KSRM to light 'Fuse'

Starting on Thanksgiving Day, radio listeners and lovers of rock music will have a new choice in the central Kenai Peninsula.

KFSE, or "The Fuse," the latest offering of KSRM Inc., will broadcast at 106.9 FM and feature what the company calls "active rock." The new station goes on the air at 11 a.m. Thursday.

"It's new rock," said KSRM station manager Cherie Curry, who has worked for KSRM's owner and corporate president John Davis for nine years. "There possibly will be some classic rock thrown in and probably some alternative, but not much hip-hop or rap."

New rock is one format that is missing in the central peninsula, and one that the community has been asking for, Curry said.

"We are able to offer that to them," she said.

For now, at least, the 24-hour entertainment menu will be nothing but solid music. No news hour or other programming is planned at this time, Curry said.

Disc jockey's will be local employees, not a satellite feed, she added.

KSRM Inc. is allowed up to six stations, and "The Fuse" will be its fifth. Currently, the corporation operates its flagship KSRM 920 AM, offering news and talk radio; KWHQ 101.1 FM, a new country music station that recently boosted its power to 25,000 Watts; KSLD 1140 AM, featuring classic rock; and KKIS 96.5 FM, serving up adult contemporary music.

Federal Communication Commission licenses are limited. To open his new station, Davis purchased a station construction permit from Northern Radio Inc., which runs two stations in Seward.

KSRM Inc. then built the new station by converting facilities at its studio building on Kalifornsky Beach Road. The new station was officially licensed in the city of Kasilof, as there were no license slots available in Kenai, Curry said. KSRM's tower and transmitter are on Echo Lake Road.

Business growth, opportunity and community demand led to the decision to launch the new station. Curry said she is not worried that the new station might strip advertising from other KSRM stations.

"There is more radio ad revenue out there," she said. "It is the marketing department's job to go after it."

KFSE will launch Thursday on the eve of the 40th Anniversary of KSRM, Curry said.

This week, that station's weekly program, "Life on the Kenai Live," with Merrill Sikorski (airing at 1 p.m. Fridays) will be devoted to a discussion with Davis about those 40 years of broadcasting on the peninsula.

There will also be a reception at the studios from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday that is open to the public.

Hal Spence can be reached at hspence@ptialaska.net.