Springfield Leader and Press from Springfield, Missouri • 103

KWFC purchaser won't give up 1X On the air By Mark Marymont "We're just sittin here and a-waitin'," is how Bill Askew of radio station KWFC-FM characterizes the station's attempt to sell its 97.3-megahertz frequency to Pat Demaree of Fayetteville, Ark, The sale has been pending since it was first announced in January 1983. Askew is also seeking Federal Communications Commission approval for a educational frequency at 89.1 on the FM dial. One of the reasons for the delay in the sale was a Petition To Deny filed with the FCC by Salina Broadcasting, which holds the license on KWTO-AM and -FM in Springfield. (Salina is part of the Stewart Broadcasting Company chain of stations headquartered in Lincoln, Neb.) "It looks like that petition has been set aside by the FCC," said Demaree from the offices of KFAY, his Fayetteville radio station. "The FCC decided there was no validity to the claims made by Salina.

I'm sorry that they (Salina) tried to delay a competitor from moving into the market. "I'm more determined than ever to get into Springfield, Demaree said. I hope to get in there by June, but you never know with the FCC. At the moment, we're still in a holding pattern. My attorneys are confident, but then attorneys dont get nervous like their clients do." In a telephone interview from his Lincoln offices Richard president of Stewart Broadcasting, said KWTO's petition to deny the sale was based on erroneous information supplied by the FCC.

"I don't spend my time blowing the whistle on my competitors, but at the time it looked like there were some valid reasons'to deny their petition for the change of ownership," he said. "We made one claim that they (Baptist Bible College, the owners of KWFC) had not applied with the FCC to sell the station to Demaree. It turns out that when our attorney in Washington checked with the FCC" he was told the papers had not been filed, when they actually had been." Chapin said he also objected to the proposed sale because Demaree had moved the tower of a station he owns in Joplin, KKUZ-FM, so that its signal would not overlap with the 97.3 frequency in Springfield. "Apparently the stations miss overlapping by just two miles," he said. "At this point we have no objection.

We have nothing to object to." Demaree said objections to his continued involvement in another radio station in Sallisaw, which he sold so he could buy the Joplin station, were also untrue. "1 got out of that, and the FCC and the Stewart people know that," he said. He is tired of waiting to get into Springfield, Demaree said, but he still plans to be here. "I have a legal contract to buy that frequency, and nobody else could even attempt to purchase it now." As he has during the last year, Demaree- refused to comment on the format he plans for the station, if and when he finally gets it. KWFC officials plan to keep their current call-Ietters for their new station.

KGBX gets 'thicker, fuller sound' Radio station KGBX, 1260 on the AM diaf, has a new transmitter that improves the station's sound and even Increases their coverage area somewhat. "As I understand it the new transmitter will give us a thicker, fuller sound." said Al Sikes, KGBX owner. "That will, in turn, give us more coverage area. It makes us state-of-the-art, transmitter-wise. Our old transmitter, which was purchased in 1964, will now serve as backup." Sikes said that it had been difficult to get parts for their previous backup transmitter, which was constructed in 1940, in the days of vacuum tubes.

Kudos for KOLR camera technique KOLR photographer Sue Chrisman won an honorable mention in the general news category of the recent National Press Photographers Association 30th annual awards. There were over 400 entries in that category. Ms. Chrisman's award was for her camera work on a Carol Taylor report on the Johnson Brothers Youth Ranch that aired last summer on Channel 10. NPR stations are moving on up Listeners to KSOZ-FM at Point Lookout received some good news recently.

Officials of the School of the Ozarks, which operates the National Public Radio affiliate, signed a contract with the Missouri Department of Conservation which allows the school to lease a parcel of the agency's land for 20 years. KSOZ plans to construct a new transmitter tower on the tract. The nine-acre site is located six miles south of Branson on old Highway 65, adjacent to the Hollister fire-lookout tower. -The planned 500-foot tower should increase the station's coverage considerably, especially in the counties of Northwest Arkansas. The site is 1,300 feet above sea level; for an FM station, tower height is almost as important as actual power.

Construction is scheduled to begin in late spring or early summer, with a target completion date of October, 1. Needless to say, any contributions from grateful listeners, or would-be listeners, will be appreciated by station officials. By the KSMU-FM, Springfield's NPR station, will begin a fund-raising project in a few weeks, with the proceeds to be used to increase its tower height. Stay tuned for further details. A benefit concert for KSMU will be presented Saturday by Man About Town, a fine young local rock group.

The concert will be at 8 p.m. in Carrington Hall Auditorium on the Southwest Missouri State University campus. Tickets will be on sale at the door. KOZK finds far-flung friends KOZK's recent "Festival '84" fund-raising drive netted $80,183 for the public television station. One thing that pleased station officials was the interest on the part of viewers all over the.

Ozarks. Membership pledges were received from people in 43 Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas Counties. Viewers in one Eastern Kansas county also responded to the pledge drive. Fifty-five percent of all pledge memberships come from outside Greene County; KOZK publicity says. That's interesting, because some critics of public television claim PBS is geared to big-city audiences.

Mark Marymont, a former radio disc jockey and producer, Is a columnist and features writer for Springfield Newspapers. Th Nwt-Uwir Sunday, March 23, 194.