CA Radio: Coachella Valley Stations To Go Silent

Long-time radio station owners Ric and Rozene Supple are dropping the mic for good on their final two Coachella Valley stationsm according to The Desert Sun.

The Supples, who started the first FM rock station in the desert and popularized talk radio in the desert, announced that Newstalk KPSI 920 AM and KWXY 1340 AM will go off the air on Aug. 12.

The Supples are both in their early 90s and Michael C. Green, senior vice president of RR Broadcasting, said they're focusing on their other holdings, including the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.

"We've been slowly beginning to close things down," said Green, who also manages the Palm Springs Cultural Center nonprofit organization founded by the Supples. "The real thing is, none of their heirs really have any interest in staying in the radio business. So we've just begun divesting of those things. We've had the AMs listed for sale for quite a while. We've had some offers, but nothing's quite panned out, so Ric and Rozene just decided to take them silent for the time being."

The Supples will retain the FCC licenses for the stations and keep them for sale, but Green said they have filed a "go silent" request with the FCC.

KPSI and KWXY are two of the oldest radio stations in the valley. KPSI went on air in 1956 and Rozene Supple bought it in 1968 shortly after her first husband died. KWXY was launched in 1964 by the late Glen Barnett, who sold his AM and FM stations to the Supples in 2006.