Here are some more photos I took September 12, 2007.
There was a small uncovered opening in the front door window where I could get a peek inside with my camera.
Abandoned office equipment.
On the left you can see what I think is called a "cart" machine. A rotating drum which holds pre-recorded tapes of advertising and other short clips of information.
Old turntables on the floor.........
In talking to local “old-timers” I have discovered KDAC AM used to be, “Thee Fort Bragg Station” . It carried all the local news and, as you can see from this map,
was important to fishermen up and down the coast.
But times change, FM stations arrived. The AM equipment became out of date, the building was huge, economics probably killed it’s former glory.
This morning I Googled KDAC 1230 AM and ran across some items of interest.
Broadcast and Cable News had the following:
"1250 kHz, 5 kW day/3 kW night FORMAT: KDAC(AM): Mexican;
COMMENT: Starting immediately, Bicoastal Media will program the stations via an LMA.KDLS(AM) and KDLS(FM) Perry (Des Moines), Iowa
PRICE: Undisclosed BUYER: Latin Broadcasting Corp. (Pedro Zamora, president/treasurer); owns no other stations
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(No date listed as to when this sale occured but I see they got the frequency wrong; "1250 kHz" instead of 1230 kHz)
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I did a Wikipedia search to find out what "LMA" means.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_marketing_agreement
And I found a website of a radio enthusiast who collects call signs. DX-ing they call it.
http://home.simplyweb.net/halls/dx/recent.html
He wrote: "1230 KDAC CA Ft. Bragg - Now Spanish AC "La Maquina Musical" //KLLK-1250, KUKI-1400. All three stations ID together on the hour, with two men taking turns shouting each letter of the 3 call signs. (TRH-CA)
Interesting history, and thanks for the peek inside!
ReplyDeleteActually, 1250 is correct, but the city should've been Willits (1250 AM, KLLK). The previous KLLK owner (Brian Henry) sold it in 1997 to the people that purchased KUKI 1400 and, eventually, KDAC 1230. The three AM stations have since been sold to BiCoastal Media, now running a 1980s Rock/Pop format for a coupla years.
ReplyDeleteYes, in its day, KDAC, under longtime ownership of Charlie Stone (11/17/1960 to 10/23/1997 - a run of 37 years), was quite the station, mostly as an MOR "Chicken Rock" station, and Country it's last few years, before going Spanish.
Since 1997, KDAC's building on Sherwood Road has been used as nothing more than a storage shed, but I still visit the quaint building, just to see what it looks like from year to year.
-- Jay Arnold, "DJ Jay"
Hey Jay, I know this was posted quite a while ago but if you happen to get this reply...
DeleteI actually live right around the corner from that building and walk/drive by it all the time. I've looked around online for more details on what it is or if it's still in use but honestly learned more just now reading this post and your comment than anything I had found so far. I was just wondering if you know if they still broadcast from that huge antenna behind the building? If not, who owns that building and is anyone planning to do anything with it? It's a cool old building and that antenna is sitting on a nice big open field. Just seems like kind of a waste if it's all just sitting there not being used for anything. Just curious, thanks for your input, it was very interesting.