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KOLE

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Coordinates: 29°54′15″N 93°56′10″W / 29.90417°N 93.93611°W / 29.90417; -93.93611
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KOLE
Frequency1340 kHz
BrandingPower 1340
Programming
Language(s)Multi-Language
FormatBrokered programming
Ownership
OwnerBirach Broadcasting Corporation
History
First air date
March 30, 1947 (1947-03-30)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID62238
ClassC
Power1,000 watts
Links
Public license information
Websitekole1340.com

KOLE (1340 AM) is a radio station licensed to Port Arthur, Texas, United States. The station airs brokered programming and is owned by Birach Broadcasting Corporation.[2]

History

[edit]

A four-person consortium trading as the Port Arthur Broadcasting Company applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 23, 1946, for permission to build a new radio station on 1340 kHz in Port Arthur, to broadcast with 250 watts day and night.[3] The principals had worked at newspapers and radio stations in nearby Beaumont.[4] The FCC granted the application on November 27 and issued the construction permit on December 11.[3] Promising "good music, late news, all sports", KOLE began broadcasting at noon on March 30, 1947.[5] By the end of 1948, only two of the four principals, Mary Ann Petru and Socs N. Vratis, owned the company.[3] The station would eventually evolve into Port Arthur's heritage Top 40 station, with popular personalities playing contemporary music. In one case, one disc jockey, Ricci Ware, challenged another, Dick Harvey, to a cow-milking contest on the streets of the city.[6]

Petru and Vratis sold KOLE in 1959 to Radio Southwest, Inc.[3] This firm was a partnership between John Hicks, who moved his family from Dallas to Port Arthur, and Edward L. Francis. The station moved from its original studios on Fourth Street to a new facility in the Adams Building.[3] During his father's ownership, John's son Tom, then in high school, worked at KOLE as a disc jockey under the on-air name of Steve King. Tom Hicks went on to be a major private equity investor, including in the radio business.[7] John Hicks sold his interest to Francis four years later in order to buy KFDM radio and television in Beaumont.[3][8] Francis died in 1969;[3] Radio Southwest continued under bank ownership, increasing power to 1,000 watts in 1971 and then selling to the Gulf States Broadcasting Company in 1972. Gulf States's owners had broadcast and other interests in Dallas and Las Vegas.[9] Northstar Broadcasting purchased KOLE in 1977,[10] creating an AM-FM combo with the acquisition the next year of KZOM-FM 104.5 in Orange.[11] By this time, KOLE had evolved from Top 40 to adult contemporary,[12] having briefly attempted a country music format at the start of the 1980s.[13]

KOLE was then sold to Center Group Broadcasting, based in Tyler, in 1982.[11] Center Group attempted to restore some local programming with an emphasis on Port Arthur while also using a satellite-delivered format for most of the music. Insufficient advertiser support led to the cutting back of a briefly restored live morning show.[14][15]

UNO Broadcasting of Joliet, Illinois, acquired KKMY and KOLE in 1988 from Center Group.[16] In 1989, KOLE dropped adult contemporary for an adult standards format of "memory music" as well as local sports coverage;[17] the main offices had relocated to Beaumont, though at least one member of the air staff, Lee Gower, worked out of the Port Arthur studio, which was commented to be dusty and featured several holes in the floor.[18] This changed in 1991, when studios for both stations moved to a new facility in Beaumont.[19]

Uno Broadcasting was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1994 after its owner—Robert Tezak, the one-time owner of the card game Uno—fell into financial trouble as a result of an unrelated court case. In 1987, he was alleged to have ordered the arson of a bowling alley he owned in order to collect insurance payments. While awaiting trial in that case, he was arrested for intimidating a witness—his former wife—by sending her a death threat.[20] When a court ordered him to put aside $400,000 in restitution after being convicted in March 1994, he filed bankruptcy for himself, his wife, and three businesses, one of them UNO Broadcasting.[21] The filings were made in large part to try and regain control of the radio stations, which had been placed in court-appointed receivership.[22] Two years later, as part of the purchase of the pair by GulfStar Broadcasting (a division of Capstar, the broadcasting company founded by Tom Hicks), the license for KOLE was assigned to Citygate Media, a part of Voice in the Wilderness Broadcasting, for $80,000; the receiver had permitted GulfStar to designate an assignee for KOLE.[23] Voice in the Wilderness operated KOLE with a Christian radio format.[24]

