For about 12 years, Derek Egberg hosted a biweekly credit and mortgage show on KBLU(AM) at 560 in Yuma, Ariz. But in March, station owner El Dorado Broadcasters took the signal dark after selling both of its FM stations in the market.
Egberg, who works in commercial financing and home loans as branch manager for MortgageOne in Yuma, was quite disappointed.
“Man, we just lost our talk radio station, and I can’t do my show anymore,” Egberg recalled thinking.
The allocation for the frequency in Yuma dated back to 1940. The signal, like too many other AMs this year, seemed like it was gone for good.
Having worked in radio during his college years, Egberg came to a second realization: “Wait a minute, I’m somebody. I can do something about it.”
As a result, at a time when 28 licenses were filed for cancellation with the FCC during the week of Sept. 28 alone, Egberg took a chance. He bought the station’s license in June and on Oct. 4, KBLU returned to the desert’s airwaves.
The lifelong Yuman feels the station still has a connection with the community.
“I believe in the power of radio,” He said.
Radio from the office
In June, Egberg negotiated a $50,000 deal with El Dorado to purchase KBLU.
KBLU operates with one tower during the day and a two-tower array at night, leasing its transmitter site. But for all intents and purposes, Egberg moved its studio and production into the building housing his mortgage branch.
“That eliminates extra rent and keeps overhead extremely low,” Egberg said.
He converted an existing podcasting space into a main broadcast studio featuring a table with six microphones for guests and seating for three additional people.
An adjacent L-shaped space houses four cubicles for sales, commercial production, the main studio computer and transmission equipment.
“It’s been an incredible nine-week ride,” Egberg said.
Egberg credited several broadcast veterans from across the southwest with assisting in the station’s relaunch. Local engineer Doug Melanson, who previously worked with KBLU and local television stations, has provided plenty of technical help.
“He’s forgotten more about engineering than I’ll ever know,” Egberg said.
Kurt Kretzschmar of Fox Sports and Premiere Radio Networks helped secure programming and introduced Egberg to Eddy Aragon, owner of KIVA(AM) in Albuquerque, N.M.
“Eddy mentored me on what equipment to buy and what to avoid,” Egberg said. “I wouldn’t be on the air this fast without him.”
Egberg chose a Wheatstone 16-channel digital console with two WheatNet Blades handling routing. For playout and production, the station installed new BSI Simian automation computers.
At the transmitter site, Melanson had kept the physical facility in good shape, requiring only general cleanup and a new air conditioning unit.
The city would not let him secure a permit for a satellite dish. Instead, Egberg also brought fiber internet into his studio and transmitter site, and he is using a Tieline IP codec running Thimeo MicroMPX for audio over IP.
Programming
Egberg said he would not have brought the station back to the Yuma airwaves if he could not bring back “The Russ Clark Show.” A longtime fixture of the news/talk station, Clark had continued producing his weekday show on Facebook while the station was dark.
Now, Clark can be heard again on KBLU weekdays from 6–9 a.m.
“Part of this is for me,” Egberg admitted. “Now I can listen to Russ in the morning every day again.”
Programming from Premiere and Fox Sports fills the remainder of the broadcast day, but Egberg is bullish on the station’s local angle.
“This is a voice for Yuma,” he said. “There’s 100,000 people who live here and even more with the snowbirds who come down in the winter. So much of the produce you eat over the wintertime is sourced here.”
He is using spots for his mortgage business as a proving concept. If he sees added deals, that’s a success story he sees as a viable pitch.
“If I’m getting added deals, then I can easily sell that to local companies,” he explained.
With military installations like Marine Corps Air Station Yuma and the Yuma Proving Ground nearby, Egberg adopted a station positioner that felt like a natural fit: “Red, White and KBLU.”
[Do you receive the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter each weekday morning? We invite you to sign up here.]
