Is 1330 fibbing to the FCC?

[davideduardo]

I might add STAs are sometimes not given. I noticed the ones that seem to be turned down are for stations that have had multiple STAs.

I've seen seen STAs renewed for as long as a decade when the reasons are beyond the control of the licensee.

One Miami station that was moving site after a fire that required them to operate with an STA found that they needed 21 different permits for the new site. Several were such that they had to have one before the other would be granted, and the other required the former first; there were appeals and hearings and in the middle of it all things like OSHA and Environmental Control standards changed and filings had to be redone.

The FCC knows this happens, and as long as they see activity, they generally renew STAs.

 

[b-turner]

That is true. When one FM I know had the city rescind their grandfathered tower, it was almost a decade until they got back on and through all the local and federal regulations to get back up. In addition, the area was growing rapidly and real estate prices were insane. I recall talking to the guy and he said the FCC was very gracious as long as they gave frequent progress reports.

 

[CAVEMANager]

An FCC rule clearly spells out the minimum operating schedule for broadcast stations:
73.1740 Minimum operating schedule.
(a) All commercial broadcast stations are required to operate not less than the following minimum hours:
(1) AM and FM stations. Two-thirds of the total hours they are authorized to operate between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. local time and two-thirds of the total hours they are authorized to operate between 6 p.m. and midnight, local time, each day of the week except Sunday.
A station can get special temporary authority to be off the air but there appears to have been no such authority granted to KWFM. Indeed there is no application for such authority. They can't argue that they are off due to factors beyond their control. They periodically prove that they can go on the air anytime they want to. If the FCC took a good look at KWFM they'd be in serious trouble. Meanwhile it will be interesting to see if they go on the air on Saturday morning to air the public affairs program at 7 a.m.

 

[TheBigA]

It's one of those things. How many competing applications are there for this particular license?

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

It's one of those things. How many competing applications are there for this particular license?

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

what do you mean.. competing applications? one person owns it and the fcc can either revoke the license, deny a renewal or the current owner can sell it.. its not like its up for grabs for whoeever wants it, like you make ti soun d.

 

[TheBigA]

it's not like its up for grabs for whoeever wants it, like you make ti soun d.

I understand that. It's also not like the FCC has a lot of choices here. Revoking the license isn't in their best interest.

 

[CAVEMANager]

Revoking the license would be a very extreme measure in a case like this. Much more likely would be for the commission to issue a notice of apparent liability which means that they'd get fined thousands of dollars for repeated rule violations. If they failed to pay the fine that would be grounds for revoking the license. Similarly the FCC has been known to revoke licenses for non-payment of annual regulatory fees which could easily be a factor with KWFM. The commission could also require a hearing in Washington and that could result in some nasty attorney's fees. It would be much more cost effective to keep the station on the air with cheap junky programming. Or apply for permission to remain silent for up to a year. Just ignoring the rules is probably not a wise approach.

 

[RadioBill]

How many competing applications are there for this particular license?

I don't know who would want KWFM with its signal challenges. Best chance of success is targeting the Hispanic audience on the south and southwest side of Tucson where KWFM throws a good signal day AND night. After all KWFM is licensed to South Tucson which is predominately Hispanic.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't know who would want KWFM with its signal challenges. Best chance of success is targeting the Hispanic audience on the south and southwest side of Tucson where KWFM throws a good signal day AND night. After all KWFM is licensed to South Tucson which is predominately Hispanic.

Hispanics, of all groups, reject AM more than any other. First, the community is about 10 years younger when you look at average / median age. Second, AM is even less "cool" among Hispanics than with non-Hispanic whites, African Americans or Asians.

In LA, out of 27 Spanish language 18-49 shares, the AM stations get 0.7 in total.

 

[RadioBill]

There are four AM stations in the Tucson market broadcasting Spanish/Mexican programming and they have been doing so for quite a number of years.

 

[KeithE4]

There are four AM stations in the Tucson market broadcasting Spanish/Mexican programming and they have been doing so for quite a number of years.

There are eight Ancient Modulation stations in metro Phoenix that broadcast in Spanish. Do any of them get ratings? They have to be making enough money to stay on the air somehow, either via ads or donations.

 

[davideduardo]

There are four AM stations in the Tucson market broadcasting Spanish/Mexican programming and they have been doing so for quite a number of years.

Yes, but...

KSAZ is religious, so not part of the competitive scene and it bills less than $10 k a month.
KTKT is adult hits in Spanish, gets a .7 share and bills about $60 k a month
KEVT does not show in ratings, and bills below what can be safely estimated.
KXEW is Tejano, often considered not to be a pure Spanish format and not Mexican, either. It gets about a share, and bills around $40 k a month which is amazing considering that nearly all the audience is over 55 and it gets a 0.1 in 25-54.

So all 4 stations bill less than $120 k a month combined, and have less than two shares.

On FM, KZMT, the lower rated of the two, bills about what all the AMs combined to. KCMT, is the #4 biller in the market and has close to 9 times the 25-54 share of all the AMs combined.

