A Class A FM serving the resort communities of Lake Tahoe, Nev. and South Lake Tahoe, Calif., and its 1kw Class C AM sibling have been on the air since March 1974 and November 1956, respectively.
Thanks to shifting consumer habits and shrinking advertiser demand, these stations have had a hard time keeping the lights on. The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened the problem. Now, the stations’ owner has started a GoFundMe page to keep the operation from shutting down.
On June 12, the D&H Broadcasting-owned KOWL-AM 1490 and KRLT-FM 93.9 “The Lake” launched the GoFundMe page in an attempt to “help save local radio in Lake Tahoe.”
Organized by co-owner Steve Harness, the situation for the stations is dire.
“We’re still No. 1 in this market and have a large loyal audience, as always,” he said. “But we are in jeopardy of going out of business by July 1.”
As a “mom & pop” business, D&H’s savings are limited … and have been exhausted thanks to the COVID-19 fueled shutdown of the economy in the region, which includes parts of Carson City, Nev., and communities to the east of Sacramento.
Monthly overhead has stayed the same. But, the station’s revenue has dropped by roughly 80%, Harness notes.
Come June 30, a big day will arrive — with big problems.
As RBR+TVBR reported in April 2015, Cherry Creek Radio exited Lake Tahoe by agreeing to sell KOWL & KRLT to D&H Broadcasting for $650,000 cash.
Five years later, the company that sees Steve Harness, Jay Harness and Stacy Driskill as one-third partners finds itself facing a balloon payment to the noteholder of the loan they took out to purchase the stations.
With no other recourse, D&H went to the public.
“We need to raise at least $100,000 in order to have a viable chance of extending the loan terms,” Steve Harness said.
If not, he warns, “it is extremely likely that the stations will be foreclosed on and sold off to a national radio company that would simply use our frequency to relay one of their stations from outside the market.”
Why such a glum prediction? “The odds are slim that any entity would want to buy standalone radio stations in a tourist market and operate them locally in this economy,” Harness said. “It would mean the end of local radio in South Lake Tahoe.”
The appeal also includes the following plea: If anyone is interested in investing in the stations or being our “bank” for a new loan to payoff the existing one, please contact the station GM directly.
“The Lake” offers “hits that rock” while KOWL is a Talk station.
