Purpledevil

In my head, yes. It's all mapped out, lol. Tiger, can you give him the Google earth view. I'm not technically inclined enough to make that attachment happen.

You are correct, a part of the SP spur indeed continued onto the warehouse on Waverly. The SP line and MKT line never had a switch between them, moving SP traffic onto the Katy line and vise versa. I thought that was what you had mentioned previously; I must've misunderstood.

That spur was long abandoned before 2002. I haven't seen rail traffic on that SP spur since the 80's...maybe early, early 90's. Couldn't have been. The West 8th grade crossing was paved over in front of the elementary school due to the grade being made out of wood, which rotted and after being rolled over by all the school buses, became one hell of a mess to drive over before the city laid asphalt over it.

My God, how do I remember this worthless information after all this time, but can't tell you everything I did just yesterday?

Guess it's because I've always had a fascination with freight trains...just as I do with the radio dial. The Espee was my favorite line, the Katy a very close second. Loved those old red geeps on the Katy, and the always dirty as could be bloody nosed Espee & Cotton Belt power.

14 minutes ago, IronTiger said:

I would guess it's more of "who owns it" and the problems associated with that. It originally connected the MKT and SP lines (and probably serviced a business or two) and would likely be the responsibility of UP, though since the city got to use part of the MKT right of way for a bike path (or was it bought by TxDOT and then sub-leased to the city), it might be theirs. So is it the city? TxDOT? Union Pacific? A business that went under 15+ years ago? That might be the issue...

14 minutes ago, IronTiger said:

I would guess it's more of "who owns it" and the problems associated with that. It originally connected the MKT and SP lines (and probably serviced a business or two) and would likely be the responsibility of UP, though since the city got to use part of the MKT right of way for a bike path (or was it bought by TxDOT and then sub-leased to the city), it might be theirs. So is it the city? TxDOT? Union Pacific? A business that went under 15+ years ago? That might be the issue...

We're about 20 feet west of the original topic of the Oscar Colquitt bridge, but hey...it's your thread.  

The M-K-T and SP lines did not connect at any point in the two lines existence. They ran parallel to one another for a few hundred yards west of Yale, then the SP spur crossed the Katy line as a diamond en route to Nicholson. Southern Pacific owned the trestle over White Oak Bayou, as it did the entire spur, and it had been abandoned and the switch cut off from the mainline prior to the UP/SP merger in 1996. Most of the right of way has apparently been bought up by the City, which allowed Nicholson to be widened between west 17th & 19th, while the bike trail paralleling Nicholson took up the rest. Where the Katy trail is currently, follows the original Katy line, not the SP line that ran about 20 or so feet directly south of what's now the east/westbound Katy bike trail. Where the SP line's ROW turned south just before Yale, then paralleled Yale crossing west 6th, 5th, and 4th, has all been taken in by private property now. The Katy Freeway feeder roads did not exist when the spur was still there, meaning TXDOT must've purchased the tract of ROW on each side of the overpass at some point, and then the Walmart property took the remainder of the spur up to where it switched into the northern mainline just east of Bonner, for the parking lot and adjacent business strips that front the Walmart building itself.

That leaves only the question of the trestle, which after Allison flooded White Oak bayou as badly as it did in 2001, had the wooden pylons removed from each side of the banks, leaving only the steel trestle and concrete pylons in the middle. Whoever is responsible for the bayou itself, is likely also the trestle's responsible caretaker. That may very well lie on the Bayou Preservation Society's doorstep, or it may be the COH, but I certainly don't know for sure. I can assure you that it is not the Union Pacific Railroad.

The SP spur served an industrial steel warehouse on West 25th at the northern terminus, a couple of small paper companies between 23rd and 24th, a warehouse on West 18th, and they used to store boxcars between West 19th and West 23rd on the doubled siding that was there. As kids, we used to play in those boxcars, as the railroad would leave the doors open on the cars most of the time, allowing trucks to pull alongside for unloading purposes.

I can't tell you how many times I got my butt whipped by my folks after Mrs. Cates, who lived on West 22nd, would call my mother and father griping that me and her grandson were playing down there on those dang train tracks again! One time, we were playing inside of one, when a switcher engine latched up to the row of boxcars and started pulling them off the siding and back towards the mainline. Talk about not knowing what to do; if we jumped off and ran we were busted for sure! The switchmen had no qualms with giving us kids the "what for" for playing around on their equipment. 

