Well, Auburn in actuality, but Kent as the new COL. Proposal is to use the former KMIA night array out by Green River CC 5K omni days and 5k directional away from KWSU at night, as always. Given their format and demographics, seems like a wise move. What do you all think?
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KKDZ moving to Kent
- Thread starter The New Chico
- Start date
Sounds promising to me. It all comes down to the technical data, but it's sound from a business standpoint. The old site is probably worth more in real estate, and the new site is right where many of their listeners live.
This move also restores their full 5 kW Directional night signal when KWSU operates nights.
The share-time conditions are specified as follows in the current KKDZ license:
"This license authorization allows KKDZ(AM) to operate with a 5 kW
non-directional and a 5 kW directional pattern on a share-time basis
with KWSU, 1250 kHz, Pullman, Washington. Under the share-time
agreement, KKDZ operates using the daytime site non-directional
antenna system from 12:00 A.M. to sunset, at which time KKDZ employs
the [former] nighttime site 5 kW directional antenna pattern to afford
protection to KWSU until KWSU signs off at 12:00 A.M. (midnight)."
The share-time conditions are specified as follows in the current KKDZ license:
"This license authorization allows KKDZ(AM) to operate with a 5 kW
non-directional and a 5 kW directional pattern on a share-time basis
with KWSU, 1250 kHz, Pullman, Washington. Under the share-time
agreement, KKDZ operates using the daytime site non-directional
antenna system from 12:00 A.M. to sunset, at which time KKDZ employs
the [former] nighttime site 5 kW directional antenna pattern to afford
protection to KWSU until KWSU signs off at 12:00 A.M. (midnight)."
The former directional site for 1250, which was also the day and night location for 1460, is now 31 higher end houses that sold for between 800k and 950k. Not hard to do the math on THAT move! LOL.
I would think that signal-wise it's a toss up -- a lot of Indo-Americans live on the Kent East Hill, but there are high numbers throughout the Eastside as well. I'm not sure how the percentage (Kent vs. Eastside) divvies up. The day pattern probably will affect both areas the same. Just a guess, though.
There hasn't been a lot of signal on the eastside from 1250 in some years. They have been on an evening STA from West Seattle since 2014 when they lost the lease on the Rose Hill evening site. 5K Days, 1.25K evenings doesn't get too far across the lake in this era of rising noise floors. A better way to grab the Eastside fairly cheaply I would guess would be to buy the KARR facility, at least when he had the Xlator on Cougar. I have no idea if any inquiries were ever made, though.
That tower in West Seattle also holds the 99.3 booster and a couple of cell antennas. The land they are on plus two adjacent parcels total about 150,000 square feet and are owned by GTP Structures I LLC. How long before that becomes condos? Haven't seen Bustos file with the FCC to move their booster but I'm pretty sure that's coming.
I thought more Indians lived on the Eastside? Bothell/Woodinville/Mill Creek is full of them now. When Northshore schools were still going pre-Covid, the population of Indian kids was higher than kids from Japan/China/Korea. Microsoft being close is a huge advantage. Is there a lot of 1250 AM listeners up that way? Albeit KKDZ never put out the best signal even as Radio Disney. Where I lived, they were about equal in signal as KWYZ on 1230. Modest, but not strong like KIRO or KIXI.
I am a bit surprised that we haven't seen a radio station with a bigger broadcast footprint make a run at multicultural programming in the Seattle area. The regional demographics have certainly changed over the years, and many other large markets have full-powered signals broadcasting in different languages. Spanish language on the radio dial is relegated to 99.3, 93.7, and 102.9 on the FM dial, 1360 on the AM dial (and a few other spotty signals in between). Only 99.3 and 102.9 perform well around the entire region. We also have KKDZ and KSUH of course, but we know that neither of these signals are perfect. There really isn't a station that comes to mind that could provide this content right now, but perhaps there will be in the future during a stretch of poor ratings.
One of the issues, specific to the Hispanic sector, is that the market is only 10% Hispanic. That makes it "skipped" by a lot of national Hispanic buys. KZTM bills annually what KIRO (FM) bills in a month. There just is not that much money there.
One other issue with many ethnic stations in another language is that the appeal is mostly among first generation immigrants. The second generation tends to use English language media.
There are a lot of Indo-Americans in the Redmond area due to Microsoft, but there are also a lot of them in South King County, too. One can look at the King County Parcel Viewer and look at the names of property owners in various neighborhoods and see a lot of Hindi and Punjabi names indicated, which gives a small picture of the population. A lot of businesses catering to immigrants and descendants of Indian immigrants in the same areas. I see them all over SKC.
KKDZ had a solid enough signal in my section of SKC to broadcast in full HD (in 2017, before they took it off) and generally have a good analog signal here, too.
KKDZ is the last AM signal that broadcasts from inside of the Seattle city limits (not including the DOT TIS). What other stations used to but have since moved their towers? KJR comes to mind from Harbor Island and KOL was on a ship anchored from the harbor. When I first visited here in the late '80's there was a tower downtown on a tall building that was obviously an AM at one time if not at that moment. Anybody remember what that was?
For some reason I want to imagine that was KXA. I thought the xmitter and studio were up around 7th and Pine (I want to say the circular apartment building near the convention center) until they got sold and dropped classical for gospel(?) in the late 70’s/early 80’s. I think for awhile they had a long wire antenna in roughly the same spot downtown.
KXA was a fascinating station regardless of its transmitter location.
Easy to forget these guys for sure, but i think 1050 KBLE still has their radiator within Seattle city limits.
Bill is right, the KXA long wire was on top of the old Rhodes Department store until at least the late 70s. It was on 2nd and Union and you could look right at it (at eye level, pretty much) from the northbound lanes of the Alaska Way viaduct I remember asking my folks about it when I was a kid..."What are those two towers with the wire strung between them?"
That Long wire antenna was the site of KIRO before they moved to Vashon. From there they ran 1KW at 710khz. They moved to Vashon Island in 1941 with the power increase to 50KW.
After KIRO moved to Vashon, KXA moved their transmitter there and used the antenna. Later KXA would have a studio in the building next to the Rhodes Department store. Where the Seattle Art Museum is located now.
The broadcaster at 801 Pine in Downtown Seattle was KIXI. The tower at the top of the 810 Pine building was the STL hop to Cougar Mountain for KIXI FM 95.7.
After KIRO moved to Vashon, KXA moved their transmitter there and used the antenna. Later KXA would have a studio in the building next to the Rhodes Department store. Where the Seattle Art Museum is located now.
The broadcaster at 801 Pine in Downtown Seattle was KIXI. The tower at the top of the 810 Pine building was the STL hop to Cougar Mountain for KIXI FM 95.7.
And I'll guarantee you that zero Microsoft Engineer's in Bellevue are listening to some AM station. There are plenty of higher quality streams and apps available.
Was shared by KYYX (96.5) when it was where Benaroya Hall is now (which was actually the KIXI facility before THEY moved to 801 Pine). Not sure if 96.5 still used that hop when it moved to Madison Park (as KKMI) -- may have had a line-of-sight shot from Madison Park to the Tx site.
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