Birach Broadcasting Corporation purchased KOLE from Citygate Media in 2008; at the time, KOLE's format consisted mostly of syndicated conservative talk shows.[25]

In 2016, One Point Media, a company owned by Torey Doucette, filed to purchase KOLE from Birach for $400,000,[26] but no deal was ever consummated. The station was damaged in Hurricane Harvey when flooding swamped the transmitter site.[27]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KOLE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ KOLE fcc.gov. Accessed December 19, 2013
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "FCC History Cards for KOLE". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  4. ^ "New Radio Station Is Sought for City". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. April 3, 1946. p. 2 – via NewspaperArchive.
  5. ^ "On the Air TODAY! KOLE". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. March 30, 1947. p. 8 – via NewspaperArchive.
  6. ^ Bundy, June (March 16, 1957). "Vox Jox" (PDF). Billboard. p. 43 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ "Hicks returns as honoree of PA News roast". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. January 23, 2000. pp. 1A, 2A – via NewspaperArchive.
  8. ^ "KFDM's 400G Sale". Variety. October 2, 1963. p. 48. ProQuest 1014822924 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 23, 1972. p. 52 – via World Radio History.
  10. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 16, 1977. p. 41 – via World Radio History.
  11. ^ a b "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 23, 1982. p. 46 – via World Radio History.
  12. ^ "KOLE(AM)" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1980. p. C-228 – via World Radio History.
  13. ^ Angelle, Denny (November 1, 1981). "Channel 4 tries to scare up viewers". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. p. Le Bon Temps 15 – via NewspaperArchive.
  14. ^ Angelle, Denny (September 4, 1983). "KOLE goes in new direction". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. p. 8C – via NewspaperArchive.
  15. ^ Angelle, Denny (April 29, 1984). "KOLE-AM drops live morning show". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. p. 8C – via NewspaperArchive.
  16. ^ "Radio station sales set". Houston Chronicle. October 5, 1988. p. 8B.
  17. ^ Doiron, Darragh (June 26, 1989). "AM station changes to 'memory music'". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. p. 3A – via NewspaperArchive.
  18. ^ Doiron, Darragh (December 11, 1990). "Gower aids memories". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. p. 1A – via NewspaperArchive.
  19. ^ "KOLE to join KKMY". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. February 22, 1991. p. 3A – via NewspaperArchive.
  20. ^ O'Connor, Matt (September 4, 1993). "Tezak jailed on charge that he threatened arson case witness". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 5. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Arson restitution triggers Tezak bankruptcy filing". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. March 9, 1994. p. 75. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Turco, Frank (March 9, 1994). "Game entrepreneur trying to save his hand". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. p. C1, C3. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Transactions" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 15, 1995. p. 19.
  24. ^ Martinez, Susan (August 20, 2001). "See you on the other side...: Christian radio station moving to AM dial". Port Arthur News. Port Arthur, Texas. p. 3A – via NewspaperArchive.
  25. ^ Guy, Colin (July 15, 2008). "KOLE radio plans return". The Beaumont Enterprise. p. B6.
  26. ^ Venta, Lance (April 15, 2016). "Station Sales Week of 4/15". RadioInsight.
  27. ^ "FCC Reports Fewer Radio Stations Silent From Harvey". InsideRadio. August 29, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
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29°54′15″N 93°56′10″W / 29.90417°N 93.93611°W / 29.90417; -93.93611

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