The staff at Christian Family Radio completed 2 projects in 2015 that brought another 250,000 potential listeners into the coverage area of our over-the-air signal. We thank the Lord for these opportunities, and appreciate the tremendous listener support we have received in accomplishing these goals.
Former Coverage
2015 Coverage
KOLU’s power was raised from 4,100 watts to 39,000 watts, bringing a much better signal to outlying areas as well as dramatically improving indoor reception in our main coverage area. Areas that received “fringe” coverage, such as Walla Walla, are now part of our main coverage area. The images on the left and right give a “picture” of the improvements in coverage.
In addition, we completed the trade of a “translator”, or repeater, that serves Richland with a permit to build one serving Yakima. Once our power upgrade was complete, the Richland translator was no longer necessary, while the Yakima translator covers a very large audience that is not currently served by Christian Family radio. The Yakima translator is now on the air.
Remember that the additional power necessary to run KOLU at 39,000 watts has increased our bill for electricity by about $1300 per month, and it is more expensive to operate the translator in Yakima. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.
Coverage History
1971 KOLU Coverage
KOLU started in 1971 as a 390-watt station covering just the areas around West Pasco, WA. You can look at this map on the left (click to enlarge) to see the areas covered. The chart here will help you to interpret what the signal strength colors mean. Note that these maps were generated with different software, so the colors are different from those showing our present and expanded coverage above.
1978 KOLU Coverage
In 1978, KOLU’s power was upgraded to 3,900 watts, using the same location in West Pasco. The map to the left shows how much coverage was improved.
1995 KOLU Coverage
Perhaps the largest upgrade of KOLU came in 1995, with a move to Beck Mountain in Kennewick. Since FM radio is somewhat “line of sight”, the move to a location 1,500 feet above the Tri-Cities made a dramatic improvement in coverage, even though power was increased just a bit to 4,100 watts. You’ll see coverage improvements on the map at the left. Note that this coverage does not include the translator serving the Lower Yakima Valley from Prosser (which is included in the “Present Coverage” map above).
KOLU at 39,000 Watts
After KOLU is upgraded to 39,000 watts, the coverage improvements shown on the map at left demonstrate a very large area of “Excellent” coverage. This utilizes the present location on Beck Mountain, and the same antenna that we are now using (which is rated for twice the power that we will be running), but is an upgrade of nearly 10 times the current power level.
