Cumulus' ongoing dispute with Nielsen means its stations' ratings are not listed in the January ratings, so there's no update on 810's numbers.
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560
- Thread starter K108 Sacramento
- Start date
Appropriately, we are now on page 56 of this thread.
One week to go.
One week to go.
It looks like tomorrow (March 4) may not be the drop-dead date for 560 after all.
Cumulus originally filed a suspension of operations notice for KZAC on March 7, 2025, stating that operations had been suspended on March 4, 2025. However, the actual request for a silent STA was tardily filed on September 17, and approved on September 26. That request stated that KZAC had gone silent on August 12.
The FCC's letter granting the silent STA (https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/d...uthorization/25076f9198d1eaab019959cdb7592148) states:
"RLH’s request is granted. Accordingly, Special Temporary Authority is granted to permit Station KZAC(AM) to remain silent not to exceed 180 days from the date of this letter {September 26, 2025}. Notwithstanding the grant of this Special Temporary Authority, the broadcast license for Station KZAC(AM) will automatically expire as a matter of law if broadcast operations do not resume by 12:01 a.m., August 13, 2026."
The FCC seems to issue silent STAs as a matter of routine, so it's likely no one noticed the discrepancy. One also can't rule out the possibility that the station was on the air briefly on or before August 12. Assuming no one at Cumulus or the FCC checks into it further, it would appear KZAC has the option of filing for an STA extension on or before March 26 (or maybe March 25), which could keep the license alive until August.
Of course, Cumulus could branch out of this prospective sequence of events at any time by turning in the KZAC license or by resuming operations.
Cumulus originally filed a suspension of operations notice for KZAC on March 7, 2025, stating that operations had been suspended on March 4, 2025. However, the actual request for a silent STA was tardily filed on September 17, and approved on September 26. That request stated that KZAC had gone silent on August 12.
The FCC's letter granting the silent STA (https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/d...uthorization/25076f9198d1eaab019959cdb7592148) states:
"RLH’s request is granted. Accordingly, Special Temporary Authority is granted to permit Station KZAC(AM) to remain silent not to exceed 180 days from the date of this letter {September 26, 2025}. Notwithstanding the grant of this Special Temporary Authority, the broadcast license for Station KZAC(AM) will automatically expire as a matter of law if broadcast operations do not resume by 12:01 a.m., August 13, 2026."
The FCC seems to issue silent STAs as a matter of routine, so it's likely no one noticed the discrepancy. One also can't rule out the possibility that the station was on the air briefly on or before August 12. Assuming no one at Cumulus or the FCC checks into it further, it would appear KZAC has the option of filing for an STA extension on or before March 26 (or maybe March 25), which could keep the license alive until August.
Of course, Cumulus could branch out of this prospective sequence of events at any time by turning in the KZAC license or by resuming operations.
Amazing how the fcc allows the big operators to bend the rules over and over again and tears the little operators a new tush for their lack of being truthful in their filings.
It's not good to lie to the government no matter how big you are.
Cumulus apparently has revived another AM, WAYS 1050 in Myrtle Beach, for the purpose of retaining its license.
1050 AM returns to the Grand Strand
Myrtle Beach area 1050 AM has signed on as of March 4th, playing a classic country format similar to the old Hank.. as of yet no ID or NON-ID given. This frequency was used by WAYY Conway as a sports simulcast last year but it signed off in the fall. Will keep checking for ID. 105.5 FM still...
radiodiscussions.com
Unfortunately, 560 has been off the air long enough for people to remove the presets to that frequency, but I'm unsure what they would switch to, lol.
How many people actually still scan the AM band to find something new, aside from us radio geeks?
There's even a Google group for people constantly watching what is happening on the AM dial.
Great news! The activity on this thread is getting closer to beating the amount persons listening to 810!
How many people actually still scan the AM band to find something new, aside from us radio geeks?
There's even a Google group for people constantly watching what is happening on the AM dial.
Great news! The activity on this thread is getting closer to beating the amount persons listening to 810!
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It's also easy to make mistakes on paperwork. Whoever at the Media Bureau processes STA requests could have caught the discrepancy in dates, too, with a little cross-referencing. So it feels to me as though the situation with the date is just a situation of cascading errors caused by inattention to detail.
In any event, no one is harmed by having the deadline prolonged. Moreover, the STA that Cumulus applied for in September is good for 180 days from the date of the grant letter, which is September 26, 2025. So, to retain the license until August while remaining silent, Cumulus would have to apply for another silent STA this month on or before March 25.
They still have Cal basketball. So does KALX. I wonder which gets more listeners.
I hear that Cumulus isthisclose to another bankruptcy filing.
Why doesn't a smaller Broadcaster on am in the bay area upgrade their signal and power by buying 560? Its a very smart move to make.
That's like upgrading to a bigger cabin in the Titanic.
Can you find out what the cost is for the tower lease? That might be the answer.
This question was addressed earlier here in this Icelandic saga:
#262:
radiodiscussions.com
#542:
radiodiscussions.com
Note: the links will take you to the right place...the preview text seems to be getting picked up from other posts.
Second Note: for those of you into numerology, note that the pages on which these two posts can be found, as well as the page for this post, are all multiples of 14.
