I heard a promo dropped into Air American programming today saying that Churchill Media was negotiating with OPB to turn KOPT/1600 to an OPB outlet and move Air American programming back to Churchill's 1450 outlet which is now ESPN Deportes. Anybody hear about this?

It seems odd they would have a promo for something that's in negotiation -- unless it's an FCC requirement? Were they seeking comment?

OPB has announced on their website that they have completed negotiations to buy KOPT. This seems like a great way to fill in OPB coverage in the Eugene area. (sort of like KUOW has done on 1340 AM in Olympia) Moving prog talk back to 1450 makes sense. It would seem like a larger audience than sports in Spanish in the Eugene market.

I seriously doubt they have a good audience for ESPN Deportes in Eugene. The market is to small for an all spanish sports station. I don't think Portland is large enough for an all sports.
I don't understand why they put so much effort in broadcasting Football and Basketball in their spanish stations when about 90% of Latinos who like sports prefer Soccer.
I think that what La Campeona and La Pantera are doing as far as Sports satisfies the vast majority.

The station was consistantly a 3+ in the market for years with an sydicated Adult Standards format...I would go back to that...its a void (still) in the market...

Story in today's Register-Guard.

1600 will be sold to OPB. While Churchill has no interest in continuing to operate a money-losing AAR and Jones Talk affiliate, a group of investors headed by talk host Ed Schultz may attempt to buy 1450 to keep the "Progressive Talk" format going. A previous Schultz deal to buy 1600 fell through.

The R-G article quotes a Churchill Media official as saying KOPT's advertisers did not get good results from ads placed on KOPT, thus ad revenue dropped to an unsustainable level.

Will Eugene's 1600 have more listeners with OPB than with Air America?

Jay_zie you obviously are not in radio and more specifically don't understand programming as a strategy as a counterpart of another strategy. Point 1....Even some general market ESPN stations play soccer when a vast majority of the audience is into football and baseball. Sports is not now or never will be ratings driven. It is a purely a revenue driven format. Spots on sports sell for far more than rated stations. And if a company has multiple signals why would they want to compete with their music station. By the way in New York City, WFAN which doesn't have very high ratings is one of the top billers.


KOPB will generate more interest with another format and proving that Air America is dying throughout the country.

I don't understand why OPB needs an AM station in Eugene. Doesn't KOAC blast in?

Maybe OPB plans on moving the tower south?

KOAC's signal is noticeably less than "local" on most receivers despite signal maps that say otherwise. Also, the proliferation of various new interference sources has diminished AM signal coverage.

KOAC's tower is going nowhere. It has a good ground plane where it is for covering the mid-valley.

KOAC would probably serve Eugene better if they modulated more. they sound very undermodulated and quiet compared to other AM's. Like maybe OPB hasn't spent a dime on the transmitter or processing on that signal in years. Just my speculation of course...

Does Eugene really need another NPR signal is the question... there already is a good presence in the market with KLCC on FM and JPR and KOAC available on AM.

Is KOPT really worth $500,000 when Churchill paid about $350,000 a couple of years ago.

So, Eugene will have more public stations than we can listen to with the KOPT switch to OPB. The list will include KLCC, KWAX, KRVM AM & FM, KOAC and KOPT. There are not enough fans of progressive radio to support these stations. I label the NPR/OPB stations as progressive. AT least KPNW, which carries Rush, has conservative advertisers such as gun shops and motels to pay the bills to keep conservative talk going (even if Rush doesn't have the audience he once had).

KOAC's not "loud" like the commercial stations because they don't clip the hell out of it just to BE loud. I think they have a very clean & listenable signal, even as far east as Bend when I was there last summer.

Has OPB looked into having an FM translator in Eugene?

OPB waited just a little too long before trying to get one of the really good Eugene translator frequencies. They were interested in buying 100.9 in the mid-90s when it was still a CP, but the holder wasn't interested in selling. That was the last frequency available with no local 3rd adjacencies (KFLY-FM was still a C3). This was before certain "national chains" started applying for every 2nd adjacency on the dial.

KFLY was actually a Class C2 with 28kw, too much power for a C3 but with very low antenna height, which gave them a signal equivalent to a smaller C3.

I have to admit that I don't understand at all how NPR or OPB can be labeled "progressive." I've listened to them both and I don't see the comparison. (especially with the news side) I know all this is rather subjective, but can anybody who believes that suppy a specific example of what they mean. Thanks.

It's just another example of reality having a liberal bias.

I've never heard NPR/OPB labeled as "progressive" except for the above post by Tomedwards...

Liberal yes, progressive, not even.

Progressive would include Air America, KBOO, and JPR news and information service.

Of course it all depends on what perspective you are looking from.

KOAC has to reduce power at night so they don't make it into the Eugene area. Having a local station will really help...

KOAC does not reduce power, at least not within my lifetime!

