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KUMT
Jul 25, 2018 16:57:28 GMT -6
Post by oldiesfunhouse on Jul 25, 2018 16:57:28 GMT -6
I'm just wondering if any of you know when the flip will take place on 107.9 from The Mountain to BYU Radio. I guess KBYU TV Channel 11 discontinued its PBS affiliation on July 2. There had been discussion about KUMT flipping then but maybe the sale is still pending. Does anybody have any insight? Thank you.
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KUMT
Jul 25, 2018 18:40:52 GMT -6
Post by David on Jul 25, 2018 18:40:52 GMT -6
About 2 weeks ago, I posted a comment on KUMT's Facebook page stating that it would be great if they could convince BYU Broadcasting to hold off on the switch to BYU Radio until July 24th. I thought Pioneer Day would be an appropriate day for BYU to take over 107.9. The response I received was that it would probably be at least a few days after the 24th before the sale to BYU Broadcasting closed, so I'm guessing the switch will probably occur around July 30th-August 1st.
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 5:58:03 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on Jul 26, 2018 5:58:03 GMT -6
I've been wondering the same thing. David, that would have been a pretty good idea. The only problem I could think of is that with the launch of a new station (which is what this is for all practical purposes) you want people to listen when you have the big splashy launch. A lot of the target audience was probably doing other things on July 24 so they wouldn't have been paying much attention. The symbolism is spot on though.
There was never any mention that I saw of 107.9 flipping along with Ch 11 on July 2. The original plan from last year was to flip 89.1 and 11 at the same time on July 2, but the FM side of that got scuttled months ago. I never saw any reports of a timetable for the revised plan. The transfer of control needed to be approved by the FCC (though I was never in doubt that it would be) and that happened June 22. There's also the matter of building the infrastructure to feed the programming from BYU to the main and all the boosters. That could take time and I don't know what their plan for how to do that feeding is going to happen.
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 6:58:17 GMT -6
Post by amanuensis on Jul 26, 2018 6:58:17 GMT -6
It seems to me like the KUMT signal has gotten cleaner on my commute route from West Jordan to Lehi. So perhaps a lot of engineering work needs to be done before the flip. I am sure that BYU wants the signal to be as good as it can be, because people will be listening for the first (and maybe only) time to their programming.
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 8:52:58 GMT -6
Post by oldiesfunhouse on Jul 26, 2018 8:52:58 GMT -6
The suggestions I was referring to were just speculation I thought I remembered in this group. I've listened to BYU Radio a bit over the last couple of months and it's very much what I think they call "block" programming, meaning one hour is a talk show, another might be religious programming, and yet another is classical music. When I tuned in last night around 9:30 they were doing a special about the music of Nat King Cole, a show called the "Tantera hour" with a guy called Ron Simpson. It was a great show that featured a lot of rare instrumental piano recordings by Cole. I don't knowif that show is on every week at that time or if it's what one might call a "pop-up". I don't imagine the channel will do super well in the ratings because they target different audiences at different times but noncoms probably don't worry about that as much. Thoughts?
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tuttle
Member
BANNED EX-MEMBER
Posts: 23
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 10:55:09 GMT -6
Post by tuttle on Jul 26, 2018 10:55:09 GMT -6
The transaction for KUMT has yet to close as the buyer is still working through a number of issues, especially on the technical end. For example, the main transmitter on Humpy Peak. It's been off for months but reports from it's coverage area have the signal back on in recent weeks. Both parties are hoping the transaction closes in August.
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 19:40:12 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on Jul 26, 2018 19:40:12 GMT -6
Student-run stations have done that sort of block programming for a long time, and if you think about it general news/talk programming is similar. You might like a stations talk show A but not like talk show B. I don't think that's going to be their problem. I'm just not sure enough people care about the subject matter. (Here's the page on the Tantara Hour if you're interested www.byuradio.org/show/023cedca-80f2-4c79-a0cb-7bbc79ea047f/the-tantara-hour ) tuttle, can you give us the source of your information?
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tuttle
Member
BANNED EX-MEMBER
Posts: 23
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 21:56:28 GMT -6
Post by tuttle on Jul 26, 2018 21:56:28 GMT -6
Reports of the Humpy Peak signal come from residents of rural Utah and Wyoming that signal covers; I have not been able to verify myself. If work has been done recently, it may effect other signals with facilities at that location. How's your local Humpy Peak station sounding these days?
