Local radio station gets power boost

Since Thursday, radio station General Manager Jerry Evans has taken phone calls from confused listeners asking where their country music went.

It's still there. You just have to listen for it.

With the station's recent signal upgrade, more people can.

KKFT FM 99.1 reaches more than 500,000 listeners, compared to 50,000 before the power boost. Evans said as of 10 p.m. Wednesday, Carson City's country station went AM, and talk radio programming went to the FM band width at 99.1.

"The call letters KCMY My Country and the format which was on 99.1 FM is now on AM 1300, which was KPTL," he said.

My Country now features a classic country mix, rather than the mainstream new and old country. The 51-year-old KPTL call letters were retired.

"It didn't make sense to be the third country station in the Reno area, so we decided to mix it up and be the only FM talk station in the area."

The station is still at 1960 Idaho St. It broadcasts from a peak just north of Carson City. The FM power upgrade enables the station to reach as far north as Spanish Springs, east to Silver Springs, south to Topaz Lake and west to Lake Tahoe.

Evans said he has plans to boost My Country, now at AM 1300, from 5,000 watts to 50,000 watts. He expects this process will take the rest of the year.

Before he bought the FM and AM signals in February 2004 and May 2004, Evans checked to make sure they could be upgraded. Upgrading his FM signal took almost two years.

"I approached a company in California, Educational Media, who owns several hundred stations and paid them to downgrade a signal in Northern California, which allowed me to upgrade in Carson City."

Contact the station at 884-8000.

-- Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.

Talk radio KKFT FM 99.1 schedule:

Daily

6 a.m.-9 a.m. Glenn Beck

9 a.m.-noon Tammy Bruce

Noon-3 p.m. Dr. Laura Schlessinger

3 p.m.-5 p.m. Hugh Hewitt

5 p.m.-7 p.m. Lars Larson

7 p.m.-10 p.m. Phil Hendrie

Late night Mike Gallagher and Bill Bennett

Weekends:

Programs include Gun Talk; Field and Stream Radio Show; Road and Track Speed Radio; NASCAR radio; home improvement shows.

- Source: KKFT general manager