History and Order of Mount Wilson?

[K.M. Richards]

95.5 KLOS (was KECA) (CP on 99.3 10/31/46, LIC on 99.5 09/27/55)

Interestingly, there was a period (5/12/50 to 6/17/55) where the CP was modified to use the SE tower at the AM 790 Fairfax/Venice site.

There is a conflict of information on the history card. It shows the CP issued 6/17/47 on 95.5 on the first card (and was issued without a frequency assignment pending a Commission action) and then there is a different set of cards later which show the 10/31/46 CP with the application having been amended from 43.1 before it was issued. Is it possible the 43.1/99.3 CP was surrendered and a new application made for 95.5? Or was the 99.3 assignment pulled back for eight months and that wasn't noted?

(BTW, Michi, I presume "99.5" was a typo on your part.)

 

[davideduardo]

If KBIG had to reduce ERP because of the RF danger, they why has KPFK been allowed to keep its 110kw? Is the KPFK antenna a bit further from areas where people might be working?

Yes. Not where the big TV transmitter buildings are located.

 

[davideduardo]

There are AM stations that have done that to override Cuban interference!

Cuba has violated and abrogated the NARBA treaty. Mexico and the US are both in compliance with NARBA and the sucessive joint agreements.

 

[Signal Geek]

There are AM stations that have done that to override Cuban interference!

Again, the KUSC/XHGLX interference would have ended the moment XHGLX moved up one channel. That puts it on par with virtually every other San Diego/Tijuana FM station that's one channel away from the big Los Angeles signals. KUSC *might* still have a legit interference claim if 91.7 had been over 100kw and/or great elevation, but that's not the case. 91.7 actually has one of the weaker signals in SD/TJ.

 

[Signal Geek]

Yes. Not where the big TV transmitter buildings are located.

David, was the KBIG power reduction possibly the result of a CalOSHA worker safety rule? Because 98.1/KISQ San Francisco at the Mt. Beacon antenna farm also cut power from 100kw to (I believe) 75kw.

 

[TheBigA]

Again, the KUSC/XHGLX interference would have ended the moment XHGLX moved up one channel.

Conversely, that move also opened the channel for KUSC to increase it's power because it would not interfere with anyone else.

The closest station on 91.5 is in Fresno, 220 miles away.

 

[K.M. Richards]

There is a conflict of information on the history card. It shows the CP issued 6/17/47 on 95.5 on the first card (and was issued without a frequency assignment pending a Commission action) and then there is a different set of cards later which show the 10/31/46 CP with the application having been amended from 43.1 before it was issued. Is it possible the 43.1/99.3 CP was surrendered and a new application made for 95.5? Or was the 99.3 assignment pulled back for eight months and that wasn't noted?

I answered my own question by going back to one of the articles I linked earlier. The date of the reallocations for all existing licensees and permittees to use four-channel spacing matches the 1947 date above. Looking at the list of stations, KECA-FM had to be moved away from KVFD-FM on 99.5 and pretty much the only place for it was between KVUN on 94.7 and KRKD-FM on 96.3 ... so the modified CP was issued without a frequency because at that point adoption of the new frequency assignments was still pending full Commission approval. I have no idea why the Broadcast Bureau didn't just wait until the 95.5 assignment was finalized before issuing it.

Unfortunately, the history cards are not completely linear going back that far so it wasn't obvious at first (or even second) reading.

 

[Signal Geek]

Conversely, that move also opened the channel for KUSC to increase it's power because it would not interfere with anyone else.

The closest station on 91.5 is in Fresno, 220 miles away.

Yes, but my question is: how was KUSC *allowed* to increase both its power and height way beyond its previous standard Class B parameters? Feel free to correct me, but I can't recall any other non-grandfathered FM in California's Class B zone being allowed more than the equivalent of 50kw at 500 ft HAAT.

 

[TheBigA]

Yes, but my question is: how was KUSC *allowed* to increase both its power and height way beyond its previous standard Class B parameters?

It's also directional.

 

[K.M. Richards]

For those who have found the clarification more confusing than the question and who also found the 1947 listing hard to follow, here is the original four-channel spacing allocation table for Los Angeles in frequency order:

93.1 KNX-FM
94.7 KVUN
95.5 KECA-FM
96.3 KRKD-FM
97.1 KKLA
98.7 KMGM
99.5 KVFD-FM
100.3 KMPC-FM
101.1 KHJ-FM
101.9 KOMB
103.5 KTML
104.3 KFAC-FM
105.1 KCLI
105.9 KFI-FM

Curiously, the spacing in the metro was still inconsistent, as KHRB Beverly Hills was assigned 103.9 and KAGH Pasadena 98.3 (although KWFM did conform with 102.7).

 

[Signal Geek]

It's also directional.

Not by very much (see attached coverage map). Still doesn't answer my question.

 

[TheBigA]

Not by very much (see attached coverage map). Still doesn't answer my question.

In any case, their application was approved. I've offered several possibilities why the application was approved.

