{"id":275,"date":"2023-08-16T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koto.local\/koto-gets-kooky\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T16:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:37:16","slug":"koto-gets-kooky","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/koto.org\/es\/news\/koto-gets-kooky\/","title":{"rendered":"KOTO Gets KOOKy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Por Julia Caulfield<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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A view of Ouray from the KOOK tower site<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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On a mountainside overlooking Ouray, the wind rustles through aspen leaves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re about 9,200 feet in elevation above Ouray, Colorado on the Western Slope,\u201d <\/em>says Dustin Fisher, caretaker at Gold Mountain Ranch. For as far as the eye can see \u201cpretty much nothing but the San Juan Mountain range\u201d <\/em>Fisher adds.<\/p>\n

Perched on the mountain is a home, old mining ruins, a zipline tour, and also, a new radio tower. KOTO Radio is expanding its signal to reach Ouray and Ridgway. This radio tower will make that happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cKOTO purchased the tower last January,\u201d <\/em>Fisher explains, \u201cWe picked up in February, hauled it up the mountain. We had to wait for the snow to melt off. We had about two or three feet of snow at the time. Once the snow melted off, we got a concrete contractor in here to come and install the concrete.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Once the cement was cured, local climbers came in to assemble the actual tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing we have to actually do is to install the actual equipment for the radio station,\u201d <\/em>Fisher concludes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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The KOOK tower goes up on Gold Mountain Ranch in Ouray, Colorado<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Expanding its signal to Ridgway has been a goal for the radio station for years, says KOTO Executive Director Cara Pallone.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the FCC doesn\u2019t really open filing periods very often,\u201d <\/em>Pallone says, \u201cWhen one came about in 2021, Ben was like \u2018we should do this\u2019. So we did. We took that opportunity to apply for a construction permit from the FCC, and we were granted that approval in December 2021.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Per the FCC \u2013 that\u2019s the Federal Communications Commission, KOTO has three years to build the tower and have the signal go live. Pallone says the radio station is in phase two of that development. A lot has been done, but there\u2019s still a way to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking it piece by piece and trying to stick to a timeline that will get us on the air in 2024,\u201d <\/em>Pallone says.<\/p>\n

Still, she says the tower going up is an exciting milestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust getting the tower up there was such a big process,\u201d <\/em>she remembers. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a delivery truck big enough to get it to the location, let alone up the mountain. There\u2019s just been so much coordination done, and so to see it go up over the last couple week has just been a huge moment for KOTO.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

With the new location, and new tower, KOTO will also add new call letters. Staff decided on KOOK Ridgway. KOTO did a survey to determine the best location to place the tower and gauge where the frequency will go. Station Manager Ben Kerr says he\u2019s excited to see just how far the signal will travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t really tell exactly where it\u2019s going to go. There\u2019s always some surprises,\u201d <\/em>Kerr says. \u201cIt\u2019ll be interesting to see. It\u2019ll be really exciting to put the signal up, turn it on, and then you just drive around and say \u2018where\u2019s it going. Where can we get it\u2019. And then you\u2019ll hear from people in strange locations \u2018I\u2019m getting it really good over here\u2019\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

According to Pew Research Center, over the past two decades there has been a major decline in the number of news outlets serving local audiences. Pallone says the expansion to Ridgway with KOOK will allow KOTO to keep the region from becoming a news desert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to build a foundation that would prevent that from ever happening in our region. Journalism is extremely important right now. We\u2019re independent journalism and to maintain that and make sure that everyone is getting the information and education and that they need is a top priority of ours,\u201d <\/em>Pallone adds, \u201cwe\u2019re also the only source of local news in both English and Spanish. Being inclusive of all of our communities and making sure we\u2019re serving everyone equally is very important.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Kerr shares the sentiment. KOTO remains fiercely independent for the community it serves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pure. There\u2019s nothing really like it. You don\u2019t have to put up with a bunch of advertising and hype and disingenuous politics and thought,\u201d <\/em>Kerr says \u201cIt\u2019s organic. It\u2019s real. It\u2019s coming from the people for the people. It\u2019s grassroots. It\u2019s about people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

KOTO plans to be on the air in Ouray and Ridgway in 2024. So, for the time being, this is KOTO Telluride 91.7, but soon, you\u2019ll be in tune with KOOK 90.3 Ridgway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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A view towards Ridgway from the KOOK tower location<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Julia Caulfield A view of Ouray from the KOOK tower site On a mountainside overlooking Ouray, the wind rustles through aspen leaves. \u201cWe\u2019re about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":564,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-category":[514],"news-tag":[300,302,373,374,376,384,404,409,426,435,523,477],"class_list":["post-275","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-category-featured-stories","news-tag-colorado","news-tag-community","news-tag-kook","news-tag-koto","news-tag-kotonews","news-tag-local","news-tag-news","news-tag-ouray","news-tag-radio","news-tag-ridgway","news-tag-sqs","news-tag-telluride"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKOTO Gets KOOKy - KOTO FM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koto.org\/es\/noticias-2\/koto-gets-kooky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KOTO Gets KOOKy - KOTO FM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Julia Caulfield A view of Ouray from the KOOK tower site On a mountainside overlooking Ouray, the wind rustles through aspen leaves. \u201cWe\u2019re about [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/koto.org\/es\/noticias-2\/koto-gets-kooky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KOTO FM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KOTOTelluride\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-09T23:37:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/koto.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG-2211.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1875\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/\",\"name\":\"KOTO Gets KOOKy - KOTO FM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/IMG-2211.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-17T02:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-09T23:37:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/news\\\/koto-gets-kooky\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/IMG-2211.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/koto.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/IMG-2211.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":1875,\"caption\":\"A scenic view of a valley town surrounded by lush green mountains under a partly cloudy sky. 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