Bernie Miller was hostess of “Miller Time”, the midday show on Central Oregon’s 103 Country. This was the station formerly known as KPRB-FM. Don McCoun, owner of KUIK-AM 1360 in Hillsboro, purchased the stations in 1988 and changed the FM call letters to KSJJ. The “JJ” in the logo was drawn to resemble a pair of cowboy boots. Strangely enough, the KPRB call letters remained on 1240 AM, even though the AM and FM continued to simulcast 100% of the time.
Back then, KSJJ was a Redmond radio station, not yet targeting Bend. Though the transmitter was located just north of Bend, the signal suffered from multipath and terrain shadowing throughout much of the city. Even though they were running a full 100,000 watts ERP, the tower was just too short to cover Bend adequately. However, the music was right on track with a good mix of current and classic country. When I worked for this station the following year (afternoons on-air, 1990-91), I knew that if we could get a better transmitter location, we would be the #1 country station in Bend. Several years later, KSJJ was sold to the owners of KXIX-FM 94.1. KSJJ then relocated to the KXIX site, high atop Jack Pine Ridge in the Cascade mountains. Shortly thereafter, KSJJ became the dominant country station in Central Oregon.
This aircheck was recorded from my residence on the north side of Bend. I used a Realistic AM/FM/CD/cassette portable unit and Memorex dBS 90 tape to make the recording.
KSJJ_FM_Bernie_Miller_May_1989