CBS Radio stations move?

[Joe Rouse]

I noticed the other day that the KHTK/KNCI studios on Madison Avenue now also appears to house KYMX, KSFM, and KZZO. Did CBS Radio put all their Sacramento stations into one building?

 

[1069_KIFR]

Makes sense. Here in San Francisco, CBS and Clear Channel have done that. CBS rearranged a floor at their KPIX Channel 5 building. I think, KCBS AM/FM is still located at Embarcadero Center.

 

[fybush]

Makes sense. Here in San Francisco, CBS and Clear Channel have done that. CBS rearranged a floor at their KPIX Channel 5 building. I think, KCBS AM/FM is still located at Embarcadero Center.

Nope...it moved to Battery Street a few years back, too.

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2011/site-110909.html

 

[RadioStarOne]

If CBS sells the Sacramento cluster it will make it nice for the new owner's that's for sure.

 

[Big D]

I noticed the other day that the KHTK/KNCI studios on Madison Avenue now also appears to house KYMX, KSFM, and KZZO. Did CBS Radio put all their Sacramento stations into one building?

Funny, I thought they move them all into the Commerce Circle building. Either way consolidation does make sense (I mean who wants 2 leases?)

 

[1069_KIFR]

@ Scott, I really enjoyed your report on the SF visit. Although, I believe the photo identified as KGO's Old Home is actually the former home of KBHK TV 44. That was on Taylor Street. That does not look like the former home of KGO that was on Golden Gate Ave. Terrific job on the history of your transmitter sites and your visit.

 

[DJBigOne]

@ Scott, I really enjoyed your report on the SF visit.

Very cool website! Is that a water sprinkler on the ceiling of the KCBS rack room? Or is it for Inergen (or whatever they call the non-halon stuff nowadays)?

 

[fybush]

@ Scott, I really enjoyed your report on the SF visit. Although, I believe the photo identified as KGO's Old Home is actually the former home of KBHK TV 44. That was on Taylor Street. That does not look like the former home of KGO that was on Golden Gate Ave. Terrific job on the history of your transmitter sites and your visit.

Before KGO was at 277 Golden Gate Ave. (and of course long before Front Street), it was part of a duopoly with KPO. NBC owned KPO outright; GE owned KGO and leased it to NBC to operate. Both stations made their home at 420 Taylor, and KGO stayed there until 1954 or thereabouts. KPO (by then KNBC) remained at Taylor Street until 1967, and KBHK moved in shortly thereafter.

And, Steven, I suspect it's the non-halon stuff. That rack room was built post-halon, I'm pretty sure, and there's no way they'd use water there.

 

[DJBigOne]

>>And, Steven, I suspect it's the non-halon stuff. That rack room was built post-halon, I'm pretty sure, and there's no way they'd use water there.

Obviously water doesn't make sense in an electronics environment. I've worked in two sites that had water sprinklers. One done right. The other not. Both systems were required by the city. In the case of the "right" system, a cut off switch was installed on the main breaker. First, it would run the Inergen system. If that didn't put out the fire, the system would cut off power to the equipment, then turn a valve to fill the sprinkler system with water. System #2 had no fail safe.

 

[1069_KIFR]

@ Scott, thanks for the info!

 

[Engineer]

That looks like a conventional water sprinkler head to me - the odd object protruding down looks like an eyeball-type recessed light.

Gaseous fire suppression systems are somewhat rare in studio facilities -- even in rack rooms, it's extremely costly and space-consuming to house enough gas cylinders to cover the space. Not unheard of, but rare in my experience. They're more common in transmitter buildings - particularly high-dollar TV plants - because the buildings frequently don't have heating systems and there is the possibility of pipes freezing in areas that aren't kept warm by equipment. Typical systems today are FM-200 or Inergen. Existing Halon systems can stay in place but replacement Halon is very costly as no new gas can be made, it's all reclaimed and resold.

