590 KLBJ Files to Change Transmitter Sites

[Ryan Williams]

In a filing made this morning, Waterloo has applied to change KLBJ from a 5 kW/day nondirectional 1kW/night directional to a 5 kW/day nondirectional 380 W/night nondirectional by erecting one new tower on the site currently used by 1300 KVET in North Austin. Obviously this is a deal involving the real estate of the current 590 site which is relatively close to the new Tesla Gigafactory/HQ in SW Austin.

The daytime signal on-paper should improve because of the more central location. On paper the new nighttime signal appears to be close to a wash with a loss in some places to the west and south but an improvement in the Round Rock/Cedar Park area due to being closer and nondirectional.

I'm personally very skeptical that 380 watts at night AM, even on a low frequency like 590, will get the job done. Truthfully, the current 1 kW isn't adequate either.

KLBJ has historically been one of the billing leaders in the market and is also the LP-1 station for the Austin area under the current EAS plan.

I still think KLBJ programming on 93.3 makes a lot of sense longterm unless Lucy really takes off, perhaps even returning to the Bertram site, if they are willing to run it in mono.

 

[dlf1]

I’m guessing they feel the 99.7 translator can cover the areas to the South where a 380 watt night signal might have problems. Although 99.7 starts to get choppy around Buda and Kyle (two growing areas of Austin; heck, what isn’t growing up there?).

 

[Ryan Williams]

I’m guessing they feel the 99.7 translator can cover the areas to the South where a 380 watt night signal might have problems. Although 99.7 starts to get choppy around Buda and Kyle (two growing areas of Austin; heck, what isn’t growing up there?).

Austin is a five county market. One translator, even a good one like 99.7, isn't enough. To be fair 590 at night isn't great in most of Hays either including San Marcos and it is worse in most of Williamson.

 

[Mediafrog+]

I'm rather surprised they are going with the KVET site, which itself in recent years has been the target of speculation of a land sale.

The current KLBJ site has been there for a long time, and I think might go back to the mid-1940s when what was then KTBC moved to 590 from 1150. As noted above, it is very close to the Tesla Gigafactory, which, if you haven't seen it in person, is HUGE. Land values must be soaring in the area.

The 590 night signal has never been great--decades ago you could hear Cuba underneath at night, along with what was then WOW out of Omaha. At least this move gets the transmitter closer to all the northern urban sprawl of Austin.

 

[BamaTX]

KLBJ has historically been one of the billing leaders in the market and is also the LP-1 station for the Austin area under the current EAS plan.

I still think KLBJ programming on 93.3 makes a lot of sense longterm unless Lucy really takes off, perhaps even returning to the Bertram site, if they are willing to run it in mono.

If the concern is night time coverage, then placing KLBJ-AM on 93.3 and returning it to the Bertram site makes very little sense. You want the best reception inside the market because 380 watts seems a bit suspect.

 

[Ryan Williams]

If the concern is night time coverage, then placing KLBJ-AM on 93.3 and returning it to the Bertram site makes very little sense. You want the best reception inside the market because 380 watts seems a bit suspect.

Currently, KGSR appears to be running their AUX facility full-time (I can't remember the last time I heard the Bertram signal), which is 25.5 kW at 150 M HAAT. They had a CP for a C2 with 50 kW at 150 M from the same site, but that seems to have expired last year. So the current facility in use (the AUX) is somewhere between a C3 and C2, approximately 10 miles from downtown. The Bertram facility, which is still the primary licensed facility, is a full C with 100 kW at 587 M HAAT about 35 miles from downtown.

I think you can make a pretty good case that the C2 CP that expired was an overall improvement in most of the market that matters, but not all, because it is materially closer to the population center with adequate power. If the plan is to run the half-powered AUX full-time forever while keeping the "licensed" Bertram site for spacing reasons, then I am a lot more skeptical that that is the better overall facility.

Waterloo obviously decided the Bertram site was worth not getting rid of... at least for now.

590 AM is a frequency that has a lot of gravity and time behind it and it makes a lot of money, so it is hard to see it going away, but other than KLBJ, AM is basically dead in Austin, so a transition to a full-power FM makes a lot of sense and seems pretty inevitable.... eventually.

 

[AnyHuman]

I read the KGSR new CP from downtown was up now somewhere.

 

[Kent]

In a filing made this morning, Waterloo has applied to change KLBJ from a 5 kW/day nondirectional 1kW/night directional to a 5 kW/day nondirectional 380 W/night nondirectional by erecting one new tower on the site currently used by 1300 KVET in North Austin. Obviously this is a deal involving the real estate of the current 590 site which is relatively close to the new Tesla Gigafactory/HQ in SW Austin.

That makes sense. My initial thought was that this had to be a land deal, but I remember the east side of Austin as being a bad area. That along with the area around I-35 and Rundberg over to about Lamar were the areas you didn't want to spend too much time.

