Pact with Cow Creek GCD keeps Boerne Radio broadcasting
Boerne Radio 103.9 FM came within six days of being forced off the air before signing a lease agreement for a new transmission tower.
The Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District tuned in to the station’s plight and signaled there was a solution at hand.
Baron Wiley and the BOFARS Media Group, owners of Boerne Radio, signed the deal on June 9, giving permission for KBRN to build an AM tower on the grounds of the Cow Creek office on Toepperwein Road.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Boerne Star and Boerne Radio have a working agreement, with the radio station airing the newspaper’s “Boerne Brew” show at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Wiley was up against a June 15 deadline, set by the Federal Communications Commission, to have a tower to handle its AM transmission on the dial at 1500.
“Had this not happened, Boerne Radio would have ceased to exist on June 16,” Wiley said. “God’s timing is always perfect ... but man, that was close.”
When BOFARS Media, with General Manager Wiley at the helm, took on KBRN in October 2021, the tower for AM1500 – which was also on Toepperwein Road, just in a different spot –– was no longer available.
The property owner died, left the land to relatives, the land was sold and the towers were removed by the new proprietor.
Every six months, BOFARS Media has been required to report on its progress to the FCC about securing a new permanent tower site — but there were no more available AM towers in Boerne, Wiley said, much less Kendall County.
Previously, extensions were granted every six months, up until the federal government shutdown in fall of 2025.
In December, Wiley said KBRN received a letter from the FCC stating its temporary license would not be approved “and in so many words, ‘build a new tower or sell the station.’” In January, Wiley spoke at the Noon Rotary Club and met Rick Swinghamer, who learned about the station’s problem.
That turned into a follow-up lunch meeting with Wiley, Swinghamer and Ben Eldridge, a Cow Creek board member.
Eldridge suggested room might exist behind the Cow Creek main office on Toepperwein.
After a presentation by Wiley at the March Cow Creek board meeting, participating in a subcommittee review in April, and drafting a 13-page lease agreement in May, the deal was inked with less than a week to spare.
“Cow Creek is excited about this new opportunity. We feel like it is a great way to get the word out about conservation and our mission,” Cow Creek General Manager Micah Voulgaris said, It’s also worth noting the tower is returning almost to where it started, Wiley said.
“The other ‘Christmas in June’ miracle,” Wiley said, “is the location of Cow Creek on Toepperwein Road is literally across the street from where the original tower ‘lived.’ The latitude/longitude coordinates for the new location are already approved.”
Now, Wiley said, another deadline looms — building the new tower, budgeted close to $200,000.
A capital campaign will be rolled out soon, he said.
Support from the community has been encouraging, Wiley said, after a letter to the editor in the Boerne Star first publicized the situation. “God’s timing is always perfect ... but man, that was close.”
— Baron Wiley, Boerne Radio
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