Good times...life was so much more simple in those days.

From the Houston perspective, it sure be preferable to have the Express back, so our AAA club is closer to home, from this fan's point of view. Having it in Fresno is extremely odd and out of place. Of course, rumblings of an AAA affiliate being moved to the northern suburbs of Houston still have their moments every now and again. Of course, we've also been graced with the independent Sugarland Skeeters, which are quite the enjoyable outing when they are in season.

So that rusty, old steel trestle sitting on wooden pylons next to Yale assists in the improvement of Buffalo Bayou's water quality and movement? Sorry, but I'm skeptical of the District's reasoning for allowing it to remain. Likely more about the cost involved in bringing it down. If that's the case, there should at least be some type of upkeep performed on it. Perhaps a good coating of silver paint on the steel, and a hearty weed wacking to get all of the overgrowth off of it. It would make a nice enough canvas for an artist, along the lines of what the 11th street post office looks like now.

Welcome to the HAIF, KCOHTV! 

 The program coming out of the looking glass studios is alive, I'll certainly give you that. As for how well it's performing, we'll just have to wait and see.

Let me first state that KCOH, the actual licensed radio facility itself, is a Regional Mexican formatted simulcast partner station of 850 KEYH here in Houston, owned by Lenard Liberman's LBI media, at least for the present. It will presumably soon be owned by an entity named Pueblo de Galileo, LLC. once 1230's sale is approved by the Commission and consummated by the two parties involved in the transaction. Since you have gotten a plug out of the HAIF, would you in turn be willing to share with us how it is that the company is still able to utilize the heritage KCOH callset in its branding, as well as the website kcohradio.com in association with what Beyond Broadcasting is currently programming on KKBQ HD2, given that the actual KCOH radio facility at 1230kHz is no longer associated and/or involved with Beyond Broadcasting?

I'd certainly be interested in the backstory of what has transpired over the last 6 months, resulting in the loss of the heritage and legendary KCOH radio from the analog airwaves in Houston, Texas, as well as what we as listeners can expect from "KCOH" over the next few months, given that we Houstonians have recently lost the company's Urban Oldies & Talk programming on one OTA AM facility, and Jesse Dunn's on another, all within less than a year's time. It doesn't look promising for the continuation of the format at all, from this viewpoint. As a longtime and avid listener of 1430, then 1230 KCOH after the 2013 move, and then finally 880 KJOZ when both versions of KCOH were gone from the air, it would certainly set my mind at ease knowing for sure and certain that this subchannel lease from Cox Radio isn't just an effort in futility, and a last gasp of air, so to speak. I'd surely make the trip to Best Buy for an HD receiver, solely for this programming, with the assurance that KKBQ HD2, as it currently stands with Beyond Broadcasting's programming airing on it, will be around for the long haul.

Secondly, given that HD subchannels are afforded the opportunity to transmit originated programming on to a relay over the air translator, are there any current efforts being made by Beyond Broadcasting to secure, by lease or by purchase, one of these retransmission facilities to bring the programming back to the airwaves without requiring an additional purchase of HD compatible equipment by the consumer?

I eagerly await your second post. You'll have to excuse my pessimism, but when a company represents the off air situation several months ago as "frequency issues" as if there was a problem with the 1230 facility itself, it terribly concerns me as to what else may have a bit of a stench to it.

The donut shop, I'm almost certain, was a Mrs. Baker's. Interesting story, from an old radio nerd, our Contemporary Hit Radio 104 KRBE facility wouldn't exist today had it not been for Edith Baker and her donut shops. She indeed only served glazed and jelly filled for the most of its existence. My mother worked at her location on Canal many, many years ago.

Btw, IronTiger, next time you're wanting to drive the continuous length of Yale, come on up to the north end and say hello! You might be interested to know there's even a small section of Yale on the north side of 45 that not everyone even realizes exists.

Excuse the interjection gentlemen, but I can confirm the dual bridges on Heights were indeed rebuilt in 1997, as a longtime Heights resident that commuted through the south end of the Heights on a daily basis back then. The SB bridge was closed first, with two way traffic utilizing the NB bridge. Once the SB bridge was completed, the traffic flow was reversed and the NB bridge replaced. The reason the dual Heights bridges look like they do is because many of the old Heights residents went haywire when the thought of a modern looking set of bridges replacing the old ones were contemplated. The lamps themselves have been replaced several times over the years, or at least the glass globes on top. Likely all of them have been broken at one point or another in my 49 years of life. Some of them many times.

