The Resurrection of KYMC?

Don’t look now (oh, OK, go ahead) but there’s talk on FACEBOOK of all places of bringing KYMC back from the dead. Now, obviously, it wouldn’t really be KYMC… no one is planning on starting a new brick & mortar public radio station in suburban West St. Louis County (and they’d be big ol’ fools for trying to do such a thing, especially in this economy), but it would instead be a more modernized version, with an exciting new name, and operating online as a streaming-audio “Internet” station and/or podcast. I’m kinda, sorta part of this as I used to be a programmer at KYMC back in the 1980s (I still haven’t gotten around to posting any of my old air-check tapes, but SOON, I promise…) and am friends with the girl that set up this KYMC FM 89.7 Alumni Facebook group.

What the hell is KYMC, you may be asking at this point? KYMC was a small public radio station out in Ballwin, MO, that was owned by the YMCA of Greater St. Louis (the ONLY YMCA-owned radio station in the world), and it’s where I got introduced to the world of broadcasting after first joining up there with my friend, Bruce Clayton, during my senior year of high school. The station existed for about twenty-nine years until the YMCA finally axed it in January of 2007. When I first joined KYMC, I think it was only a 10-watt station. Later it was upgraded to 20 watts and I think at the most it may have been around a hundred watts, broadcasting as far east as Creve Coeur and west as St. Peters.

So am I excited about it? Eh. Not really. I mean, I guess it’s cool that they’re coming together to work on a project like this, and I’m in no way intending to throw any water on their fire, but honestly, with KDHX (struggling to stay afloat) in town as well as thousands (millions?) of other online “stations” out there begging for more ears (and dollars), is it going to be worth the effort? Did KYMC have that big of a following to easily and seemlessly translate that listenership into instant listeners today? Probably not, but hey, who am I to criticize them for their efforts? More power to ‘em!

So, anyway, with all that said, I wanted to post about it here in case some of you may know someone who used to be a DJ at the station… or maybe you know someone that was just a big fan or supporter. In that case it would be great if you could pass the info along to them about that Facebook group. The more people they can round up to get involved with this, the better the outcome will probably be. Thanks!

UPDATE: Interestingly enough, not long after posting this entry I happened to check out KYMC’s entry on Wikipedia, and read the following:

In July 2008 and with the final remain silent authority about to expire, the YMCA of Greater St. Louis reached an agreement to sell this station to Missouri River Christian Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on August 22, 2008, and the transaction was consummated on September 19, 2008. The new owners announced plans to return KYMC to the air with religious programming as a member of the Moody Broadcasting Network, including some programming as a simulcast of KGNV in Washington, Missouri. On October 30, 2008, KYMC was granted a main studio waiver allowing the station to be run from facilities far outside the station’s community of license.

Ha! Looks like the “resurrection” (pardon the pun) has already begun! Moody’s motto, by the way: “Think Biblically, Live Christianly, Serve Effectively, Evangelize Constantly”

Oy vey…