AM music radio in Memphis

[Going back to Nashville]

Do you think that Memphis will ever have another country, oldies or nostalgia station on AM?

I still miss my country station, when in town, now it is just another of the 84 or so sports stations on the air. 

[Michael]

Memphis has 2 country stations on AM.

830 KOTC during daylight hours simulcasting 95.3 the Rebel with 3kw.
and
1180 KXIQ playing classic country with 5kw days and flea power at night.

[Going back to Nashville]

Memphis has 2 country stations on AM.

830 KOTC during daylight hours simulcasting 95.3 the Rebel with 3kw.
and
1180 KXIQ playing classic country with 5kw days and flea power at night.

Thank you Michael, I see how I missed these last time. I was passing through at night, which is why KOTC was not present(on AM at least).

I, for some reason thought that KXIQ was silent, and being in Germantown at night, even though that is their COL, their two towers over the border in AR won't make it their on 120 watts at night. So that is why I didn't hear them.

I will definitely give them a listen when I'm there during the day next.

Thank You for the info!

[waxonwaxoff]

That is what amazes me about AM radio since it has been pretty much dead for years in terms of ratings (With a few exceptions). There are plenty of newstalk and sportstalk stations on AM, but not many music stations anymore. You would think that would be the place for more "niche" music formats to be tried. For instance, you could probably have a station (I know WEVL does this some on the FM side) that would play folk/singer-songwriter bands. I know the auidence isn't particularly large, but there are some fans out there and if you kept the overhead low you could do okay.

I have always thought there were enough people out there who had an affection for 80's rock (hair bands, etc) that you could get a decent listening auidence as well.

[rgseark2009]

Music on AM is an idea about 30 years too late.   Even News/talk and sports stations have migrated to FM in Little Rock.  Even the wacky brokered AM talk station (KLRG 880) has an FM translator so fans of Alex Jones can hear him static free---and provide a 24/7 signal since 880 goes from 50k to 220w in Sheridan AR (essentially a daytime station)

I was among the last generation to hear the last gasp of mainstream secular music stations on Central Arkansas AM Radio.  Many legendary AM stations gave up on mainstream music formats on this side of the Miss River:  KLRA (SK), KXLR (SK), KAAY (relegated to brokered religion), KOTN (SK), KCLA (relegated to urban gospel).  One AM station in LR 1250 (the second former incarnation of KOKY) does simulcast an FM (KPZK-AM carrying // KIPR 92.3), but except for 920 which is the second Sportstalk station, the others are some sort of brokered religion and/or Hispanic programming.

[radiosaur]

Music on AM is an idea about 30 years too late.   Even News/talk and sports stations have migrated to FM in Little Rock.  Even the wacky brokered AM talk station (KLRG 880) has an FM translator so fans of Alex Jones can hear him static free---and provide a 24/7 signal since 880 goes from 50k to 220w in Sheridan AR (essentially a daytime station)

I was among the last generation to hear the last gasp of mainstream secular music stations on Central Arkansas AM Radio.  Many legendary AM stations gave up on mainstream music formats on this side of the Miss River:  KLRA (SK), KXLR (SK), KAAY (relegated to brokered religion), KOTN (SK), KCLA (relegated to urban gospel).  One AM station in LR 1250 (the second former incarnation of KOKY) does simulcast an FM (KPZK-AM carrying // KIPR 92.3), but except for 920 which is the second Sportstalk station, the others are some sort of brokered religion and/or Hispanic programming.

1250 still playing music, huh?


Tears of nostalgia, man. I built the current 1250 transmitter site back in 1987.

[firepoint525]

I have always thought there were enough people out there who had an affection for 80's rock (hair bands, etc) that you could get a decent listening auidence as well.

Didn't they try this on WHBQ as recently as the late '80s?  In the evenings, if I recall. 

[waxonwaxoff]

Yes they did late evenings to early in the morning from what I recall and it actually got decent ratings even beating Rock 103 (which was called the Eagle Rock 103 at the time) occasionally during the late evening time period.  I remember a deejay named Roxie (who later became Dana Michaels or Dana Daniels, think she is in St.Louis now) used to call them "The Wounded Duck: 

The problem was the rest of the day it was a mess. They basically couldn't decide if they were somewhat rock, pop, or oldies during the day. George Klein had an afternoon show as well and was playing mainly pop and a little more current rock out of the time and he seemed a little bit out of his element with that format, which was too bad because the Geeker In Your Speaker is an icon. It seems like I also remember them frequently having some of the local wrestlers come on Klein's show to try and draw ratings. For a while, Jerry Lawler and George Klein even had a "feud" on the radio. In some ways, it was a lot of fun, but they just didn't know what their own format was. That was a long time ago but it seems like they also had a syndicated radio show that played oldies called "Zippo In the Morning."

[firepoint525]

Was this also about the time that they made that crazy decision not to play ANY Elvis?  I seem to recall that the backlash over that decision very quickly forced them to change their minds.  I wouldn't have even thought about that until you mentioned the other dayparts. 

[waxonwaxoff]

Yes around that time period and you had George Klein on the station!