1260 Going Country Gold

[K.M. Richards]

Clearly overlooking the great contributions of Don Barrett here.

I meant newspaper reporters. I thought that was obvious in context.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Buckley hardly sold off "all" its stations in 1993. The family exited a few markets but retained Hartford, Bakersfield, WOR in New York, among others. It wasn't until after Rick Buckley's death a decade or so ago that the company sold all its stations.

And their former San Luis Obispo stations are still owned by the family. Rick Buckley's now-deceased daughter Martha and her son Eric Fahnoe's Dimes Media purchased the stations from Buckley Broadcasting as part of the sell-off.

I stand corrected on both counts. It was reported in all the trades at the time in language that appeared (at least, in my reading) to mean a mass sell off. And I didn't pay much attention to the other markets since I was solidly here in L.A. by then.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Since it has completed the required four years rebroadcasting the AM, they can now have it fed by any signal (in this case 105.1 HD2).

And now that you said that, I went back to my original post and discovered that I left out two key words:

Yes, that's the translator that Saul acquired in 2013 in Monterey; he moved it to San Fernando five years later, during that window where the FCC allowed same in advance of the auctions for new translators.

Because that move preceded those auctions, it is not tied to 1260 any more, so he can use it to retransmit the current 1260 programming via the existing HD2 of 105.1, so it's a win-win for him.

There. Proof that I can also correct myself.

 

[TomásEstefan]

Levine's 98.3 K252FO Los Angeles, which covers the entire San Fernando Valley.

Wish there was a similar signal rebroadcasting KKJZ...

 

[K.M. Richards]

Wish there was a similar signal rebroadcasting KKJZ...

From a technical and legal standpoint, there could be, but there are conditions.

Normally, a translator has to keep its signal within the primary service contour of the originating station. That would rule out a SFV-centric translator for 88.1, because none of that contour comes any closer to the Valley than the southernmost part of Glendale ... except that non-commercial stations can employ translators to extend their service area. A good example of this is KCRW, which in addition to full-power licenses in Santa Barbara, Mojave and San Luis Obispo has translators in the Banning and Chula Vista areas.

I believe the exemption only applies if the translators are licensed to the same legal entity as the originating station (Scott will be along to either confirm this or show us where that's not the case), but then you need to find a frequency that will not interfere with the licensed contours of any full-power station, and that's going to be the hard part. There are no empty second-adjacent FM frequencies up here that aren't already in use by a translator or a LPFM. The only frequency that is even slightly possible is 88.9, and since KXLU can sometimes make it up here under ideal conditions -- not to mention trying to find a transmitter site properly spaced from KCSN/88.5 -- I think most engineers would try to talk you out of it.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Saul could air a loop of cows mooing and people farting and it wouldnt do any better or worse than what anything else on 1260 has done lol

 

[K.M. Richards]

Saul could air a loop of cows mooing and people farting and it wouldnt do any better or worse than what anything else on 1260 has done lol

Yeah, but as I said, Saul has never run 1260 for the revenue. He's never had to.

 

[davideduardo]

The deeper story here is that Saul, who had chosen Classical as the logical format to show off the strengths of digital AM, has clearly abandoned that.

And with that having failed, 1260 is back to music that there is no known audience for on AM---all Taylor Swift for a month, followed by Classic Country hits from the 80s, 90s and 2000s.

Sidebar: "A low-powered signal at 98.3" will carry the Classical? Is KRCD giving up the simulcast? Are they selling KRCV to Saul or is he leasing it?

The translator is in the far extremes of the San Fernando Valley. The 98.3 signal is in West Covina at the 10 and 60 freeways. No overlap.

 

[davideduardo]

Levine's 98.3 K252FO Los Angeles, which covers the entire San Fernando Valley.

Sort of. In the Burbank-North Hollywood area it is very hard to lock on to in a car, and impossible indoors. Even as far as Van Nuys on the south side of the valley it is a hit-or-miss signal in vehicles unless you are up on the elevated Ventura Freeway. And by the time you get way to the west in The Valley it is again not good enough for in home and spotty in cars unless on the elevated freeways.

 

[lanceventa]

Sort of. In the Burbank-North Hollywood area it is very hard to lock on to in a car, and impossible indoors. Even as far as Van Nuys on the south side of the valley it is a hit-or-miss signal in vehicles unless you are up on the elevated Ventura Freeway. And by the time you get way to the west in The Valley it is again not good enough for in home and spotty in cars unless on the elevated freeways.

I was visiting my sister in Studio City right off the 101 last month and that thing was a monster while driving from throughout even on my little portable recorders whether I was in Woodland Hills or Burbank.

