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Post by David on Mar 11, 2023 22:50:47 GMT -6
Why would putting the RSL games on 1160 & 1280 damage their credibility? If people want to listen to the RSL games on the radio, they'll find them one way or another. Besides, KSL-FM and KZNS-FM have lousy coverage once you get outside of Weber County, and there's even some parts of Weber County where the FM signals have spotty coverage at best. Moreover, sports radio is one of the few AM formats that consistently generates good profits despite relatively low ratings in some markets. IMO, it's a stroke of genius for Bonneville International to put RSL on the AM frequencies, the Jazz on 97.5, and leave the infomercials on 102.7. Now that Bonneville has four frequencies to air programming on, they might as well maximize their profits by putting something different on the AM & FM frequencies. I think the infomercials generate a lot more revenue for radio and TV stations than most people realize. Regardless of whether 10 or 10,000 people tune in, Bonneville and the other broadcasters that carry paid programming are still going to get paid for the air time.
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Post by David on Mar 10, 2023 15:51:31 GMT -6
Good grief, the situation with KID/Rich Broadcasting sounds like an even bigger soap opera than the KMRI debacle! I would think that if the FCC & FAA recognize Rich Broadcasting as the owner of the towers, then a federal judge or court could overrule the district court judge's decision. But I'm not a lawyer, and I'm sure that the courts will sort it all out eventually.
I still can't understand why the property owner would demolish the towers when he was receiving a monthly lease payment from Rich Broadcasting. Maybe he's one of those people who believe that RF energy causes cancer and all sorts of other health problems, no matter how far away you're located from the radio tower(s). I know the article that seattlefollower linked to mentions something about the towers being "unsafe", but isn't that usually up to the FAA and/or the FCC to determine? All in all, it's a sad story that demonstrates how difficult it is owning an AM radio station in 2023.
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Post by David on Mar 10, 2023 3:34:18 GMT -6
Thanks for the explanation, CA. I still don't understand why the owner keeps fooling around with operating the station just one day a year, instead of reducing the power to 20-50 watts and just leaving the station on the air until the new tower and antenna can be put up. I have to believe that eventually the FCC is going to refuse to sign off on any more one day only STA's unless Mr. Wood can demonstrate that significant progress has been made towards restoration of regular broadcasting. I'd think that someone would have picked up on the Commission's dissatisfaction when the license was only renewed for one year in 2022.
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Post by David on Mar 9, 2023 19:49:03 GMT -6
The previous thread on KMRI is now locked, but it appears that an engineering STA was granted by the FCC on March 1, 2023. For some reason I can't access the letter from the FCC to KMRI LLC (Barry Wood) on my mobile device, but the STA expiration date is listed as 08/28/2023, which is about four months beyond the current license expiration date of April 21st. I wonder if this means that the FCC has granted Wood some additional time to get KMRI back on the air after the tower collapsed in March 2020. I'll leave it to those who are more skilled at interpreting the FCC database filings than I am to decipher what the STA filing means. 🙂 EDIT: Finally got the letter to display on my mobile device. Apparently KMRI has been granted authority to broadcast with a reduced power of 1 kW and a temporary antenna during daylight hours only beginning on March 9, 2023. And FWIW, Wood's LLC has been renamed to KRGO LLC. licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1832112
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Post by David on Mar 6, 2023 17:09:10 GMT -6
That's baffling since they're even using the KID name in their identity. Why wouldn't they move it to one of the FMs? Maybe they thought they did but didn't? I can't see anything in the FCC database that indicates they've applied for call sign changes for either one of their FM stations, and the KID call has been deleted from the FCC database. It's possible that I've missed something in my search, but I think Lance would have mentioned any reassignment of the KID call letters if Rich Broadcasting had transferred them to another station like Capital Broadcasting did with KLO. Maybe the FCC rules regarding re-use of call signs is different when a license is being deleted instead of the station being sold.
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Post by David on Mar 5, 2023 18:08:49 GMT -6
What was in the Morse code at about the 10 minute mark of the second video? Never mind, I now see that the video shows it being decoded in real time. The Morse Code was part of the KDWN DX test arranged by the chief engineer for Audacy Las Vegas. I read in one of my radio DX'ing groups that slow scan TV (SSTV) images were part of the DX test as well.
