Former employee Jeremy Bryant looks over remodeling efforts at KFLP studios (201 West California) in 2001 (FCR Photo)
FLOYDADA, TX – Forty years ago today, a Floydada High School teacher’s dream became a partial reality.
Bob Alldredge originally wanted to purchase the local newspaper, but since it was not for sale, he purchased the assets of 900AM (KFBA) after the radio station fell on hard times.
With no prior experience in the industry, the new owner applied for an FM channel and received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on April 5, 1983. Eight days later, on Friday, April 13th, KLLP began broadcasting on 95.3 FM at 3,000 watts.
The dream for this station was to move the studios to Lubbock and broadcast as a Hub City station. Unfortunately, the plan never materialized because engineers couldn’t send the signal from the studio site in downtown Lubbock clearly back to the tower (located south of Floydada on U.S. 62), and the signal of the FM would not cover the entire city of Lubbock. After months of trying, Alldredge moved the studios back to Floyd County.
Over the next 12 years, Alldredge would be approached by interested buyers. Still, none could make the AM/FM combo profitable, so in late November of 1995, when approached by a couple from Plainview, he was cautiously optimistic.
That couple, Pamela and Tony Ricketts, struck a deal with Bob and his wife, Charlene Alldredge, for a lease-purchase agreement whereby the young couple could move into ownership.
On April 2, 2001, the FCC granted a minor modification to the station allowing the Ricketts to move from 95.3FM (3,000 watts) to 106.1FM (25,000 watts), dramatically improving the coverage into Briscoe, Hale, Crosby, and Lubbock counties.
What hasn’t changed is the station’s mission to serve Floyd County and the slogan uttered over 27 years ago after the station made a full-time switch to a modern country format with 24/7 broadcasts: “Don’t flip us off, flip us on”!
