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Post by David on Aug 7, 2022 11:25:33 GMT -6
FWIW, 1280 AM has been off the air since at least Friday morning, and no one at Bonneville seems to have noticed. Isn't there an on call engineer that can get the darn transmitter fixed so I can listen to the Bees games on the radio? I know from looking at the ratings for KZNS-AM that I'm not the only one listening to 1280! 😡
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Post by kenglish on Aug 7, 2022 14:45:41 GMT -6
I called the KSL newsroom, but they didn't know anything. I tried TV Master Control, but they hadn't heard. BTW, KDYL is on the air, but no audio. Maybe the storms?
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 7, 2022 16:29:00 GMT -6
Without knowing what the ongoing problem(s) is(/are) it's impossible for someone on the outside to judge how the engineering staff is handling things. We don't even know if it would be legal for the station to be on the air in its present state, whatever that is.
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Post by David on Aug 7, 2022 21:49:38 GMT -6
I called the KSL newsroom, but they didn't know anything. I tried TV Master Control, but they hadn't heard. BTW, KDYL is on the air, but no audio. Maybe the storms? I'm not sure what's going on with KDYL's over the air signal, but their streaming feed is offline as well. I sure hope the station's tower didn't get hit by lightning again! That type of damage is pretty expensive.
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Post by kenglish on Aug 8, 2022 9:12:40 GMT -6
More likely, their studio lost power (storm?), and the automation has locked up.
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Post by kenglish on Aug 8, 2022 9:22:59 GMT -6
KZNS-AM came back on the air at 9:19 AM, just a few minutes after I called the switchboard. She said that no one had called previously. I also noted that they don't have a "press __ for the Zone" on their phone tree.
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Post by David on Aug 8, 2022 13:36:20 GMT -6
KZNS-AM came back on the air at 9:19 AM, just a few minutes after I called the switchboard. She said that no one had called previously. I also noted that they don't have a "press __ for the Zone" on their phone tree. I haven't called KSL/Bonneville about the issue with The Zone's AM frequency; but I've posted several messages about it on the station's Facebook page, and I've been pretty specific that the problem seems to be connected with the AM powering down at night. I may be wrong about this, but it seems like KSL took over operations of The Zone just because they wanted to be able to air the Jazz games on KSL. I don't recall there being as many issues with the AM signal when the station was still part of the Larry H. Miller media group.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 8, 2022 13:57:46 GMT -6
I don't know what's going on there either but I have to say I'm very disappointed. Of all the station owners, Bonneville is the last one I would expect to not get this right. So apparently it was off all weekend and nobody there noticed? I would have been sure they'd have a silence alarm that someone in the building would notice, but even/especially without one I would have been sure someone would check up on the signals from time to time. Very disappointing.
I don't see how posting on Facebook is going to help much. The social media department is completely separate from engineering.
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Post by kenglish on Aug 8, 2022 16:22:29 GMT -6
Bonneville only handles the programming end. The Jazz still own the license, and someone else maintains the transmission end for them. There are silence sensors being installed as we speak. (Thankfully, this was not a "Radio Australia Test Outage" 😏.)
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Aug 22, 2022 9:09:41 GMT -6
Speaking of legal stuff, (a little off topic), KZNS is STILL not giving their call letters at the top of the hour. It still says 975 FM Coalville and 1280 AM Salt Lake City. It is so strange that they're giving their city of license but not the call letters. Are they that obsessed with their re-brand as the "KSL Sports Zone" that they don't want anyone to hear KZNS spoken at the top of the hour? Isn't that technically illega too? I doubt the FCC cares much these days but still … Thoughts?
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Post by kenglish on Aug 23, 2022 11:28:56 GMT -6
I noticed that a few weeks ago, and checked again last night, after reading this. No call letters for either station. A minute later, I heard a hole in the Fox Sports feed, where a legal ID should go.
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Post by David on Aug 23, 2022 14:03:01 GMT -6
I haven't heard a legal ID on KZNS since the rebranding, either. That surprises me, since Bonneville International runs a pretty tight ship when it comes to their station operations. It could be it's just an oversight which was overlooked during the rebranding of the stations. I've heard some of the old "97.5/1280 KZNS" liners with the deep voiced announcer guy during breaks, but that doesn't count as a TOH legal ID. KALL 700 is occasionally guilty of not giving a TOH ID as well. I've been listening to KALL during Westwood One coverage of football and baseball games, and haven't heard a legal ID when the WW 1 announcer says "let's pause a minute to allow the local stations to identify themselves", or something similar. It's probably not a high priority with some radio stations, because it's been at least five years since I heard of a station in Utah getting "busted" for not giving a legal ID. I think the FCC noted it as one of the violations when KXOL 1660 was broadcasting dead air theater after their license was canceled, but that was sometime in the 2016-2017 time frame.
On a more positive note, I've noticed that the problem with 1280 AM going off the air when the station powers down appears to have finally been fixed. The process is almost unnoticeable now: Just a few seconds of hearing a distant station on the same frequency, and then The Zone is back! Makes listening to the Bees games on the radio much more enjoyable. 😊
EDIT: Looks like I spoke too soon! 1280 AM went off the air at 8:30 PM power down, and it's still off at 9:15 PM. Maybe the engineer(s) need to install silence sensors on the silence sensors! 😄
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 24, 2022 4:08:26 GMT -6
The legal ID requirements still haven't changed and if there's even an inkling of a change in those rules I guarantee it will be front page news on every radio trade website. As a practical matter unless someone files a complaint there isn't going to be any action. Contrary to popular belief, the FCC doesn't go around checking that stations are in compliance with all the rules and regulations. They simply can't. Stations are assumed to be following the rules to the letter unless there's evidence to the contrary. IOW, it's on the honor system.
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Post by kenglish on Aug 24, 2022 9:20:37 GMT -6
I tried to hear 1280 last night (Tuesday), and only heard a music station. Were they off?
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Post by David on Aug 24, 2022 16:03:58 GMT -6
I tried to hear 1280 last night (Tuesday), and only heard a music station. Were they off? Yes they were. KZNS went off the air Tuesday night when the station powered down at 8:30 PM. I think I last checked 1280 around 1:00 AM Wednesday morning and the station was still off, although they're back on AM now. I'm kind of surprised that KZNS is still having issues with their 1280 transmitter, because last week when the AM powered down for the night, there were no problems with the switch at 8:30 PM. There appears to be an intermittent issue with the relay or switch that controls the day to night transmitter power switching.
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