KWDZ: Dead?

[David]

The deadline for KWDZ to resume broadcasting has passed without the station returning to the air, so according to this letter from the FCC, the station's license is now expired. It seems very strange to me that Citicasters would go to the trouble of filing an STA with the FCC and test the transmitter for a couple days in May only to let the license lapse. I guess they just figured it wasn't worth the effort to resurrect an AM station in 2016:

licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=65151

[CAwasinNJ]

All very true, however I can think of a few things that could reset the 1 year counter. As you pointed out at the time, KWDZ did go temporarily back on the air back in May. Your post was dated May 14 and the STA request was filed May 13, but the STA wasn't approved until May 23. This brings up a few questions. One, was the May 14 broadcast being done from the licensed site? Two, was the Commission notified in any way? Three, would that reset the one year silent counter? Four, if it was from the STA site they applied for but weren't yet granted, would that reset the counter? Five, if they were running from the applied for but not yet granted STA site, will they get a fine for unlawful operation? (Somehow I'm not seeing that one.) There are probably a few more questions I'll think of later.

There are quite a few unanswered questions here. Even if the facility is deleted, there's not a lot of doubt that somebody will apply to replace it as soon as they're able, so I wouldn't count on the area of 910 being silent forever. Personally I'd look at 900 or 920 myself if I were applying, but that's just me.

[David]

The station had already been granted a six month extension on their silent authority the end of March, so I don't see how the testing in May would reset the one year clock. I'm basing that on the fact that the station was supposed to be silent during the May transmitter test. And if Citicasters had notified the FCC they were resuming operations, that information would have been posted on the FCC database by now. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. However, given the FCC's lax enforcement of its own rules, KWDZ could probably go back on the air next week and come up with some lame excuse for not resuming operations on time, and the FCC would forgive them. Look at how long it took them to finally shut down KXOL after the station's license was cancelled. BTW, I don't think 920 would be a good choice of frequency for an AM station in the Salt Lake metro. KVEL in Vernal is on 920, and there's less than 200 miles between Salt Lake and Vernal. Interference probably wouldn't be much of a problem during the day, but it would be considerable at night unless the other station on 920 was using a directional antenna pointed away from Vernal.

[CAwasinNJ]

Going back on the air means the station is no longer silent. Exactly how long they have to remain on the air to be considered no longer silent I don't think is written anywhere, but the standard seems to be one day. That's been going on for many years around the country and is well established. If KWDZ was still at their licensed site and there was a notification of resumption of operations and a new STA request this would be a done deal. Unfortunately that isn't the case which is what makes the situation a little murky.

Keep in mind I'm not a communications attorney (or any other for that matter), but this is what I see based on many years or reading FCC decisions. Since they did have a license and presumably were broadcasting from not too far from the licensed location (either at or near the licensed site) not to mention the temporary antenna they were using had little efficiency and they did actually file for the STA when the temporary broadcasts began, I wouldn't be surprised if they got away with an admonishment if anything happens at all. If there was a fine involved, it wouldn't be more than a small one that wouldn't even be noticed on iHeart's balance sheet. All I think they need to do is let the FCC know that they did resume operations and everything is fine. As you say, they can probably be retroactive now and probably isn't an issue. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody was supposed to do that and screwed up or forgot or something like that. That's happened plenty of times.

On the other hand, I wonder how much iHeart really cares about running 910 and whether it's really on the market. Remember that it came as a package deal with what's now WUBG in the Indianapolis market, which iHeart took control of immediately. Regardless of where this goes, it's pretty obvious that what iHeart wanted was the Indianapolis FM and not a Salt Lake AM. One problem is that there are simply too many radio stations on the air here. Even 1230 KRUZ that was running under an STA also has been off the air after running a CBS Sports Radio format that nobody noticed. KUDE has been on the auction block for years with no takers (though now that the move & downgrade to 99.1 is approved again maybe something will happen there.) KNRS(AM) has been made mostly irrelevant by 105.9FM. I could go on but I'm sure I'm not saying anything that the regulars here don't already know. I'm sure there's somebody who's crazy enough to want to run a station. The problem is making the connection and being willing to have a realistic view of the worth of these stations.

[David]

CA, KRUZ is still on 1230 as of today. It may have been off the air when you tuned in, but I heard the station clearly with a TOH ID this afternoon while I was headed south on I-15. You have to get past 5600 S in Roy to hear the station clearly because of all the interference from KOGN and KANN in the Ogden area, but once you do KRUZ comes in loud and clear. Still haven't heard anything on 910, though.

[CAwasinNJ]

Well things just got more interesting.

