[BC] Texas Station Gets it's License Renewal Dismissed

[Chris Boone]

KBPO-AM 1150 Port Neches, Texas had it's Application for License Renewal
DISMISSED.

Paul Walker
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Paul,
I am sending this to you direct as well as the list (but I am not subbed to
the list; used to be but had to cut back on the email chatter..I am on
Radio-Tech but only in digest). Got a link to your post from a friend of
mine and read it on pipermail....HAD to comment on this since I have 1st
hand knowledge of 1150 (and used to work there years ago when the two tower
array was put into operation and we switched from an inverted L we had at
the studio for some time! :)

1150 has been off the air since Rita!!! They TRIED to say they were on for a
week within a year of Rita but that was into horizontal wires 5ft off the
ground and not a 1/4wave in length...
Much less vertical!!! A Part 15 op would have better range than what they
did!!! Their renewal was also in question because of pictures supplied to
the FCC of their tower site with numerous violations...one doghouse totally
open to the elements, the other had no fence around it, the sampling loops
had been cut and were not active (how can you say your station is in
compliance when the directional system monitor, if they had one, cant even
read???) and a STL that had been used on one tower from a previous owner had
never been removed but the isocoupler was removed and the Heliax was
sometimes touching the ground.....hmmmm yeah, I bet the pattern was really
in compliance...not to mention the towers had never been FAA/FCC registered
and NO lights for YEARS....yes the towers are over 200ft AGL.....but
500watts day and 63 night never bother WJBO or the former WTAW; cant
remember that 1150's current call.....

The GM/owner of Vision Latino LIED on the renewal app and the FCC had been
notified...so the renewal was in question when Rita blew the towers
down...the owner wanted to sell 15 of the 20 acres of land around the
site...but only keep the land around the towers and the TX bldg...the land
between the towers and along the access road was to be sold in pieces (I
talked with the realtor and when she told me what was planned, I told her
what they wanted to do was in violation of federal law...there was no way to
maintain the array and protect WJBO in Baton Rouge if someone decided to
throw a building in the middle of the property on THEIR land, not the
stations remaining 5 acres)..besides, the land was appraised for $30K...they
wanted $75K for 15 of the 20acres ...and was refusing to sell for less.

THEN Augustus came along...he and Sylvestor had also bought a FM in
Centerville from oh hell whats his name in Livingston TX...(not
Crawford......ehhh his name will pop up later)....He finally had to take the
station back after lack of payments and when he went to the studios, half
the equipment was missing; I heard charges were filed but never acted on for
lack of evidence that A&S had taken anything.....NOW A & S want to sell KBPO
(which they DON'T OWN) for $250,000 to a NY operator.....what a joke!! Only
one tower is up, smaller in cross section than the original so the array
would have to be reproofed and they (Vision Latino) claimed that the power
company (Entergy) had removed their power meter because of a fault...well, I
have friends at Entergy(used to work there in the 80s)....NOTHING has been
done at that site in a good while..not sure if power is even on.....PLUS the
white trash trailer folks down the road drive through there at night on
their 4 wheelers and shoot up the xmtr cinderblock bldg as well as the
doghouses.....the AC had to have STEEL plating over it to protect it...(the
neighbors next to the site said no fences or gates were ever put up and thus
the site was used as a dumping ground by said trailer trash (about a mile
down the road)....one guy told me he walked outside at midnight with his
30-30 and told said bike riders to leave and not come back or they would be
shot...its been quiet since then but that was a year ago when I talked with
him...

Shame because some of us locals wanted to buy 1150 and put it back to local
programming....and serve its COL.....(it was running Spanish
informercials....Port Neches is MAYBE 1% Hispanic and few of them speak
Spanish...they are long term locals who are mutli generation and listen to
other formats!)

I even talked to Chris Imlay about trying to buy it, he contacted their
lawyer and was told not interested at the time....HOW A & S came up and got
VL to sell for 50K total when they wanted 75K for the land only a year
ago...well that tells a lot....and now they want to screw an out of town
owner...it aint worth 50K right now...all I wanted was the license...they
could keep the site...it sucked anyway..I had better ideas....but right now,
I hope the FCC does deny the renewal and maybe fines VL for all the various
violations (OH btw they also missed a RMT the month before Rita..I have the
audio tape to prove it...KTRH and KLVI ran the RMT...1150 never did that
Tuesday!

Chris Boone
Former DJ at 1150 back in the 70s
Former Chief Egr KDMX/KEGL DFW (99-01)
Owner, SouthEastTexas Telecom and Broadcast :)
SBE Freq Coordinator, Chapter 134