Mike Day, owner and general manager of KTNK radio, makes service to the Lompoc Valley community his priority 24/7, 365 days a year.
Day bought the station, at AM frequency 1410, in May 2014 when it was known as KSMA, and renamed it KTNK. In July of this year, he added a sister frequency, FM 103.7.
Coverage of the 500-watt 1410 AM encompasses all of Lompoc, including “all the ranches around town,” and continues east to Solvang and north of Santa Maria, just over the county line, Day noted. But he’s also racking up lots of listeners on the FM dial, he added, which has nearly the same coverage area.
Highway 246 commuters drive past the AM towers and studio, located on a private cattle ranch just east of Lompoc, and the FM towers stand at 1,800 feet along Harris Grade Road.
The station’s formats are good old-fashioned country western music — recorded decades before it became known only as “country.”
“Ours is traditional country, most of it from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s,” Day said.
“Our format is just so good, we attract people who might have been listening to satellite radio,” he told me. His own radio show, “Where’s the Country,” airs from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday; he records it one day in advance.
“Local jocks” work the other weekday (and night) shifts, and on weekends, syndicated country-music programs fill the hours. The parent company of KTNK is Cross & Crown Broadcasting Corporation.
Day, a native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, worked for 33 years in the film industry, including more than 20 years at Paramount Pictures, he said. During that time, Day was a studio guitarist — bass and steel guitar are his specialties — formed a band and completed voiceovers.
A longtime dream was to own a country music radio station, so upon his “retirement,” he relocated to Lompoc from Los Angeles.
Today, four years into that retirement gig, Day’s station highlights local advertisers using the voices of community members and employees at select businesses, plays “at least one” devotional song per hour and focuses on helping fundraise for the community. There’s no weather, traffic or news — “news just makes listeners mad,” he said.
Day’s mantra is, “Country music, Christian living and community service,” he said. He has three grown children, all of whom are involved in theater and/or music. Day earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre from Portland State University, and a master’s in theology from the Fullerton Theological Seminary in Pasadena, he said.
One example of Day’s devotion to his community is the upcoming Honky Tonk Christmas Weekend, his second annual effort to unite local and national country musicians on several stages throughout Lompoc for the benefit of organizations that serve the community. The weekend will include five separate performances at five Lompoc venues.
Last year’s debut event raised $1,000 for the Lompoc Food Pantry. This year, beneficiaries include two other local organizations: Certain Sparks Music and the Lompoc Half Century Club.
The event opens at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, with “Honky Tonk Kickoff” at Solvang Brew Co. on H Street. National country stars Myra Rolen, and Justin Trevino with the KTNK Top Hands featuring Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel, will perform.
Two concerts will take place on Saturday, Dec. 8: The first, “Honky Tonk Hot Dogs,” runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lompoc Elks Lodge #2274 on East Ocean Avenue. In the lounge will be an acoustic show with Rolen and Trevino.
The second, that evening, will be across town at the Lompoc Wine Factory with “Honky Tonk Revue,” where from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., local artist Dylan Ortega will join Trevino, Rolen, Day’s own band, Too Little Too Late, and KTNK Top Hands.
Sunday opens with Honky Tonk Gospel Service from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Peace Lutheran Church, 1000 W. Ocean Ave. Featured will be Day, Rolen and Trevino.
Day, an ordained minister, sometimes fills in at Peace Lutheran for the regular pastor.
At 1 p.m. the Honky Tonk Christmas Benefit will take place at the Half Century Club, 341 North N St. Artists include Ortega, Too Little Too Late, the Shine Box Boys, Trevino, Rolen and the KTNK Top Hands.
No tickets will be sold; entry to all five shows is by suggested donation only, Day emphasized. At the Wine Factory, a portion of Saturday evening’s wine sales will also go toward the three beneficiaries of the weekend.
Day counts his years as a musician for the country music connections he today brings to Lompoc.
“Many of the performers I know are from Texas and are members of the Texas Steel Guitar Association,” he said. “Jay Dee Maness played with Buck Owens and founded the Desert Rose Band.”
For more information, email Day at radioktnk@gmail.com
— Laurie Jervis blogs about wine at www.centralcoastwinepress.com, tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.