KQFN evicted from site

[Sammi Brie]

KQFN just filed for STA to move because it's being evicted. It will shack up with KSUN and plans to move there full time:

Station KQFN is currently licensed to operate with 50 KW day and 95 watts night using a nondirectional antenna. The leased site has been sold in an unrelated bankruptcy proceeding and KQFN has been notified that its lease has been terminated in that proceeding and it has to move. An appropriate new site has been identified and the station wishes to continue operation at reduced power from this temporary site while an application to move there permanently is processed. The requested site is the same as that currently licensed for KSUN, Phoenix, Arizona (FCC ID 21430), and is a 128 meter tall (242.69° at 1580 KHz) insulated guyed tower. No physical construction other than the installation of the required matching and diplexing equipment is required. Use of this tower will enable KQFN to continue operation in light of the lease cancellation. This site will be proposed for permanent operation via an FCC form 301 submission. KQFN will operate with 7 KW day and 95 watts at night under this STA.

 

[landtuna]

How can a legal lease be terminated before the lease expiration date and by an unrelated verdict?

 

[50kguy]

This is just the latest chapter in a sordid tale that has played out along this board over the last few years.
1) KNIX-AM with 50kw full-time from six towers in east Mesa
2) KCWW is the originating station for Satellite Music Network's "Real Country" network
3) ABC buys station for Radio Disney
4) Radio Disney gives up the network, neglect is obvious as one tower falls due to rusty guy anchors
5) Disney sells station to Jacob Barker, GM of KXEG/1280. On the same day as the station sale closes, Barker sells the tower site land.
6) FCC approves downgrade so transmitter can move to KXEG (formerly KHEP) site on west side
7) Ron Cohen buys station & installs sports format
7a) Someone said Vertical Bridge bought the tower
8) KXEG goes dark
9) Property is sold at auction
10) There's a missing piece to the property history here.
11) KQFN needs a new home

The KSUN site is a temporary fix. Can KQFN get 50kw out of that stick? Or will there be a further search for a new site? I there a way to restore some of the last night power? The mysteries of radio...

 

[EricStein]

This is just the latest chapter in a sordid tale that has played out along this board over the last few years.
1) KNIX-AM with 50kw full-time from six towers in east Mesa
2) KCWW is the originating station for Satellite Music Network's "Real Country" network
3) ABC buys station for Radio Disney
4) Radio Disney gives up the network, neglect is obvious as one tower falls due to rusty guy anchors
5) Disney sells station to Jacob Barker, GM of KXEG/1280. On the same day as the station sale closes, Barker sells the tower site land.
6) FCC approves downgrade so transmitter can move to KXEG (formerly KHEP) site on west side
7) Ron Cohen buys station & installs sports format
7a) Someone said Vertical Bridge bought the tower
8) KXEG goes dark
9) Property is sold at auction
10) There's a missing piece to the property history here.
11) KQFN needs a new home

The KSUN site is a temporary fix. Can KQFN get 50kw out of that stick? Or will there be a further search for a new site? I there a way to restore some of the last night power? The mysteries of radio...

That's the thing. 7kW on 1580 is not a powerful signal at all. They're leasing 99.3 from an affiliate of Sierra H. Broadcasting, and the 95.9 translator broadcasting from Fountain Hills gets significant interference from a KNLB's translator on the White Tanks. This doesn't bode well for the station because there is no other site (which isn't a direct format competitor) they can diplex with and get back to 50kW.

Unless Ron wants to swap frequencies with the owners of 1190, there's no other place on the dial the sports format can move to. Plus, On-Air Sports Marketing (Roc & Manuch) wants to outright own a station too (good luck with that).

 

[bulwnkl]

How can a legal lease be terminated before the lease expiration date and by an unrelated verdict?

It said bankruptcy. I take that to mean the site’s owner filed a BK. So, if the asset is sold under the owner’s Chapter 7 liquidation, then the lessee has a lease with an entity that no longer exists, so there’s no lease. Reorganization BK could work differently, but still wouldn’t necessarily require the asset’s new owner to keep the lease.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Assessor says it's owned by REDEKA VENTURES LLC. It was owned by Gabrielle and leased to CRC.

It apparently went from Gabrielle to OOOC LLC (a doc I can't get) to Redeka.

 

[DrAkbar]

It said bankruptcy. I take that to mean the site’s owner filed a BK. So, if the asset is sold under the owner’s Chapter 7 liquidation, then the lessee has a lease with an entity that no longer exists, so there’s no lease. Reorganization BK could work differently, but still wouldn’t necessarily require the asset’s new owner to keep the lease.

What a new owner wants with that POS site is a mystery - but the Nurse and I think they'll kick KEXG (silent) off the land as well. Interesting that KQFN is taking their gear to KSUN. That's the home of 14~Hundred, 14~Eighty (which continues to have problems with filter tuning), and now 15~Eighty. Imagine all the filters needed to keep those three frequencies from messing each other up. YIKES!

