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Beach broadcasts share information with travelers, residents

Rhonda Cummins, Calhoun County Extension Agent - Coastal & Marine Resources, third from the left, and project team members of the K-YAK Low Power Radio station in Port Lavaca. The station broadcasts information in the beach area about coastal ecology and wildlife, boating safety, local history, and other topics of interest about our coastal area for visitors, residents and kids of all ages.
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  • Originally published July 15, 2009 at midnight, updated July 15, 2009 at 4:10 p.m.

The richness and diversity of our area's beaches are enjoyed by and familiar to many of us. There's so much to know and enjoy learning about its wildlife, ecology and history. It's hard to visit our beaches without discovering something that's changed. For those of us who know its ways, that is part of the enjoyment of living and visiting here.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently rated the area from Magnolia Beach to Indianola one of the top 10 beaches in Texas. It's a well-traveled vacation spot, and popular with local residents, summer vacationers and Winter Texans. This popularity spurred K-YAK, the new Low Power Radio station that broadcasts in the beach area. The station airs information about coastal ecology and wildlife, boating safety, local history and more.

K-YAK is a pilot project that shares information and encourages tourism and enlightened use of our natural resources. Listeners can tune to 1610 AM within the area to receive the station's broadcasts, which are called "Your Area's Knowledge." Many of K-YAK's messages will be geared to Winter Texans. Messages will be changed regularly to appeal to residents and frequent visitors, as well.

Rhonda Cummins, Texas Sea Grant extension agent for Calhoun County, and other project members, work to develop a file of broadcast messages about the area's wildlife, ecology, history, boating and water safety, as well as other interesting topics for tourism and recreation. The first message is about safe boating tips and can be downloaded from kyakradio.tamu.edu/downloads.html. All other messages will also be available for download from the site.

Using this broadcast method with people driving along the beach area, provides an opportunity for reaching a broad audience at a low cost and with rather modest effort.

Low Power Radio has been used in state and national parks, airports and theme parks. It was developed to inform travelers of traffic and weather conditions. Each antenna has a range from 1/4 mile to 2 miles, depending on the terrain and atmospheric conditions. Three antennas are planned for Calhoun County to cover the entire beach area.

Area kiosks that have maps of the area's kayak trail will also carry information about K-YAK. The radio station logo and Web site will also be displayed on the restroom buildings at Indianola Beach Park. Printed brochures will be available from the Port Lavaca Visitors Center, Calhoun County Extension Office and area businesses. The brochure can also be downloaded from the Web site.

Partners in this project are Texas Sea Grant, Port Lavaca Chamber of Commerce, members of the Texas Master Naturalist program, Calhoun County Commissioners Court, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas State Game Wardens and local volunteers.

Rhonda Cummins, who helped write this article, is a Calhoun County Texas Sea Grant extension agent. She can be contacted at: rdcummins@ag.tamu.edu. Paul and Mary Meredith are master naturalists. Contact them at paulmary0211@sbcglobal.net.


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