Yale's bridge has never rebuilt until now, and why it wasn't is as much of a mystery to me as the old Southern Pacific spur bridge over the bayou remaining next to it to this very day. There hasn't been a freight rail there in years. Why that one remnant of the line still stands is flat out ridiculous to me and terribly ugly to boot. 

Lol, well, goes to show how little I know about the history of the Triangle AMs. I didn't even think about KLVI, but given its low dial position and long tenure in Beaumont, it certainly adds up. With our own legendary Top 40 parked right up the dial at 61 kilocycles, and the psychedelic sounds of my older brother's radio station of choice at 101 megahertz, I never got the chance to pay much attention to KLVI or much of anything else from the east end of I-10.

That is, of course, until 1978 when I first heard the Beaumont blowtorch blasting at me from 106-1, which is what really led me to become the DXing machine that I am today. The one and only "K-106". Our own 104 KRBE had nothing on that superb take on FM Top 40, and had KIOC lit up in Houston instead of Orange, we may very well have never had the legend that was KKBQ over here, and KILT would've likely not made it out of the 70's.

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 0:26 AM, mrtejano said:

Well she was just a reporter, she wasn't a news anchor.

 

 

And what's this paramount thing you are always talking about? Is it like your signature?

Actually mrtejano, she was indeed an anchor, both at KRIV Fox 26 & before that at KTRK ABC 13. Sure hated to see her leave the news business, she had a tremendous delivery...and dare I say it, a tremendously sexy voice. 

17 hours ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

A few more on the way out, most notably Mario Gomez...

 

http://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2016/04/mario-gomez-other-staffers-to-leave-khou-11.html

 

 

Oh no, not Mario!! Even though I'm not much of a KHOU watcher, especially their newscasts, Mario is one of the old school breed of weathermen...er, excuse me, meteorologists that doesn't rely on scaring the bejesus out of his viewers with the doom and gloom panic every time dark clouds gather overhead (cough, cough, Frank Billingsley). 

Just another example of why the TV at home will continue to scan right on past the station located at channel 11. Here's hoping that each of these individuals find a quick and satisfying replacement job if they so desire, or a peaceful and relaxing retirement if that is the course they so choose.

Interestingly enough, someone with a connection to the HAIF must've read this thread, or been advised of it by a fellow HAIFer. On my latest flip through the AM dial a few minutes ago, 1680 is now completely off the air. Amazing what happens when you make a stink about certain things on a public forum. Tiger, the highway advisory station is much like the various weather stations around SE Texas. Operating at low power. I believe the highway advisory stations are actually several different low power stations all linked together on the common frequency of 1680, here in Houston, serving Harris County. Going on one of my frequent trips to San Antonio, I have noticed that there's a sign near Katy indicating one should tune to 1610kHz for information, as Fort Bend County apparently operates theirs from a separate dial setting. Someone like our new HAIFer CW would likely be more capable of giving us the nuts and bolts of how the coordinated system actually works on that level.

...and since I'm certain that some HAIFers are wondering, no, I have nothing better to do than to flip through an obsolete radio dial on my off time. I don't know why, but I find it relaxing after a long day of putting out fires in the hotel business. It's just a part of what makes me the radio nerd I am. 

18 hours ago, IronTiger said:

I've noticed the "Tune to 1680 AM for Highway Advisory When Flashing" sign at least on 610 West but it's never been on (I don't think it was on during my commute home, though the Transtar road signs have been warning people about the closure at SH 6 or "TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN" notices. 

You see? That is exactly my point. You're from Aggieland, Tiger, and probably had no idea that the "advisory" station has been looping the same message for months on end. By chance, you as an out of towner, flip to 1680 to hear what kind of traffic tie-ups to avoid while traversing the City. Lo and behold, there's an 18 wheeler blocking the freeway on 59 @ I-10, or so you now think because the highway advisory system for Houston just told you it is. The problem, there is no 18 wheeler blocking jack squat on the Eastex Freeway, and hasn't been for umpteen months now. This is a facility that should be saving lives, 8 by my last count were killed in this latest catastrophe, all the while those signs NEVER have the lights flashing above them, and the actual station itself is running extremely outdated information! What the hell? Why are we as taxpayers in this county putting up with a system that is costing us money (and dare I say lives) when it's apparently being utilized on the same level as the yellow contraflow lanes that are supposed to be opened for evacuation during a hurricane? Ike anyone? What was that, a gentle late summer thunderstorm?

