Kelly is probably referring to KDUN Reedsport, Oregon which I believe Pamplin owned for a short while, they did install the 50kw transmitter which with all the sand and poor ground conductivity in the area carried about 20 miles north and south of the city. The subsequent ownership figured out quickly that the cost of electricity to run a 50kw heat sink in a small isolated town exceeded the revenue they could make selling advertising at a dollar a holler.
KDUN's skywave was pretty impressive though. We had problems in Shelton when it appeared they might have forgotten to turn the power down... On occasion, their 640 watt night power could be heard up here as well.
As I understand it, Pamplin was trying to build a network of high-power stations that, combined, would reach down the west coast from Portland into California. The Redmond effort may have been part of that vision.
Pamplin bought KDUN and took its day power to 50kW from 10. On one occasion, the transmitter building flooded and took the whole place down. One of the better-known Portland engineers went down there and got it going again.
I don't think Pamplin made any money in Reedsport, and the station seems to have been in a financial rut since they got out. The last 3 owners paid about the same price for the station... basically, about the cost of the transmitter. Two of the three had problems, just paying the power bill for the Nautels that Pamplin put in there. Several years ago, a client sent us down to have a look at the place. The transmitter building had no power at that time. Pamplin did a nice job with the installation though.
The station's best shot probably came from the owner, previous to the current one. He was a retired Spokane engineer who, with his wife, turned the place into a Mom & Pop that was about as engaged in the community as you could expect. When he passed, his wife sold the place for exactly what they paid for it and headed back to Spokane. It's been on and, mostly, off ever since.
For the few here who may not have heard a million times, KDUN was where Delilah got her start. It was also used for many years as the company-owned test station for CBSI broadcast (traffic and billing) software.
