Classic hits on new Creston radio station

Creston is rocking now, thanks to a new radio station launched last week by KSIB.

Classic pop and rock-oriented hits of the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s are on the new FM station, KOOL 102.1. It is a translator station for 1520 AM, simulcasting that station during the daytime hours, and past the sundown limit for the AM station.

The new station will also allow for broadcasts of Creston Community High School sports and other events on the new KOOL 102 station, which covers Union County with a 428-watt signal, while games from other area communities can be broadcast on the more powerful 101.3 signal (19,500 watts) that reaches well beyond Union County.

Chad Rieck, owner of Creston Radio’s properties, explains: “We still have 1520 AM (same classic pop/rock format with interjections of local news and sports updates) that was the original station here in 1946,” Rieck said. “The FCC classifies our 1520 AM station as a Class C, daytime only frequency on the AM dial at 1,000 watts. When it goes dark, the 1520 station in Oklahoma City is more powerful and has the frequency in a large area, even in some parts of this region if you’re in the right spot. This new station allows us to have an FM presence with the alternative format and flexibility to broadcast more local events, while maintaining our regular format on 101.3.”

Next fall, every Creston football game could be broadcast on 102.1, both home and away games, with a different area game provided to listeners on KSIB 101.3. Eventually, Rieck said, that broadcasting flexibility will extend to other sports.

Currently, Creston home sports such as volleyball, basketball games and wrestling meets are shown on KSIB's partnership with the school's Panther TV video streaming, with Rieck providing the play-by-play broadcast. It is simulcast on 101.3 unless sports director Damon Helgevold is broadcasting a different game that night. In those situations, the Creston game is available only on the Panther TV link on the station's website, www.ksibradio.com.

There is cross-marketing of the two stations. For example, news director Raquel Linch and Helgevold provide abbreviated news and sports updates on KOOL 102, while mentioning that the full broadcast of that day’s news will be coming up at the designated time on KSIB 101.3. The service providing the music playlist has an advertising exchange arrangement with Creston Radio.

“That’s why you may hear a commercial for Buffalo Wild Wings on 102.1, and wonder why you would hear that in this market where we don’t have that restaurant,” Rieck said. “Well, that’s part of the deal we have with each other to get that music playlist.”

Long process

Launching a new station is both a long procedure, and an expensive one. Creston Radio has made an investment in excess of $20,000 in a process that began nearly three years ago. Rieck said the new station and advancements in digital formats such as the app for cell phones are ways of attracting the maximum audience in 2020. Listeners are reached in ways beyond the traditional FM and AM radios.

“What got us going was that the FCC opened up a window to add these FM translator stations about three years ago,” Rieck said. “It’s designed for daytime-only AM stations, like our 1520 AM. We wanted another signal for nighttime coverage, to give us the flexibility to do more things. For example, in the fall if Creston had five road games in a nine-week season, and we were doing all of the Creston away games, then we only had four weeks to get in all of our other area schools. It’s really hard to get every school on, and still have good games, if you only have four weeks to do it.”

During this process, 1520 AM was converted from a Fox Sports station to the classic hits format, in anticipation of the new simulcast FM station.

“I have never been a big fan of sports talk on the FM dial,” Rieck explained. “It’s a wonderful AM format, but in adding this new station I felt we needed to come up with another option from a music standpoint. The same company now provides our country music on 101.3, which is similar but not exactly the same as what we had. We probably have fewer old, old songs during the daytime now on 101.3, but we still have the Sunday morning show of oldies by Dave (Rieck) and Melinda Mackey.”

Rieck said he has received many favorable comments about the classic hits music on 102.1 since the station went on the air at 10:42 p.m. on Jan. 15. That’s when the contracted engineer made all of the connections between the KSIB site and its AM tower with the FM tower north of town on Green Valley Road.

“The FCC will grant only so many frequency dials, but you can choose the number if it’s available,” Rieck said. “I wanted to be as close to 101.3 as possible, so when people hit the seek button it will be the first one after 101.3. It is until you go far enough west, and you get Omaha’s 101.9.”

A software company provides all of the computerized programming automation, with the built-in promotional spots and news/sports headline segments. Weather forecasts are broadcast regularly on all three Creston Radio stations. During emergencies like severe storms or other natural disasters, a simulcast broadcast will appear on all of the stations.

One of the new features on KSIB 101.3 is called “It’s Great to Know” presented by Greater Regional Health.

“We run that at 9:05 a.m. every Tuesday on 101.3 FM, and also on our (ksibradio) Youtube channel,” Rieck said. “It’s a video update of about three to five minutes to keep people informed on what’s going on at the hospital, the schools, the city business and the county business.”

The KSIB app for cell phones is undergoing changes as well, along with some tweaks to the website that include extended news and sports interviews that don’t appear in the day’s various newscasts. The former hour-long sports mid-day report was scrapped in lieu of shorter interviews on the newscast sports segments, with those longer pieces still available on the website.

Improved app

“Terry Freeman has been an ad account executive for us and has kind of moved into our digital and social media director as well,” Rieck said. “What I’m really excited about is the work he’s put in with the various companies involved to update and expand our digital device app. Now you can get to everything we have on one device. You can read our stories, listen to our newscasts, watch Panther TV and go to our Youtube channel, all on the app. You can access everything, and that’s really what I’ve been wanting.”

Freeman said Wednesday afternoon that the new expanded app is now linked to Android phones, but the final details are still being finalized for Apple products. The same capablities for iphones should happen in the upcoming days.

Rieck has noticed the new FM classic hits station has brought in a different audience to the company. Or, former listeners who weren’t inclined to listen to country music. (For six months in 2014 the station went to a talk radio format during a time of escalating music rights fees, but litigation that transpired brought the costs back down and the station returned to country music. That’s when Fox Radio became the alternative on 1520 AM.)

“With the response we’re getting to KOOL 102 already, I’d like to welcome people back,” Rieck said. “I know we have some listeners who were listening to other things in other places. We’re glad we can provide the two different music alternatives now, as well as having expanded local broadcasting capabilities.”