Three years ago, George Flinn Jr. agreed to a transaction in which nine radio stations were sold to Educational Media Foundation. Among the properties in that deal is a Class C3 FM that serves the Little Rock market from Bigelow, Ark.
Now, in a move to improve the facility’s signal and expand the K-LOVE audience, it is employing GeoBroadcast Solutions’ MaxxCasting technology — a move already undertaken at three other EMF properties.
Soon, MaxxCasting will widen the metropolitan coverage area of KWLR-FM 96.9, taking a cue from EMF siblings in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles benefiting from the GBS offering, which uses booster to fill in-contour signal holes.
EMF VP of Signal Development Joe Miller comments, “Much of downtown Little Rock has been receiving a marginal signal from KWLR. The MaxxCasting HD deployment will significantly help us reach the densest part of the market, expand our audience, and improve the listener experience.”
So far, Miller says EMF has been very pleased with the successful performance and audience increase in the markets where it has deployed MaxxCasting. In September 2021, WAWE-FM in Chicago and WKVB in the Boston market began using MaxxCasting. In January 2022, FM translator K224EY at 92.7 MHz, with a transmitter atop the Aon Tower on Wilshire and Hope in downtown Los Angeles, was used to boost Air1’s coverage of central L.A.. EMF anticipates the same benefits in Little Rock.
Paul Littleton, chief technology officer at GeoBroadcast Solutions, commented, “Part of what our MaxxCasting system will accomplish for KWLR will be to help increase overall coverage, including significantly more building penetration and creating seamless mobile reception.”
MaxxCasting combines radio and cellular technology with patented designs that enable FM broadcasters to enhance their signals with the deployment of a strategically located cluster of low to the ground, highly directionalized synchronized booster sites. It, therefore, allows broadcasters to deliver signals that reach a broader portion of their service area.