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Post by David on Mar 5, 2023 13:19:02 GMT -6
As long as there's no RFI from my next door neighbor's power tools or similar AM signal disruptions in my NE Ogden neighborhood, I can hear KSUB on my Sangean PR-D4W just fine. I think I might have heard KID squeak through on 590 once or twice before the station lost its tower site lease in 2021, but KSUB usually owns 590 after dark in Northern Utah. FWIW, if you're a fan of old time radio, KBJA is now airing "Classic Radio Theater with Wyatt Cox" from 10:00 PM-1:00 AM most nights. K-TALK Media's website says that "When Radio Was" is supposed to be on during those hours, but their schedule hasn't been updated in months.
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Post by David on Mar 5, 2023 10:31:40 GMT -6
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Post by David on Mar 4, 2023 21:46:26 GMT -6
Longwave broadcasting stations are disappearing much faster than medium wave (AM) stations in the 540-1700 kHz broadcast band. Even the long standing 198 kHz BBC Radio 4 frequency is scheduled to be phased out sometime within the next 4-5 years, or possibly sooner. Moreover, the medium wave band in Europe is seeing an exodus of stations to FM or digital broadcasting bands like DRM. That's a big part of the reason why European auto manufacturers like BMW are abandoning AM receivers in their EV's, along with the RFI generated from electric motors. I think AM will take longer to die in the U.S. than in Europe and other overseas countries, but I doubt AM broadcasting will survive for more than another 15-20 years in North America.
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Post by David on Mar 4, 2023 0:58:43 GMT -6
Good grief! I know that KBJA is a VERY low budget operation, but it would sure be nice if they'd find someone to at least update the show schedule on their website. I tuned in at 11:30 tonight hoping to hear SP Romney, but no dice. However, if you're a fan of the "Classic Radio Theater with Wyatt Cox" program that used to be on KLO 1430, it's now airing on KBJA, at least on Friday nights. It appears that 1640 has become the radio equivalent of Forrest Gump's mythical box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to hear when you tune in. 🙄
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Post by David on Mar 3, 2023 12:41:26 GMT -6
S.P. Romney was doing his regular radio show with Alexis last night but earlier in the evening they were playing someone that was barely understandable. It sounded like he was talking in a tube. I'm surprised to hear that SP Romney is still on KBJA. Every time during the past 2 to 3 months that I've tuned in when SP's show was supposed to be on, some other host was on air. Who knows, maybe SP was on hiatus for a few months. IMO, he's the only reason to listen to KBJA these days. SP is about the only talk show host left from K-TALK's heyday in the 1990's. Mills Crenshaw, Joe Redburn, and Donald Packard aka Golden Delicious have all died, and apparently Martin Davies, Bob Lesh, and Hank Hathaway have either retired, died, or moved out of the area.
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Post by David on Mar 2, 2023 21:03:12 GMT -6
If it were up to me, I'd wait at least a couple of ratings periods to see what happens with the new morning drive guy before making any changes. Unless things have drastically changed since I was in the broadcasting program at Weber State, morning drive is usually the biggest ratings draw because you have a captive audience. I thought Lexi and Banks were pretty popular on 93.3, but I'm a KSOP listener (either AM or FM) when I feel like listening to country music on the radio, so I really can't comment on the competition. 🙂
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Post by David on Mar 2, 2023 20:55:14 GMT -6
OK, scratch the stunting idea. However, the he fact that KBJA's streaming feed is down suggests one of two things: issues with hardware they haven't got the $$$ to fix, or they're trying to cut costs by not streaming. From my limited understanding, online streaming isn't cheap.
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Post by David on Mar 2, 2023 17:22:45 GMT -6
Why would a station stunt with the same format they've been using for decades? Um, they DID say it was the "all new K-TALK Media", so maybe their program line-up is changing, I know the schedule they had posted on their website previously was totally off base and incorrect regarding the station's programming. And didn't U92 also stunt last fall with basically the same format they've had for decades?
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Post by David on Mar 2, 2023 15:03:28 GMT -6
Either 1640's automation has gone totally haywire, or KBJA is stunting. For the past 10 minutes, all I've heard on the frequency is an endless loop with the legal ID and a mention about "the all new K-TALK Media, bringing you live, local two way talk". The stream is currently unavailable at the K-TALK Media website. Weird!
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