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KUMT
Jul 26, 2018 23:50:00 GMT -6
Post by David on Jul 26, 2018 23:50:00 GMT -6
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KUMT
Jul 31, 2018 9:28:32 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by michaeljwyo on Jul 31, 2018 9:28:32 GMT -6
I don't see signal feeding to Humpy being a problem. As far as I know the signal is fed from the Wasatch Front to Lewis Peak above Coalville by a digital circuit from CenturyLink or whoever. Then from there it is shot via stl over to Humpy Peak. From what I've been told this true for all the humpy stations. So pretty easy to set up a digital circuit through the phone company. As I am writing this, yes the main on humpy is on. Listening to it right now. Could have sworn I checked on Friday and it was still off. I could be wrong, though. Same old mountain format you guys are hearing.
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KUMT
Aug 1, 2018 2:43:14 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 1, 2018 2:43:14 GMT -6
It's not just the Humpy main that they need to worry about. Remember that the main and all the boosters need to be synchronized or it will become a huge mess. I know there's at least one company that specializes in those installations but I'm not familiar with exactly how it's done.
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KUMT
Aug 2, 2018 8:04:57 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by michaeljwyo on Aug 2, 2018 8:04:57 GMT -6
I can only imagine how tricky that is to get them synced, especially down there in the metro. Not much signal from humpy makes it down there and definitely no signal from the boosters makes it to the other side of the Wasatch mountains...so it's probably not too much of an issue but getting 5 or 6 boosters down there all in sync, now THAT must be fun. Haven't seen hardly any sync problems at all between boosters and humpy. I've seen many sync problems in the past with the Lewis Peak boosters and the mains on Farnsworth. When I was on the air I ALWAYS listened to the over-the-air signal in my headphones and in the studio. With syncing, the over the air signal on the main usually has to be delayed in order to match the boosters since the signal takes a bit longer to get to the boosters... especially if it's a digital line like the humpy stations. The ones with only one transmitter may also be using a digital circuit or they are HD which ALSO has to be delayed several seconds to match the anlog signal. Point is, there are probably a very small handful that actually have the ability to listen to the over-the-air signla when they are actually talking over the air. I imagine syncing HD is probably a lot harder than syncing boosters and mains. Any of us that have HD can probably make a list of stations whose HD is out of sync with their main. It's really annoying especially in places like going up Parley's canyon where the signal is constantly jumping back and forth.
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KUMT
Aug 3, 2018 0:18:16 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 3, 2018 0:18:16 GMT -6
I don't know for sure how the boosters are synced but I seem to recall reading somewhere that GPS signals are used and that would be how I would do it, especially if you're correct and they use a digital STL (which I have every reason to believe). What I'd do would be to divide the audio signal into small chunks, say 1/1000th of a second. Then I'd send the data to all the transmitters along with a timestamp of when it should be transmitted, say 09:43:23.387. Then each transmitter monitors the GPS signals which are incredibly precise and then transmits that audio data at exactly the time the timestamp says. No need for any coordination between them, but since they're all using the same reference signal they all send the same data at exactly the same time. The handoff between each of the boosters (and the main for that matter) would be undetectable. There would be some kind of a delay between the studio feed and the transmitted audio, but that could be variable depending on the reliability of the STL connection. It would probably make monitoring yourself off air infeasible as you said, but I think that's pretty much unnecessary anyway. IMHO silence monitors and occasionally listening to an air monitor during a song or whatever is completely fine.
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KUMT
Aug 3, 2018 8:54:29 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by michaeljwyo on Aug 3, 2018 8:54:29 GMT -6
Pretty cool. I hadn't thought of that! I know there may be a few engineers that watch this board. Maybe someone could chime in and solve the mystery. Then too they may not want to share the secret since some stations may do it differently than others 🙂
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KUMT
Aug 20, 2018 23:44:52 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 20, 2018 23:44:52 GMT -6
Today (Mon 8/20) I'm noticing a distinct lack of high end frequencies on 107.9 that I never noticed before. If that's new it could be a signal that something's changed. Does anyone else hear a difference?
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