#262:
560
Yuma, Wenatchee and Great Falls all null away from the Bay Area. Denver is fairly N-S. So not a shock nobody really shows up there at night. I suppose someone could re-engineer if the license for 560 SF gets deleted, but would there be any cost analysis where that would make sense? About the...
radiodiscussions.com
#542:
560
Wanting to buy an AM radio station in San Francisco in 2025 is kinda like wanting to start a chain of VHS rental stores today. It makes zero sense for *me* to buy 560 and attempt to launch a new business and format from scratch. Doesn't matter how much money or experience I might have, it would...
radiodiscussions.com
Note: the links will take you to the right place...the preview text seems to be getting picked up from other posts.
Second Note: for those of you into numerology, note that the pages on which these two posts can be found, as well as the page for this post, are all multiples of 14.
It's really not. They spend money on the purchase of 560 (which includes no real estate), they spend more money operating it, and then they have to get their existing audience to move---which costs money and doesn't always work.
Maybe Connoisseur will buy it?
Their purchase of Bonneville already puts them over FCC ownership limits.
In other markets, they've been spinning off former Alpha AMs to local owners or shutting them down. So not likely.
That has been rumored for a long time. Keep-in-mind that Cumulus is mostly owned by private equity firms. They owe most of the company's debt to themselves. So long as nobody rocks the boat (like what happened almost 10 years ago), they can probably keep it afloat almost indefinitely. That time, the people who wanted out found others to take their equity in exchange for the debt before the bankruptcy was ever filed. I suppose someone like that could step up again, but it seems unlikely, and private equity rarely ever goes completely broke.
Why?
With Cumulus currently not listed in Nielsen Audio ratings, there are exactly...carry the three....ZERO standalone AM stations in the San Francisco market that show up in the ratings (KKSF fell from a 0.1 to immeasurably small two books ago and hasn't come back).
The last time we had Cumulus in the ratings, KGO at 810 was the highest-rated AM standalone....with a 0.6. The second-highest rated was 1050. It had a 0.2.
It's over. They're turning in AM licenses all over the country. San Francisco is, if anything, a bit behind. The mass audience left the AM band long ago.
Probably equally important is the occurrence of some sort of catastrophic event that renders the AM station inoperative. Nine-point-ninety-five times out of ten these days, that's the end. (I leave the 0.05 for cases such as KKOB Albuquerque, which is rebuilding at a site used by one of the other stations in its cluster after its catastrophe, albeit with diminished nighttime facilities.)
That hasn't happened to KZAC. But it has happened to other stations. For example, KLOE in Goodland, Kansas, had its tower toppled by two bouts of strong winds coming out of Colorado in December. Big signal: 5 kw at 730 in an area with high ground conductivity. I could get it in Denver. It didn't matter: KLOE quickly decided not to rebuild. The station literally blew away. The programming moved to FM.
A broadcaster I know in Missouri has told me they're keeping their class D AM on the air (which does have an FM translator) because, well, it's been there since the 1950s and they feel an obligation to keep it going as long as they can. It's entirely automated, run by the staff of their FM stations, so very little additional overhead. But, they added, the minute something not easily repairable happens, the license gets turned in. They found that most of their audience moved to FM back in the late 1970s.
Back to San Francisco, a few years ago, KEST (1450) lost its bayfront transmitter site and moved to diplex with KSFB (once KYA) near Candlestick Point. If KEST lost its site today, I doubt it would try to find a new one, even though it serves a specialized audience that's localized to the central part of the Bay Area. Any such investment takes longer and longer to recoup, compared to previous decades. That's especially true in the Bay Area, where land is expensive.
That hasn't happened to KZAC. But it has happened to other stations. For example, KLOE in Goodland, Kansas, had its tower toppled by two bouts of strong winds coming out of Colorado in December. Big signal: 5 kw at 730 in an area with high ground conductivity. I could get it in Denver. It didn't matter: KLOE quickly decided not to rebuild. The station literally blew away. The programming moved to FM.
A broadcaster I know in Missouri has told me they're keeping their class D AM on the air (which does have an FM translator) because, well, it's been there since the 1950s and they feel an obligation to keep it going as long as they can. It's entirely automated, run by the staff of their FM stations, so very little additional overhead. But, they added, the minute something not easily repairable happens, the license gets turned in. They found that most of their audience moved to FM back in the late 1970s.
Back to San Francisco, a few years ago, KEST (1450) lost its bayfront transmitter site and moved to diplex with KSFB (once KYA) near Candlestick Point. If KEST lost its site today, I doubt it would try to find a new one, even though it serves a specialized audience that's localized to the central part of the Bay Area. Any such investment takes longer and longer to recoup, compared to previous decades. That's especially true in the Bay Area, where land is expensive.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
And would sue Nielsen, blaming them for that, too.
A stray thought: If Cumulus thought they were going to take 560 silent eventually, why did they bother to give it new calls when they moved KSFO to 810? (Actually, I still don't understand why they didn't keep the KGO calls ... it's not like the KSFO calls have any more value anymore.)
The conservative audience for KSFO (such as it is) considers KGO to have been a "liberal" station. As for why they didn't just bury the KGO ID during the simulcast period and move the calls the day of taking 560 silent, who knows?