 

[Groove1670]

What a new owner wants with that POS site is a mystery - but the Nurse and I think they'll kick KEXG (silent) off the land as well. Interesting that KQFN is taking their gear to KSUN. That's the home of 14~Hundred, 14~Eighty (which continues to have problems with filter tuning), and now 15~Eighty. Imagine all the filters needed to keep those three frequencies from messing each other up. YIKES!

Houses, building? Is the site in a location the will support that type of infrastructure?

 

[davideduardo]

Houses, building? Is the site in a location the will support that type of infrastructure?

Simple: a construction trailer. Can have one there on Monday if they want.

 

[wattsup]

What a new owner wants with that POS site is a mystery - but the Nurse and I think they'll kick KEXG (silent) off the land as well. Interesting that KQFN is taking their gear to KSUN. That's the home of 14~Hundred, 14~Eighty (which continues to have problems with filter tuning), and now 15~Eighty. Imagine all the filters needed to keep those three frequencies from messing each other up. YIKES!

I hope someone takes appropriate measures to protect 550kHz which is very close to the KSUN tower. IIRC, 550 is supposed to have a trap for 1400 as a term of the license; possibly vice-versa.

 

[DrAkbar]

I hope someone takes appropriate measures to protect 550kHz which is very close to the KSUN tower. IIRC, 550 is supposed to have a trap for 1400 as a term of the license; possibly vice-versa.

Both KFYI 5~Fifty and KSUN 14~Hundred's sticks are less than a half mile apart. KPHX 14~Eighty is using a drop wire off the KSUN stick with temporary power of 250 watts day and 25 nights. Their licensed power is 1kw day and 33 watts night, but because of filtering problems, they haven't been able to bump up the juice. Like KOY 12~Thirty, KSUN 14~Hundred has a tall stick...425 ft. One would think KQFN 15~Eighty is a better diplex candidate than 14~Eighty, and wouldn't have to use a drop wire.

If you think this is a challenge, look at the latest request for an STA extension from KASA 15~Forty. They lost the land under their sticks and want to run with a horizontal wire hung from telephone poles. This is a sad story: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101822573&formid=911&fac_num=33451

 

[johndavis]

Both KFYI 5~Fifty and KSUN 14~Hundred's sticks are less than a half mile apart. KPHX 14~Eighty is using a drop wire off the KSUN stick with temporary power of 250 watts day and 25 nights. Their licensed power is 1kw day and 33 watts night, but because of filtering problems, they haven't been able to bump up the juice. Like KOY 12~Thirty, KSUN 14~Hundred has a tall stick...425 ft. One would think KQFN 15~Eighty is a better diplex candidate than 14~Eighty, and wouldn't have to use a drop wire.

If you think this is a challenge, look at the latest request for an STA extension from KASA 15~Forty. They lost the land under their sticks and want to run with a horizontal wire hung from telephone poles. This is a sad story: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101822573&formid=911&fac_num=33451

"...SUFFERING A SEVERE CASE COVID19 TO THE POINT THAT HIS LIFE WAS DESPAIRED OF. HE WAS ON A VENTILATOR AND IN A COMA FOR WEEKS - BUT EVENTUALLY HE MIRACULOUSLY REGAINED THE ABILITY TO BREATHE ON HIS OWN. NEVERTHELESS, WHILE IN THE THROES OF THE DISEASE HE SUFFERED SEVERAL STROKES, WHICH HAVE IMPAIRED HIS ABILITY TO SPEAK AS WELL AS HIS AMBULATORY MOVEMENT..."

I'd make a joke about owning an AM at 1540 is a life of despair, but with a long-haul victim of COVID-19 in my own family, I feel this. That's a nasty hand to have been dealt and I hope he gets some quality of life back and keeps on the air.

As for 1580? I see no reason to bump that signal back up to 50k. Hang a long-wire, run low power, run the translators. That's AM revitalization at work: run it cheap, just run it legal.

 

[johndavis]

Assessor says it's owned by REDEKA VENTURES LLC. It was owned by Gabrielle and leased to CRC.

It apparently went from Gabrielle to OOOC LLC (a doc I can't get) to Redeka.

Redecka appears to be a real estate investor who flips industrial property.

The link you say you couldn't get came up for me; it's a deed of trust. OOOC lent Gabrielle $400,000 and Gabrielle used the land as collateral.

OOOC appears to be a group of family trusts. http://www.arizonacorporates.com/corp/277139.html

 

[DrAkbar]

OOOC lent Gabrielle $400,000 and Gabrielle used the land as collateral.

So what did Barker do with the $450k CRC paid for 15~Eighty? And what did he do with proceeds from the sale of land the six sticks in Mesa sat on? CRC had a 20 year lease with Barker, who collected $2,000 a month with a yearly escalator of two percent.

I see no reason to bump that signal back up to 50k.

Agreed. 5 or 10kw days day will do the job just fine. The Nurse and I wonder if CRC gave any thought to co-locating with Lumberyard 14~Forty? That would put the RF closer to his COL and East Valley. Mother Hubbard collects rent from KIHP every month at the 10~Sixty site.