On Wednesday 8/24 iHeart just got around to filing a new STA to be silent. They claim administrative oversight. The problem is that they list the station as having gone silent on 5/15. That matches up with the observations we made at the time. BUT, the STA request for the new antenna was filed 5/13, wasn't accepted until 5/16 (the day AFTER the station went silent again) and wasn't approved until 5/23. Are those types of STA's retroactive? I wouldn't think so, but I'm not a lawyer. This sounds like a problem since by their own admission they couldn't transmit from their authorized site (they got kicked out a while ago, right?) and they'd also have to admit to being on the air from an at the time unauthorized site to confirm what they've already filed (being on the air up to 5/15). Would it really have been so hard to wait a couple of weeks for the engineering STA to be approved before doing the one day broadcast to keep the license alive? They had time.

I'm not sure where things go from here. If I were to make a wild guess I'd say that iHeart gets fined for moving the transmitter to an unauthorized location and for a late silent STA request but the silent clock gets reset and nothing needs to happen until November. That's just a guess though.

[David]

Since the reason listed for the station remaining silent is "financial," I'd imagine a fine wouldn't help matters any. However, I think the reason given is a bit of a crock with Citicaster's deep pockets, along with the administrative oversight baloney. That sounds like they're pulling a trick out of Nicholas Vicente's hat to avoid having the FCC cancel the license. I had been wondering why Citicasters went to the trouble of filing an STA, getting approval, and doing the weekend broadcast back in May just to let the license expire, while Vicente put a huge amount of effort into trying to get KXOL's license reinstated and was ultimately unsuccessful. Given that a precedent has been set locally with KXOL being off the air for more than a year and the FCC cancelling the station's license, I wouldn't be surprised if they told Citicasters to go pound sand as well. If nothing else, at least it shows that Citicasters is trying to save the station's license, but for what purpose I don't know. Maybe they plan on KWDZ stunting with Christmas music like KUDD did with 105.1 last winter. That would be a perfect temporary format if the station doesn't have to go back on the air until November.

[CAwasinNJ]

I think you're misinterpreting the meaning of "financial" here. The question isn't whether iHeart has the money to run the station. The question is whether it would be profitable and would make financial sense. Running KODJ (as they did for a day) isn't going to increase their ratings to any degree anyone would notice if they were even adding the PPM encoding at all. Therefore it doesn't make any sense to run it without a format that would make money.

They station is clearly worth something. If the license does get canceled, somebody is going to apply for similar facilities the next time an AM filing window opens. That's especially true now that AM stations can be used as primaries for FM translators. That's being done all over the country and I think iHeart itself has done quite a few. It's tricky here with all the rimshots, but that would be huge.

[David]

There's a number of formats I think would work for 910, with pre-1970 rock oldies or adult standards being two that come to mind. There's even a few all-comedy stations on AM (including one owned by iHeart in Bakersfield) that seem to be doing OK. IMHO, putting a news/talk, talk or sports format on KWDZ would be a waste of airtime, as would another Spanish language station. We have enough of that on the AM band in this area already, as well as some sports overlap with BYU games on KSL and Weber State games on KLO. Having the option of an FM translator station would improve the sound quality of a music format as well.

[David]

Not surprisingly, the FCC has granted Citicasters (iHeart) a 180 day extension of remain silent authority under the previously filed STA beginning 09/07/2016. The letter sent to Citicasters also notes that the station's license will automatically expire on May 16, 2017 if broadcasting isn't resumed by that date, along with a strongly worded admonishment reminding iHeart of their responsibilities to notify the FCC in a timely manner of suspension/resumption of operations. The final paragraph of the FCC's letter seems to leave open the possibility of a fine for Citicasters "administrative oversight", but I'd be willing to bet that won't happen unless Citicasters screws up a second time. Below is the link to the FCC's letter to iHeart:

licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=67600

[CAwasinNJ]

I wouldn't call that "strongly worded" myself. I've seen that kind of boilerplate many times before. Given the extension's been granted, the worst that's going to happen would be a fine. I'd be shocked if it was any more than $10,000 if it happens at all, and iHeart can find that in the couch cushions. Full on pirates get charged $10,000 (and then don't bother paying it either), so this is probably going to amount to nothing.

I haven't seen anything, but I'm almost certain that the station is up for sale and they're just looking for a buyer. There's no other explanation I can think of.

[David]

I'm surprised that iHeart hasn't managed to sell the station by now, especially with KWDZ being licensed for 5 KW days & 1 KW nights and being located in a major metropolitan area. Of course, the fact that the land where the station's towers used to be having to be vacated doesn't help matters any. FWIW, here's a link to an interesting article that mentions KWDZ losing its tower site in Riverton with a photo of the now-demolished antennas:

www.insideradio.com/free/despite-fcc-help-am-radio-still-faces-hurdles/article_b4d3a414-70de-11e6-b7be-bf26df848818.html