Big things coming out of KMCL — but the AM and FM.
KMCL-FM is now KMXM-FM, and is set to move to Parma (as previously reported), under the ownership of Wendel Starke and his FM Idaho group. The station would presumably become part of the former Tester Broadcast Group — now Impact Radio. For now, it still serves the greater McCall area.
The AM station - which we reported was sold from David Eaton to Holly Larsen (d/b/a Mountain Air LLC) - is still in Eaton’s hand. It appears the $50,000 did change hands, causing Eaton to cancel the purchase.
Also on the AM front, it sounds like bad weather has caused problems for the transmitter. This, from an FCC filing requesting the ability to broadcast from a… shorter tower:
UNFORTUNATELY, THE LICENSEE HAS SUFFERED THE LOSS OF THE TOP 40 FEET OF THE STATION’S ANTENNA TOWER. CURRENT CONDITIONS AT THE TOWER SITE, WHICH IS BOG-LIKE MUCH OF THE YEAR AND WHICH IS PRESENTLY BURIED UNDER SEVERAL FEET OF SNOW, PRECLUDE THE PLACEMENT OF THE HEAVY EQUIPMENT ON THE SITE THAT WILL BE NEEDED TO REPLACE THE LOST TOWER SECTIONS, UNTIL THE SNOW MELTS AND THE SOIL DRIES OUT THIS SUMMER.
on Mar 14th, 2008 at 7:02 am
KMXM,,,,,, Interesting. We don’t need another country station in this market. How about another rock station. We can make it like K-Bare in SLCC or something like that. Or how about a Smoth Jazz station. I know what they will say. Research says it won’t work in Boise. But I think if it is marketed right it could work. It would take time. But I think it can work. If they do play country, I wonder if they will have the old KMXM jingles. I will talk to you all later.
on Mar 15th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I didn’t know that KMCL-AM even had 40 feet of tower to begin with.
on Mar 15th, 2008 at 9:11 am
While I haven’t done any work there for awhile, I do know that you could hear the AM much better last fall than previously. Perhaps he added some height which has now fallen off? Anyway, the original AM antenna, if you could call it that, was only 60 or 70 feet (which was way to short to work right anyway), and if 40 feet of THAT fell off, he would be in a world of hurt. He’d be better off hooking it up to the barbed wire fence along the road! One thing that is correct — if you took a truck in there now, it would sink to it’s windows and you’d be into the middle of summer before you could dig it out. Another thought — maybe it just sank 40 feet into the mud… :)
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I’m with Commanderlumpy. Boise needs a mainstream rock station that will play NEW Rush, NEW Ozzy, NEW Black Crowes, NEW Aerosmith & NEW Sammy Hagar. All these bands have had new songs in the past year or two. Heritage currents have no home in Boise right now. (And yes, I know The River played a couple new Black Crowes cuts recently on Lunch in the library).
It pisses me the hell off not to hear new music from established rock artists in this town. Any naysayers should seriously ask themselves…..am I going to hear the next/new Van Halen album in Boise. The answer is NO!!
And one or two spins during The Open Bar on KKGL don’t count, and since Jason Drew has been replaced by a voicetracker, even those rare moments are gone. It’s pretty sad when the rock stations from Tri Cities, Pocatello and ELKO NEVADA…..yes, ELKO NEVADA are hipper than Boise.
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
So you say we don’t need another Country station? There’s only three of those - yet there are four Rock stations: River, J105, Eagle, and the X. Does Boise really need a fifth rock station? Smooth Jazz is DEAD. Haven’t you seen that four of them have gone away in major markets in the last six weeks. Mainstream Rock could easily be covered by Journal. They add some currents to J105 and it’s all over.
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I would hesitate to say that Elko has “hipper” radio than Boise. By the way, which station, pray tell, would you be referring to? Probably not Bob FM. KOYT, maybe? Well, I have to admit that they have quite the large spectrum of music in thier playlist. They have everything form new to classic, mainstream to flat out bizarre. It’s kind of cool, but would a station like that fly in an arbitron rated market? I seriously doubt it. Stations that are as unfocused as KOYT generally don’t do well in markets like this. A couple of good ratings books against some stiff competition would be the true test of success.
