 AM. Any history on this? Format, technical info, time frame and more. Thank you.
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It's a dormant construction permit from Pamplin Broadcasting. It's been sitting around for 20 years and I don't know if it's still active, but it keeps getting listed. Being Pamplin, I would guess the proposed format for the station, if launched, to be religious or conservative talk.....
The station never went on the air. No towers were ever constructed, no studios ever set up. No call letters were ever even assigned. 740 kHz in Buckley is a station that technically exists only as data on paper and online.
The station never went on the air. No towers were ever constructed, no studios ever set up. No call letters were ever even assigned. 740 kHz in Buckley is a station that technically exists only as data on paper and online.
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Another AM signal that would cost more to keep on the air than it would yield the owners.
Like I said, I don't know the present status of 740. But CPs aren't forever and in the last few decades, the FCC has not been known for their patience for slackers. It would be incredibly interesting if the CP was still valid because many other station CPs never got such a break for far less of a time stretch.
On the plus side, that 740 frequency would probably sound a lot better than many of the other AM signals in the Seattle area. The upper end of the AM dial is extremely crowded. 10kw on a frequency that is somewhat free of local adjacent channels MAY sound better for those who want to listen. Fun fact: the COL for that 740 station is listed as Redmond, WA on Northwest Broadcasters.
It's kinda cool that a new AM would be proposed. I still would put my money into something else though...
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I looked at the Pamplin C.P.s a long time ago for someone interested in purchasing some of them. I looked at the Fall City one too. Among other challenges, the ground conductivity of the proposed transmitter site location was worse than poor. Bad ground conductivity combined with a concern for a marketable signal with the proposed directional pattern directed mainly into the Cascade Mountain Range, I recommended to not pursue it. Another consideration was the residential population density in the area. One must be prepared for the NIMBY-factor opposition, including all the legal costs and construction delays involved, when building a new AM anywhere near a residential area.
Very true indeed. If they cannot direct the majority of the signal into the metropolitan area, it seems like a big waste. Speaking of residents, does anyone happen to know if the residents around the KRKO and KKXA site ever stopped complaining?
I remember there being a proposed allotment in Buckley @730kHz back in the eighties. Does anyone else remember that?
Would never have worked with 730s in Vancouver, BC and Ephrata and it was too close to 710 .
So.....740....
Yeah, you got a point. It didn't make sense to me either.
The link below says that Pamplin has told the FCC that they are scrapping the idea of 740 in Redmond.
http://www.insideradio.com/free/pam...cle_e9be6276-555d-11e8-a4e2-33f104a43957.html
http://www.insideradio.com/free/pam...cle_e9be6276-555d-11e8-a4e2-33f104a43957.html
RE: Buckley: being that KENU didn't fare the AM dive very well (they are now KGRG-1, which is owned by GRCC and plays old school grunge), I doubt anyone is going to put a new station of any type up on the Enumclaw plateau, unless it's a low power FM. Just not enough population, and it's too close to Seattle and Tacoma stations (in that market).
They were a community based station before GRCC got them, and played country for a while. I used to listen to them now and then. Unique feel to the programming, and they had real DJs, which added to the charm.
The problem -- even back then (in the 80's) before AM took its big dive, was the population of maybe 5,000 in the area (about 10-15K now) wasn't enough to support a station, especially when the area is within the greater Seattle metro.
I remember KENU as part of the Country Gold Network. It included KJUN - 1450 Puyallup, KTOL - 1280 Lacey, KBLV - 1540 Bellevue, and KWYZ - 1230 Everett. I worked there for some time back in the early 90's. Fun station, classic country format. They had such a system for playing spots per station. They had a three-stack machine for "network" spots, and then pairs of cart decks per station. Tell you what, timing stop-sets was ridiculous! Scratchy CDs and a 8-deck reel to reel automation system for overnights made this place a real treat to learn radio on! The folks that worked there were particularly "unique" as well. Anyone here work with these folks or at this "station" back in the day?
I remember when they signed on KJUN-FM in the summer of '95...talk about terrible audio. The terrible audio wasn't noticeable on the AM's, but definitely on the new FM. Sounded extremely low budget. Heck, two cans and some string would've sounded better. The stations audio only improved when it was sold to Bob Case and partners and went active rock.
KWYZ 1230 was hopelessly overmodulated from 1994-97 before being sold to Jean Suh. And KJUN-FM didn't sound much better. This was right about the end of the country thing.
Yes. The residents stopped complaining almost immediately after we turned on the second transmitter and resolved the complaints. We solved all of them. It can be done. It wasn’t that bad.
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