Courtesy Photo/Image

Photo by Frank Graham David Fudge, host of "Fudge for Breakfast" on Mix 97.1 FM, checks out the stacks of new electronic equipmentat Eagle Radio.

Photo by George Lauby Derek Beck, program manager for new FM stations at 93.7 and 100.7, stands at the console of the studio on Dewey St. in downtown North Platte.

Photo by George Lauby Scott Allen in the studio. Allen is host of KODY's "Drivetime North Platte", a late- afternoon rush hour local newstalk program.

Courtesy Photo/Image

Radio listeners in North Platte and Lincoln County will soon have more choices than ever before in history.

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In just a matter of weeks, the number of commercial radio stations in our area is doubling – from four to eight.

A new broadcasting company in North Platte, Hometown Family Radio, launched two new FM radio stations in October. They are KZTL, 93.5-FM, a country format and KRNP, 100.7-FM, which plays varied rock and roll.

And the two long-time North Platte broadcast companies each plan to launch new stations in coming weeks.

Country music fans now have two stations to choose from. Rock and roll fans will soon have classic rock plus more modern mixes of rock on their FM dials. Fans of talk radio can choose between right wing political talk offered on KODY, 1240-AM or 24-hours of ESPN sports talk on KOOQ, 1410-AM.

And the radio stations are not through expanding. Eagle Radio plans to launch a brand new station on the air, but have not yet revealed what the new format will be.

Add “The Lake” out of Ogallala and that’s four rock and roll stations available locally.

Not to mention KRVN Rural Radio from Lexington, NET radio and contemporary Christian programming offered by KJLT AM and FM and west central Nebraskans now have real choices on their radio dials.

“It really benefits the listeners,” said Chuck Schwartz, General Manager of Eagle Radio in North Platte.

Radio stations and formats:

AM

KRVN Rural Radio 880 Lexington

KJLT Religious 970 North Platte

KODY – News talk 1240 North Platte

KOOQ – Sports talk* 1410 North Platte

KAMI – Christian 1580 Cozad

FM

KPNE – Public broadcasting 91.7 Lincoln

KRVN – Easy listening 93.1 Lexington

KZTL – Wild Country* 93.5 North Platte

KJLT – Christian 94.9 North Platte

KELN – Mix 97.1 – rock 97.1 North Platte

KOGA – The Lake – rock 99.7 Ogallala

KRNP – Rock 100* 100.7 North Platte

KXNP – KX104 – country 103.5 North Platte

KCVN – Religious program 104.5 Cozad

*Denotes new station or format

Gold rush

Several years ago, the Federal Communications Commission began auctioning off frequencies on the AM and FM radio spectrum to private companies.

Winning a frequency at auction gave the winner the right to spend millions more dollars to build a radio station. It is a complex undertaking involving federal, state and local regulations, land-use issues, environmental-impact studies and, in some cases, starting over from scratch.

Some called the auctions the wildest scramble for public property since the Oklahoma land rush. The FCC has also auctioned off the nation’s airwaves to provide a new generation of wireless communication devices.

The technology holds rich promise: a broad new family of portable phones and computer services that could be cheaper and more powerful than today's cellular networks.

But it also means more radio stations across the country – including smaller markets.

Broadcast licensees traditionally have three years to get a station on the air from the date a construction permit is issued.

Both commercial radio companies locally plan to launch new radio stations.

KX104-FM and KODY

The KODY-AM & KX-104-FM stations are powerhouses in North Platte, anchored by Tony Lama’s Boot Scootin’ morning show and news talk, manager Rob Mandeville said.

Mandeville predicted the glut of radio stations in North Platte would be short-lived.

Some will merge sooner or later, he said.

“There are too many owners for a market of this size,” he said. “It might be a year down the road, but it will weed itself out.”

The twin stations opened in 1982 as KXNP. That was 25 years ago and the staff knows North Platte well, he said. Each member of the sales staff has 15 years experience or more. Newsman George Keltz has been around even longer. Keltz is on a first-name basis with most politicians.

The stations also sponsor event all around town, including the Colgate Country Showdown of original performers.

