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New CPs for KEZF, APS

A

AbqAnonymous

Recently another CP was granted to KEZF 91.1 in Grants that would upgrade from a C2 at 1000 watts to a C1 at 3100 watts. So, this would make it the strongest signal off of Mount Taylor so far. At least enough for Radio Locator to list it among stations in Albuquerque at a distance of 56.5 miles from downtown. The stations on Peralta Ridge in the Jemez are 46.5 miles so at only 10 additional miles perhaps it would be possible to cover Albuquerque quite well from the west with enough wattage. However, Cedar Cove just sold KEZF to EMF and right now it appears to be off the air. The $160,000 deal also included translators in Colorado Springs and Phoenix which might be of more value. EMF already has K-Love on 89.5 on Mt. Taylor and the KEZF coverage would mostly overlap with KQLV. Air 1 used to be on 90.3 but they transferred that station along with a Gallup station to APS a few years ago. So, I'm not entirely sure if EMF has much use for that station or not. Cedar Cove has taken it from a class A at 91.9 to a 600-watt C2 at 88.7 to a 1kW C2 at 91.1 and now to a C1 at 3.1kW. Radio Locator coverage map: KEZF-FM Radio Station Coverage Map

Also, APS has a new CP for a class A station at 89.5 licensed to Jarales a few miles south of Belen. I assume it will be used to air the news and talk format on their HD2, KANM and 107.5 translator since KANW already covers that area. However, the coverage area does not look like it will reach much population.

Info is here: https://fccdata.org/?facid=767942
 
A station on Mt. Taylor has the West Mesa doing some blocking. The transmitters up in Jemez have a straight shot down the Rio Grande Valley.
 
Update on the Mt. Taylor situation; I haven't been able to get a signal on 96.7 for almost a couple weeks, however the Pirate Radio web stream is still going, hopefully they can get it back on soon. 91.1 is back on with the KRKY format out of Wyoming, the sale to EMF was approved in January but they have not consummated it but did so with the Arizona and Colorado translators. Did they back out on KEZF? Also, EMF has taken KVLK 89.5 dark since January citing technical issues. Of course, everything on Sandia can be heard at least on a car radio out there so they likely could listen to KQLV. And finally, the translator for KMIN AM 980 has a CP to move from 104.3 to 104.5 on Mt. Taylor and there does appear to be a signal on that frequency (albeit weak). Apparently, it is the web stream for kdradio.com which is similar to KDSK but not an actual simulcast. I have no way of telling where that signal is coming from or if that is what is currently on KMIN or if something illegal is happening here. It seems everything up there has had long outages at some point. I wonder if that is not a good site to operate from.
 
K6JHU said:
A station on Mt. Taylor has the West Mesa doing some blocking. The transmitters up in Jemez have a straight shot down the Rio Grande Valley.
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But the stations on Peralta also have challenges of their own with significant shadowing in the NE Heights from the Sandias.
 
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Into Albuquerque, the actual predicted field strength will be in the 40s (dB).
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ragazzo-pazzo said:
But the stations on Peralta also have challenges of their own with significant shadowing in the NE Heights from the Sandias.
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In nearly 40 years that has never prevented any of them from being competitive in the market. 95.5 is the weakest but KHFM sometimes pulls numbers in the 3s although it used the 102.9 translator to make up lost coverage until AGM had an opportunity to use it for an AM that would never have done much on its own. KABG is currently at #2 although it will be moving to Sandia soon (the CP expires in September) but I think all those stations had at one point done well. Of course Los Lunas is seeing a lot of economic growth with an Amazon warehouse being built there along with the Walmart one and Facebook data center. Growth in Valencia county could possibly become a problem for the Jemez stations but maybe not much to be concerned for now.
 
AbqAnonymous said:
In nearly 40 years that has never prevented any of them from being competitive in the market.
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Well I suppose it all depends on how one defines "competitive". Let's not forget Simmons Media's dismal under-estimation of the shadowing problem in the late 90's. They took "The Oasis" - a surprisingly successful Smooth Jazz format on 101.3 (located on the west mesa) and moved it to 105.1 (located on Peralta) and promptly tanked the format, failing to understand that 105.1 couldn't reach the affluent areas of the NE Heights where most Oasis listeners existed (and were previously able to receive the signal from the west mesa).

I seem to recall the station dropping the format after only one or two books after the move.
 
