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Las Vegas Audacy Finally Files to Move KDWN and KXST to KXNT Site

R

Ryan Williams

More than seven months after going silent due to the transmitter site being sold, Audacy finally filed modification applications today with the FCC for 720 KDWN and 1140 KXST.

The new site is no surprise, it will be at co-owned KXNT (840) northeast of the metro.

KDWN is proposing 25 kW day and 4 kW at night (directional at night).

KXST is proposing 12 kW day and 100 watts at night (directional both day and night).

More to come...
 
But the question is...will they actually spend the money turning back on a silent AM that currently produces no revenue? Or is this just to try to find a buyer?
 
It appears Audacy doesn't own the KXNT site. I wonder if they could sublease their towers to who ever buys KDWN/KXST and collect some tiny revenue in addition to the sale of the stations.
 
The land under the KXNT site is BLM land, or at least that's my recollection. The actual towers and transmitter building belong to Audacy.
 
Greg Strickland said:
Ryan what do you mean by "finally"
My view-
The consultant did an excellent job.
Audacy can operate their business as they wish.
Click to expand...

Audacy used Cynthia Jacobson at Carl T Jones for this engineering work. CTJ is a very reputable firm that has handled applications for a lot of big AM moves in recent years by many of the large broadcasters. No disrespect was intended.

With that said, those two AM stations have been dark for more than seven months. The exchange arrangement between Audacy and Beasley was announced nearly a year ago in early October 2022 and Audacy likely had this in the works at least a couple of months before it was publicly announced.

The applications to relocate them to their existing KXNT site was just filed this past Friday and will take some time to be approved by the FCC and after that for the hardware pieces to be ordered and installed (although it doesn't require any new tower structures).

I guess I don't understand the timeline and the lack of hustle. As a broadcaster, being off the air even for a couple of minutes is painful and avoided at all cost and here are two long-established stations in a top 50 market that their licensee just don't seem to care much about.

They can probably still make the 12 month deadline, but it appears they will be cutting it close, especially if they don't already have the diplexer on order.
 
boiseengineer said:
The do have a lot of really new pieces-parts from the "old" 720/1140 system.
They don't need to have a finished working DA at the end of 12 months just cobble something together to get on the air with a low power NDA STA and they're golden.
Click to expand...
That's correct. And I expect they will have them back on the air in some capacity well before the deadline. How usable the STA will be remains to be seen. How usable the 100 watt night signal on 1140 also remains to be seen.

Regardless, I am glad to see some movement on these facilities and that Audacy appears to not be content with them dying off completely.
 
This is a new development! I really thought Audacy was willing to let the two AM stations die. Moving to another site, even at reduced power, was not really reported as an option.

KDWN's FM translator, now fed by KMXB-HD3, continues to run the conservative talk shows and brokered shows on 101.5 MHz. KXST didn't have an FM translator, so its Sports Betting (BetQL) and CBS Sports Radio programming simply disappeared from Las Vegas airwaves.

Since KDWN and KXST are just going to piggyback on the tower currently used by co-owned 840 KXST, I wonder why this is taking so long?
 
720 will have a decent day signal. The night will again ratchet back coverage of the LV area.
1140 is basically going back to its daytimer beginnings.
And to think they almost had to move 840 to the now gone 1140/720 site due to the massive power switching station built next to it.
Lots of math and it stayed!
 
I'm sure alot when on between when the stations went dark and now.

Maybe they were hoping to sell them to someone else and that didnt happen.

Maybe they had a few scenarios for rebuilding and were working through them

Maybe they were running numbers on what formats theyd run on them and how much theyd make.

Maybe they were running numbers on just handing in the licenses vs the expense of relocating and what theyd make

this isnt a ma and pa owner, so they owe shareholders to do some due dilligence on whatever action they take.

almost no one knows what went on in their minds between going dark and now
 
InsideRadio.com article which includes maps of current and proposed signals for KXST + KDWN:

www.insideradio.com

Engineering To The Rescue For Two Audacy AMs In Las Vegas.

Things did not look good for the long-term future of two AMs owned by Audacy in February. That is when the company said it expected to power down talk KDWN
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com

FCC application page for KXST - 9/23/2023 filing (full report link embedded):

FCC application page for KDWN - 9/23/2023 filing (full report link embedded):

On 9/6/2023, both stations filed to extend their STAs to 3/2/2024 at 12:01 AM at which time they must return to the air.
 
Gregg. said:
This is a new development! I really thought Audacy was willing to let the two AM stations die. Moving to another site, even at reduced power, was not really reported as an option.

KDWN's FM translator, now fed by KMXB-HD3, continues to run the conservative talk shows and brokered shows on 101.5 MHz. KXST didn't have an FM translator, so its Sports Betting (BetQL) and CBS Sports Radio programming simply disappeared from Las Vegas airwaves.

Since KDWN and KXST are just going to piggyback on the tower currently used by co-owned 840 KXST, I wonder why this is taking so long?
Click to expand...
The translator that KDWN is on is K268CS 101.5. KXST is on KLUC-HD3. I would think Las Vegas could use a sports betting station.
 
Be interesting to see how the Audacy bankruptcy affects the move. Bean counters will be looking at it.
KXST will become a Class D with 12 kw DA Day, 100 watts DA Night.
 
The bean counters have already looked at it. It's a labor of love by the local chief engineer, who's doing it all with reused pieces and parts from the old 1140/720 site. The capex budget for the project is tiny.
 
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