KJUL maintains its standards

Monday, Nov. 6, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the resurrection of KJUL, and that's music to the ears of tens of thousands of fans who like music that doesn't assault their ears.

KJUL's devoted listeners howled when the station, which plays Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and others from the Golden Age, went off the air last year.

"I've lived and breathed music all my life," said KJUL listener Genne Gorecki, 84. "It's like eating, sleeping and breathing to me."

The familiar music - and station call letters - moved up the dial with few changes. Many fans have found the station at its new home, but its weaker signal means some can't pull it in at home or in the car. Plans for a new tower are swimming through the alphabet soup of federal bureaucracy, the owners say.

The station is celebrating its anniversary with a month of giveaways. On Tuesday, listeners can attend the 7:30 p.m. performance of "Forever Plaid" at the Gold Coast by picking up free tickets at the KJUL office at 150 Spectrum Blvd.

The demise of the original KJUL was brief - barely a month - but it created a lot of static.

Beasley Broadcasting, owner of KJUL's old home at 104.3 FM, abruptly changed call letters and format on Oct. 3, 2005. KJUL became KYCE - "Coyote Country" - and Brooks & Dunn kicked Sinatra and Bennett off the airwaves.

Fans didn't know that Summit Media was working to save their sounds. On Nov. 7 Summit took over the KJUL call letters for its station at 104.7 FM and switched its format from country to adult standards.

During that 30-day period, there was a lot of rockin' and rollin' as listeners of the original KJUL protested the loss of their music. Fans didn't know what to do. They woke up with the classy music on their radios. Listened to it as they drove or worked or puttered around the house. Went to bed listening to it.

Then one morning, they woke up with honky tonks, cheatin' and beer drinking.

"I was devastated when it went off the air," said 82-year-old Eunice Bohannon, a resident of Sun City Anthem. "I'm alone now. I turn the radio on first thing in morning and listen to it all day long. I only watch the news on TV, and a couple of shows."

One of the leaders of the protest was Judi Booe, who was as upset at the way the change was made as at the change itself.

Without warning.

Booe organized petition drives, marches and letter-writing campaigns. She sent petitions to the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, letting it know a lot of radio listeners were angered by their shoddy treatment and asking that in the future stations be required to give some notice before making such drastic changes.

"Basically, it's on the notification," Booe said. "I understand the practices of business, which, bottom line is to make money. But loyalty should run both ways. This country seems to be less and less caring about the people.

"It's disheartening."

KJUL fans can be heartened that there is still a station in Southern Nevada playing adult standards.

The problem is that not everyone can pick it up. Only about 70 percent of the potential listeners can receive the signal, according to the station.

When brothers Scott and Kurt Gentry, owners of 104.7 FM, changed the format of their station, they said they would build a new tower to put out a stronger signal so everyone could enjoy the music.

"It's taking a lot longer than expected," said Scott Gentry, Summit president, general manager and morning disc jockey. "Originally, when we took over the format, it was going to be at a certain location but then something else opened up, but it requires approval of the Federal Aviation Authority and the Bureau of Land Management."

Gentry won't guess when a tower that will reach the entire valley would be online.

"The problem with a time frame is that the government can take forever," Gentry said. "For example, we applied for a license for this radio station in 1995, and we couldn't get on the air until 2000."

Meanwhile, the owners are looking at other ways to reach the audience - including computer streaming and cable TV.

Gentry estimated KJUL's audience at 100,000 listeners. Arbitron, the ratings giant, said the station has about 67,000 listeners.

"These aren't just listeners," Gentry said. "These are loyal fans."

And the owner said they're doing their best to maintain that loyalty.

"It's not exactly like the old one," Gentry said of the new KJUL format. "There were some places where we saw we were going to have to do some updating, some morphing. We have added some artists. We play more Glen Campbell, more Barry Manilow than they were playing. We play more Frank Sinatra than they were playing."

The station continues to play old favorites such as Dean Martin, the Carpenters and Barbra Streisand, but has added newer artists, such as Michael Buble. The station has a library of about 1,150 songs; its goal is 1,500.

The new station also is playing fewer commercials.

"We are committed not to have a huge commercial load," Gentry said. "It's been difficult through the political season. By law we have to let political commercials on, but at the same time we want to protect the normal day-to-day advertisers. It's hard to accommodate everybody."

Gentry said he enjoys wearing several hats at the station, including being the DJ from 6 a.m. to noon Mondays through Fridays. "I love doing it," he said. "I get to talk to people, and I'm instrumental in the kind of sound we're going to have in the mornings. This is radio 30 years ago. I think it's important to connect with your audience. Guys and gals don't get to do that much on the radio anymore."

The station lineup also includes Duke Morgan, the on-air personality from noon to 7 p.m. Morgan was with KJUL when it was part of Beasley. John Tesh has a taped show from 7 p.m. until midnight, and the rest of the air time is automated.

KJUL's ratings may have been hurt by the weak signal.

When it was owned by Beasley, the adult standards station was often ranked first or second in the Las Vegas market.

After KJUL switched to 104.7 FM, it fell to 21st. Since then it has climbed back up the ladder to a high of 12th in the market but still short of its glory years. In the Arbitron ratings released in July, KJUL ranked slightly ahead of KYCE, which was 15th.

Eunice Bohannon doesn't care about rankings. She's so thrilled that she rediscovered KJUL that she spreads the word.

"I had to move my antenna around until I found the place where I could get it pretty good," she said. "It took me a month to find it, and it was a lot of trouble tuning, but I can get it.

"When people write to the newspaper saying they are disappointed that KJUL went off the air, I have looked them up in the phone book and called them to tell them it's back."