KBJA-1640: Studio Issues or STL?

[kenglish]

Haven't heard a peep out of 1640 all afternoon. Not even the "choppers" noise that is usually under their audio.
Just a nice, quiet carrier.

Anyone know if there is anything on their stream?

[David]

The KBJA audio feed on their website and the Simple Radio app is working, but to my ears it sounds overdriven and a little distorted. The schedule says S.P. Romney is supposed to be on at 9 PM, but whoever is on now isn't Romney. S.P has a very recognizable voice, and he's been hosting the late evening time slot for at least 20 years now.

[David]

KBJA's over the air signal is back on as of 11:30 Wednesday morning. Apparently they've either got some automation issues, or a problem with their STL.

[kenglish]

Sounds like the same issue today...no modulation, not even the usual "whop,whop,whop" chopper noise.
They should hire someone to stay there and monitor their transmitter 24/7.
Or, buy a Silence Sensor.

[kenglish]

Sunday, 2-13-2022. 12:00 noon.
Still nada.
Happy "World🌎 Radio📻 Day".

[David]

I tuned to 1640 just a couple of minutes before 1 PM, and I didn't even hear a TOH legal ID at 1:00 PM. That leads me to believe that KBJA is having issues with its studio to transmitter link. If it were an automation problem, I'd think the station would at least broadcast a TOH ID.

[CAwasinNJ]

Feb 13, 2022 14:04:36 GMT -6 David said:

I tuned to 1640 just a couple of minutes before 1 PM, and I didn't even hear a TOH legal ID at 1:00 PM. That leads me to believe that KBJA is having issues with its studio to transmitter link. If it were an automation problem, I'd think the station would at least broadcast a TOH ID.

?

When in use automation systems generally handle all of a station's audio. Why wouldn't it be handling ID's along with all the other audio?

[Terry]

It's 10:15am Monday. They're on the air with a live announcer saying "We're working on the problems. The phone lines aren't working. Maybe we can work from a remote location. Bear with me." He's playing some Johnny Cash. Audio quality is bad.

Now, "By tomorrow maybe. We have one phone line working. This is John. We have moved to an entirely new location. We've been gone for a week. We have entirely new studios in a new location. We moved from West Jordan to Murray and from Murray to Silicon Slopes. We're going to try to get things working."

[David]

Feb 14, 2022 11:09:41 GMT -6 CAwasinNJ said:

Feb 13, 2022 14:04:36 GMT -6 David said:

I tuned to 1640 just a couple of minutes before 1 PM, and I didn't even hear a TOH legal ID at 1:00 PM. That leads me to believe that KBJA is having issues with its studio to transmitter link. If it were an automation problem, I'd think the station would at least broadcast a TOH ID.

?

When in use automation systems generally handle all of a station's audio. Why wouldn't it be handling ID's along with all the other audio?

Missed cue tones from the network, perhaps? I'm not an engineer, so I'm just guessing here. I can remember several times when KLO was still airing "America's Best Music" that there was nothing but dead air on 1430, with the exception of the TOH ID. The same thing happened with KMES recently: dead air for the entire hour, with the exception of the TOH ID.

[kenglish]

Many times, I've heard 1640 go for hours with nothing but the TOH ID and a network newscast, because no one showed up for their purchased time slot.

[kenglish]

Just drove over to their old studios. No one there, looks like a sign (maybe for their business hours) was torn off the door.
All closed up, so I couldn't see inside.
Building signage all still says "KTLAK". Did anyone ever notice?

[kenglish]

No audio right now (11:30 PM). Tuning to 1635 or 1645 gives good reception of KDIA in Vallejo though. 10 KW U2, beaming SSW from their location.

[David]

Feb 15, 2022 0:38:21 GMT -6 kenglish said:

No audio right now (11:30 PM). Tuning to 1635 or 1645 gives good reception of KDIA in Vallejo though. 10 KW U2, beaming SSW from their location.

I wonder why KDIA is allowed to broadcast with 10 kW 24 hours a day. I've always thought that all expanded band AM stations were limited to 10 kW days and 1 kw nights, with the exception of XEPE-AM on 1700 kHz.

[radiowyoming]

Feb 14, 2022 11:09:41 GMT -6 CAwasinNJ said:

Feb 13, 2022 14:04:36 GMT -6 David said:

I tuned to 1640 just a couple of minutes before 1 PM, and I didn't even hear a TOH legal ID at 1:00 PM. That leads me to believe that KBJA is having issues with its studio to transmitter link. If it were an automation problem, I'd think the station would at least broadcast a TOH ID.

?

When in use automation systems generally handle all of a station's audio. Why wouldn't it be handling ID's along with all the other audio?

Not quite in the sens i think youre implying.

Automations only provide cues to other pieces of equipment. At KSKO, the automation sends a command to open the switch at 01 after for live TOH news... and at 6am, 7am, 4pm, 5pm and 530pm,  the automation gets a command to go to a live satellite feed.

If the command is missing from the log..... or the switcher which closes source 2 and opens source 1 is gummed up, it can fail.

If absolutely zilch was being broadcast over the air but the stream was working.. that tells me the automation is fine but either the STL transmitter or reciever is shat the bed in one form or another.

BUT.. most stations should and even KSKO can.. bypass the computer.  If something in the computer fails, I can mash the switcher buttons to get another source on the air.. and have. 

[CAwasinNJ]

You aren't saying that automation can't run an entire station, right? It definitely can. What your describing sounds more like a live assist system rather than a true automation system.