KOAC is 5kw fulltime and has been for years. Radio Locator says they operate with two different directional patterns with their two towers, but both patterns cover Eugene on the primary contour... HEARING them might be another thing, thanks to processing or the lack therof. The low end of the AM dial seems to be more prone to noise, as I remember back in the day trying to listen to Super 62 during the occasional rare Willamette Valley thunderstorm...

Eugene's 1600 will, indeed, take care of most of that...

I stand corrected... thank you so much...

I was down in Eugene over Thanksgiving and got to listen on the car radio. I thought KOAC had a pretty good signal in West Eugene. What surprised me was hearing Spanish on 1190, with no KEX. KPOJ got lots of splatter from KUGN, KPAM got splattered on from AM 840, and KXL was pretty weak. On the way back Thanksgiving night, there was a mix of stations on 750, a station from northern British Columbia on 860, and a couple of stations on 1190. KPOJ faired pretty good. Once north of Harrisburg, KEX started coming in pretty good and KXL was stronger. Couldn't get KPAM until near Salem. No problem with KOAC anywhere along the trip.

I haven't had much trouble with KUGN bleed on 620 since broadcasters were required to install NRSC bandwidth filters years ago. I haven't heard Spanish on 1190 but KEX reception is often difficult due to Eugene being an area where groundwave and skywave skip are received at about equal strength and phase-cancel each other out.

Looking at a map, I was fairly close to the 1450 tower, perhaps that's what I was hearing (a mix) on 1190.

840 is on the same stick as 1450, and the 590/1280 site isn't far away. All are near the north end of town.

I drove down to Eugene a few weeks ago and noticed the same thing on 1190. As soon as I got into town, KEX sorta disappeared and some Spanish stuff was on, overpowering KEX.

A Spanish Pirate! I remember running across one on a stay in Ellensburg WA in the early 90's. Called the Ellensburg stations when I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. No one knew about a Spanish station in the city. That's when I figured it must have been a pirate. It faded out when I was driving up Manastash Ridge on I-82. That's when I really knew for sure.

Maybe Randy_in_eugene can check this out.

I've noticed this Spanish station on 1190 for about 3-4 months now. The signal seems to be fairly strong in the East Eugene/West Springfield areas. Once you get north of Coburg or south of the River it fades away.

Could be skip from a CA directional station gone bad???

I live in Springfield. KOAC comes in okay on my car radio but poorly in my house. Maybe some "holes" will by filled in when 1600 goes OPB. Still, with all of the public "alternative" programming available, I can't see Air America ever being a contender in talk radio...even in Eugene.

Just tune one radio to 1190 and the other to the Spanish station. If they're simulcasting, it's skip.

SOLD

Oregon KOPT-AM/Eugene (Eugene-Springfield)
PRICE: $475,000
TERMS: Asset sale for cash

BUYER: Oregon Public Broadcasting, headed by President/CEO Steve Bass. Phone: 503-293-4000. It owns six other stations. This represents its entry into this market.

SELLER: Churchill Communications, LLC., headed by President Suzanne Arlie. Phone: 541-343-4100

FREQUENCY: 1600 kHz
POWER: 5kw day/1kw night
FORMAT: news/talk

COMMENT: Churchill Media I, LLC's KOPT-AM/Eugene, Ore., to Oregon Public Broadcasting for $475,000, payable in cash at closing.

If you tune one radio to 1190 and one to the Spanish station (in eugene) and they are simulcasting (spanish that is) it would NOT be skip it WOULD be either a mix or a spur.

A product being emitted by one of the local stations containing the audio from the spanish station could happen if something is wrong with one of the transmitters/antenna systems in the area.

Someone would have to do the math to see if an intermodulation product would land on 1190 but thats what it sounds like it could be.

Nobody has mentioned whether this happens in the day, night, or both.

It would not be the first time an in band intermod product has shown up in Eugene. For instance 1280 minus 590 = 690. 590 + 590 = 1180 etc.

Both day and night when I heard it, faded out around Coburg.

years 7-8 ago we used to get complaints from around the area about a spanish station bleeding in to the 1120 frequency...found out it was from out of Calif and they refused to do nothing about it.

KOAC bought a new transmitter not long ago.

See it at http://www.fybush.com/sites/2007/site-070223.html , but the picture of the "old" transmitter is actually the "oldest" transmitter (which Pete has restored). The transmitter previous to the new Broadcast Electronics was a Sparta/Bauer that is not shown.

"Nobody has mentioned whether this happens in the day, night, or both. "

It happened to me about 11AM in Eugene. Going towards Springfield.

According to the Fybush page, we won't be hearing IBOC on KOAC any time soon due the design of that station's antenna system.

KOPT to switch to OPB "very soon"
I received a letter from OPB (I'm on their mailing list) saying they will turn KOPT to OPB "very soon." The letter further said that OPB and KLCC will be complimenting each other and will work together on coordinating programming.