Now why the LPFM on 99.1 in Simi Valley was coming in clear in Pasadena is another story...

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Yeah, but as I said, Saul has never run 1260 for the revenue. He's never had to.

I know that.. and my point wasnt about revenue, it was just programming in general.

i once ran 30 seconds of cows mooing and people farting one morning at sign on at a daytimer one day to see if anyone would call.. or if they owner would care. nope. this after i told him the morning hosts were always late,and his reply "i dont care if cows moo and people fart on the air as long as the transmitter is on"

 

[K.M. Richards]

i once ran 30 seconds of cows mooing and people farting one morning at sign on at a daytimer one day to see if anyone would call.. or if they owner would care. nope. this after i told him the morning hosts were always late,and his reply "i dont care if cows moo and people fart on the air as long as the transmitter is on"

That'll teach him.

 

[radiofan2023]

I once ran 30 seconds of cows mooing and people farting one morning at sign on at a daytimer one day to see if anyone would call.. or if they owner would care. nope. this after i told him the morning hosts were always late,and his reply "i dont care if cows moo and people fart on the air as long as the transmitter is on"

At least he was honest

 

[TheBigA]

Saul said he was going to do this back in May when he hired a radio consultant. No big surprise.

 

[MarkW]

I think it's awesome that a station with a COL of Beverly Hills is now playing classic country music.

Reminds me of The Beverly Hillbillies! 😛

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Isn't this the station, as KGIL, whose Billboard frequently appeared on The Rockford Files when Jim Rockford was driving around in car chases?

 

[michael hagerty]

Isn't this the station, as KGIL, whose Billboard frequently appeared on The Rockford Files when Jim Rockford was driving around in car chases?

That's the one. Most of those scenes were shot in the San Fernando Valley, near Universal Studios...and KGIL advertised heavily there, as the Valley's local station.



I'm not sure exactly when (or why) the city of license was changed to Beverly Hills. The transmitter (I believe) is still in Mission Hills.

 

[michael hagerty]

I think it's awesome that a station with a COL of Beverly Hills is now playing classic country music.

Reminds me of The Beverly Hillbillies! 😛

But not these Beverly Hillbillies, I bet:

Los Angeles, California, c 1930 A promotional card for "The Beverly Hill Billies" band, created by the manager of KMPC radio station, Glen Rice, as he led his audience to believe he found a hillbilly family living back in the Beverly Hills and persua

Stock image 1035-21990842: Los Angeles, California, c 1930 A promotional card for "The Beverly Hill Billies" band, created by the manager of KMPC radio station, Glen Rice, as he led his audience to believe he found a hillbilly family living back in the Beverly Hills and persuaded them to perform...

www.superstock.com

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm not sure exactly when (or why) the city of license was changed to Beverly Hills. The transmitter (I believe) is still in Mission Hills.

It is. On Lassen St., just west of the 405. The old offices/studios building is also still standing but not in great shape.

If you want to see what it looked like a decade ago, our friend and moderator Scott Fybush featured it in his Site of the Week column in January of 2014:

Site of the Week 1/24/2014: KBLA/KYPA and KMZT, Los Angeles, 2012

Text and photos by SCOTT FYBUSH After all these years of regular visits to southern California, we’ve gotten to the point where we’re revisiting some sites we’ve seen before. But …

www.fybush.com

Around the same time, the City of Los Angeles (yes, for those of you who don't live here, most of the San Fernando Valley is geographically within the L.A. city limits) evaluated the building for historic landmark status, but nothing has happened since. And Saul appears to be in no hurry to demolish the building anyway.

Historic Places Los Angeles - Resource Report

hpla.lacity.org

(Yes, I noted the error at the very end where they imply that 1260 ceased operations in 1992. I told that City department they were wrong -- that only studio and management operations ended when Saul bought it -- but like most bureaucracies, they have done nothing to edit it.)

If you Google 14808 Lassen St., the map will put you right in the middle of the transmitter tower array:

14808 Lassen St · 14808 Lassen St, Mission Hills, CA 91345

14808 Lassen St, Mission Hills, CA 91345

www.google.com

However, if you drag-and-drop the little gold man to the intersection of Lassen and Willis, you can see what the building looked like in 2022.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Here's a record of all the facilities over the years. It looks like they added a fourth tower when they increased power. By clicking each record, you can see the tower arrangements and patterns over the years.

FCCInfo Facility Search Results

FCC Info is a Radio and Television Station Search Engine provided by Cavell, Mertz & Associates, Inc.

fccinfo.com