KFXR 1190 - iHeart's Most Unusual Talk Station

The night pattern looks like a squished amoeba due to the number of nulls needed to run 5kw at night: https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=KFXR-AM&h=N At the time, WOWO in Ft Wayne & KEX in Portland were the two 50kw co-channel stations that needed the most protection. Then when you starting going to adjacent channels, the 900lb gorilla in McLendon's room was clear channel WOAI in San Antonio. After nulling that one, McLendon had to deal with other 50kw's on second and third channel adjacents. YIKES! However, with the amount of RF beamed toward downtown Dallas at night, car radios were probably playing 11~Ninety..whether they were turned on or not!

I wonder if there's a way to use bankruptcy to somehow place these boat anchor AMs in their own company, separate from the main company.

TheBigA said:

I wonder if there's a way to use bankruptcy to somehow place these boat anchor AMs in their own company, separate from the main company.

Click to expand...

Boat Anchor Media ...that would be an appropriate name for the new company.

One thing to consider with KFXR is that when the 12 tower DA was designed, it had to protect WOWO as a class I-B, which would be equivalent to today's class A. But WOWO was downgraded to a class B. Would that mean that the protection that KFXR would have to provide to WOWO wouldn't need to be as stringent?

I'm not well versed in AM allocation standards, but I think that KFXR would be able to design a night pattern using the 4 tower day site that would allow 500 or 1000 watts and provide the required protections to its co and adjacent channel neighbors. KFXR may need to change COL to a smaller town near the day site in case the required night coverage to Dallas can't be accomplished.

Staying with the status quo can't be cheap for iHeart. They're making lease payments on two tower sites, not one, and I'd have to think the lease for the night site at Rockwall is a LOT more than the day site which isn't in a desirable area for development.

joebtsflk1 said:

Would that mean that the protection that KFXR would have to provide to WOWO wouldn't need to be as stringent?

Click to expand...

The reason why WOWO was downgraded was to allow WLIB New York to have a better night time signal.

Inner City Broadcasting, owner of WLIB, bought WOWO for that reason.

So basically WLIB beat KFXR.

DavidEduardo said:

And there are additional facilities on 1190 that require protection, even if WOWO does not.

Click to expand...

That's true, besides the remaining A, KEX Portland, there is the 1190 at Kansas City to protect, plus the new 1190 (since 2012) near Pine Bluff AR, KJJI. KJJI's night pattern puts most of its signal to the east-southeast over WOWO's former protected skywave had it remained a class A. If WOWO hadn't downgraded, KJJI would have required a much more complicated night pattern.

If anyone beat KFXR, it was KJJI. The question is whether designing a 1 kW KFXR night signal utilizing the 4 tower day site would provide any more resale value to iHeart than simply downgrading to whatever class D power might be available.

joebtsflk1 said:

The question is whether designing a 1 kW KFXR night signal utilizing the 4 tower day site would provide any more resale value to iHeart than simply downgrading to whatever class D power might be available.

Click to expand...

Doubt it seriously. The cost for the engineering study adds nothing to the value of an AM station that doesn't cover all the metro now, or in the future by moving to the Irving site.

joebtsflk1 said:

I'd have to think the lease for the night site at Rockwall is a LOT more than the day site which isn't in a desirable area for development.

Click to expand...

Unless the landfill across the street needs to expand!

I happened to be working on a Clear Channel project in another state with a highly-respected, nothing-bothers-this-guy consulting engineer -- from Texas, as a matter of fact -- when he got the call that CC had just bought 1190. To this day I remember standing out in the tower array, hearing him say "...you did WHAT?". "...you bought THAT STATION?", "...for HOW MUCH?". He closed his cellphone, looked at me and just shook his head.

joebtsflk1 said:

At least the 1190 signal has a lot more breathing room than KQV, which may struggle to stay away from a downgrade to class D.

Click to expand...

Off topic for this thread, but KQV has an application for transfer to new ownership, downgrade to class D non-directional with 75W nights, and move to a tower in the southeastern suburbs of Pittsburgh.

So there's no way to re-adjust the phasing patterns of those 12 towers to reach the north metro? I also agree eventually they'll sell that site. Before the 12 tower site was built, KLIF was broadcasting with a narrow 1K night signal that just covered Dallas.

billyg said:

I also agree eventually they'll sell that site.

Click to expand...

Once again, all iHeart tower sites are owned by Vertical Bridge, not iHeart.