February 7, 2008
FM Radio Station in Alamo?

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Harvey Caplan of Pahrump wants to build an FM radio station in Alamo. Caplan is the co-founder of an Internet talk station in Pahrump and says he has an FCC permit to build a new station in Alamo within the next three years. Although he would like it to be a lot sooner than that.

During a telephone interview with The Lincoln County RECORD, Caplan said what he wants to do as soon as he can, is attend a meeting of the Alamo Town Board, and possibly a public meeting with local townsfolk. This would give the locals the opportunity to come and provide input into what they would like to have for station programming, “to find out what they want to hear or how many people would like to come on and have their own show,” he said.

He said his plan is to have the station, with call letters KQLN broadcast on FM frequency 91.3, “be as local as possible.” The call letters Harvey said, mean “Quality for Lincoln. We don’t really believe in being part of a ‘cookie-cutter’ type operation where there would be music, news, and satellite national talk shows. We want it to be what is called a public access station. I want to let the town dictate what the programming would be.”

The station would be licensed to operate 24/7, but Caplan said, “We will start the best we can, as many hours as we can, with responsible individuals who will not curse over the air, and we’re going to use volunteers at the start.” He said he does have quite a bit of pre-recorded programs which have been produced at his Pahrump station that could be used here because of the general nature of the topic. Music could also be some part of the programming, but he prefers that talk be the major format.

“We would like to work with the school,” he said. “If they have some projects going they would like to promote, they can.”

If the amount of programming would not fill up a full day, the station would simply sign off until the next morning, he said.

Public access radio is one way to get out an important message in a community, or just have fun and talk about an almost limitless range of topics. Guests can be brought in for discussions or the talk show host can accept call-ins.

Caplan’s station in Pahrump, KPAH, is a 24/7 non-profit Internet station and not heard over the airwaves. He said they have a lot of informative shows and entertainment type programs. They also operate an Internet TV station, KPTU. Caplan, a retired broadcast engineer, has 35 years experience, mostly in television with NBC and ABC.

Caplan is applying for grant money to put in a cement pad for the station’s foundation and to construct a small studio plus a 60-foot Ham radio tower on a vacant lot at 272 Park Street, which is just as you make the turn on the South Richardville Road going to Rapport International.

Caplan said while the station would be “non-commercial/educational,” they would have public service announcements. Instead of sponsors, there would be underwriters, whose business name could be mentioned in a public service type statement.

The technical end would be professionally run, “but the content end,” Caplan said, “would be relaxed and casual. I have nice people come in and do interesting shows. If the content is interesting, you keep listeners.”

His application to the FFC for a 6,000-watt transmitter and tower was granted last November. The 6,000 watts Harvey says will get the signal out further and keep the community interest high.

Caplan said he would let The Lincoln County RECORD know when he is scheduled to be on the agenda for an Alamo Town Board meeting.