Certain things about our official emergency preparedness plans are flat out twisted and a waste of resources and money. These are a glaring example of two.

17 hours ago, stan said:

Think WLS...

I'd rather be thinking about him suddenly having the finances to swoop in and save one of our dead in the water AMs over here in Houston. 

WLS, huh? I guess so, but as much as I respect and love my brethren from Golden Triangle, Chicago it is not.

Too bad he can't get KPAC, now in San Antonio. 1250 KPAC was the legendary Top 40 in the Triangle, as I recall.

Given what he's currently allowing to happen to Bellville's only licensed radio station, it serves him right. 

Well, well, well...look who's been added to the collective fold! Good to see ya, C-dub. Good to hear that you're almost ready to lay some rubber to the airwave road.

Pull up a chair and stay awhile. The good "editor" here at the HAIF has given us a good home to talk shop, and let us...well, be us.

Ladies & gents, the sometimes imitated, but never duplicated "Continuous Wave" !

Does anyone have any clue as to what the deal is with our highway advisory radio system station on 1680 AM? For several months now, it has been "advising" motorists that the SB Eastex Freeway @ I-10 East exit ramp is closed due to a stalled 18 wheeler. What on earth is this thing even on the air for if nobody bothers to update the programming? Even now, as numerous streets and intersections are flooded all throughout the City, there sits our local TxDOT system carrying on with the same report that it's been airing for months on end. Why? Is there a reason why this system even exists, other than to waste a few hundred watts of electricity?

Has anyone else even noticed?

No sir, Mr. Lopez, your hoppin' K245CB translator can't go to Spring. Instead, it's had the lilypad pulled out from under it, as the FCC has dismissed the move to 92-3 from a transmit site in Spring.

http://fccdata.org/?facid=148484

Back to the drawing board (or Shiner) for you.

Oh well, iHeart screwed with KPRC calling it the 9-5-0 for a good while, so I guess it's only fair for others to screw up 950's dial position too.

Thanks, Mouse. I should be counting my blessings as it could have been much worse. Neither house got water inside, and I was really fretting about the one in Bellville, since I'm not typically there. Even the barn stayed dry, so both the real "purpledevil" and the green truck are A-Ok. I'm extremely thankful. Some 15 inches fell up there at the house. You really need a tractor to go back in the property. The ground is absolute mush. Most everything looks like a lake up there, and I bet you that has something to do with KYND being off the air since the flood. Would not surprise me if it didn't get flooded out. Worst flooding I've personally seen up there in many, many years.

16 hours ago, Anonymouse said:

Ugh! I hope he can get it fixed soon. One of us should invite him here, you know.

Why change the call letters?

Because there's no "CW" in KSET, perhaps? Maybe KCWB, as there's no AM facility using it currently, only an FM up in Wyoming. Don't know if he'd want to go through that kind of trouble for that particular call set, though.

Historically, 1300 was KKAS Silsbee, although I doubt a return to that set is what's up his sleeve. It is, however, available for the taking if he so chose to be nostalgic about it. Would have to return it to Silsbee as the COL to get the full effect though.

I'm not sure exactly what time they lost power, but it was sometime after 9am. As mrtejano posted, they ran the color bars screen for around an hour until Ryan could get set up at the TX site. That live shot from the transmitter carried on for about an hour, until a temporary live feed was capable of being broadcast from the studio with Britta Merwin, Owen Conflenti, Rachel McNeil, and Jennifer Reyna passing a single mic back and forth amongst the 4, while relaying information from their cell phones and a couple of battery powered laptops. Additionally, both 2.2 ThisTV and 2.3 Heroes & Icons were completely lost in the outage. As of just after 1:00pm, KPRC has restored "normal" news programming on the main channel and both subs have been restored.

What an admirable effort displayed by the station. You sure didn't see the "hip" Newsfix crew at 39 making any such an attempt at relaying the crucial and vital information. That fact should certainly be an "Eye Opener" for every single Houstonian.

