KOGN-1490 On the Air?

[kenglish]

I'm hearing something on 1490 right now.
I thought they were off the air for good.
What I hear sounds like it might be a sweep tone, or a stuck playback of a single note.
It's strong in Midvale, also on the Northern Utah SDR.
Are they doing some kind of antenna adjustments?

[CAwasinNJ]

The last report of KOGN two months ago said that it was on the air.

talkingutahradio.proboards.com/thread/2124/kogn-1490-dark?page=2

[David]

Oct 16, 2021 12:24:24 GMT -6 kenglish said:

I'm hearing something on 1490 right now.
I thought they were off the air for good.
What I hear sounds like it might be a sweep tone, or a stuck playback of a single note.
It's strong in Midvale, also on the Northern Utah SDR.
Are they doing some kind of antenna adjustments?

KOGN is definitely on the air, and the "one note samba" you're hearing on 1490 has been repeating 24/7 since at least Monday of this week. It's not the first time KOGN has had technical difficulties, and I'm sure it won't be the last. KOGN has been severely neglected for at least the past two years, and Friendlee said the studio building looked abandoned when he was there this summer. Because of KOGN's frequent technical difficulties and broadcasting nothing but dead air for days at a time, I'm sure the handful of listeners they might have had switched to another Regional Mexican station long ago. IMO, it appears to be a case of an absentee station owner. I really don't know why the owner bothered to renew KOGN's license, especially considering that the property at 1506 Gibson was sold in June, and the tower is supposedly going to be demolished.

[kenglish]

I went back and read-over the last thread, but wondered if anything else was going on. Thought that there might be someone wanting a "proof" done, maybe to see if the old equipment and tower are worth anything.
I called Danette and left a message around noon. Who officially owns it (FCC-wise)? And, why is it left on like that? Seems like stations get electricity for free (like 1510, which never turned off at night).
I was "told" that stations don't have to have telephone access anymore, but I also remember someone getting a big fine recently, when the FAA and FCC couldn't reach them concerning a spur.
😲

[David]

The last time I checked KOGN's info in the FCC database approximately two weeks ago, it was still showing La Familia Broadcasting as the owner. That's the company owned by Danette Acosta. The Radio Insight article dated September 10th states that La Familia has converted its LMA of KOGN to a sale to Radio Positiva Inc. IIRC, CA mentioned in the original KOGN thread that the contract to sell the station to Radio Positiva was signed in January 2020, which was over a year before the Gibson Avenue property was sold. Even though the FCC database still shows Familia Broadcasting as KOGN's owner, I'd take it with a grain of salt. The FCC is notoriously slow when it comes to updating its database.

[CAwasinNJ]

I don't see anything indicating that it is NECESSARY to dismantle the tower. The real purpose of the realtor's statement about the tower is to make sure a buyer knows that the tower comes with the property and will have to be dealt with. The seller isn't going to do anything with it. There's also an apparent assumption that the buyer won't want the tower in the middle of whatever it is they're going to do with the land. That seems likely but isn't a guarantee.

KOGN is still owned by Familia Broadcasting. The application for Assignment of Authorization hasn't even been approved yet.

David, why do you say the FCC databases are slow to be updated? In some cases the FCC moves at a glacial pace, but I can't think of any time the databases were not updated when action was taken.

[David]

The reason I made the comment about the FCC being slow to update its database was that I thought the transfer from La Familia to Radio Positiva had already closed. My bad, and I apologize for the error.

I suppose it's possible that the new owner of the Gibson Ave property could build around the KOGN tower, but I doubt that's going to happen. I could see it being done for a 50 kW AM heritage station like WLW, but not a 1 kW graveyard station that's got some serious unresolved technical issues. And if the developer plans on demolishing the KOGN studio building, that would mean the transmitter would have to be relocated as well. IMO, the best thing to do would be to tear down both the studio building and the tower, because the cost of rebuilding an AM station in 2021 is rarely worth the return on the investment.

[CAwasinNJ]

A 1kW AM transmitter can be quite small so there isn't an issue there.

Example: www.av-iq.com/avcat/ctl1642/index.cfm?manufacturer=broadcast-electronics&product=am-1a

It wouldn't be difficult to put a trailer next to the tower to house the transmitter, a microwave receiver, EAS equipment, and so on if they decided to. By my calculations what looks to me like the fenced off area around the tower is about 25 ft x 25 ft. The property looks to be about 500 ft x 500 ft including the bits in the corners. That's less than 1% of the property. If they could get a few thousand dollars in tower rent it might be worth it.

[David]

Oct 16, 2021 23:25:59 GMT -6 kenglish said:

I went back and read-over the last thread, but wondered if anything else was going on. Thought that there might be someone wanting a "proof" done, maybe to see if the old equipment and tower are worth anything.
I called Danette and left a message around noon. Who officially owns it (FCC-wise)? And, why is it left on like that? Seems like stations get electricity for free (like 1510, which never turned off at night).
I was "told" that stations don't have to have telephone access anymore, but I also remember someone getting a big fine recently, when the FAA and FCC couldn't reach them concerning a spur.
😲

I may be wrong about this, but I believe one of the provisions of doing away with the main studio rule states that radio stations still have to maintain a working phone number for incidents like the one you described. Regardless, it would probably be best to shut down KOGN until they can get their technical issues taken care of. I don't think anyone's going to listen to something that sounds like a needle stuck in a groove, except for us radio geeks. 🙂

[kenglish]

The listed phone number for the studio in SLC is no longer in service, and the number for the current owner just seems to be a modem.
I wonder if the studio is gone.

[CAwasinNJ]

Ken, is it a modem or a fax? This is a fax: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC3uDuRXJyA

I've heard a number of cases where a company that has only one landline uses it for both voice and fax. When they are expecting a fax or when the office is closed, etc, they connect the machine. You could try at a different time and see what happens.

[kenglish]

Nope. It doesn't sound like a modem or a fax.
It rings a few times, then sounds like it switches to another line. Then, there is a sound like "Doodle-Doodle-Doodle". Then, just silence.

Now, as if things are not bizzare enough, if you try pressing a number (like "1"), a robo-voice answers, saying "This is the Washington State Emergency Rescue...what is the location of the emergency?" (or, some words to that effect).
Sounds like a roadside Emergency Call Box.

Nothing that I would expect from the phone of a Church Pastor (Pastor Rafael DeAlba). The listed number is (801) 520-
7368.

[kenglish]

I just got hold of the licensee. Their studios are in South Salt Lake (as of several years ago). He says they have the license, but the transmitter site was sold, and they have to vacate in about a month.
He didn't know the feed was bad, and will drive over to check it out.

Anybody know of a cheap piece of land around Ogden?

[friendlee]

I wonder what's still in the building???

(Thinking WE 451A1 transmitter or other stuff...)

[kenglish]

Oct 20, 2021 13:36:48 GMT -6 friendlee said:

I wonder what's still in the building???

(Thinking WE 451A1 transmitter or other stuff...)

Are you a collector?
(I'll PM you his number. Maybe you can visit, and even suggest a site for them.)