A community owned regional Mexican station on the AM dial licensed for a 5kw Class B signal has a little more oomph, if you will, as it serves local audiences as the Spanish-language home of the MLS Seattle Sounders soccer team.
It is the result in an investment in a new transmitter by 17-year station owner Sea Mar Community Health Centers.
Sea Mar in 2008 acquired KKMO-AM 1360 in Tacoma, Wash., from Salem Media Group and christened it “El Rey.” Since then, the 104-year-old AM radio station known as KMO until 1983 has devoted its programming to the region’s Hispanic audience of Mexican and Central American heritage.
To continue to meet that goal, a new transmitter was in need. For Sea Mar, the ultimate choice was an AM-6A transmitter from Broadcast Electronics.
BE worked with Sea Mar and Broadcast Engineering Services on the upgrade, and the new transmitter was lit up for the first time on April 27. The new BE AM 6A was paired with a BE AM-1A transmitter as a back-up; the entire transmitter site was completely rebuilt to restore reliability and performance.
“We are excited about our partnership with Jess Ortega and El Rey 1360 and thank them for selecting BE to help deliver their content to listeners in the Seattle area.” said BE CEO Rich Redmond.
