JUPITER COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION is selling Regional Mexican KWIP-A (LA CAMPEONA)/DALLAS, OR to AYESH SHANAH's VALLEY BROADCASTING ASSOCIATES, LLC for $850,000 ($500,000 in a promissory note).

Unless you air something in an Asian language. It wasn't worth more than $150,000

It's time to resurrect KROW!

(Dodger, I'm talkin' to you!)

Anyone know what KWIP's format will be?

Herb

They'll probably keep the same format as long as cash flow is good. I think it's a break for Jupiter to be able to sell it now, though.

Herb said>>>
Anyone know what KWIP's format will be?

Let's hope for CONservative talk!!!

Actually, I liked KWIP's old format.

Kind of a KLYC clone.

It was good.

Herb

Actually KLYC was a clone of KWIP. I take that back, "the parade of hits" was a concept of it's own.
MRS M: ya got a spare $500k? I would love to bring KROW back!

Exactly what was KWIP's format during its Golden Age?

It was what I'd call a "unique" type of AC, but more like a milder version of "Charlie." The main playlist was 1964-79 with a few currents(80's at the time) and early rock 'n' roll era tunes thrown in at times for good measure. You could hear Led Zeppelin and the Carpenters in the same hour(Not back-to-back though!), news at :55(every on-air hour on weekdays 6:55am to 11:55pm), weather at approx :30 and :00, Dick Clark's National Music Survey on Saturdays, the "24 Hours of Christmas"(old time radio shows pertaining to the holidays) every Christmas from 6pm the 24th to 6pm Christmas Day, and some of the most unique custom imaging on the Willamette Valley airwaves.

The day Jack Webb died, I remember them playing old "Dragnet" episodes instead of their last hour of music before they signed off that night.

When they would sign on and off of the air,(and also when they would lower power from 5kW to 1kW at sunset when they moved to 880) the announcement would be over the theme to the nighttime TV soap opera "Dallas." (get it?--Dallas? Artsy-Craftsy!)

Unfortunately, as much as I would love to see it, I don't think a format like that would work on the AM band nowadays...heck, even some Newstalkers are starting to switch to FM (One of the major ones in Phoenix, for example.)

What frequency was KWIP on before 880? What were the years of KWIP's Golden Age? Did it have a slogan like "Williamette Valley's First Choice?"

it was krow on 1460 and kwip on that position.
My opininon is the "golden years" were 84-89 there abouts.
Slogan? "The Parade of Hits...K double you...IP".

PS: Qpatrick, my first Christmas at KWIP I had to run the 24 hours of Christmas stuff and my folks came to the studio and brought me dinner and we opened presents while listening to "Dragnet Christmas" and "Green Christmas".
Was a memorable Christmas for sure! Thanks to my Mom and Dad!

KWIP began as KPLK 1460kc on April 15, 1955. It was owned by Polk County Broadcasters, Inc. (Leland M. Tucker, President; Edward C. McElroy, Jr., Vice-President & GM.). KPLK was a 500 watt day timer.

On August 1, 1957 KPLK was purchased by Ray L. Kozak, President & G.M., continuing to be licensed as Polk County Broadcasters, Inc. By 1960 KPLK had raised day power to 1KW. On April 1, 1962 KPLK became KROW and raised day power to 5KW. By 1965 Dick Robinson was Vice-Pesident & GM. In 1966 Arthur "Bo" Thomlinson was General Manager. By 1968 D.H. Maves was President & Cliff Murray, General Manager. By 1971 Dave Meholovitch was G.M.

On October 23, 1980 Firebird Communications, Inc. (Mark Blinoff, President; Roger Carroll, Chairman; Eric G. Norberg, General Manager & P.D.) purchased KROW and changed the calls to KWIP on that date. In 1983 KWIP changed to 880KHz with 5KW days and 1KW nights.

On June 10, 1991 KWIP was sold to Jupiter Communications Corp. (Diana Burns, President & G.M.) for $21,000.

[Information culled from Broadcasting Yearbooks and Oregon Blue Books.]

KWIP was a daytimer on 1460 before 1982(?), somebody could easily correct me on the exact date. KWIP's slogan was "The Parade of Hits"(Jokingly referred to as "The Parade of Stiffs") and KWIP's "Golden Age" could be considered as possibly 1981-1986, but somebody could correct me on that too.

I seem to remember that they went silent for a while in the late 80's/early 90's then came back on the air with one of the first computer controled satellite fed AC formats(it may have used a Tandy/Grid PC for local audio and control, but I'm not sure-some satellite fed stations at the time did) and a live local jock 6am to 9am. After a little while of that they went Spanish.

I still have a "Statesman-Urinal" newspaper article from 1991 about the new Spanish KWIP station and staff...maybe I'll have to scan and post it some day.(when I get around to having a blog or webpage or something...)

wow, everbody beat me to it while I was s l o w l y typing!

BTW, Craig, KWIP has always been Non-directional--only one tower.

Anyone know what KWIP's format will be?
Let's hope for CONservative talk!!!
With all station production/sounders using Devo songs!
Song: "Crack that wip..."
(Recorded) Announcer: "And now, Conservatives in the Morning!"
Song: "Go forward, move ahead..."

