At about 3 am Friday morning (05/12) a strong storm front passed through southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri resulting in a lightening strike and antenna damage at KRPS's tower site south of Pittsburg.
KRPS engineer Art headed to the site at day break and was able to get our frequency back up at 20% power or about 20,000 watts.
Update - 05/13/2023
The exciter unit went out, and has been sent for repairs.
It is a $10,000 piece of equipment that sends audio to the transmitter.
We are currently using borrowed exciter units to see if they will work in the mean time.
At full strength KRPS operates at 100,000 watts.
We've ordered new parts to replace the ones that were toasted due to the lightening strike.
KRPS continues to stream through the NPR app for Androidand Apple's iOS.
We also remain streaming at our website.
Or you can also listen on your smart-speaker by asking it to play 'Four States Public Radio'
All regular programming will continue to stream, including our live, locally hosted Morning Edition from 6 until 9 am weekdays.
We'll provide additional updates when we know more about the replacement parts and how long it will take to receive them and return to full strength.
Thank you for your patience.