I'm rather surprised they are going with the KVET site, which itself in recent years has been the target of speculation of a land sale.

I ended up taking a place up the road from there during my brief stay in Austin not quite 15 years ago. I've been told it looks a lot different today. Not sure if there was ever any smoke to that fire or if it was caused by the accidental deletion of KVET 1300 when KEVT 1210 near Tucson was the station being deleted. I wouldn't be surprised either way. We're already to the point where most AM signals are worth less than their land.

I read the KGSR new CP from downtown was up now somewhere.

At this point, I see nothing in the FCC's database, though that doesn't mean something couldn't be in the works.

 

[boiseengineer]

Reading The History Cards, the Johnson family bought the little daytimer on 1150 during WWII and immediately applied for 590.
Some say there was political wrangling to get it done.

 

[The Rimshot]

The signal of KKYX 680AM out of San Antonio travels really far at night for being a non-Clear Channel AM. I can hear it clearly all the way in Port Lavaca at night. I wish they were an Astros affiliate. They carried the Missions for years.

 

[Kent]

The signal of KKYX 680AM out of San Antonio travels really far at night for being a non-Clear Channel AM. I can hear it clearly all the way in Port Lavaca at night. I wish they were an Astros affiliate. They carried the Missions for years.

KKYX beams its signal straight into the ocean at night. When I lived in Tulsa, I could get it most evenings when it was on its daytime pattern, but, as soon as it went to its nighttime signal, it was gone. You should, however, have no trouble hearing it in Victoria and Corpus Christi because it throws that 10,000 watts right at you.

 

[Kent]

Reading The History Cards, the Johnson family bought the little daytimer on 1150 during WWII and immediately applied for 590.
Some say there was political wrangling to get it done.

Political wrangling? No way! 😂

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that had been the case. LBJ wasn't the only person who reportedly used political connections to get an allotment. I'd always heard Oklahoma's Kerr family, which was that state's equivalent of the Kennedies, was upset their rivals, the Stuarts, got 1170 in Tulsa. So, they used their political connections to get KRMG 740. I think it's been talked about on the Okahoma board in the past, but KRMG couldn't actually be licensed at its listed parameters due to its proximity to KTRH in Houston. Some wrangling likely took place to make that happen, too.

 

[jras20]

I can get KKYX pretty decent at night in Lavaca county. A lot better then KONO.

 

[dlf1]

KKYX sends their night signal to the South and SE. I am in the Valley tonight and their signal here is slightly better than where I live in Canyon Lake.

 

[WCJ]

Orange County, TX - Since we're off topic I'll interject, last year my son & his wife vacationed in Playa del Carmen for a week. He told me that KKYX was one of the nightly signals that was reliable down there along with KTRH. He said that one night around sunset he snagged now silent KOGT. He confirmed it by the disc jockey.

 

[Dondd]

In a filing made this morning, Waterloo has applied to change KLBJ from a 5 kW/day nondirectional 1kW/night directional to a 5 kW/day nondirectional 380 W/night nondirectional by erecting one new tower on the site currently used by 1300 KVET in North Austin.

The daytime signal on-paper should improve because of the more central location

Nah. Their signal is significantly weakened.
One can barely hear it in Williamson County, in the Austin metro market. You have to turn up the sound considerably.

At night? Forget it.
It's nonexistent.

Two nights ago, I thought the station was off the air, so listened until TOH to hear the location, hoping it might by 590 in Omaha.
Nope. A 512 area code.

 

[davideduardo]

Nah. Their signal is significantly weakened.
One can barely hear it in Williamson County, in the Austin metro market. You have to turn up the sound considerably.

Do we know for sure that they are at the new site already? 60 days seems like a very short time to get an FCC grant, build a tower, tune it and get it one the air.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

A construction permit hasn't even been granted, so they better not be operating from the new site!

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Nah. Their signal is significantly weakened.
One can barely hear it in Williamson County, in the Austin metro market. You have to turn up the sound considerably.

At night? Forget it.
It's nonexistent.

Two nights ago, I thought the station was off the air, so listened until TOH to hear the location, hoping it might by 590 in Omaha.
Nope. A 512 area code.

Atmospherics have been wonky on and off the last week or two.... so that could be some of this.

And if they dont have a CP, they cant be operating from the new site.

How far are you from the current KLBJ site and in what direction?

 

[Dondd]

Good points. I thought they had already powered-down.

Checking a few minutes ago, they were very low power, maybe an eighth of normal. It's hard to hear. It's like a highly distant station.

It is in no way as strong as it use to be.

How far are you from the current KLBJ site and in what direction?

Am 35 miles from the xmitter, north of Austin and south of Temple-Waco, not far north of Georgetown, Texas.

According to Radio Locator, the signal should be close to 100%, as indicated in their listing:
Radio Stations in 76537.


The signal use to be much stronger.