Category Archives: Industry News

FCC Grants KJIM License for New FM

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 16, 2016, approved a translator license for Bob Mark Allen Productions, Inc. (owner of KJIM-AM) to operate a new transmitter broadcasting on the FM band at 101.3. One year later, the new radio signal went on the air. The new radio station allows KJIM Radio’s programming to be heard up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The new radio station allows KJIM-AM’s programming to be heard up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

KJIM-AM at 1500 on the AM radio dial has been in continuous operation since December 19, 1947 and has been owned and operated by Bob Allen since September 1995. The government’s issuance of the FM signal recognizes the significant value of the radio station’s service in the community, by licensing additional space on the radio dial to continue its programming, day and night.

Assignment of FM translator is Part of FCC’s AM Revitalization Act

The translator license authorizes KJIM’s owner to broadcast from an antenna located in Sherman, Texas.  The maximum effective radiated power permitted for any translator station is 250 watts Translator stations simultaneously rebroadcast the signal of a primary AM or FM station on a different frequency. An FM translator that is authorized to rebroadcast an AM daytime-only station may continue to transmit programming when the AM station is off the air for the night.

KJIM-FM signal coverage

Why KJIM-AM Goes Off at Sunset

Many AM radio stations are required by the FCC’s rules to reduce their power or cease operating at night in order to avoid interference to other AM stations.

FCC rules governing the daytime and nighttime operation of AM radio stations are a consequence of the laws of physics.  Because of the way in which the relatively long wavelengths (see Footnote 1) of AM radio signals interact with the ionized layers of the ionosphere miles above the earth’s surface, the propagation of AM radio waves changes drastically from daytime to nighttime.

This change in AM radio propagation occurs at sunset due to radical shifts in the ionospheric layers, which persist throughout the night.

During daytime hours when ionospheric reflection does not occur to any great degree, AM signals travel principally by conduction over the surface of the earth.  This is known as “groundwave” propagation.  Useful daytime AM service is generally limited to a radius of no more than about 100 miles (162 km), even for the most powerful stations.

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A Visit to the Lucky Me Ranch

With so much stress over our country’s situation, it’s nice to have a little happy, and you’ve got to be happy around goats and Western music,” said Waynetta Ausmus. “Goats will make you laugh, and Western music will make you tap your feet.”
Waynetta Ausmus

Ausmus and the goats and the Western music do their thing in a neat little house sitting on seven acres surrounded by soybeans, at the end, the very end, of a gravel road between Tom Bean and Whitewright.

While the goats pretty much take care of themselves, Ausmus slips into the back bedroom she’s turned into a recording studio and cranks out a weekly radio program, heard every Sunday, 10am-11am on KJIM AM 1500.

“Storytime,” has been running on KJIM AM 1500 for nearly fifteen years and is sponsored by Six & Mango Kubota in Sherman, Frisco and Grand Prairie.

“The show features Western music, Western swing, cowboy music and poetry, storytelling, celebrity interviews, and a feature called ‘Everyday Cowboy,'” said Ausmus.

The cowboy connection came naturally for Ausmus, who grew up riding horses and listening to her granddad tell stories on the front porch in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

After college, she worked at the FBI headquarters in Washington. “I met J. Edgar Hoover once.

After college, she worked at the FBI headquarters in Washington, and then moved to Texas and became a teacher. “I met J. Edgar Hoover once,” she said. “We passed each other in the hall one morning. I said, ‘Good morning, Mr. Hoover,’ and he said,‘Good morning,’ and that was that. I’ve never figured out how to work that into a story.”

After more than twenty years with the Mesquite schools as a teacher and then an elementary school principal, Ausmus retired, moved to McKinney, and found a new calling. “I went to the state storytelling festival in Denton one year and just fell in love with all the storytelling. I thought this is what I want to do.”
Texas Storytelling AssnAnd so she did, telling stories to anyone who wanted to listen. She worked schools and libraries, got on the touring artist roster with the Texas Commission for the Arts, worked with the state’s Educational Service Center, and in time,joined the board of directors of the Texas State Storytelling Association, Tejas.