Two years ago, the stations added a Honky Tonk Barbeque, and next summer they will bring in national barbequers who like to travel and compete for prizes, Mandeville said.

And several weeks ago Mandeville announced a new radio station. Called “The Hawk”, the station will broadcast 100,000 watts on the 98.5 FM frequency.

Mandeville said the format would feature classic rock music from such artists such as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd as well as Van Halen, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty and Eric Clapton to name just a few. The station will also feature the popular morning show duo of Bob and Tom.

Sometimes called "America's Funniest Morning Show," Bob & Tom's brand of bawdy and irreverent humor have made them a favorite morning show in many markets across the country.

The show is broadcast from radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Ind., and has been syndicated nationally since 1995. It will air from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The company that owned KODY and KX104-FM bought the new frequency at auction. It is licensed to Maxwell.

KODY and KX104-FM were owned by NRG Media, until recently. In September, NRG announced it sold the stations, along with KUVR-AM and KMTY-FM in Holdrege, to Armada Media Corporation of Fond du Lac, Wisc.

Armada owns 22 stations in South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nebraska. They recently purchased the High Plains Radio Group with stations in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, including McCook.

The deal for the two North Platte stations and two Holdrege stations was worth $4.5 million, according to Radio Ink magazine.

Armada Media specializes in small- to medium-market radio stations.

Eagle Radio

Eagle Radio bought the frequency 107.3 on the FM dial. It is licensed for Hershey. But Schwartz refuses to give even a hint what format the new station will be.

But recently Eagle’s Oldies Radio, KOOQ 1410-AM, switched formats from rock and roll oldies to ESPN Radio sports talk.

KOOQ has long been a leader in sports programming in Lincoln County, according to David Fudge, program director.

KOOQ, an employee owned Eagle Radio Station, is the most powerful AM station in Lincoln County at 5000 watts daytime, 500 nighttime. Originally known as “Super Q Country” the station broadcast country music until it converted to Oldies in 1988.

KELN and KOOQ are part of employee owned Eagle Communications. Eagle owns and operates 21 radio stations in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.

Sports director Chuck Schwartz has been the voice of the North Platte High School Bulldogs for about 30 years. The station also broadcasts North Platte Community College, North Platte Legion Baseball and Chadron State College Football.

“When we looked at our station as a whole, we recognized that we were already doing a good job with local sports, so we decided to take it to the next level and add the nation's best sports talk format,” Fudge said. “We'll still have all of our local favorites, but we'll also have the NBA, Major League Baseball and the Bowl Championship Series.”

ESPN took the entertainment world by storm when it launched a 24-hour sports television network in 1979. Since then, it's spun off ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN News and ESPN Radio, not to mention the Spanish speaking products and a huge presence on the World Wide Web.

The ESPN Radio Network was launched in 1992 and features such lively talk show hosts as Mike and Mike in the morning and Colin Cowherd. ESPN’s radio personalities often discuss much more than sports and venture into other areas of life in an entertaining and often provocative ways.

In October, Hometown Family Radio joined the area airwaves with their country and rock and roll stations.

The stations were purchased at auction and are licensed for Sutherland and Paxton.

Hometown Family Radio

North Platte’s two newest stations hit the airwaves Oct. 22.

Broadcasting from downtown, KRNP-FM, at 100.7, plays rock that hits the middle between older classic rock and new, active rock. The sister station, KZTL-FM, at 93.5, plays cutting edge country music.

Alan Usher, Hometown Family Radio Vice President, said it was the first time Nebraska ever had a pair of stations sign on the air at the same time.

Hometown Family Radio is owned by Jay Vavricek, former Grand Island mayor and unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, and his family.

“The trend in recent years has seen out-of-state corporate ownership expand its holdings of radio stations in our state,” Vavricek said, “sometimes, in my opinion, at the expense of the local community and better local programming.”

“The reaction has been great,” Usher said. “We have received phone calls, e-mails and comments on the website.”

“Finally,” program manager Derek Beck said a listener emailed. “Thanks for giving me a reason not to buy satellite radio.”

Only four years ago, Vavricek dreamed of covering the entire state with radio signals.

