Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna

You would be right if you detect a theme today. The next exhibit is KHQN-AM, one of the more curious radio stations in the collection. It is a 1,000 watt class D (tiny) AM station located in Spanish Forks, Utah, which is South of Salt Lake City. There is a Krishna Temple right in the middle of Mormon Contry. Krishna is a diety in the Hindu religion.

Google Earth

Your most likely point of contact would have been bald guys in airports chanting Hare Krishna at you (or in movies) next to a Jane Fonda Save the Whales protestor.

Well, the Spanish Forks Temple decided they needed an AM radio station in the 1980s. In 2006, they realized their foolishness and found a woman named Robyn Howell, who agreed to pay a more foolish $315,000 to buy the station. Well, cutting to the chase, she died in 2013. The station carried the Salem talk lineup for a year after she died, but went silent. The station is close to having the license expire for being silent, although the FCC usually accommodates death of the owner as a reason the station ceased operations as long as the probate process is active.

The station is bouncing back to the Temple for $50,000

Details of sale

In cases in the past, sometimes these sales are actually gifts. The charity buys the station, then the seller signs the check back over to the church, establishing a Bona Fide sales price for the IRS, and then the license is allowed to expire. The FCC has not yet approved the transfer, but allegedly the transmitter is back on.