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KMKY-AM goes silent

F

Frequency1

Silent STA Exhibit​

Radio Punjab AM 1310 Inc. (Radio Punjab) respectfully requests Special Temporary Authority for AM station KMKY to remain silent.

As the Commission is aware KMKY has been off air since March 20, 2024, as a result of the loss of its tower site and the need to move to a new location (see LMS file # 0000242623). Radio Punjab has located a new site and is working with an engineer to get an application on file with the Commission for authority to move to the new site. Precise timing is uncertain, but Radio Punjab will move expeditiously once the application has been filed and granted, to return KMKY to operations.

A grant of this request is in the public interest as Padio Punjab will be able to continue to provide its unique programming once KMKY return to operations.
 
Frequency1 said:
Silent STA Exhibit​

Radio Punjab AM 1310 Inc. (Radio Punjab) respectfully requests Special Temporary Authority for AM station KMKY to remain silent.

As the Commission is aware KMKY has been off air since March 20, 2024, as a result of the loss of its tower site and the need to move to a new location (see LMS file # 0000242623). Radio Punjab has located a new site and is working with an engineer to get an application on file with the Commission for authority to move to the new site. Precise timing is uncertain, but Radio Punjab will move expeditiously once the application has been filed and granted, to return KMKY to operations.

A grant of this request is in the public interest as Padio Punjab will be able to continue to provide its unique programming once KMKY return to operations.
Click to expand...

Theyre pretty common here, but without them, it clears the way for KLIX Twin Falls to not get bothered by their music
 
Frequency1 said:
Silent STA Exhibit​

Radio Punjab AM 1310 Inc. (Radio Punjab) respectfully requests Special Temporary Authority for AM station KMKY to remain silent.

As the Commission is aware KMKY has been off air since March 20, 2024, as a result of the loss of its tower site and the need to move to a new location (see LMS file # 0000242623). Radio Punjab has located a new site and is working with an engineer to get an application on file with the Commission for authority to move to the new site. Precise timing is uncertain, but Radio Punjab will move expeditiously once the application has been filed and granted, to return KMKY to operations.

A grant of this request is in the public interest as Padio Punjab will be able to continue to provide its unique programming once KMKY return to operations.
Click to expand...
The current site is at the east end of the Bay Bridge. It's not suitable for anything else. There must be more to the story.
 
Looks like their new location will give 8,000 watts night. Props! Hope they get it back up soon and glad to see a station that's being upgraded instead of downgraded.
 
RadioFixerCLE said:
Looks like their new location will give 8,000 watts night. Props! Hope they get it back up soon and glad to see a station that's being upgraded instead of downgraded.
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Often those new site "power increases" do not result in greater coverage. Most common is to need higher power to get equal field strength because the new site has shorter towers that are less efficient than the old facility.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Often those new site "power increases" do not result in greater coverage. Most common is to need higher power to get equal field strength because the new site has shorter towers that are less efficient than the old facility.
Click to expand...
Which would make sense in this case. Those towers used to host 1510 KPIG, back when they had a local simulcast with the Freedom, California (near Monterey/Salinas) mother ship. The signal was terrible. There's no effective ground system on top of that warehouse building, and it's in an industrial section of Oakland. If you want to kill off another AM station, that place is a great location to do it from. (Though the current situation seems to be doing that job adequately, so why bother moving?)
 
Weiserguy said:
Which would make sense in this case. Those towers used to host 1510 KPIG, back when they had a local simulcast with the Freedom, California (near Monterey/Salinas) mother ship. The signal was terrible. There's no effective ground system on top of that warehouse building, and it's in an industrial section of Oakland. If you want to kill off another AM station, that place is a great location to do it from. (Though the current situation seems to be doing that job adequately, so why bother moving?)
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That was part of the downgrade of KGA Spokane from class A status, all to allow a move from San Rafael to Piedmont, whose biggest business is the hardware store on Grand Avenue that has garden center next door, just across the line in Oakland. (Also, Piedmont doesn't have its own post office.) Post-move, the station has been brokered at various times; KPIG was simulcast during a period when the station wasn't brokered. I have a couple of recordings from 2019 when that was occurring.

The warehouse in question is just off Mandela Parkway in Oakland.

The obvious purpose of that location for Mapleton was to cover San Francisco. The 1510 signal in the Oakland hills was OK during the daytime but was chewed into at night and even critical hours. KMKY wasn't so great at night at my old location either; this proposal doesn't appear to be improving that. The engineering report indicates that overlap will be reduced with 1300 KPMO Mendocino and 1320 KIFM Sacramento, so expect reduction in coverage in those directions.

Since the CP application was filed in 2022, it would appear that Radio Punjab had some warning that they were going to have to move.

As for motivation, it's possible that Caltrans or the Bay Area Toll Authority didn't want them there any more. I don't know why. Similarly, the Port of San Francisco kicked 1450 KEST off its site a few years ago, which is why that station is now diplexed with 1260 KSFB. That move reduced KEST's signal strength in the East Bay to some degree, especially considering that KEST had to move farther inland as a result.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Often those new site "power increases" do not result in greater coverage. Most common is to need higher power to get equal field strength because the new site has shorter towers that are less efficient than the old facility.
Click to expand...
I don't think this one will because it actually reduces overlap with stations in Mendocino (on 1300) and Sacramento (on 1320).
 
I always wondered how, years ago, 1510 and 1500 in San Jose were allowed so close together (1510 back then was 1kw just north of San Rafael, but non-directional). With mostly salt water between them, the signals were both strong in many areas near the Bay. Then, 1510 was allowed to move even closer to 1500 *and* granted a power increase, albeit with a DA pattern away from San Jose. Surprised that got approved.
 
Mark Roberts said:
As for motivation, it's possible that Caltrans or the Bay Area Toll Authority didn't want them there any more. I don't know why. Similarly, the Port of San Francisco kicked 1450 KEST off its site a few years ago, which is why that station is now diplexed with 1260 KSFB. That move reduced KEST's signal strength in the East Bay to some degree, especially considering that KEST had to move farther inland as a result.
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Surprised they didn't get kicked off the land when the bridge was rebuilt.
Maybe they want more toll lanes.
I bet that site's expensive too.
 
(I'm assuming you're referring to KMKY and not to KEST.)
boiseengineer said:
Surprised they didn't get kicked off the land when the bridge was rebuilt.
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At that point, there was a minor effect at most.

boiseengineer said:
Maybe they want more toll lanes.
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The toll lanes are westbound only, and the toll gates are east of the transmitter site. The bridge is five lanes and is not going to be expanded any time soon.

boiseengineer said:
I bet that site's expensive too.
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Thing is, there's not much else that could be done with it.
 
Mark Roberts said:
The current site is at the east end of the Bay Bridge. It's not suitable for anything else. There must be more to the story.
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The rent at that site was astronomical. I'm sure it has only gone up since RD sold it in 2015. It was a nightmare to try and maintain. The tides come in and they go out. Taking a tiny piece of something each time they go out.
 

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