Pre-action is common in studio facilities. This system uses an air compressor to maintain air pressure in the sprinkler pipes and has an automatic valve keeping water out of the pipes. If some idiot hits a sprinkler head with a ladder, the system won't spray water everywhere and the loss of air pressure will provide a supervisory alarm. If two smoke/heat detectors go off in a zone, the system will charge the pipes with water, although that will still require the activation of a sprinkler head (melting of bimetallic element or glass tube) to discharge water.

 

[stewie]

That looks like a conventional water sprinkler head to me - the odd object protruding down looks like an eyeball-type recessed light.

Gaseous fire suppression systems are somewhat rare in studio facilities -- even in rack rooms, it's extremely costly and space-consuming to house enough gas cylinders to cover the space. Not unheard of, but rare in my experience. They're more common in transmitter buildings - particularly high-dollar TV plants - because the buildings frequently don't have heating systems and there is the possibility of pipes freezing in areas that aren't kept warm by equipment. Typical systems today are FM-200 or Inergen. Existing Halon systems can stay in place but replacement Halon is very costly as no new gas can be made, it's all reclaimed and resold.

Pre-action is common in studio facilities. This system uses an air compressor to maintain air pressure in the sprinkler pipes and has an automatic valve keeping water out of the pipes. If some idiot hits a sprinkler head with a ladder, the system won't spray water everywhere and the loss of air pressure will provide a supervisory alarm. If two smoke/heat detectors go off in a zone, the system will charge the pipes with water, although that will still require the activation of a sprinkler head (melting of bimetallic element or glass tube) to discharge water.

Also keep in mind that most gaseous fire suppression systems require a sealed environment. In my time, I don't think I've ever seen a radio rack room sealed. Too many people going in and out. As previously mentioned, the gas storage takes up a lot of room, I am willing to bet they're traditional water fire suppression, pre-action or not.

 

[DJBigOne]

That looks like a conventional water sprinkler head to me - the odd object protruding down looks like an eyeball-type recessed light.

Gaseous fire suppression systems are somewhat rare in studio facilities -- even in rack rooms, it's extremely costly and space-consuming to house enough gas cylinders to cover the space. Not unheard of, but rare in my experience. They're more common in transmitter buildings - particularly high-dollar TV plants - because the buildings frequently don't have heating systems and there is the possibility of pipes freezing in areas that aren't kept warm by equipment. Typical systems today are FM-200 or Inergen. Existing Halon systems can stay in place but replacement Halon is very costly as no new gas can be made, it's all reclaimed and resold.

Pre-action is common in studio facilities. This system uses an air compressor to maintain air pressure in the sprinkler pipes and has an automatic valve keeping water out of the pipes. If some idiot hits a sprinkler head with a ladder, the system won't spray water everywhere and the loss of air pressure will provide a supervisory alarm. If two smoke/heat detectors go off in a zone, the system will charge the pipes with water, although that will still require the activation of a sprinkler head (melting of bimetallic element or glass tube) to discharge water.

I had two buildings with Inergen systems. I never saw them activated. They were ran when first installed. If memory serves, Inergen isn't used anymore. I've heard of FM200, but never ran a site that had it. In both Inergen buildings, the tanks took up quite a bit of space. One system was housed inside the equipment room. The other just outside the room in warehouse space. These systems must make quite the noise when running, considering one head covers the entire room.

Am I right to assume equipment rooms would be in fire code compliance by having plain-jane fire extinguishers?

 

[John Walker]

I'm surprised KNCI etc weren't moved into the Commerce Circle building. I've worked in both buildings, and Commerce Circle certainly has much more space than the Madison Ave bldg...not sure where they can fit all those Commerce stations in there

 

[DJBigOne]

I'm surprised KNCI etc weren't moved into the Commerce Circle building. I've worked in both buildings, and Commerce Circle certainly has much more space than the Madison Ave bldg...not sure where they can fit all those Commerce stations in there

Years ago, I interviewed in both buildings. I could have played squash in the Commerce lobby. The offices on Madison were micro. They must now have each station in a closet.

 

[whonigs]

KHTK and KNCI are located at the Madison facility...all of the others at the Commerce location. They just have signs up for all the stations at both locations...I suppose there are sales located at both locations for all stations.

 

[John Walker]

Ah, that makes more sense