Update 3/5: KOLC debuted its new identity as Country “Ten Country @ 97.3” at 12pm today.
Promising to always play “10 songs in a row”, the station is taking direct aim at Cumulus’ “K-Bull 98.1” KBUL. The station’s introductory Facebook message states,
We just signed on the air at noon today. Northern Nevada has a brand new country radio station. Unlike the other country stations, we play lots and lots of music — ALWAYS at least 10 songs in a row! We think the other country stations are OK, and we have a great deal of respect for the heritage of KBUL, but they just talk a lot. Not us. We play lots of great country music, all day and all night. So please give us a listen. We hope you’ll agree that we’re a nice addition to the country music scene here in Northern Nevada. Oh, we should also mention that we’re locally-owned and operated, and proud to be part of Nevada!
Update 3/4: For the second time in less than a calendar year, 97.3 is running a loop redirecting its format’s listeners to a new translator in the market.
The Modern AC “Little City” format is now exclusively on the 92.5 K223AL translator via 96.5 KLCA-HD3.
Original Report 2/27: Americom’s Reno Media Group Modern AC “Little City 97.3” KOLC Carson City has begun promoting its move to 92.5.
92.5 is K223AL South Lake Tahoe, recently purchased from Family Radio for $55,000, which holds a CP to relocate to the Reno tower site of 93.7 KZTQ with 250 watts at 151 meters giving it good coverage of Reno proper, but still a steep drop from the 87kW Class C signal of 97.3.
The move of Little City will make way for a new Country format on the 97.3 frequency. MoreCountry973.com, 973MoreCountry.com, 973MoreFM.com, MoreFm973.com, and MoreFMReno.com have all been registered by the company over the past few months along with additional 1037MoreFM.com and MoreFM1037.com domains for sister Classic Hits “103.7 The River” KODS and 1069MoreFM.com for AC “Sunny 106.9” KRNO.
Little City will be the second format in a year to be moved off of 97.3 and onto a translator following the move of Urban “Swag” to 1230/104.9 in March 2013 to pave the way for the launch of KOLC. 97.3 registered a 2.4 share of the Reno market audience in the Fall 2013 Nielsen ratings. A move to Country will make it the third station in the market with the format joining Cumulus’ “K-Bull 98.1” KBUL-FM and Wilks “92.1 The Wolf” KWFP.