He first bought KRGI radio in Grand Island, a station that goes back to the dawn of radio, with an AM signal that can reaches Omaha and Lincoln.

He added another country station in Grand Island and kept growing. Now his company has a station in Kearney, three in McCook and recently added four in Scottsbluff. Add the two North Platte and there are 13 in all.

Vavricek, his son-in-law and daughter lead the business. It’s family, Beck said, and they treat employees that way.

“I’ve worked in this business for 10 years, and I’ve never been treated as well,” he said. Rock 100 has its first live remote broadcast Nov. 16 at the Tattoo Clinic on S. Jeffers. They have several more on the calendar. For their first big promotion, they are giving away a new Harley-Davidson from Budke Power Sport’s in North Platte. They will whittle down ticket holders to a lucky 100 people, and draw from there.

The rock side of the station aims to please the 50-something listener who likes Jimi Hendrix.

So far, the station operates with just two people -- Beck and sales manager Lyle Houser.

“We’re thrilled to be here,” Beck said. “We’re in the process of hiring more staff to complement what we’re doing.”

An explosion of sound

Some people have wondered if North Platte can support eight commercial radio stations but Schwartz said it can easily.

“Advertisers will have to be more aware of who they are reaching with their radio advertising purchases,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said the new competition will make the stations better.

Fudge, host of the popular Fudge for Breakfast weekday radio program, said it has already changed how he runs his show. He said the result of the new radio stations will make radio better across the dial.

Schwartz said the reaction to the change of format in KOOQ has been mostly positive but some people missed the oldie’s format. He said he hoped people would give ESPN a try.

Schwartz and others believe AM is geared more for talk formats and that music sounds much better in stereo FM.

Schwartz said another advantage of the additional stations in North Platte would be increased listenership.

“Kids 18 and under don’t listen to the radio like our generation did,” Schwartz said. With I-Pods and downloadable music, they make their song selections and load them into their personal players.

But Schwartz and others believe many will return to the airwaves with so many choices.

Perspective

There are more than 13,000 radio stations in the U. S. and 3,800 station owners. In Nebraska, there are 57 radio stations in Nebraska, minus the Nebraska Public Radio stations.

KNGF was North Platte’s first radio station in the 1930s and later became KODY.

KNOP radio first came on the air in 1966 then later became KOOQ.

KELN was North Platte’s first FM station in the late 1970s. KODY added an FM station in the 1980s and that later became KJLT, the Christian station.

KXNP came on the air in 1982.

Other area stations:

KJLT, 970-AM & 94.9-FM

Began as KNBR, but is now a non-commercial, non-profit religious corporation, supported by private donations. They carry a variety of talk and music programming.

KOGA, 99.7-FM, The Lake

Operated out of Ogallala, KOGA is owned by Clear Channel Communications, of San Antonio Texas. Clear Channel Communications owns more than 1,225 radio and 37 television stations in the U.S. and has equity interests in more than 240 stations internationally. The company operates in 248 of the top 250 markets and controls more than 60-percent of all rock station programming. Clear Channel owns 9 percent of all U. S. radio stations which represents 18-percent of the industry’s revenue.

Clear Channel also owns 11 of the 55 commercial radio stations in Nebraska, a full 20-percent.

KRVN – 880 AM & 93.1 FM

On April 4, 1949, the Nebraska Rural Radio Association applied to the Federal Communications Commission to operate at 25,000 watts of power during daytime hours using a directional antenna.

Lexington, Nebraska was chosen for its central location to provide the best coverage of the state. On February 1, 1951, KRVN was given permission to begin broadcasting. Its owner is the Nebraska Rural Radio Association, a farmer-rancher owned cooperative that also operates an FM station in Lexington (The River) and owns KTIC AM /KWPN FM in West Point and KNEB AM/FM in Scottsbluff. The station features music and farmer-rancher news.

KAMI, 1580 AM and 104.5 FM

A Christian radio station in Cozad, owned by the Bott Radio Network of Overland Park, Kan. Bott owns 20 stations, most of them in Missouri but one station, KLCB, is in Lincoln.

(This report was first published in the Nov. 14 print edition of the North Platte Bulletin.)