Every day we turn on our radios when we first wake up, and our radio is
already on when we get in our car to drive to work. We never stop to
think about what it takes behind the scene to make that music or news
come out of that little speaker.
First there needs to be someone that is willing to spend thousands of dollars
to build a studio. Then they need to invest thousands of dollars in equipment. We
might have seen a photo of an announcer behind the mic (micraphone), but we
never think about the mixing equipment, transmitters, or antennas that are
required to keep us entertained or informed.
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulates the amount of power a
station can transmit and the frequency of the station. Transmitters can drift
as they warm up or as power changes happen. So each station needs to have a
licensed radio engineer on hand at all times, to make sure the transmitter is
working within the range of power and frequency assigned by the FCC.
If a station transmits both on AM (amplitude modulated) and FM (frequency modulated),
they need to have two different antennas. The AM antenna is the taller antenna (100 to 400 feet)
and the FM is usually quite a bit shorter (20 to 50 feet).
In the early 1950s, there was only one station in the Alamogordo area and that was KALG radio, 1230 on your dial. That was
the station that everyone listened to. In 1977 the call sign was changed to KPSA, and in 1987
KPSA FM 92.7 was introduced for the HI FI buffs. About 1999 the stations became KRSY AM and KRSY FM.
The people of Otero County have been listening to KALG, KPSA, or KRSY 7 days a week, non stop,
since 1950. However, I can still remember when KALG was a brand new station and
everyone was talking about Alamogordo having its own radio station. I was able to listen to
KALG on my crystal radio set with its little ear phone.
That was about 60 years ago.
In 1998, The owners of KRSY AM & FM added a third station, KNMZ FM at 103.7
