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Post by David on Oct 28, 2015 21:06:40 GMT -6
Wow, 70 years of Utah broadcasting history gone for yet another housing development. One can only hope that KSOP-AM continues to do well in the ratings so it doesn't meet the same fate as 910 AM.
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Post by christopherjohn on Oct 28, 2015 22:07:50 GMT -6
It is sad that is for sure. In my opinion I think KSOP AM will stick around for a while I just recently had to have work done on the original KSOP AM tower (LED upgrades, etc).. Damn thing is built like a tank!
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Oct 29, 2015 0:46:40 GMT -6
KWDZ is just off Mountain View Corridor, yes. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in a for sale sign though. It's true that other things have been built completely around AM towers before, but even without that it's very likely that iHeart (or someone else) could diplex with another station. It's not like there is a lack of AM stations in the area. iHeart even owns a few. Cumulus is in the process of selling the land under WMAL Washington (which does very well in the ratings), but they're just moving it. Also, if they were really taking the station dark I'm pretty sure they would have done it by now. The sale closed months ago. I'm still not buying the station going dark permanently and I won't until I see paperwork at the FCC.
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Post by David on Oct 29, 2015 12:11:29 GMT -6
Assuming that iHeart isn't planning on 910 AM going dark permanently, wouldn't a housing development or commercial buildings have to be located a certain distance from the towers because of the RF radiation exposure factor? I know that the FCC has recently relaxed some of the regulations concerning commercial radio towers, but with all the fuss in recent years over radiation exposure from large power lines in residential areas, I don't think that any commercial developer would want to build homes in an area too close to KWDZ's towers.
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Post by christopherjohn on Oct 29, 2015 13:48:23 GMT -6
You realize how much Diplexing will cost? An AM station will not give you a ROI unless you are a big AM in a big market... That land will bring in a ton more money than the AM station could bill.. Just the sad hard facts of AM radio...
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Post by egnlsn on Oct 29, 2015 16:36:13 GMT -6
Their towers are out in there in Herriman, close to the old cemetery.
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Post by David on Oct 29, 2015 18:07:56 GMT -6
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Oct 30, 2015 4:54:31 GMT -6
Well David, there are certainly AMers that have had developments built around them. WSB Atlanta, for example, is right in the middle of a shopping mall parking lot. Granted that's not residential, but that's 50kw day and night pouring out over the shoppers. I think it could be doable.
I agree that the land is valuable, which is why a lot of stations are going this route. But here's the thing. Let's assume that iHeart returns the 910 license. You can absolutely bet that at the next available window SOMEBODY is going to apply for a similar facility and iHeart doesn't get a penny. It makes much more sense to try to wring at least some money out of the station, or even donate it as a tax writeoff. Maybe they don't diplex and they find cheaper land elsewhere. I don't know. But especially with the noise that's being made about AM revitalization and making AM on FM translators easier and all that I'm confident something will end up happening at 910 or thereabouts whether it's iHeart or somebody else. There are at least 2 construction permits for new stations in the area (780 & 1580) and applications for even more. There's a demand. Whether that's foolish or not remains to be seen, but AM isn't dead yet. Your station even proves that.
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Post by David on Oct 30, 2015 11:54:07 GMT -6
The thought I had in posting the photo of the KWDZ towers with homes in the background was that a developer would probably want to build on the land where the towers are now. And it's certainly true that many AM stations have had homes or commercial buildings built around them. When I lived in Minneapolis, my residence was less than 1/2 mile from a 500 watt AM station, and most of the surrounding area was residential. However, that was 30 years ago, long before people started worrying about radiation from high voltage power lines and radio towers causing health problems. KOGN is another example. The tower for the station is about two blocks from the homes on Gibson Ave. I don't know if KOGN was there when the homes were built, but since the station dates to 1948 it probably was. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens with 910 in the coming months.
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Post by egnlsn on Oct 30, 2015 18:55:25 GMT -6
My comment was based on their (they being KALL 910 at the time ('80s)) saying that their new tower was in Herriman. At the time, the ones that appear (going by those photos) to belong to KALL 700 were the only ones out in the area.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Oct 31, 2015 7:09:32 GMT -6
I would recommend a copy of Google Earth and the plugin from www.fccinfo.com/fccinfo_google_earth.php That will show you exactly where any transmitter site in the country is. The 4 towers of KWDZ are clearly visible.
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Post by David on Oct 31, 2015 11:37:26 GMT -6
It is sad that is for sure. In my opinion I think KSOP AM will stick around for a while I just recently had to have work done on the original KSOP AM tower (LED upgrades, etc).. Damn thing is built like a tank! My compliments to whomever did the tower work: the station's signal is close to 20 db over S9 at my location in Ogden, which makes for a much cleaner sounding signal for us listeners up north!
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Post by egnlsn on Nov 1, 2015 0:38:45 GMT -6
Thanks so much for the Google Earth link. I've been hoping there was such a creature, but didn't know where to look.
You can clearly see the old road just on the west side of Mountain View Corridor and on the east side of the KWDZ towers. I obviously was incorrect about there being a cemetery there (hey, it was a long time ago), just remembering there was some fencing and a couple of small buildings.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Nov 1, 2015 2:36:05 GMT -6
Not a problem Ed. That site is an excellent resource for lots of parsing of the FCC database, so you should have a look around the rest of the site too. (And no I have no affiliation with the company at all other than being happy they're doing it.)
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