104.5 KMCQ "Q104" is set to go off the air, tomorrow at 7:00 PM. Someone might want to record this!

Don't forget, KMIH is going the way of KMCQ as soon as the Covington move is completed.

Sad thing is not that I enjoyed the station all that much, but it played some ok music when on the road. Now I will have to load up the MP3 player to get to the Tri Cities.

Is KMCQ moving to a new city of license, or is it going dark? Why is this happening?

Alfredo: Semoochie can explain all this better. It's very complicated. KMCQ is moving to the Seattle market I believe.

This is very sad. KMCQ had the distinction of being the first commercial FM in Central Oregon when it signed on the air November 1, 1968 as KCIV.

It's sad, knowing that Q104's staff will be left without jobs in a mostly automated radio market. 92-7 KMSW, 97.7 KACI-FM and K105.5 are all satellite-fed formats. Q104 was one of two locally programmed stations in The Dalles. The other is Gorge Country, Y102.

But can you blame the owners for taking advantage of regulations that allow for this to happen? Seattle vs. The Dalles. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize the increased revenue opportunities. (But, yes, sad for a great small town and its staff).

...all for a rimshot signal that will likely never be a major player unless they can upgrade to full-market coverage.

Q104's mix of Hot AC was never programmed very professionally, but the air-staff usually sounded decent.

Bicoastal should use 97.7 KACI-FM to take Q104's place...

"Don't forget, KMIH is going the way of KMCQ as soon as the Covington move is completed."

KMIH survives.

http://www.mi-reporter.com/articles/2006/11/08/news/news5.prt

Oooo.. The elusive article I could not find.

Good for them, a Class D survives!

"a great small town"

The Dalles? Really?

Yes, The Dalles is quite popular with tourists, due to it's history and scenery.

After a series of maneuvers involving multiple stations, KMCQ will move to Covington WA as a Class C3. Arrangements were at one time made for additional coverage of 3 Oregon and south central Washington communities to offset the loss of the full Class C on 104.5. It looks like additional station moves will be made to enable a Cougar Mountain location with an increase in class; I'm thinking C1. I believe it's supposed to end up as a Clear Channel property. If it gets to Cougar, it won't be a rimshot!

Yes, The Dalles is a neat little town. I had not been there for a few years until I did the radio play by play for a football game there last season. I was impressed.
To bad about Q104 going away. 101.5 is a Hot AC station but it is not local.

The Dalles is nice. Especially in the summer.
Plus, they have Cousins Restaurant and Big Jim's Drive-In.
Cousins.... where they pin a ziplock bag of water over the doorway in the summer. It keeps the flies out.

105.5 KCGB is the satellite-fed Hot AC station in the Gorge.

Shannon O Neil from BOSS/KCUP RADIO worked for KMCQ for 16 Years, He went back there to broadcast today ( everyone who worked there was
invited ) We spoke with them Live on the Air
today . Sounded like they had ALOT of people
there. GOOD LUCK in SEATTLE !!!

104.5 is most likely going to Clear Channel, once it debuts in the Seattle market.

Last song played...Tom Petty "The Last DJ"

Then, "This is John Huffman saying Good night Everybody"... Dead Air...

Dropped carrier about 7:07:12

They did a nice job with their pre-recorded farewell, including song clips and words from the staff.

GOOD FOR SEATTLE....... They really need another station!

Covington? Wow! walking distance to the relatives!!!

Rumor has it they're back on the air from The Dalles playing AC. Confirmation anyone?

Yes! I have not heard an ID yet, but they just did a Columbia Gorge weather report. Signal strength and direction (from Hillsboro) seem to be the same as I remember for KMCQ.
They just said "Mix 104.5"

Update, 8:00/9:00
"KMCQ, The Dalles, Hood River, Goldendale, a First Broadcast Company station"

What possible point could there be to this?

Is the Covington facility completed? They still have about 1.5 years left on the CP. If it is not ready to go yet, why not operate KMCQ with inexpensive programming for a while to make a few bucks?

Transfer to First was granted by the FCC 3/19/07:
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Appli cation_id=1176272

That would make sense if it hadn't gone off the air.