AFAIK, no one has complained or challenged their license, and I don't see any interference reports.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Still doesn't answer my question.

I have a feeling your question will go unanswered. No one here knows, and I haven't found anything in my research.

Time to drop it, methinks. 😐

 

[DaveBayArea]

I have a feeling your question will go unanswered. No one here knows, and I haven't found anything in my research.

Time to drop it, methinks. 😐

Scrolling through the different app's at fccdata.org I notice one about that time that was an "STA". It's all too old to have any of the actual documents online, but I guess I could conceivably see them applying for an STA to overcome the interference, and then telling the FCC "yes - it worked" (well - DOH!!). I also remember that was the time when HAAT was done with 8 radials and if you were really good at it you could place the transmitter at such a place where 1 or 2 of them were on high ridges. I thought that might be the reason for the choice of Mt. Harvard over Wilson. But the licensed HAAT is way too high for that kind of trick.

As Big A said - nobody complained. It remains a mystery.

Dave B.

 

[Signal Geek]

I have a feeling your question will go unanswered. No one here knows, and I haven't found anything in my research.

Time to drop it, methinks. 😐

Thanks K.M. for looking into it. So, we have a new entry in L.A. radio's Unsolved Mysteries Hall of Fame -- a collection that already included why Saul Levine keeps flipping the format of AM 1260, why 101.9 gave up its high power from Flint Peak, and why 1500 AM never returned to the air. The latest inductee: how KUSC got away with a huge signal upgrade

 

[K.M. Richards]

Thanks K.M. for looking into it. So, we have a new entry in L.A. radio's Unsolved Mysteries Hall of Fame -- a collection that already included why Saul Levine keeps flipping the format of AM 1260, why 101.9 gave up its high power from Flint Peak, and why 1500 AM never returned to the air. The latest inductee: how KUSC got away with a huge signal upgrade

I can answer two of those.

Saul has flipped 1260 so many times because he can. That station is more for his personal enjoyment than anything else, although knowing him if pure AM digital becomes a real thing, he'll do that and keep the Classical format.

As for 1500, without revealing anything that I am sworn to secrecy on, I will say that the final chapter on that is yet to be written.

Can't answer the question about 101.9 because Robert Adams is long gone from this earth and only he would know.

Also, you're welcome. I like doing research.

 

[TheBigA]

101.9 KOMB

I'm wondering where those call letters came from. As I looked through the FCC history cards, they begin with KUTE in 1952.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm wondering where those call letters came from. As I looked through the FCC history cards, they begin with KUTE in 1952.

From this article, which was one of my posted research links in post #27. Probably a surrendered CP.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Did a little digging for you, BigA.

The construction permit for KOMB was apparently held up by the Commission until the station spacing issue was resolved ... applied for by Consolidated Broadcasting Corporation Ltd., which was owned by C. Merwin Dobyns, who also founded KGER/1390 (today's KLTX) in 1926; after his death October 15, 1946 both the AM station and the FM CP were sold to the John Brown Schools for $300,000. After several extensions of time to complete, the CP was cancelled August 16, 1949.

At one point in 1947 there was an application to change KOMB's frequency from 101.9 to 97.9 but that was not approved.

 

[SkyWaveDX]

I got curious, and the history cards are all there for the searching via fccdata.org.

So here's the order, as best I can piece it together:

The very first FM on Wilson is not what I would have expected. It was KRHM on 94.7, which was licensed there on June 30, 1949.

After that:

93.1 as KNX-FM 12/7/1950
95.5 as KECA-FM 3/7/51
92.3 as KFAC-FM 1951 (moved up from the KFAC 1330 site)
101.1 as KHJ-FM 6/11/52 (moved from Mt. Lee, where it was the oldest commercial FM in town, starting in 1943)
104.3 as KBIQ 1959 (moved from 1655 N. Cherokee)
105.1 as KBCA 5/4/59
102.7 as KLAC-FM 3/7/61
103.5 as KADS 6/16/61 (moved from the Angelus Temple, 1100 Glendale Blvd)
90.7 KPFK 1/22/64
107.5 as KBBI 8/14/64 (moved from 536 S. Hope in DTLA)

and then a long gap...

100.3 as KIQQ 1983 (from Briarcrest)
89.3 KPCC 1989 (from Flint, and before that the Pasadena College campus)
101.9 as KMPC-FM 7/13/89 (from Flint Peak)
97.1 as KHTZ 1/10/90 (from Flint Peak)
93.9 as KZLA 1991
105.9 KPWR 7/15/93 (from Flint Peak)
91.5 KUSC 1994 (Mt. Harvard, from Flint)
99.5 KKLA 2/17/95 (from Flint Peak)

Do you happen to know when the NOAA Weather Radio Station KWO37 was installed on Mount Wilson? I'm a local in the area and it always made me think of when it was established. As I can see, and have seen prior, Mt. Wilson is a pretty significant site for radio markets in the L.A region.