Due to the destruction of the KOKC towers, Tyler Media has moved its programming for now to sister “The Franchise 2” 1560 KEBC Del City as well as KOKC’s 103.1 K276EX translator.
Original Report 3/25: The tornado outbreak that hit Oklahoma today has crippled Tyler Media News/Talk 1520 KOKC Oklahoma City.
Two of the station’s towers have been completely leveled with a third snapped in half.
Wow. Large radio tower has been crippled by tornado in Moore, OK. This is the old KOMA tower. pic.twitter.com/M3swai91ci
— ???? Rusty Surette ???? (@KBTXRusty) March 26, 2015
Top of KOMA tower dangles precariously after #tornado rips through #Moore pic.twitter.com/qznMBcNdsM
— Jay Chilton (@jaychilton) March 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/PhilRoder/status/580893447189475329
https://twitter.com/KyleRenfrow/status/580892852311363588
The three Blaw-Knox towers are best known as the long-time home of KOMA in its Top 40 heyday and were constructed in 1947. You can see the towers in their previous form at Tower Site of the Week.
KOKC has been rebroadcasting on an FM translator since early 2014.
Eric Jon Magnuson 
jcurtis1027 
airplane777 
Bongwater
A local PR agency (presumably on behalf of Tyler) has been tweeting that 1520’s programming is now on KEBC 1560.
KOKC’s website is saying that programming has been moved to 1560 AM until further notice.
When it’s rebuilt, will KOKC continue to be a 50KW powerhouse serving the western United States?
I’d assume so, as this is similar to what happened with Wheeling’s WWVA 1170 a few years back. It’s theoretically possible that some financial considerations might preclude fully rebuilding the facilities; however, right now, I doubt that’d end up being the case.
The funny thing is very few people acknowledged at first that the old KOMA is actually KOKC today. Almost everyone who initially announced the disaster still called it “the KOMA towers”. And if you look at the continuing updates, a lot of people STILL call it KOMA.
Old identities die hard….
I just want to point out that WKY (now La Indomoble 930 AM) and KOMA (now KOKC 1520 AM) have both lost towers due to tornadoes. Ironically, these were fierce rival stations back in their Top 40 prime.
To be fair, I saw at least one photo of the downed towers that included the transmitter building in the foreground–with “KOMA” clearly visible on the building’s front.
That said, there may have been some people who confused 1520 with the current KOMA (92.5 FM). What’s worse, I think I’ve come across some folks who thought that TV or even cell-phone towers were downed here.
The general public does not know the difference between a cell tower and a AM radio tower. However 1520 will always be KOMA to me even though I listen to News Talk 1520 KOKC religiously now. IMO Michael Savage is the best out of all the talkers, they could put reruns of his shows on weekends and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all.