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KGA & KJRB To Reduce Power

K

KXA

It's a sign of the times...Mapleton has petitioned the FCC to reduce power for both stations. With AM listening in decline, maybe this will be the wave of the future in smaller markets.

KGA will drop from 50kW day/15kW night to 50kW day/45kW critical hours/6kW night.
KJRB will shift from directional to non-directional while dropping from 5kW day/3.8 kW night to 4.4kW day/0.034kW night.

Three out of the five towers used in the directional array, will be demolished.

Info from radio-insight.
 
With KGA, I'm surprised that they didn't propose a drop to 25 kW daytime. Would most listeners in the core Spokane market be able to perceive a drop in signal strength? Those out in the fringes might, but who cares about anyone out beyond the core sales market.
 
That's a serious nighttime reduction in power for KJRB. Just 34 watts after sunset.

But the station is clearly just there to feed the FM translator now. It runs a Classic Rock format called "94.1 The Bear Rocks." I'll assume AM 790 never gets mentioned, just FM 94.1. And the KJRB call letters probably only are heard at the top of the hour. Or maybe it's around :50 since that's where many FM music stations these days put their legal I.D.
 
Gregg. said:
That's a serious nighttime reduction in power for KJRB. Just 34 watts after sunset.

But the station is clearly just there to feed the FM translator now. It runs a Classic Rock format called "94.1 The Bear Rocks." I'll assume AM 790 never gets mentioned, just FM 94.1. And the KJRB call letters probably only are heard at the top of the hour. Or maybe it's around :50 since that's where many FM music stations these days put their legal I.D.
Click to expand...

Last time I was in Spokane and listened to KJRB, there was no mention of 790, just 94.1. If Mapleton doesn't care about KJRB 790, why not just reduce power to 0.5kW days? Heck, just run it at 34 watts 24/7. Who's listening to the AM side anyway?
 
Well, I guess there are some people living outside the range of the translator who might tune in the AM station. After all, translators can only be heard for a few miles from their transmiter. Many residents in the Spokane market cannot get the translator.

There's a similar situation in Connecticut, where 850 WAXB in Ridgefield runs 5,000 watts non-directional, but is a daytimer. It has an FM translator at 94.5. The AM can be heard all over Western Connecticut, and into New York State and Long Island. But the translator can only be heard around Danbury. It also never mentions the AM but I would guess some people who want Classic Hits tune it in on the AM band. There are no Classic Hits stations anywhere nearby, except for WCBS-FM in New York. Hartford lost its Classic Hits station a couple of years ago, to Classic Rock.

I would say nobody would listen to a contemporary station on AM. But Classic Rock and Classic Hits listeners grew up with some AM listening and might go back there for a format they like.
 
KXA said:
Last time I was in Spokane and listened to KJRB, there was no mention of 790, just 94.1. If Mapleton doesn't care about KJRB 790, why not just reduce power to 0.5kW days? Heck, just run it at 34 watts 24/7. Who's listening to the AM side anyway?
Click to expand...

The main reason is to prevent another station from cutting your signal down to virtually nothing!
 
The main limiting factor is the minimum power level of 250 watts for daytime operation. Power levels less than that require towers that are taller than usual for a given operating frequency to achieve the minimum required efficiency for the station class.
 
This would possibly explain the lack of 790 night time reception here west of the Cascades. Or a sign that the station will no longer be audible over here at all.

Too bad for distance listeners, in a way. They play a good mix of rock on the Bear.
 
As of early 2020 the FCC AM Radio Query shows a construction permit for KGA to also go non-directional. Included is a further reduction in nighttime power to just 540 watts.

Incidentally, KGA and 34 watt sister station KJRB are planning to multiplex their signals on the same single tower.
 
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I get it that KGA being so close to a school has been a massive headache, but anything less than 500W at night can't even get you above the terrestrial noise floor. Why bother?
 
It's all about that translator.
Ask anyone if they listen to Fetty Wap, Lil Nas X and Lil Wayne on 1510khz.
Nobody does! Besides the occasional DXer passing by at night!
 
As a fan of radio history, what a sad end to a original class A 50kw.

540 watts at night. The last thing left is to just shut it down.


crainbebo said:
It's all about that translator.
Ask anyone if they listen to Fetty Wap, Lil Nas X and Lil Wayne on 1510khz.
Nobody does! Besides the occasional DXer passing by at night!
Click to expand...
 
TheBigA said:
It needs to stay on to feed the translator.
Click to expand...

Unless of course one of its FM sisters gets HD, and uses an HD2 subchannel to feed the translator. Probably won't happen though.
 
I am aware of this.

My point is that KGA at 1510 has now faded in irrelevancy. Exactly as heatcats said, slap the current programming on a HD sister station to feed the translator, KGA isn't needed. And KGA has no reason to exist anymore. That's how KGA becomes part the coming wave of AMs to go dark.

Not my first rodeo. :)


TheBigA said:
It needs to stay on to feed the translator.
Click to expand...
 
Stephanie_S said:
I am aware of this.

My point is that KGA at 1510 has now faded in irrelevancy. Exactly as heatcats said, slap the current programming on a HD sister station to feed the translator, KGA isn't needed. And KGA has no reason to exist anymore. That's how KGA becomes part the coming wave of AMs to go dark.

Not my first rodeo. :)
Click to expand...

But it doesn't appear that any of KGA's sister stations has HD on FM (at least according to the HD Radio listing for Spokane, which may be outdated, or Wikipedia).
 
Stephanie_S said:
I am aware of this.

My point is that KGA at 1510 has now faded in irrelevancy. Exactly as heatcats said, slap the current programming on a HD sister station to feed the translator, KGA isn't needed. And KGA has no reason to exist anymore. That's how KGA becomes part the coming wave of AMs to go dark.

Not my first rodeo. :)
Click to expand...
The sports station probably has some daytime commuters on the AM side. The rock station nah, both translators have decent coverage and from a sales perspective cover the population centers. The noise level at night probably makes both unlistenable. From the financial and maintenance perspective this is a smart move.
 
Depends if the translator(s) licenses are "permanently" tied to the AM station license. In other words, even they do get an HD-2/3/4 the translator can't be moved to it in that case. The AM would need to be around until the FCC changes the rules.
Depends on how the translators were obtained.
Just looked at the license for the KGA translator. The translator is tied to the KGA license. KGA goes away and so does the translator.

"Callsign: K278CY License No.: BLFT-20181210ABL
Special operating conditions or restrictions: 2 Pursuant to Revitalization of the AM Radio Service, Notice of Proposed Rule Making, 28 FCC Rcd 15221, 15227, para. 14 (2013), and First Report and Order, 30 FCC Rcd 12145, 12154, para. 17 and n. 43 (2015), the permittee and any successor in interest (licensee, transferee, or assignee) shall be subject to the following restrictions: (1) this facility may only, in perpetuity, be used to rebroadcast the authorized facilities of the AM primary station set forth in this construction permit..."
 
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boiseengineer said:
Depends if the translator(s) licenses are "permanently" tied to the AM station license. In other words, even they do get an HD-2/3/4 the translator can't be moved to it in that case. The AM would need to be around until the FCC changes the rules.
Depends on how the translators were obtained.
Click to expand...
Both Spokane translators appear to be tied to AMs in this case, bases on my cursory research. If the AM is silenced, the translators are lost.
 
They could just diplex/triplex on a tower closer to town with 250 watts day and still keep the translators.
Maybe they can do it on the formerly owned 1050 stick in town.
 
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