Something you just don't see anymore, here in the 21st century. Channel 2 has lost power and is experiencing flooding at the SW Freeway studios, resulting in the station going completely off the air. Instead of simply closing up shop and calling it a day, Ryan Korsgard is at the TX site, with a laptop to his side, the camera hooked up directly to the transmitter and a mic in his hand. No commercials, no frills, and no thrills. KPRC is truly "live and local" on this historic inclement weather day. A big ovation is truly deserved for the KPRC staff, and especially Ryan Korsgard, for the tireless effort to get the very latest flood information out.

$400K is a lot of dough, but it pales in comparison to the unbelievable $1.8 million that KCOH just netted for Lenard Liberman. At least KOLE isn't sitting on top of a toxic waste site, plus doesn't it have its own TX site? KCOH has to share with KLTN and now KAMA-FM.

I owe you an apology, Mouse, and I'm embarrassed that I jumped the gun on you. I fully realize now that I'm just ignorant, as I hadn't even realized that a blind person COULD go bowling. What a fool I am, and that was very inconsiderate on my part. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness and that you'll accept my apology for even bringing your disability to light.

The last few weeks have been extremely crappy for me (for lack of a better description), and reading how mrtejano was engaged kind of set me off into a tangent. I just snapped and let it out, and I don't really fully grasp why my fuse is shortening more and more as the days go by. As you know, I haven't really been the same since I lost Angie to that damned accident, and the old saying that time heals everything just does not ring true. I swear to God, I just don't understand why it wasn't me instead.

Mrtejano took undeserved grief at the Streamline board on several occasions, only because he doesn't know as much about certain subjects that those of us like you, me, stan, Filio, and Joe do, and doesn't always phrase his questions in the most fluent way. So be it; that his penmanship isn't on the level as other contributors, doesn't mean he has to bear the brunt of the obvious "what are you, stupid?" response that he's been put through on several occasions over the years. I guess I'm stupid too, because as old as I am, and with the type of work I do, which includes daily communications with our guests and corporate managers higher up the corporate ladder than my own self, I still haven't learned to this day where a damn comma really and truly belongs within a proper sentence, and some people even say that I weirdly structure my sentences altogether. Thankfully, I do well enough to still make my points, and most people can follow my train of thought with little mental strain on their part.

I always expected the juvenile responses toward each other over there at the other site, because of the handful of knuckleheads involved, but not in this community. I hold the HAIF site to a higher standard, as I have found the people involved here to be of a higher character quality, and higher level of maturity since I became involved. To read the "and???" comment in response to mrtejano from an individual that I personally know has a long and distinguished career within the radio medium in this market was appalling to me. After a day of reflection, perhaps I jumped the gun there too, but I for one am a big enough radio geek that I want to know if and when these little LPFM's and hopping translators come on the air. I know you share that personal desire to know all of that same information, as do several others that made the decision to follow the trail to this new and superior watering hole, covering Houston radio. One of those individuals is mrtejano, and he sacrificed his membership over there to follow me here.

What kind of person would that make me if I just turned my back on the young man, when he thought enough of me to "chunk the deuce" at ol' Frank and get himself banished only because he said the only reason he even went over there was to read my posts. That's an honor to me that he thinks that highly of what I write. I'm just as honored that you are here now, as well as my Golden Triangle friend & neighbor stan. I certainly don't take the fact that you guys made the move here lightly.

I'm sure there are HAIFers that read some of this radio crap and think "who in their right mind cares?" and I respect that stance, because that's exactly how I feel about various other portions of this site. The difference is that I don't involve myself into those conversations of turning the Pierce Elevated into a damn above ground park, or jumping on the bandwagon against John Culberson because Richmond Avenue doesn't have a rail line as I have the respect for my fellow participants to just stay silent regarding these subjects, because to me, both subjects absolutely encompass the definition of "who cares". I can only ask that those participants who don't care about the radio dial in this City (or Beaumont, or San Antonio) would just allow those of us that do, to do so without their smartalecky contributions. We're all grown folks here, and we're all just different types of nerds, geeks, dweebs, and spazoids that gather in a common online community called the HAIF to discuss the subjects we enjoy the most. This site encompasses all things related to Houston, and the radio and TV dials are two of those subjects. Please, allow us radio nerds the opportunity to do our part to help grow the whole of the site, and make the HAIF an even more enjoyable place to learn about everything that this great City has to offer.

Again, I'm sorry Mouse. I let my misfiring emotions outrun my brain, and that just wasn't right.