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Commander and Busted are correct. Boise has been in need of straight up mainstream rock station for years. Many will say that you can’t sell it why do it. However, they said the same thing about alternative rock until The X came along. If there is a solid marketing plan and imaging package in place to compliment a well researched library I believe it would be a huge hit! It would be expencive to launch though. Impact has never thrown alot of money at any of their stations for marketing or staffing so I doubt we will see that happen.
On the other point of Smooth Jazz, that format is typically a flanker to protect other cluster interests. As a stand alone money maker I have never seen that format pull any significant dollars. Smooth Jazz typically works well in markets with a high amount of retired listeners.
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Mainstream Rock could be covered in about 10 seconds by Journal. All they have to do is add a few songs to J105 and it’s all over.
Smooth Jazz is going away faster than Elliot Spitzer’s credibility. Houston, New York, DC,and Denver have all dropped the format in the last month or two.
on Mar 17th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I agree Journal could cover it in about 10 seconds. Will they? Extremely doubtful. Although I find it interesting that Journal rock station KEZO in Omaha is basically J105 with one current per hour. Works for them….KEZO always has good numbers.
Yes, the Elko station I’m refering to is KOYT, 94.5 Coyote FM. A duplicate of that station definitely would get smoked in Boise, but at least they have the guts to do what they’re doing. As stated before, it’s sad to say I have to listen to an Elko station to hear the new Rush tune (Far Cry….when it was new).
on Mar 17th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Well, there is always I-Tunes for those that are not being served by current stations. You can not possibly please everyone. I would love to have a station with my favourite format. But no one would buy ads on it. You must go where the money is. Like it or not, money and ratings are the reason the stations are transmitting. Just be lucky your not in the U.K. where YOU pay to listen to crappy programming, and a choice of 7 stations, 7 formats. We are lucky here to have so much for free. Me loves Americans…you so crazy!
on Mar 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Well, the desire for ratings and crappy programming are driving me to my Ipod and XM. I agree, there is no perfect radio station, but I stand by my previous posts that it’s sad that in market #102 you can’t hear a new Sammy Hagar or Aerosmith tune.
And…..”does Boise really need another rock station?” No. But sign on, do it right and you could smoke KKGL or KJOT Men 25-54. Two or three crappy books in that demo and one of them would likely fold.
on Mar 19th, 2008 at 7:41 am
I’m with “I know busted” on this…here in my city there are 2 classic rock stations.
One has bob and tom and the other is all local. The local station has a HUGE playlist and crappy ratings. The B&T station is tight and middle of the pack ratings.
Do I really need to hear “heavy fuel” from Dire Straits…um..NO. click…off the local station….do i need to hear the same 2 van halen songs on the B&T station. NO. click…over to KILO where I can hear ozzy black lable society, Priest…van halen (other than jamies cryin) Some of the new stuff I might not “get” but I GET a better variety of songs…not the same 300 that have been played to DEATH.
Rock radio was an ALBUM format. We bought albums or cassettes and listened to the whole dang thing. Why is it then that you are lucky to get ONE cut from the Scorpions Blackout when you can play just about every song from that album. If you bought it then you know the songs..same goes for most van halen and ac/dc songs. BUT the safe and boring operators of radio just play the 2 that the consultant say to play.
Amazing…the people programming these things probably don’t even KNOW what we were listening to back then on the Kraco speakers in our Nova super sports.
That would be like me trying to program an oldies station…um..no thanks..I’ll leave that to Big Jack…he lived it…and played it…
on Mar 19th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I guess we’ll see what the future holds for KMXM. The last station with those call letters was “Maximum Country,” but if you look up KMXM on radio-locator, the format states “80’s Rock.” Is “The Point” coming back?