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KOL 1300 off the air? (KKOL)

B

boombox4

Walk of Fame Participant
Just tuned around the AM dial this afternoon while working out... KKDZ playing some decent music, KGRG-1 playing some great classic alternative.... but in between them there is no KOL (yeah, I know it's officially KKOL).

No Bloomberg? No signal. Can't hear a carrier, even on my best MW/AM radios.

Are they gone off the air? Or is it just a glitch.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
boombox4 said:
Just tuned around the AM dial this afternoon while working out... KKDZ playing some decent music, KGRG-1 playing some great classic alternative.... but in between them there is no KOL (yeah, I know it's officially KKOL).
Click to expand...

It's also officially 1300, not 1330. :cool:
 
DavidEduardo said:


It's also officially 1300, not 1330. :cool:
Click to expand...

KKOL's website is currently being redirected to 1590 "The Answer". That said, the 1300 license I believe is still a 50K daytime signal, lower at night. And as a Seattle radio historian, I can offer that this frequency was one of Seattle's originals dating way back to the 1920's, thus the three-letter call originally. KOL was a challenger to KJR in the top-40 wars of the 60's and early 70's, eventually turning to country on both KOL AM/FM, KMPS, now KSWD on the fm as a soft AC.
 
From what I've found on the 'net, KKOL lost its Fife transmitter site and has gone silent under an STA they filed on March 9.

It looks like they knew this was coming. Last December, they filed an application to triplex onto their Bainbridge Island site with KNTS and KLFE. That application has not yet been approved.

From the current look of it, it appears they'll be dark until they work through this.

Hope they don't have to go back to the boat.
 
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DavidEduardo said:


It's also officially 1300, not 1330. :cool:
Click to expand...

I know, a typo. Hit the '3' key one two many times and didn't catch it in time. Can't change that now. :)

I was also listening to KGRG-1 on 1330 (they play a lot of classic grunge era music) and that was probably the source of the typo as well.

Woops.
 
For what it's worth, I would tune into KOL from time to time for business news, especially when they were running Bloomberg.

Sometimes when you listen to business news, you get a clearer picture of what's going on in the world...

Hope they can get back on the air. I remember KMPS and know that the original KOL was quite a popular station during the Top 40 heyday.

Until they get back on, I guess I can DX the channel at night and hear Nevada (KMCY, Classic Country, Carson City).
 
boombox4 said:
I know, a typo. Hit the '3' key one two many times and didn't catch it in time. Can't change that now. :)
Click to expand...

But someone could make the change. Done!
 
I saw on Wikipedia that workers at the port of Tacoma expressed concerns about the signal from KKOL causing problems with their equipment, which could possibly trigger an explosion. The solution was to place a null in the direction of the equipment in question, but that was also in the direction of Seattle. Whatever came of that disbute? Is that why the station is so noisy at my location, especially at night?
 
bobdavcav said:
I saw on Wikipedia that workers at the port of Tacoma expressed concerns about the signal from KKOL causing problems with their equipment, which could possibly trigger an explosion. The solution was to place a null in the direction of the equipment in question, but that was also in the direction of Seattle. Whatever came of that disbute? Is that why the station is so noisy at my location, especially at night?
Click to expand...

Kolorful KOL!
 
bobdavcav said:
I saw on Wikipedia that workers at the port of Tacoma expressed concerns about the signal from KKOL causing problems with their equipment, which could possibly trigger an explosion. The solution was to place a null in the direction of the equipment in question, but that was also in the direction of Seattle. Whatever came of that disbute? Is that why the station is so noisy at my location, especially at night?
Click to expand...

Most of what I read was in the papers back then. According to the station's application list, they've been operating at half-power during the day and a bit above that at night because of nearby workers' concerns about RF burns and interference to some of their equipment. Don't know what led to the decision, but it appears that putting 50kW next to a refinery might have created its own set of problems.
 
When I checked with the FCC AM query for KKOL, it came back with no record, as if the license has been deleted.

I honestly wonder why Salem didn't diplex with either the KGNW (KJR) site or the KLFE/KNTS site (which they own) back before all of that fuss with the port of Tacoma site. I'm sure that there was a reason, probably due to engineering.
 
When I checked with the FCC AM query for KKOL, it came back with no record, as if the license has been deleted.

I honestly wonder why Salem didn't diplex with either the KGNW (KJR) site or the KLFE/KNTS site (which they own) back before all of that fuss with the port of Tacoma site. I'm sure that there was a reason, probably due to engineering.
 
Heard KLER 1300 from Orofino Idaho on Monday morning between 7 and 8, well enough to ID but not much better than that. They ran an ID after some sort of farm news segment. Playing country music as well, fighting it out with some other station underneath it. I was in a car on 167 south of Auburn.

This morning I heard Rush (Limbaugh, not the band) on 1290. Couldn't bear to stick around long enough to hear an ID. Also in South King County.

Val
 
Your 1290 was probably KUMA Pendleton. They are a semi-local, 100 miles away from me. But don't rule out KGVO or KPAY.
Lately KCMY/1300 Carson City NV has been on day power at night and heard all over the NW. KAPL in OR should also be easy. The frequency should be clear for the next 3 months or so as they move transmitter spots.
 
KXA said:
When I checked with the FCC AM query for KKOL, it came back with no record, as if the license has been deleted.

I honestly wonder why Salem didn't diplex with either the KGNW (KJR) site or the KLFE/KNTS site (which they own) back before all of that fuss with the port of Tacoma site. I'm sure that there was a reason, probably due to engineering.
Click to expand...

Good point. Only thing that comes to mind would be tower configuration, unless 1300 is close enough to one of the Vashon signals that they might be worried about the massive cost of filtering to those blowtorches over there.

As it is, they'll take a huge haircut to their night power at the new location.


Here's an old article about their Tacoma site...

https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/tv/article/KKOL-moves-to-bolster-its-signal-power-format-1234623.php
 
valvashon said:
The FCC still has a service contour map but zero query results for 1300 in the state of Washington. The map is a link from NW broadcasters. https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/map...=SEATTLE&state=WA&fileno=BML-20090410AWK&.map

And KKOL 1300 has been deleted from their website- search for Seattle stations and it doesn't come up. It's on an outdated map but that's it.
Click to expand...


The FCC database is screwy today. Only about a third of Seattle's stations show up and a full scan of Washington only returns 53 stations. Everything else is missing. However, if you have a saved link to a station's applications page, that still works. Whatever's wrong started over the weekend.
 
They did kick the tires out here on Vashon one night, taking measurements at an undisclosed am transmitter site on the North end of Vashon.

Why they are moving to Bainbridge is cost. The site they did measurements at was costly and they would be paying rent, plus dealing with the other station having to go off the air for some of the work or reduced power. Then dealing with the 6 other station on the island making sure there was no funky mix.

While they would be rent free at the site they own on Vashon they would be dealing with iHeart having to reduce power. go off the air at night. Plus they would have to re proof KGNW and KJR, two patterns each (day-night), plus proofing the new 1300 install. Filtering at either Vashon site may have been more tricky or chances of a un wanted mix showing up. So I think cost and dealing with another station factored in.

Bainbridge they have free rent only have to deal with themselves as far as reducing power or going off the air to install diplexer at towers, they only have to proof KLFE since its directional with two patterns, day and night. They only have two now three signals to deal with not 6 like Vashon. So overall Bainbridge is the cheaper sit to move to.

Originally they thought they would have a better signal from the Tacoma location, but then the refinery issue played in. If they knew what was going to happen who knows maybe ten years ago they would have opted for Bainbridge.
 
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