ASTORIA Coast Community Radio, which operates radio stations KMUN-FM 91.9 in Astoria, KTCB-FM 89.5 in Tillamook and KCPB-FM 90.9 in Warrenton, has recently gone the extra mile to provide Tillamook listeners with a better signal and redundancy in case of emergency.

With help from a $5,000 grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust, KTCB-FM’s signal, broadcast at 89.5, is now being fed to a radio antenna atop Cape Meares via an Internet connection. The change meant installing a raft of new high-tech equipment at the mountain-top broadcast compound where KTCB’s transmitter is located. For listeners, the result should be a clearer, more robust signal that is no longer impacted as much by poor weather conditions. The total cost for the project was $12,623.

Coast Community Radio General Manager Joanne Rideout said the changes were made in response to concerns from Tillamook listeners.

We talked it over with our tech consultants and decided that that our best option for getting a clearer signal was to transmit our radio signal between Astoria and Tillamook through an Internet connection instead of via regular tower-to-tower broadcast, said Rideout.

Rideout helped install the gear, assisting broadcast engineer Gray Haertig for two days to hook up more than $6,000 worth of new equipment at Cape Meares.

I learned a lot about how our broadcast systems operate by helping out with the install, Rideout said. Our equipment at Cape Meares now has redundancy because it’s transmitted via the Web and also still has our former broadcast system for backup.

Currently KTCB’s signal is simulcast from Astoria, where Coast Community Radio’s studios are located. The new equipment takes Coast Community Radio a step closer to being able to provide KTCB with its own local programming, when CCR is eventually able to open a studio in the Tillamook area.

This has been a long-term goal of the station for years, she said. We are getting there slowly and this is a big step.

The Internet connection for Tillamook is a behind-the-scenes operation that transmits the Web-based signal between two high altitude radio towers. Tillamook listeners hear the station as they always have, via radio broadcast, but with greater clarity.

Coast Community Radio was founded in 1983 and has been around for almost 30 years. To stream the stations of Coast Community Radio or for more info, visit www.coastradio.org.