Smallest population coverage U.S. radio station?

[Miss Tuned]

An idle moment of lockdown radio geeking got me thinking - which radio station in the United States covers the smallest population, whether a full-power station, an LPFM or a translator?

One early candidate I managed to come up with (just through idle browsing) is KZNC-FM 91.9, a 10-watt simulcaster of KOTZ out of Kotzebue which covers Red Dog Mine Port in Alaska, a place with presumably no permanent population: https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=KZNC&nav=home

There must be other stations that just cover a remote mining site or provide service to an unpopulated bit of highway - these very remote stations/transmitters/translators are fascinating! What's your best example?

 

[b-turner]

What an interesting topic. I need to put on my thinking cap to come up with a few.

Of all the stations originating programming, a Low Power FM is in a town named Dodge, North Dakota. While a 100 watt FM, they claim to reach Halliday and Golden Valley but given the 60 dbu of a LPFM station, that is a stretch. Dodge is 100 people and maybe another 30 more inside the 60dbu. A Christian group purchased the Dodge school on a hill in town, with a flagpole to use as a tower. My last listen was family friendly classic country and Christian Country

A second Low Power FM in Paisley, Oregon, is owned by the school. They operate 24/7 and are the only station on the dial. As for amazing coverage, on my car radio, I could pick up the KPAI signal when I turned off the Lakeview highway (it was fading in and out for about 5 miles), all the way up the highway to Summer Lake. I attribute that to a vacant radio dial and terrain. Paisley is under 300 people and so sparsely populated, students from the outlying ranches are boarded at the school during the week. The station was mostly classic hits when I visited with blocks for early morning country and a few specialty shows. Now it seems to be hit country.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I'd nominate K206AE 89.1, Gasquet, California. It covers a very sparsely populated section of US199, and some national forest property, with 28 watts.

 

[K6JHU]

How about any of what used to be the 'Highway Stations' in California.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

An idle moment of lockdown radio geeking got me thinking - which radio station in the United States covers the smallest population, whether a full-power station, an LPFM or a translator?

One early candidate I managed to come up with (just through idle browsing) is KZNC-FM 91.9, a 10-watt simulcaster of KOTZ out of Kotzebue which covers Red Dog Mine Port in Alaska, a place with presumably no permanent population: https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=KZNC&nav=home

There must be other stations that just cover a remote mining site or provide service to an unpopulated bit of highway - these very remote stations/transmitters/translators are fascinating! What's your best example?

Red Dog Mine shows as a population of 300 and change

Hughes, AK.. population of 77 has a rebroadcaster for KIYU

 

[b-turner]

Smallest I know of in Alaska is KXKM in McCarthy, population 28.

 

[charlestondxman]

If you’re talking AM, you’d have to go way up the dial (like above 1560) and find a very low watt station. I’m not counting TISs. 1580 KTGR in Columbia, MO has 213 watts, but it serves a decent sized college town.

 

[davideduardo]

How about any of what used to be the 'Highway Stations' in California.

They still exist, owned by Richard Heftel.

And the actually cover a bunch of small communities along the Nevada access freeways.

The smallest is KHRQ in Baker, with a 60 dbu population of 762.

KHYZ covers 213,000 in the 60 dbu

 

[Miss Tuned]

They still exist, owned by Richard Heftel.

And the actually cover a bunch of small communities along the Nevada access freeways.

The smallest is KHRQ in Baker, with a 60 dbu population of 762.

KHYZ covers 213,000 in the 60 dbu

I did think of the Highway Stations when I was making the original post, but figured that they do cover quite a few communities along the highways - and KHYZ covers parts of Las Vegas itself.

Is there a way of finding the population within the 60dbu contour for a given station, or is it something you work out yourself? I can't spot it in any of the usual places (FCCData.org etc).

 

[davideduardo]

Is there a way of finding the population within the 60dbu contour for a given station, or is it something you work out yourself? I can't spot it in any of the usual places (FCCData.org etc).

There are subscription services you can obtain. They are in the 4-figure annual price range.

 

[Miss Tuned]

There are subscription services you can obtain. They are in the 4-figure annual price range.

Yikes! My day job is GIS, so I bet there's something I can throw together that would give at least an approximation.

 

[b-turner]

About the only thing you might get lucky with in finding a population count of a 60 dbu is searching the FCC FM Query database by call letter. If the station hasn't been on the air forever, you might fine the actual applications with exhibits that show the coverage area and population count (very common in non-commercial to demonstrate the population receiving first & second non-comm service and in situations where the tower site locations means they better show how they cover their city of license).

The only other thing I can think of, and it is a poor substitute, is this https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm. This free site allows you to search by place and designate a circle size area. If you click to find 'population' it churns out a figure. It doesn't seem to be real accurate. Using a 3.58 miles from the center circle for a town I know, the population count showed about 20% of the population of the town that was only a square mile in size although I used the center of town as my tower site or center of the circle. I tried a different town I knew and the figures were spot on. I know that since an engineer buddy with the software did a contour map for me and showed population counts a few years earlier. Such sites generally use US Census Bureau figures (2010 until likely about 2022).