KBRO 1490 just got an app approved. 100.3 on the FM dial from their Forest Ridge Park site here in Bremerton. Wish the station was a different format though and more local.
Agreed, but the problem for both of our local stations started to get complicated by the mid '90s.
KITZ (formerly KTNT / KPMA) moved here in '86, with the idea they could make their living by peeling some business from then-successful KBRO and generating some of their own. They pulled that off, maybe, 3 or 4 months out of the time their first owners had it here, but consistently lost money after that. Too many live bodies and an over-optimistic budget. The well-heeled investors that moved it here poured a lot of money into the day-to-day operation before finally giving up. No subsequent owner could make it fly, either.
For those of us working in the building, the first years were a lot of fun... live and local, news van, remote RV, new building and good equipment. They paid us well and included a family insurance package with a very low deductible. Several future notables got their start there, the most familiar being the son of Larry Nelson. But stuck with 1,000 watts, a false budget and everything else going against this part of the industry, we weren't paying the bills, so the end was enevitable.
The current owner has very low rent, a format that's about 98% automated and uses the station as a vehicle for his political action activities. In that sense, it might be worthwhile to him. He's kept it running longer than anyone else has since it moved here from Tacoma.
KBRO faced its downward spiral after it was split from its FM (now KRWM). Unfortunately unbeknownst to KITZ, the owners of KBRO had been booking FM business over to the AM during its KHIT days, artificially boosting the perceived ad value of the station. They split the stations and separately sold them. The FM proved to be well worth the money, but the price paid for KBRO was not. Without the FM to carry it along, KBRO's impact became more-or-less equal to KITZ's. With no public interest or loyalty to its legacy in the community, KBRO's future was the same parade of failed owners and ideas. It moved studios 3 times, went through bankruptcy twice and, like KITZ, had a couple of extended runs with off-air STAs.
Commercial sales over here, given we're in the shadow of everything that spits from Seattle, are nearly impossible. Neither signal works well at night, so Poulsbo and Bainbridge don't take them seriously. Just about every format imaginable is already being broadcast by a mega company across the water with much deeper pockets. Local sports? Nope. Not enough support to make that fly, though KITZ has taken an occasional stab at it.
So... this is what you get... robo-talk and church... neither of which adds a whole lot to their respective company's overheads, especially now that the main studio/staff rule has been trashed.