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ragazzo-pazzo said:
I seem to recall the station dropping the format after only one or two books after the move.
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Actually, that station was called "The Horizon" although I've heard it to be a precursor to today's "Oasis". But looking on the radio history site KRZN had a 3.9 in winter '97 (last book at 101.3) and fell to a 1.7 and then stayed mostly in the low to mid 2s until it was dropped. 105.1 changed its call letters to KCHQ on July 9, 1999, but I think that CHR format started a bit sooner. However, they did revive the "Horizon" format at the end of 2000 on 101.3 and interestingly it did much better the second time which they moved to 105.1 again in late 2001. The Duncan ratings info only goes up to spring 2001 but there is a spreadsheet showing the yearly averages of most of the stations from 1975 to 2003: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Albuquerque.pdf 101.3 averaged at 2.6 for 2001 (a record yearly high at that time) while 105.1 was 3.5 for both 2002 and 2003, its best numbers in about 8 years. Of course, that was 20+ years ago when many baby boomers were still much of the "money demo". KOAZ today does not get anywhere close to what Horizon 2.0 had.

I believe the first station to sign-on from the Jemez was 105.9 in November 1983 which got massive numbers in the mid-80s as a CHR which might have been lacking in Abq at the time, but it proved that the site was viable early on. 104.1 I think came next in 1984 and then 105.1 along with 97.3 and 98.5 moving there in Fall '85 as noted in this old newspaper clipping Two More Stations Seek Slice of KOB Market - Newspapers.com and then 106.7 sometime in the late 80s. Not sure when 95.5 moved there.
 
AbqAnonymous said:
Apparently, KOTY is a simulcast of KEZF as mentioned at the top of the hour ID. Not sure why they need two signals.
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I smell a SALE coming. Heavens would know who would buy out KOTY (or for that matter, KEZF), but this is a thing that Vic Michael has been known for.

An alternative possibility is that a secondary type of format could launch on KOTY that would complement KEZF. The evidence for this is that a new company, Cheyenne Broadcasting Foundation, is owned by Vic's son Kristopher, and Vic provides a lot of the funding here, according to some allegations in the Arizona market. At this time, KRKY only runs on three "main" signals: KFCY Cheyenne, KOTY San Mateo, and KEZF Grants. There is an application by CBF in Hillsdale on 89.1, which Michael claerly will not need, because KFCY has recently expanded coverage, and it easily blankets the I-80 corridor between Cheyenne and Pine-Bluffs, plus he has an approved 88.1 application in Kimball. So, perhaps 89.1 Hillsdale will be home to an alternate format, just like KOTY. Hmmm....
 
AbqAnonymous said:
Actually, that station was called "The Horizon"
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You are correct, I misspoke. I believe it was sometime in 1996 that KZRQ (Z-Rock (105.1) became "Star 105.1" retaining the KZRQ call letters. It was a rhythmic AC that actually targeted pretty well 18-34s in the valley areas. Not long after that launch, Simmons Media either acquired or LMA'd 101.3 The Horizon. The SLC overlords, not seeing rapid enough growth in 25-54 (not the target of the station) for Star, and seeing the impressive numbers Don Davis was bringing in on 101.3 made the foolish miscalculation. They figured with a full Class C signal, they would be able to grow The Horizon in their desired 25-54 demo. The rest is history, as was (ultimately) both formats in relative short period of time. And Simmons Media left not long thereafter.
 
ragazzo-pazzo said:
The SLC overlords, not seeing rapid enough growth in 25-54 (not the target of the station) for Star, and seeing the impressive numbers Don Davis was bringing in on 101.3 made the foolish miscalculation. They figured with a full Class C signal, they would be able to grow The Horizon in their desired 25-54 demo. The rest is history, as was (ultimately) both formats in relative short period of time. And Simmons Media left not long thereafter.
Click to expand...

Seems like I also heard there was also the theory that the Horizon saw an untapped market in Santa Fe and felt like smooth jazz could add some extra revenue from art galleries, new age healers, and restaurants up there. Granted, those have always been historic no pays, but agency buys have only been about 20-25% of buys in Albuquerque. So, you need strong local direct to be successful in Albuquerque, especially if you’re not among the very top rated stations.
 
Now KEZF has filed for a modification which will take it off of Mt. Taylor and move it to a new site southeast of Grants at 92kW. Apparently, there is concern about possible interference with the new Espanola FM APS is building. The new coverage map does not look like it will reach Albuquerque with the 40dbu only going halfway into town. Maybe APS could move translator K216GQ to Sandia? The 91.1 frequency in Albuquerque will be in between the two Grants and Espanola stations. Also, the sale to EMF was not consummated since they wouldn't take it until the previous upgrade was completed. It's unknown what the status is now.

Draft Copy « Licensing and Management System « FCC

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