Bicoastal Radio News |
COOS BAY — Listeners tuning in to their favorite radio stations, including KTEE 94.9 and KOOS 107 this morning, found only silence and static. A fire Sunday night charred the stations’ transmitters in Englewood.
Located on the top of hill on California Street, the transmitter, which broadcasts music and information for Bicoastal Media, Bay Cities Ambulance, Yellow Cab Taxi Co. and other organizations, was completely destroyed in the fire. According to a Coos Bay Police Department press log, at approximately 4:12 p.m., firefighters responded to multiple calls of a fire at the Blossom Hill Repeater. Battalion Chief Mark Anderson said when firefighters arrived, they found the top floor of the two-story structure engulfed in flames. “It was down to studs,” Anderson said Sunday, as firefighters worked to put out the blaze.
Two engines, two support vehicles and 20 firefighters from Coos Bay Fire Department responded to the scene, Anderson said, along with one engine and two firefighters from Coos Forest Protective Association. He said it took about 30 minutes to control the fire, and personnel remained at the scene for more than three hours. Anderson said the doors into the building and gates onto the property were closed and showed no sign of a break-in. “We’re not going to rule (arson) out until the investigation is done,” Anderson said. The battalion chief said the fire could be electrical in nature. He estimated the cost of the damage to the building, which is owned by Prime Sites Inc., in Coos Bay, to be approximately $50,000 for the building and $450,000 for its contents. “My guess is probably half a million, all told,” Anderson said.
Joe Degroot, the General Manager for all Bicoastal Media stations on the Oregon and California coast, said the fire took out KBDN FM 96.5, KTEE FM 94.9 and 95.7; KOOS FM 107.3 and 107.7; and a translator for KJMX 103 FM. “Obviously, it’s a devastating loss. We have damage in excess of $100,000,” Degroot said. “We’ve lost all of our transmission equipment at the site and we are in emergency mode to get our radio stations back on the air.”
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| 48 Hours after closing the sale on former Clear Channel Centralia Washington stations KELA and KMNT a disastrous flood hit Southwestern Washington. The station studios were entirely flooded. The courageous staff broadcast from the FM transmitter site throughout the time of the flood while attempting to salvage equipment from the studios and offices which flooded to the 41/2 foot level. Both stations are now back on the air from temporary facilities. We are proud of the teamwork and dedication of our new staff.
Bicoastal stations in the Columbia River Gorge have been moved to new studios. Located in the historic downtown of The Dalles, the new facility almost doubles the size of the previous studios and offices.
Listeners in Coos Bay now have an exciting new format. KTEE, known as “The Tee” at 94.9 and 95.7 FM. The Tee is the radio station where “The Music Matters Most”. The format aimed at young adults has a deep library of familiar music as well as seldom heard gems. While many stations talk about variety – The Tee actually plays it all day long.
All pending station sales in Eugene, Albany, Medford, Hood River, The Dalles and Centralia are now closed. The closing of purchases from Clear Channel Communications and Columbia Gorge Broadcasters brings the total number of stations owned and operated by Bicoastal Media to 50 with markets stretching from Northern California to Washington state. The purchases have made Bicoastal Media the largest radio company in Oregon by station count. |
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(Eureka) – St Judes Children’s’ Research Hospital and two Bicoastal Media radio stations (Eureka’s Big Red 92.3 FM (KRED-FM) and Crescent City’s KPOD-FM) completed another successful radiothon February 16th and 17th. The two-day 26 hour event, raised locally $55,645 for the hospital. This was the fourth year that Big Red 92.3 FM has participated in this event and the second for KPOD FM. During the on-air event Bicoastal Media Big Red ‘s morning host Rollin Trehearne stayed on the air 26 hours in Eureka to guide listeners through a number of patient stories, artist interviews and local in studio interviews. In Crescent City Bicoastal Media KPOD-FM staff members manned the mike for the two day event. Local St Jude patients and other young cancer survivors came by the studio to share their story.
“We always go through a lot of Kleenex during this event, but our listeners really step-up for it and the total that we raised locally shows it,” noted Trehearne. “Our radiothon is a very important annual event for us and our other Bicoastal Media stations in Crescent City and next month in Ukiah”, Trehearne said.
St Judes Hospital, located in Memphis, TN, openly shares their protocol around the world at no cost. St Judes also does not charge for their treatments or stay to any of their patients. When Humboldt county St Judes patient parent Dick Stull was asked during the radiothon how much his daughter’s bill may have been he guessed “over a million”. When asked how much he was charged for his daughter’s treatment he replied, “Nothing”.
St Judes representative Courtney Reimers said, “we would like to thank all of the Partners in Hope, the dozens of volunteers and the many local businesses that helped our success”. |
