Is 102 KHJA-LP in Madras dark. I went to there website at http://www.khjfm.com/
It said they are taking a break until 2010. Anyone know what's going on there??

I'm thinking it was sold.

It was for sale for a while. It was a fairly popular station in Madras and the surrounding area.

If they are off the air, it is not appear to be indicated yet on the FCC site:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=135771

Application list:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_list.pl?Facili ty_id=135771

I hear it's now religious.

I asked my friend Ron Erickson, the guy behind KHJA. He said the frequency is now Spanish, and the new folks are going for new call letters. KHJA will return with more power on another frequency. Hence the 2010 reference. As they say... stay tuned.

I worked for Ron for a couple years at KHJ. He gave me my first play by play gig. We coverd Madras and Culver high schools. I called all the games by cell phone and had no breaks during the games except for halftime because I would pre-record a little halftime show. Great place to learn my craft. Thanks Ron!

93 KHJ LA!!!!

KHJ carried Madras and Culver sports?! I didn't think Drake had it in him.

We did all the Madras away football games and when Madras was home, we did Culver football, away or home. I put LOTS miles on my car. Had a blast though. Got to know a lot of good people and they were very happy we were broadcasting their games. Culver football coach, Kurt Davis is a class act. He would let me talk to him anytime. We also did some Madras basketball. It was more difficult to fit that in because of my day job.

Was it expensive station to run?
So you give up and sell to another christian group?

Whats wrong if a christian group runs the station?

A Very Majority of low power available frequencies get taken by the christian groups.
Mostly KLove. How about keeping it a "Community Station" that it was originally set up as?
We have Kkjc in McMinnville. It's a nice teaching station, but isn't the low power setup supposed to be for local radio? :-)

It's not that Christian groups are bad, it's that localism is lost when a generic Christian broadcaster buys up all the LPFM's and puts on the same programming from coast to coast. Call it the non-commerical version of hearing George Noory 20 spots on the AM dial during the night. LPFM's were designated for local service with local content. But, as happens elsewhere, somebody found a way around it.
Ron found a way to make KHJA work doing actual local stuff. Here's hoping for more success for the next version.

Ron did a great job with KHJ. If I ever get back to Central Oregon, and Ron is back, I would enjoy working with him again.

One time i saw a couple of guys at McMinnville broadcasting the baseball game. I think it was Khj, but i did notice how they were connecting to the home station - cellphones!
Cellphones, headset with mikes and a 12 vold motorccle battery for power!

Central Oregon Radio Question: Does anyone remember if the old KPRB-FM 102.9 Redmond signed on the air originally as KZKD in 1981? Or did the station sign on as KPRB-FM? I don't remember picking KZKD but the calls changed a year later so I might have missed it.

Another question: Where was KWSI 96.5 studios when it signed on in 1985?

"Where was KWSI 96.5 studios when it signed on in 1985?"
When I first heard it driving over to Madras weekly back then, I believe they said Kah-Nee-Ta. Their ID's had Tom-Tom's beating away when they said KWSI, Warm Springs Indians from Kah-Nee-Ta.

Wow! I remember the beating tom-toms too. I wonder if their studios were on tribal land?

I think you're confusing commercial station KWSI with its non-commercial sister KWSO 91.9. Its studios are at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort and I too remember hearing Tom-Tom's beating. KWSI had a modern music format. I was wondering if KWSI studios were also at Kah-Nee-Ta when they signed on the air or maybe in Warm Springs.

I also believe they were at Kah-Nee-Ta. I remember hearing that passing through on my way to Sunriver.

96.5 KWSI's format would be best described as Hot AC. In 1989, I recorded their top-of-the-hour on cassette: "Your wings over Oregon station...96.5 KWSI, Warm Springs."

96.5 became KTWI on 1/28/91, as Classic Rock "The Twins, 96-5 & 98-3." 96.5 broke away from the simulcast in 1995, as "Warm 96" with an AC/Country mix.

Yes when KWSI became KTWI and its Bend sister signed on the air on 98.3 as KTWS, they became "The Twins" and had studios in Bend. I'm still trying to figure out where those studios were before The Twins were born.

By the way when "The Twins" began their simulcast they were still owned by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

In case anyone missed it, that's the station moving to West Linn. Until that happens, I can hear them on I-205 while passing West Linn and not much of anywhere else.

I almost want to say that I heard them on Rocky Butte one time back around 2002 or 2003, when they were "Laser 96.5."

They're still known as "Lazer 96-5, Continuous Classic Rock."

www.lazer965.com

(Old) Dudes! Calling First/Native American drumming "tom-tom's" is not good.

You can also get 96.5 in mid Clark County providing it doesn't cross air paths with 96.5 out of Seattle.

It all started on the reservation and now the studios are in Bend with the transmitter still 60 miles north if I recall. You get lots of static in Bend and you can see the tower on a peak off to the east as you drive south into Warm Springs.

What do you mean they are bringing 96.5 to West Linn? It couldn't stay on 96.5 could it? I'd think it would have to move to 96.7.