You're right. Miss read the "D" to mean directional when it meant Day power. I will correct this. Thanks!

I can tell you it was pretty cool when Roger Carroll would come visiting. He would always rent a Lincoln town car and come pulling into little old Dallas looking smooth and sounding great. He was very kind to me and always gave me compliments on my delivery and style.
When I was a kid I listened to him on KMPC and of course he was the voice of ABC TV for years: "coming up next.......on ABC-TV". Huge voice, carried them in a wheelbarrow.
$21k? Yikes, someone got a great deal and someone is pretty stupid to pay $850k now!

Dodger: Was Roger Carroll the guy that use to say "Coming up next on abc, The LLLLLoooovvvveee Boat."

You may be thinking of the late Ernie Anderson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO8FbUyGlTw

>> I would love to bring KROW back!

Hopefully not the short-lived "Disco '79" incarnation of KROW.

Careful Craig! You almost released the real name of one of our best known posters!

Since this is the KWIP thread, here's a bit of KWIP trivia:

Newsperson Terri Travis of KPAM 860 AM was once a reporter there. After KWIP, she headed north to Seattle before her KPAM gig.

Herb

Terri Travis was never a reporter at KWIP. She was the awesome midday air talent!
I know, we shared many a moment on the front porch smoking ciggies and complaining about Eric! John Trant followed at pm drive and I was at evenings. Terri was a great help to me at the time and one of the funniest and most personable jocks I ever heard!
We have both since quit smoking, LOL.

Thanks for the correction, Dodger. I was an avid listener, but it was quite a while ago.

Maybe you can update us on whatever happened to KWIP announcer Tim Michaels? He was kind of funny.

Herb

I worked at KROW for a few months in 1978 doing news and public affairs. Peter Marland-Jones was the PD, the GM was a guy named Ed Olmsted. The station was owned by a couple from Portland. (I think they also owned some nursing homes) The format was sort of MOR. The station had been all-news as an affiliate of NBC's NIS.

I didn't work with Tim. The airstaff during my tenure was:
Eric Norberg Mornings
Terri Travis Middays
John Trant Afternoons
Bill Dawson Evenings
Donna Negus weekends
And Craig: yes that was roger carroll, what I remember him most for was introducing the movie of the week, don't remember what night but his voice was very distinctive.

Here's R & R Records of the Sale.

Oregon
KWIP-AM/Dallas (Portland)
PRICE: $850,000
TERMS: Asset sale for cash & note
BUYER: Valley Broadcasting Associates LLC, headed by Member Ayesh Shanah. Phone: 503-984-4166
It owns no other stations. This represents its entry into this market.
SELLER: Jupiter Communications Corporation, headed by President Diane Burns. Phone: 503-623-0245
FREQUENCY: 880 kHz
POWER: 5kw day/1kw night
FORMAT: Mexican
COMMENT: Jupiter Communications Corporation's KWIP-AM/Dallas, OR to Valley Broadcasting Associates for $850,000. $200,000 earnest money deposit plus $150,000 cash on 08/08/09 plus $500,000 promissory note.

I hear Don Coss of KWBY is behind this purchase.
Does anybody know anything about this rumor?
I think Churchill shouldn't have let this one go by. They need the presence in the mid valley a lot since neither KXOR or KXPD cover this area very well.

It would be interesting if there was any relationship with KWIP's new owner and Mr. Coss, but especially if the conversation went format change.

Waste of money.

Brad: I didn't know Ed Olmstead was a KROW G.M. Always thought he was a Chief Engineer. He told me in 1980 that he was also KWRC's C.E. Four years before you began at KCYX, Ed was C.E. under Norjud Broadcasting from 1977-78 & back again in 1979-80.

It should also be noted in my quickly done brief history yesterday on this thread, that when D.H. Maves became President of KROW by 1968, the station was acquired 8 years later in September 1975 by KROW Broadcasters and D.H. Maves continued as President.

Could it be religious on KWIP and back to Cowboy Country on KCKX? Now, that would be Cool!!!

Or how about hiring back some of the old announcers and re-creating the old KWIP/KLYC format? Maybe Teri Travis and Tim Michaels would agree to do some promos for the on-air kick-off.

Herb

Music in English doesn't work on AM anymore, period. If Cowboy Country were viable, it would still exist. The soon-to-be-former owner of KWIP did in fact bring back the original KWIP formula with Eric Norberg when the frequency came back on in '91, but Spanish music is what ended up paying the bills. If we were speculating about the 98.3 Salem allocation instead of 880, a KWIP type station would be in interesting idea, but it would likely be updated and not necessarily of interest to those of us who were into "The Parade of Hits" of 1983.

Assuming the present format on 880 is successful, I don't see major changes coming for a growing format in a growing market.

>>Could it be religious on KWIP and back to Cowboy Country on KCKX?

Heard that Christian Spanish KCKX has a growing new audience and doing well at the former KSND studio site so I don't foresee any changes there.