Those AMs do what they are doing because there is nothing else to do, not because they get lots of audience or bill very much. The only somewhat decent biller is KTKT, and that is because it gets dragged along with the KCMT buys.

I've been listening to all of them, as I've made multiple visits to Tucson recently to do some exploring and house hunting. KTKT is actually listenable, except that it is AM. The others are not.

 

[davideduardo]

There are eight Ancient Modulation stations in metro Phoenix that broadcast in Spanish. Do any of them get ratings? They have to be making enough money to stay on the air somehow, either via ads or donations.

Nielsen no longer gives data on stations that are not subscribed that are below a 0.1 rating. So most of those stations don't even show.

710 bills less than $12 k a month, and gets 0.0 in the ratings (Owner is subscribed).
740 is paid religion, and does better. They likely are moderately profitable within the limitations of a small AM.
860 is an excuse for the translator. The listening is almost all to the FM. They are subscribed.
1190 is an enigma. Any listening is likely to the translator, but they do not subscribe. Talk is that it bills enough to stay afloat, but I have my doubts about its viability.
1230 is another excuse for a translator, and they get a 0.2 and bill well do to combo sales.
1400 is also an excuse for a translator, where any listening they have is found. They got about a 0.2 when Nielsen had not cutoff.
1540 is religions, so I don't count it. Probably did $15 to $20 k a month before the transmitter issues.

I count seven. Probably do not bill more than $1.5 million a year combined. The FMs in Spanish do about $27 million, excluding KNAI, which is "subsidized" and has a peculiar business model.

 

[KeithE4]

I count seven. Probably do not bill more than $1.5 million a year combined. The FMs in Spanish do about $27 million, excluding KNAI, which is "subsidized" and has a peculiar business model.

I counted KCKY 1150 in Coolidge. I thought the Phoenix media market included both Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

 

[davideduardo]

I counted KCKY 1150 in Coolidge. I thought the Phoenix media market included both Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

No, the MSA is just Maricopa.

 

[RadioBill]

So what would you do with Tucson's 1330?
Keep in mind the challenging signal:
1. Weak on the populous and ever-growing far NW side, particularly at night in Oro Valley and Marana where it can't be heard after going directional (even with the power increase at night).
2. Significant co-channel interference at sunrise and sunset which impacts drive time during the shorter-daylight months of the year.

 

[kwthom]

So what would you do with Tucson's 1330?

Short term (5 years?) - why not challenge 1080AM for the Green Valley market?

 

[RadioBill]

Short term (5 years?) - why not challenge 1080AM for the Green Valley market?

Green Valley is probably 35 miles as the crow flies from KWFM's transmitter site on the far NE side of Tucson. With only 2,000 watts during the day and at a relatively high dial position, KWFM doesn't put a strong enough signal into Green Valley to have an impact. And KWFM suffers from co-channel interference in this somewhat fringe area at sunrise/sunset. I know because I live very near Green Valley and use to listen when it was 1330 the Jolt. KWFM does put a decent signal into Green Valley at night with their directional pattern and power increase; however, everyone is in bed by 7pm

The primary area where KWFM has a competitive signal, day AND night, is to the SW across Tucson - including South Tucson and the SW metro area, an area which is mostly Hispanic.

 

[CAVEMANager]

The programming question makes a nice intellectual discussion but not much more than that because KWFM has chosen to program nothing. Two formats missing from Tucson are country gold and liberal talk. I tuned in 1330 on Saturday morning (11/23) at 7:30 a.m. to see if the public affairs program was on. Nothing was on. I still would like to know if Dr. Sprei has any long term plan for KWFM. If he sold it would the buyer be expected to purchase close to a million dollars worth of real estate? Best bet would probably be to move the transmitter site to some area like Marana and maybe diplex on some existing station in that area. But as things presently are going, KWFM will be lucky if they have a license that they can sell as they are acting as though there is no FCC.
Finally, where do the revenue estimates come from? KTKT has an FM translator that probably delivers the bulk of the audience.

 

[davideduardo]

The programming question makes a nice intellectual discussion but not much more than that because KWFM has chosen to program nothing. Two formats missing from Tucson are country gold and liberal talk. I tuned in 1330 on Saturday morning (11/23) at 7:30 a.m. to see if the public affairs program was on. Nothing was on. I still would like to know if Dr. Sprei has any long term plan for KWFM. If he sold it would the buyer be expected to purchase close to a million dollars worth of real estate? Best bet would probably be to move the transmitter site to some area like Marana and maybe diplex on some existing station in that area. But as things presently are going, KWFM will be lucky if they have a license that they can sell as they are acting as though there is no FCC.
Finally, where do the revenue estimates come from? KTKT has an FM translator that probably delivers the bulk of the audience.

Revenue data comes from industry sources that are deemed reliable enough to base station purchasing and other decisions on.

One that I used to have access to is BIA's online service, which you can look at at http://www2.biakelsey.com/Broadcast-Media/Media-Access-ProV/Radio/

It's too expensive for me to buy now that I am an outside consultant, but it is a great resource.