8/9/87-KJR picks up KLTX; MAGIC adds KIXI

VICTOR STREDICKE – August 9, 1987
Once again KJR will have an FM sister station. And KMGI will have an AM sister for the first time. The two stations KIXI-AM and KLTX (formerly KIXI-AM-FM) will be split up and parceled to the competition, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission.

It might seem an unnatural sale because KIXI-AM has been a remarkably successful station with its “Music You Remember” format, while KLTX was lost in the also-rans of “light, contemporary” formats. But the FM KLTX will be sold for $8.7 million, twice as much as KIXI-AM’s $4.8 million price.

KIXI-AM-FM were built from the ground up by Wally and Ann Nelskog and sold to Thunder Bay Broadcasting in 1985 for $8.6 million.

Approval for the transfers may take up to four months, but Ackerley Communications, licensee of KJR, expects speedy resolution, targeting the transfer for Sept. 15 _ in time for fall advertising campaigns. Ackerley expects to continue the “K-Lite” format on the FM station.

Rick Scott, KJR’s program director, said both stations are competitive _ especially when one combines KJR and KLTX numbers in the 25-54 demographic group.

KJR and KISW once were sister stations, when owned by Kaye-Smith Broadcasting. Sunbelt Communications, owner of “Magic” KMGI, has not previously had an AM station in its fold.

Some group owners have been willing to declare their AM stations losers and let the FM stations bolster them. It is obviously cheaper to program, and apparently easier to sell commercials on, an AM-FM combination.

And the folks at both KJR and KMGI may have to seriously consider the benefits or drawbacks of simulcasting their morning shows.

Audio term paper—

This week and next the syndicated program “Same Time, Same Station” should not be just for old-radio fans. Students of media should tune in, too, at 11 p.m. Sundays on KING-AM, 1090 kHz. Today’s episode is titled “When Radio Went to War,” with authentic samples of how radio established the electronic revolution in news broadcasting. Next week’s segment is “A Day in the Life of Your Radio” _ apparently a recurring concept involving significant days in history. This segment reviews in just one hour how network and local radio handled the reporting of VJ Day, Aug. 15, 1945 _ including the definitive pronouncement that most parents of today’s baby-boomers remember, by newsman H.V. Kaltenborn.

Twisting the dial—

KING-AM broadcasts live from the Washington State International Air Fair at Paine Field in Everett 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday.

Due to a simulcast consolidation, the syndicated “Weekly Country Countdown,” from 6-9 p.m., and the local production “Music with Moskowitz,” 9 p.m.-midnight, are among the Sunday programs to be carried on KRPM-AM-FM, 770 and 106.1.

New general manager of KNBQ, Tacoma, is Bruce Raven-Stark. For the past five years he was general sales manager of KNBQ’s Viacom sister station, WLTW, New York.

The sponsor has renewed the radio-drama series “The Campbell Playhouse” for another 26 episodes. Helen Hayes, who stars in many of the adaptations of literary classics, hosts the restored series. It airs at 5:30 p.m. Sundays on KTAC, 850 kHz.

The “Jim Bohannon Show” will originate in Memphis, near the site of the vigil marking the 10th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, at 8 p.m. Saturday on KING-AM . . . For a similar observation, KRPM-AM-FM will feature Elvis Presley songs through most of the broadcast day next Sunday.