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BELLINGHAM VENUES

L

LITTLEBOYBLUE

Did a fly-by of Saga facility in Bellingham ... made me wonder when everyone wound up on the hill? I seem to recall KAFE was once on the road out to Mt. Baker...KGMI would have been in what was then the lime-green warehouse next to IGM (right next to I-5 near the BHam airport). Where were the other stations located over the yeras....such as KISM, KPUG....

And it's my understanding that Saga is the ONLY player in Bellingham anymore....is that true?

(Also depressing to see the KVOS building empty and on the market....reminded me a ton of the old KTNT building in Tacoma that kept its tower and is still a cellphone facility @ 11th & Grant. It's where the station first went on the air...before moving to the 19th st. facility as KSTW & leaving the radio stations -- KTNT and KNBQ -- in the facility in Hilltop. I remember LOTS of crime activity in that neighborhood while being the only guy in the building sometimes. Quite the uneasy feeling....)
 
I remember as a kid visiting KENY 930 on the top floor of what was then the Bellingham Hotel (tallest building in town at 15 floors). Awesome view for a radio station. I believe the building has long since been converted into an office tower.
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
And it's my understanding that Saga is the ONLY player in Bellingham anymore....is that true?
Click to expand...

Only one I've ever known there. The other nearby signals to the north target BC and then there are a few operators in Mt. Vernon.
 
KISM was located in the same building as KGMI beside the freeway near the airport. Calls were KVGM in the early 70's (Very Good Music).

In the 80's KAFE was located with KPUG on Sunset Drive (aka: Mt. Baker Highway). Calls were KNWR back then (Northwest Rock). The station was originally known as KERI with C&W and was a sister to KARI 550 with studios in Birch Bay until it was sold to KPUG in 1979..

I can't recall exactly where KOQT 1550 was, but I seem to remember it being located in a rural type area on the east side of the freeway.
 
Saga owns all commercial radio signals licensed to Bellingham. The remaining Bellingham licensed signals are public/non-commercial.

KWPZ 106.5 is owned by Crista.

KARI and KVRI are owned by Way Broadcasting. KVRI's signal is leased and entirely programmed from over the border in Surrey.

KRPI is owned by a Canadian group affiliated with Radio Punjab
 
They should trademark it- "Blaine: Vancouver's Tijuana"
 
Dan said:
Bongwater.....speaking of KRPI 1550 have you heard anything about when they will be making the move to Point Roberts and boosting power to 50KW's fulltime? From what I can tell by looking at the maps KRPI's towers will be located about 2 or 3 blocks from the Canadian border.


http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=21416
Click to expand...

As I understand it, the COL will be changed from Ferndale to Point Roberts and I believe their new 50,000 watt set up is going to be there too.

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KRPI&service=AM&status=C&hours=D

I don't get out to Point Roberts much. But the land needed for an AM radio tower array is NOT cheap out there. So KRPI's owners have some pretty deep pockets.

And if the Radio-Indicator map is to be believed, "Sher-e-Punjab 1550" will have a MONSTER signal all over Puget Sound, bringing the tasty lo-fi exotic sounds of Bollywood and Bhangra to a radio near you.

And this is what it will sound like:

http://www.krpiradio.com/listen-live
 
They should trademark it- "Blaine: Vancouver's Tijuana"
Click to expand...

We used to refer to Blaine as Sin City, U.S.A. many years ago. The taverns in that town would do a thriving business with thirsty Canadians on Sundays up until the mid-80's when B.C.'s archaic liquor laws were updated and you could finally get a drink up here on a Sunday.
 
Will KXPA 1540 complain of interference, especially on the sound itself (Edmonds, Shoreline, Seattle, Burien, etc)?

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
Will KXPA 1540 complain of interference, especially on the sound itself (Edmonds, Shoreline, Seattle, Burien, etc)?

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

From the looks of it, I don't think it will push enough down there to give 1540 any real trouble.
 
Interesting pattern though. The main lobe of the local 2.5 mv/m signal shoots northwest towards Eastern Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast where the Punjabi population is negligible, however Vancouver, Surrey, and the Fraser Valley appear to be well covered which is obviously their target. There is also an odd looking bulge in the 2.5 mv/m contours that extends south towards Whidbey Island and Everett.
 
I was surprised by how weak the 1550 nighttime signal was in Burnaby BC when I was there a few weeks ago. So I can see why they need to do something. I wonder were the financing for this big a change is really coming from. Now that there are Punjabi-oriented stations on the BC side of the border, it would be interesting to find out just how compliant the station's management is with FCC regulations, like maintaining an up to date public file and airing EAS tests, political advertising, etc.

But even if its new signal splatters on 1540 in Seattle, I doubt anyone will do anything about it. You can't hear 1540 during the day now anywhere north of Seattle since the IBOC noise from 1520 covers it up, just like it was being jammed by the Cuban government. Same goes for KRKO covering up the Bainbridge station on 1400 in Seattle with IBOC noise.
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
I was surprised by how weak the 1550 nighttime signal was in Burnaby BC when I was there a few weeks ago. So I can see why they need to do something. I wonder were the financing for this big a change is really coming from. Now that there are Punjabi-oriented stations on the BC side of the border, it would be interesting to find out just how compliant the station's management is with FCC regulations, like maintaining an up to date public file and airing EAS tests, political advertising, etc.

But even if its new signal splatters on 1540 in Seattle, I doubt anyone will do anything about it. You can't hear 1540 during the day now anywhere north of Seattle since the IBOC noise from 1520 covers it up, just like it was being jammed by the Cuban government. Same goes for KRKO covering up the Bainbridge station on 1400 in Seattle with IBOC noise.
Click to expand...

KVRI 1600's signal barely even gets into Bellingham because it's so directional towards Vancouver. KLFE 80 miles away can still be heard easily around the Port of Bellingham. It's ridiculous.

But I also have a gut feeling the CRTC is going to stamp out or severely restrict the Punjabi border blasters programming from the Canadian side over US radio stations. They too think it's a little odd and they have a lot of vacant AM frequencies they would like to see used. They could easily make them an offer they can't refuse.

And then where will the BC border blasters be?

Just sayin'......
 
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