Anybody know how long they were off? Perhaps it was only a few hours or a few days before the format change was made? Stunt, perhaps?

A stunt in The Dalles? Even if it is, it can only be temporary. The transfer on this link is merely a change in corporate name.

Semoochie:
Can you hear them on your new JVC?

They give out this web site address quite a bit:
http://www.thisradiostation.com/

Also I heard Cole(sp?) Malcolm, operations mgr. for Y-102 and KLCK, welcome listeners to the "new mix 104.5"... He gave out a number for questions & comments (541-298-5116).

Does this make sense?

That's the most generic site I've ever seen! I first met Cole when he was putting KLCK on the air and found out his father was my old choir instructor at MHCC. If this goes on very long, I'll give him a call. I keep forgeting to listen but will make a point to do so.

The station is using a satellite format from Jones Radio Network.
107.7 KUMA-FM in Pendleton is using the same format from Jones.

Not sure what date it came back online. The first time I heard it back was Sunday April 8.


On another note, I thought i read that the Covington signal was going to be live on April 1.

Re Covington, LIVE? If they put a staff in place they kept quiet about it... never heard or saw anything.....

as for 104.5.....

And then along came Jones
non local Jones
Sattelite, bland, boring, broadcasting Jones.

Yes, the AC format from Jones SUCKS!!!!!!!!!

The StarStation from ABC, "Todays Hits and Yesterdays Favorites" is a lot better. The program is great, the DJs are better than the ones on Jones.

Radio-Info board reports KMCQ is testing their new "Seattle" transmitter site.

What will this format be in Seattle? Or is it total speculation at this point? (my minions tell me the signal is "killer"...not sure what that means in technical terms.)

the format of the station is beside the point.

First is doing this to $ELL the station to one of the group owners already operating in Seattle.

This was widely speculated to be Clear Channel.

Now, however, Entercom is no longer at their capacity of stations and Bonneville has 2 AM's and one FM.

The highest bidder will obviously prevail.

First just needs to get it on the air for it to be saleable.

Of course all the existing group owners in Seattle realize this and are more than happy to let them build this thing in Enumclaw, where it DOES NOT have a killer signal.

They dont really care what the format is at this point.

First are clearly speculators in this instance.

"where they pin a ziplock bag of water over the doorway in the summer. It keeps the flies out."

I realize this is a delayed reply, but they do the same thing in Canon Beach at Pizza Al-Feta (sp?). Never seen that before.

Is "Mix 104.5" KMCQ no longer on the air in The Dalles?

Is "Mix 104.5" KMCQ no longer on the air in The Dalles?

Yes

I should say yes, it's still on the air...

Did they cut the power way back? I can't hear it from Hillsboro any more. The only station that I am hearing on 104.5 is the KPLU repeater in Longview. KMCQ was solid here @ 100 Kw.

Update 10:08
I am hearing "mix 104.5" just fine now...It must have covered briefly by the KPLU repeater, but it is solid now.

When I drove through the Gorge, a couple weekends ago, I thought that 104.5's signal sounded slightly weaker than usual. Could they be running at reduced power?

In other Gorge radio news; 105.5 KCGB's signal sounded better in The Dalles, compared to how it sounded from the old tower site. However, 105.5 still doesn't have "real" coverage of The Dalles, which is where the new 96.9 translator fills in.

While in Woodburn yesterday, Mix 104.5 came in about as well as KDUK, on a Walkman-type radio. This was around 3 PM.

With the latest change in the CP for KMCQ in the Seattle area, is there a possibility that 104.5 will remain on the air at The Dalles? Mix 104.5 is on right now, although there are reports that testing in the Seattle area has occured... what gives ?

Odds are on someone requesting to move the Condon allocation to somewhere near The Dalles, such as Dallesport. That could put it back on the air but not right away.

If the Condon allocation got moved to Dallesport, then an ideal transmitter location would be the site used now for KMCQ (is that Stacker Bute?)... clever!

q104 use to be my favorite station to listen to when wind surfing. what happened?