Sunday, September 15, 2013

Magic 1490 'Ghost Station' Leaves FFC Puzzled (Video)

By Susan Duclos

A modern day mystery of what is being headlined as a "ghost station."

In Omaha, Nebraska there is a radio station called Magic 1490, KOMJ, it has no advertisers, it has no disc jockeys, it's physical location cannot be found and the company that is officially listed as owning it, Cochise Broadcasting, in Jackson, Wyo., has no phone listing, or website and according to FCC filings, could not be reached in any way.

The station plays a continuous loop of old music, Buddy Holly, Petula Clark, Bobby Darin with a little "Forever in Blue Jeans" by Neil Diamond, or "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand, along with some "big band, swing-type numbers of the 1940s, and a few softilicious hits of the 1980s, such as “Captain of Her Heart,” by the French pop band Double, according to Omaha.com.

Looking up Cochise Broadcasting brings up a list of radio stations owned by the group, including KOJM, with most of them not having a website and just the cities listed where they are located.



A FCC enforcement report  states "On August 1, 2013, an agent from the Kansas City Office attempted to inspect station KOMJ's main studio, while the station was on the air. The station's web-page contains no main studio address and only lists a local phone number, which transfers to voice mail for stations located in the state of Arizona. The station's address of record is a mail box in the state of Wyoming."

Then things got a little more confusing when the FCC dug a little deeper.

Via Omaha.com:

The saga took another twist when the FCC dug deeper into the studio location. The agency said it found an unnamed attorney who served as contact person for the station. The attorney, filings say, said the main studio is at 10714 Mockingbird Dr., Omaha.  
The FCC investigated further, sending an inspector there. “This location is the main studio for the Journal Broadcast Group stations in Omaha,” the report says.  
“The staff for the Journal Broadcast Group stations stated that station KOMJ's main studio was not located at 10714 Mockingbird Dr. and that no one associated with station KOMJ worked at the location.”
Checking myself, I looked for KOMJ, and a website magic1490.com shows on the search, but when I click it, Google Chrome cannot find the page. So I opened up Firefox, same result.
CORRECTION- After others could access the site and I still could not, I rebooted modem and router and the site does come up.

Searching for Magic 1490, Omaha, NE. shows, with a zip code and a phone number.

Address: Omaha, NE 68114
Phone:(402) 951-1490

I called the number but it has been disconnected.

The Google map shows the location which I snipped and saved, which appears to be in the middle of nowhere.



So, as a hat tip to the "Ghost Station", enjoy a little magical blast from the past.



Cross posted at Before It's News