I can usually pull it in just fine from Hillsboro, using a directional FM antenna on a rotator, indeed they are still "Laser 96.5". They just played Jumpin Jack Flash...Great tune, IMHO ! From this location, KJAQ from Seattle is a far more difficult catch.

What do you mean they are bringing 96.5 to West Linn? It couldn't stay on 96.5 could it? I'd think it would have to move to 96.7.
Actually, it will move to 96.3:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?state=&call=KWLZ&city=&arn=&serv=&vac=&freq=0.0&f re2=107.9&facid=&class=&dkt=&list=0&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2 =&slon2=&EW=W&size=9

No effect on KZEL or the 96.1 in Olympia?

As covered in "Towers & Such", KWLZ has applied to move to West Linn on 96.3 as a Class C3. In order for this to happen, the Olympia station has applied to move to the Olympic Peninsula. KZEL should not be a factor. Going the other way, we have 95.3 and 95.5 with similar power levels.

Craig Adams said "I think you're confusing commercial station KWSI with its non-commercial sister KWSO 91.9. Its studios are at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort and I too remember hearing Tom-Tom's beating. KWSI had a modern music format. I was wondering if KWSI studios were also at Kah-Nee-Ta when they signed on the air or maybe in Warm Springs."

I just received confirmation via email from Kip Morris, the Director of Security at Kahneeta that the studios of 96.5 were there.

Thanks for going the extra mile, it's much appreciated!

Kjun: Did you ask him about the "Tom-Toms"?

If you did, and he's a tribal member, he's on his way to your house to make you his "squaw" and then he's going to scalp you.

Prepare for major pain. (And/or Death By Bunta)

Mrs_merkin,

What is the correct term for the drum used in Native American music... are flute-like wind instruments used as well ? The traditional music that I have heard on KWSO sounds to my untrained ear, similar to some traditional Finnish music as performed by Wimme.

Mrs._Merkin says "Kjun: Did you ask him about the "Tom-Toms"?

If you did, and he's a tribal member, he's on his way to your house to make you his "squaw" and then he's going to scalp you.

Prepare for major pain. (And/or Death By Bunta)"

No, I didn't ask him about "Tom-Toms" I had heard previously about death by "bum-bum". Also, he would have to hurry on the scalping as the hair is getting pretty thin on top.

I didn't mention it but at the same time the tom-toms were beating, there was some chanting also going on, like in the movies. Like they were dancing around the fire. Not a war chant but just what you would hear if you went to the pow-wows that are occasionally held. Originally, the station was playing to the Warm Springs -Madras area.

"The most important Native American instrument was and still is the drum, as you can tell by going to any powwow or Indian event. Different tribes have different traditions about the drum and how to play it, but the basic construction is very similar in most tribes: a wooden frame or a carved and hollowed-out log, with finely tanned buckskin or elkskin stretched taut across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally American Indian drums are large, two to three feet in diameter, and they are played communally by groups of men who stand around them in a circle.

However, there were also some tribes in which each drummer had his own instrument, and it is possible to buy a smaller Native American hand drum for either musical or decorative purposes.

(These hand drums are the ones that are sometimes called "tomtoms" by non-native people--contrary to popular belief, tomtom is not an American Indian word, but rather an old British word for a child's drum toy.)"

http://www.native-languages.org/drums.htm

Here's a pretty good link regarding Drumming at Pow Wows.

http://www.powwow-power.com/drumsongs.html

This is probably the most well-known group regionally, they have about 20 albums, and travel the western US powwow circuit, and are from White Swan WA. They are usually at (my) Grand Ronde powwow:

http://www.myspace.com/therealblacklodgesingers

You can listen to drumming here:

http://radio.powwows.com/

The Grand Ronde powwow is August 15-17! The drumming (and singing) is amazing, especially as it starts for the Grand Entry and all the dancers enter...There's nothing quite like it. GR usually has about 6-10 different drums (groups) invited that take turns over the weekend. If anyone is going, let me know!

I don't know too much about native flutes, that's not really a NW thing, although I know some really talented local Native flute players around here.

The chanting is singing, in whatever native language the tribe uses...I know limited chinuk jargon, so I'm usually pretty lost on the lyrics and meanings, and which song is for which type of dance, without seeing what type of regalia is being worn for that dance. Drumming is a fairly male-centered tradition, you don't see many women drumming with men, with sometimes an all-woman drum, but those are maily held in private or for a women's event. There are also rules about "that time of the month" etc.,

I'd guess it's boring or too repetitive or annoying to most people, or kind of like bagpipes or polka, but to see it live is pretty cool (at least for a few hours...)

Mrs_merkin,

Thanks for all the great information! Wow this old white guy has risked "death by bunta" on several issues...such as regalia vs "costumes" and "tom toms" vs drum. ouch!

Amazon has several recordings and short audio samples of the Blacklodge Singers:

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Been-Long-Time-Comin/dp/B00005NDX4/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF 8&s=music&qid=1213942201&sr=8-1

Frankly, I enjoy a well-played bagpipe (and poka as well), and don't find this music annoying at all.

Are water drums used in the NW traditional music ?

I can't let this thread slide by without a mention of Black Lodge's "Flintstones" song.

I like "Ask your mom for 50 cents to see the fat man jump the fence"