Somewhere along the line, she met another storyteller, Marvin Brown. They got married and moved to a ranch she named the “Lucky Me” near Hagerman Wildlife Refuge, where they lived with a menagerie of horses, goats, llamas, chickens, longhorns, dogs and cats.

Marvin Brown was the one who decided Waynetta ought to be on the radio. He approached KJIM owner Bob Allen, pitched the idea and found a sponsor, and it was a done deal. Marvin passed in 2011.

Ausmus has fans in Singapore, Australia, and Europe via her Internet radio show. Anyone who recognizes the image of the American cowboy, and that’s just about the whole world, is a potential listener. And that’s a lot of folks who need a little happy.

You can send email to Waynetta here.

Storytime Radio's Waynetta

FCC logo

AM Radio Revitalization Act

The changes here at KJIM Radio, the addition of a full time, day-and-night signal on the FM dial at 101.3, are a result of a ruling two years ago by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s AM Revitalization Act.

KJIM Radio on FM

Perhaps the most exciting opportunity for KJIM listeners comes two-fold:

  1. The ability to hear the same great programming on the FM radio dial;
  2. Being able to listen to KJIM day and night.

Since the beginning, KJIM-AM 1500 has been a  daytime radio station. The addition of a new FM dial position, after the KJIM-AM transmitter goes off at local sunset (the time varies through the year), you can now switch over to FM to continue listening to the same programming.

Longer Broadcast Hours on AM

Another part of the FCC’s AM Radio Service Revitalization rules could allow KJIM-AM 1500 to broadcast longer. Rather than turn-off the transmitter at local sunset, KJIM-AM 1500 would remain on the air for as long as it wants. But that is in the future and not being considered any time soon due to cost.

“No other radio station in Texoma offers the amount of locally-produced news and regional weather,” says Allen. “Duplicating our programming on the FM radio channel, gives listeners an option for static-free, higher-quality sound that can run day and night,” said Allen.

Radio Still Top Choice in Autos

A research study conducted by IPSOS, for iHEARTMEDIA in JANUARY 2015, finds that AM/FM radio remains the overwhelmingly preferred audio entertainment option in the car.While consumers do use new streaming services, virtually all consumers —99%— are comfortable with the current AM/FM in-car radio operation.
 
And 91% of consumers say they prefer physical AM/FM radio buttons and controls built into the car dashboard, rather than AM/FM being an app that appears in the car's electronic interface (with only 9% saying they would want it changed into a dashboard app).An additional finding was that while AM/FM radio remains paramount in the car, consumers use their in-car CD player three and a half times as much as they use any digital music service.
 
The survey also detailed other facts highlighting the importance to consumers of AM/FM radio in the car; the demand for digital services is increasing, but they are still behind AM/FM radio, the CD player and satellite radio:
 
AM/FM radio still dominates in-car listening as the top platform used, with 84% of consumers using it in the car, followed by CD players at 64% -- but radio still maintains a leadership position over the next closest service choice, SIRIUS/XM -- which had 22%.  PANDORA was 18%; iHEARTRADIO was 8%; HD RADIO 7%; and SPOTIFY was 7%.
80% of consumers chose AM/FM car radio as the top option for their car’s entertainment system, followed by the CD player at 68%, satellite radio at 45%, and a streaming music service at 34%.
 
“Overall, this study makes it clear that in spite of consumers' love of apps and new digital products, they have a great attachment to their AM/FM radio and an overwhelming desire to keep its operation and function as it is,” said IPSOS MEDIACT VP THOMAS SPINELLI.
 
“The in-car AM/FM radio is still a universally known audio platform – and its ease of use, convenience, features and familiarity continue to make it a top consumer choice for in-car audio.”SPINELLI added, “This study shows that the consumer isn't replacing existing services and products with new ones; instead, they want them all -- making the car even more music-enabled with a number of choices at any given time.”
 
The study, conducted by IPSOS for iHEARTMEDIA in JANUARY 2015, surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1036 adults 18+.