country24 said:
Does Garden City still own KFJZ? Are they trying to sell it? I don't live close enough to DFW to hear it even when it is on the air.
The sale of KFJZ 870 to Border Media Partners was announced last year, but according to the FCC it has yet to be approved. I don't know why, or even if BMP is still committed to the deal, though. KFJZ is still using 500 watts daytime from their single tower just east of downtown Fort Worth, but they hold a construction permit to increase to 1,000 watts directional. The new site is in the southeast part of Tarrant County, and the pattern will have a pronounced null toward WWL New Orleans. Other than that it will provide slightly better coverage, especially noticeable in Fort Worth. Looking east northeast toward Dallas, that null doesn't really come into play so coverage of Dallas will be improved somewhat as well.
country24 said:
And a new listing just popped up on TV Radio World for KTXV 890 in Mabank Texas. Power is listed at 25 KW day and 250 watts night. Radio Locator says they have a three tower array. I suppose that's supposed to get into Dallas. Anyone know anything about it?
A slight correction on the specs for the new station: daytime power will be 20,000 watts, and they'll be using
five towers from a site just southeast of Eustace off U.S. 175. Nighttime power is to 250 watts utilizing three of those towers. The long, narrow pattern runs basically NNW/SSE with the greater of the two major lobes pointing toward Dallas. So yes, it will get into Dallas, although I wouldn't look for anything spectacular. Remember that it's wedged in between KFJZ 870 and KXEB 910, plus they've got to provide co-channel protection to Oklahoma City. It's a complicated, highly directional pattern.
Following several amendments to the original application (from the AM major filing window back in January of last year) the FCC awarded a construction permit to Jeffrey Eustis for 890 in Mabank. Interestingly, Eustis had previously applied for a station on 890 licensed to Frankston (south of Tyler) using a site near the one that was later approved for Mabank. That was for much lower power (670 watts day/250 night), but with a pattern similar in shape to the recently approved Mabank station. In order to get the Frankston station on the air before the CP expired, Eustis scrapped plans for the original site and scaled back to a non-directional site near Frankston. That station, using the calls KTXV, came on the air less than two years ago with a Tejano format running just 250 watts day and two watts at night. It has since gone silent for "financial reasons," apparently while the owner is concentrating on the Mabank construction. The application for the station on 890 in Mabank contained a statement that the owner would surender the license for KTXV upon approval by the FCC, since it was a mutually exclusive application. (Last year a proposed sale of KTXV Frankston for $1 million fell through, but that was before the application for the Mabank station was approved.) 890 in Mabank had the calls KKBM for a short time but the silent Frankston station (essentially only a memory) is, on paper at least, carrying those call letters now.
