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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2021)
8A | JULY 29, 2021 | KNND COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Th ough the construc- tion permit obtained from the FCC to get the FM broadcast working gave a three-year time limit, the station’s owner and staff felt there was time to post- pone the project. “When we found out that we were going to have to move from our old facil- ity to our new facility, with fi nancial considerations that sort of put the FM on the back burner,” Reiten said. “So then we got into the new building, and we were just about ready to jump back on the FM train again and fi nally get back going when, well, along comes a global pandemic.” Th e fi nancial toll on the community had a deep im- pact and the radio station was not immune. Once again, FM was rel- egated to the back burner. Presently, as COVID-19 restrictions have lift ed and with the construction per- mit nearly at its deadline, the station decided it was time to make its move. A from A1 lator in 2018, though it would be years before real progress was made. “Th is ended up actually being a much more long and arduous process than we ever thought,” said Re- iten. While KNND’s partner- ship with South Lane TV, whose tower is used for KNND’s transmitter, had forged a clear shot to start the project, the station was about to be uprooted. KNND’s lease of its space with the Odd Fellows was up and the fraternity opt- ed to do some work on the building. Aft er conferring with their counterparts in the Metro area, it was sug- gested that the rent price was unreasonably low and it should be raised to a lev- el the group felt was more consistent with current market conditions. “Two to three times more than what I was pay- ing,” said Reiten. little aid from counterparts swung in to the rescue as well. “We fi nally got back on it with the help of some radio stations in Eugene that generously passed on some equipment that they had upgraded and were no longer using,” said Reiten. “Th ey let us have an old transmitter and a processor and an amplifi er that we needed to make this work.” Following some con- struction and awaiting ap- proval from the FCC, the new FM broadcast fi red up for the fi rst time on Satur- day, July 24. “It’s already showing some promise,” said Reit- en. “We’re getting lots of calls from people saying we love the FM and obvi- ously, at the end of the day, what we really hope that will turn into is not only a better product for our lis- teners to enjoy, but more revenue for the station – because small, standalone independents like us are getting to be fewer and further between at this point.” While excited to show off the stations new fea- ture, Reiten was clear that had no intention of aban- doning AM broadcasting. “I grew up on AM ra- dio,” he said. “AM radio, if you have the right radio, is absolutely phenomenal. Th ere’s honestly, I think, something magical about the sound of AM radio.” AM broadcasting has a place in the culture as a ret- ro artifact, though it serves useful purposes beyond its reputation for local talk radio — emergency con- ditions, weather and traffi c coverage can off er listeners valuable information. Still, it is getting pushed to the margins due to the popularity of newer tech- nologies. Reiten added that he thinks radio manufac- turers tend not to invest much in providing quality AM equipment on modern radios, if at all. “I mean, I understand why people don’t want to listen to AM on many of the new AM radios because it’s bad,” he said. “But now, if you’re somebody like me and you’ve got 40-year-old receivers in every room in your house, you turn on the AM radio, it’s fantas- tic. But those are getting to be lesser and lesser all the time. So, FM is obviously a clearer sound for a lot of people.” While KNND’s signal of- fers this clearer option, the station’s coverage area is staying roughly the same, extending as far north as the southern end of Springfi eld. Th e addition of FM is likely to help with the sta- tion’s ad revenue as well. “Advertisers are unlike- ly to advertise on strictly AM stations, because that’s what their marketing data is telling them — that peo- ple don’t listen to AM any- more,” said Reiten. “But we’re also FM now, so we’re attracting a lot more lis- teners that way — at least that’s the hope.” Reiten said that he had checked in with other sta- tions which had taken ad- vantage of the same FCC program. Th e stations re- ported a noticeable change in their business with other companies, indicat- ing the upgrade may have similar benefi ts in store for KNND. Th ough FM brings with it new opportunities, Reit- en emphasized that KNND has no plans to change the programming structure of the station. “We aren’t planning any program changes at this time. We’re still go- ing to keep our emphasis on local [issues], all the personalities are going to stay the same, all the same programming is going to be at the same times,” he said. “So it’s basically the KNND that people have come to know and love. 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