I actually wonder if the 98.3 and 95.1 allocations around the region will someday be simulcasted together and used to target Portland - especially if the 97.9 move flies.

None of that makes it up here.

gee whiz guys you forgot on the KROW radio sight mention, Rick Allen did weekends, Rich Mack did weekdays, where is Rich Mack these days? Later Billy Jax did the spanish programming on KROW ...

Right you are, Rick. Also Dave Spacek who later went to then-KQFM. And a guy named (I think) Ray Allen who was PM drive. Jerry Dimmit worked at KROW doing AM drive for about a week, while working late nights at KYXI. Wild days. I don't know where Rich is. I know he went from KROW to KNPT.

Ed Olmstead, BTW, was both GM and CE at KROW when I started. He left before I did, and then Peter Marland-Jones became GM as well as PD.

We can go way back with the history of the station. My dad became a co-owner in 1957. I grew up in and on that station...I did my first airshift on a Sunday morning in 1959...I was 13 and I made sure that all the usual Sunday morning tapes were threaded through the heads of the two Magnacorders and ready to go. I also made sure the teletype had paper...it was big time radio. When the FCC granted a power increase, Governor Mark Hatfield threw the switch...if I remember correctly, he got a shock when he did so. That's where I learned how to slip-cue records on the felt-covered turntables. Usually the Ray Conniff (did I spell that right?) Singers if I remember correctly. I remember the new travel trailer that my Dad bought and outfitted for live broadcasts..I don't think anyone had done that before, at least not around here. He took it to the State Fair and had a stage built around the trailer. His big attraction that first year was the Kingsman performing on the stage during the fair...the crowd was so large, it was the last big show he was allowed to do there.
I could go on and on...it was a great way to learn radio.

Ed Olmstead was also, at one-time, the engineer for KMCM before and during it's transition to KLYC. He was pretty much a "fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants" technician, but managed to keep us on the air.

If memory serves right, Deane Johnson let Ed go when it became apparent how good of an engineer Deane's son Michael proved to be.

Thanks for post Craig! Had no idea You worked on the early KPLK, as well as KROW.

>>>"If memory serves right, Deane Johnson let Ed go when it became apparent how good of an engineer Deane's son Michael proved to be."

Actually, Ed quit when he saw that we weren't going to need him. He later called me from a power house regional station he was engineering for in Moberly, Missouri looking for a part for their weather radar, as if I had the slightest clue where to find a part for an old weather radar.

I heard somewhere he was no longer living, but I don't know if that's true or not.

Here's the deal. 850K is too much money for that station. I'm sure that the selling price was based on the years that KWIP had a "Franchise" with the Hispanic market and the national coverage on the growth of Hispanic radio. The problem now is that there are two FMs, a couple stations in Eugene at 1450 & 660am, KWBY, KCKX, a 50 kw and a couple 1KWs in Portland that cover the Valley quite nicely. Will they change format? Not likely when you have $500,000 in debt. Amortize 500k over ten years at 8% and you have a monthly payment of over $6,000 per month and then general operating expenses on top of that - you need cash flow - now! Changing format will get rid of cash flow in a hurry! Another option might be multi-ethnic time brokering. Nah, there's pretty good money in Hispanic programming. I wish the new owners well.

"I heard somewhere he was no longer living..."

Ed Olmstead Info on Page 4

Thanks, Kq4. That was interesting reading... and now I remember him mentioning his daughter back in the Bay Area, as one of our topics of conversation would be how we both made our respective ways to Oregon from SF.

Ed was a unique character, 'old-school' all the way.

Kq4: Thanks for the posting on Ed. I remember he needed a lift home once. While driving he told me he was one of the KGW Hoot Owls! I never believed him thinking he was too young even at his age and was spinning a radio yarn for a green kid broadcaster but he insisted it was true.

OK Craig, when did the hoot owls disband?

The last regular broadcast of KGW's "Hoot Owls" was broadcast on January 6, 1933. Although The Hoot Owls would reunite from time to time on KGW and indoctrinate new members into "The Keep Growing Wiser Order of Hoot Owls". Ed would have been at the time of the last regular broadcast, 10 year of age.

Hi Craig,
I remember doing a state fair broadcast with KROW and you came by and saw the remote board that Cal Applegate designed, and said you carried that into the station when it was new, you were there with KGW...radio was wonderful back then.

Ah...the mention of a old radio icon...Cal Applegate...a reason/inspiration to start up a new thread!

I had the honor to work with Cal at both KGAY and KROW. His big red station wagon, and Gussie (his wife) by his side.
he did a lot in early sound for movies, and put alot of LA radio stations on the air.
I still miss him!

to all of us younger than that ICON...it was "hello there young american" ... Cal Applegate was simply amazing...those stories of
old radio pioneers...I wonder if his name is still labeled on equipment at any of the local stations, in the back, or on the side...

I don't think engineers have ever gotten the credit they deserved..whether it was Cal or Emmett Bernards or countless others who kept stations on the air despite old equipment, limited budgets, and on-air people like me who had no idea why or how any of it worked!

what kind of calls are those? kwip?