KEBE (1400 AM) is a terrestrial American

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, paired with an FCC authorized and licensed revitalization FM relay translator. The facility is licensed to

Jacksonville, Texas Jacksonville is a city located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,997 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Cherokee County, and pa ...

, United States, and is owned by North Texas Radio Group, L.P.

History

AM 1400 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1400 kHz. 1400 kHz is defined as a Class C (local) frequency in the coterminous United States and such stations on this frequency are limited to 1,000 watts. U.S. stations outside t ...

KEBE Jacksonville, was licensed in 1946 to Bill A. Laurie of

. KEBE was branded "The KEBE Corral", and was one of the first country stations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, KEBE became the career starter for

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...

radio legend,

Tom Perryman Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

. In 1957, Bill Laurie died in a fishing accident. Laurie's wife took over ownership briefly. Mrs. Laurie placed the station up for sale, and a TV Newscaster from

El Dorado, Arkansas El Dorado, founded by Matthew Rainey, is a city in, and the county seat of, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 18,884. El Dorado is headquarters of the Ark ...

, Dudley Waller, put together the money to buy the station. Dudley and his wife Dorothy "Dot" Waller ran the station until 2014, when it was sold to Chuck Conrad's Chalk Hill Media. KEBE was an affiliate of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

radio network, and at one time began running the Jones satellite network's "

Classic Country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

" format. Some of KEBE's famous alumni include: Tom Perryman, Dudley Waller, Rick Watson, Jim Lord, and Al Mather. KEBE's success led to the Wallers filing for an initial construction permit for an FM station for

. KEBE-FM 106.5 signed on the air in the early 1970s. KEBE-FM became the first class C 100 kW FM

Stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

station in East Texas. KEBE-FM was a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

station that made the transition to easy listening/soft rock. In 1983, KEBE-FM changed to

KOOI KOOI (106.5 FM) is an Alpha Media radio station broadcasting a variety hits format. Licensed to Jacksonville, Texas, United States, the station serves the Tyler-Longview area, and is the East Texas broadcast radio home of the Dallas Cowboys. Stu ...

, with the moniker "Sunny 106.5 KOOI". KEBE remained a full service

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

station until 2007, when a simulcast of sister station 103.1 KDVE/ KMPA began. Since 2012, it has been simulcasting

KZQX KZQX (100.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Tatum, Texas, United States, serving the Tyler-Longview market with an Oldies and Adult Standards format. K250AJ (97.9 FM) is an FM translator, licensed to Tyler, Texas, extending the KZQX coverage ...

(former sister station 100.3), a big band and standards station based out of

Chalk Hill, Texas Chalk Hill is an unincorporated community in Rusk County, located in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 200 in 2000. It is located within the Longview, Texas metropolitan area. History ...

. It has remained as a simulcast of KZQX through the latter years of Waller ownership, during Chalk Hill's ownership as an owned and operated from 2014 to 2017, and now under the direction of North Texas Radio Group since. On September 8, 2014, KEBE was sold to Chalk Hill Media, and thus continued the simulcast of

. The sale of KEBE ended the 57 year ownership of KEBE by the Waller family. On January 24, 2017, Charles Conrad's Chalk Hill Media filed for license reassignment, as an agreement had been made with the North Texas Radio Group to sell the original Jacksonville radio station for $50,000. North Texas Radio Group owns KMAD

Madill, Oklahoma Madill is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named in honor of George Alexander Madill, an attorney for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The population at the 2010 census was 3,770, an increa ...

and KSOC

Tipton, Oklahoma Tipton is a town in the western part of Tillman County, Oklahoma, Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 847 at the United States 2010 census, a 31.6 percent decline from 1,238 in 2000. Tipton also is home to Tipton Home, ori ...

. Consummation of the sale was finalized on March 10, 2017, with KEBE remaining in simulcast of

Tatum under the new ownership. On April 17, 2019, a license reassignment was granted by the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

, that would transfer the licenses of KEBE and its FM translator to East Texas Results Media, LLC, headed by Mike Huckabee and Paul Coates. Upon consummation, KEBE became a sister station to

KTLU KTLU (1580 AM) is an American radio station, paired with an FCC authorized and licensed FM relay translator. Licensed to Rusk, Texas, United States, the station serves Cherokee County, Texas. The station is currently owned by North Texas Radio Gr ...

in nearby

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the UK, the name also refers to a whea ...

. Consummation of the sale occurred on June 1, 2019. East Texas Results Media closed the offices in Jacksonville, and took all six stations licensed to them silent as of July 1, 2019. KZXM, KFRO-FM, KLJT, and KMPA have all since been sold to the Educational Radio Foundation of East Texas, owner and operator of Christian stations KVNE and KGLY. KEBE and

remained silent, while awaiting sale of the facilities to new ownership. The facilities had until July 1, 2020 to return to broadcasting, or by law, the licenses for both would have been revoked, and the facilities deleted. On June 18, 2020, KEBE and its related FM translator 104.7 K284CT returned to regular broadcasting. Both facilities received a grant to resume full operations on June 24, 2020. KEBE is currently simulcasting

KOME-FM KOME-FM (95.5 MHz) is a radio station licensed to serve the community of Tolar, Texas. The station is owned by LKCM Radio Group, and is fully simulcast with its sister station 106.5 KITT in Meridian, Texas. KOME and KITT air a classic hits music ...

, a

Classic Hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

formatted radio station near

Glen Rose, Texas Glen Rose is a city in and the county seat of Somervell County, Texas, United States. As of the 2012 census estimate, the city population was 2,502. History 19th century The area was first settled in 1849 by Charles Barnard, who opened a tradin ...

. On December 23, 2020, East Texas Results Media applied to move 104.7 K284CT to the northern edge of KEBE's coverage area, dropping one channel to 283 (104.5 MHz), and changing the translator's COL to

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

. Effective March 30, 2021, East Texas Results Media sold KEBE, KTLU, and two translators to KEBE's operator Chisolm Trail Communications, LLC. On July 16, 2022, KEBE dropped its simulcast with KOME-FM and went silent ahead of a pending sale.KEBE/KTLU Sign-Off Ahead of Sale
Radioinsight - July 18, 2022 Consummation of the sale from Chisholm Trail Communications LLC. to Richard Witkowski of North Texas Radio Group, L.P. was filed on January 10, 2023. KEBE AM and FM, as well as translator K284CT remain silent, under separate Special Temporary Authority filings granted by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

Translator

References

External links

* * {{Tyler-Longview Radio EBE