As of March 31st, KRDE, Inc.’s Country KRDE 94.1 San Carlos-Phoenix, AZ is now a full C1. After losing its antenna and tower following a brutal ice and wind storm, the new tower, transmitter and antenna are in place and the station is a full C1. The owner, Linda Corso, was devastated when her long time friend and consulting engineer, Elliott Klein, passed away last August right in the middle of the upgrade.

“She regrouped and after a tough winter at the 8,000-ft. transmitter site completed the C1 construction. KRDE started out as a C3, then C2 and finally a full C1 (4,700 watts @ 3,300 ft HAAT). The signal covers virtually all of Phoenix and the suburbs of Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert and beyond,” Rich Potyka President Tri-Media Inc., tells RBR-TVBR. “The city of license has changed from Globe, AZ but the antenna remains at the same transmitter site as before. Elliott was a good friend, I’ve known him for 30 years. KRDE started life as KRXS in 1995 as a C3 150 watt station serving Globe, Arizona. With the help of our late friend Elliot we were able to upgrade to a C2 with 650 watts from our current transmitter site on Signal Peak in the south of Gila county and dead line-of-site to downtown Phoenix.”

He adds, “In 2005 the station was forced to move channel by another move-in and we landed on 94.1, still a C2. The decision was made to go all Country but with a twist from the normal top 40 Country. Programming was done locally using a mix of country oldies, new artists, and pop Country. The ‘sound’ was the driver, not the artist’s name. The call was changed to KRDE 94.1 ‘The Ride.’

Five more years of frustration and re-engineering by Elliott ended in 2010 when a grant to C1 finally came true. Then disaster struck when a freak ice storm and micro-burst took down our tower and three other adjacent state and federal towers. The replacement was finished in August 2010 but again another, disaster struck when our 30 year friend, Elliott Klein, died unexpectedly. Nothing could replace him.

The fall and winter rolled around keeping us from completing us from completing the job (Arizona does get lots of snow on the mountain islands). Today, thanks to Richard White, Elliot’s old partner, and a host of other friends KRDE finally achieved its goal of becoming a full C1 this March. From class A to class C1 — and we never looked back.”

KRDE’s new PSI antenna