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KABC power increase

* New Direction for KABC
From LA Radio.com
"Surprised I haven't seen this mentioned: KABC-790 has boosted its power from 5,000 watts to 6,600 watts day and 7,900 watts night [still directional], effective May 31st." - DRA David R. Alpert
 
Yep...part of the sale of the La Cienega property and the move of the transmitter and towers. Discussed earlier this year when it was announced:

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?700545-KABC-La-Cienega-Towers&highlight=kabc

And there is no coverage gain, despite the slightly increased power. The new site is just not as effective and efficient as the old one. They are sharing diplexed towers at the SKWK site. Those towers are intended for 1330, and are a nice half-wave high at that frequency. They are just over a quarter-wave at 790, though, and less efficient than the old site which was built for 790. Added power is needed to keep an identical coverage area.
 
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Regardless, the company gets to bank a big pile of cash for the old site that they might even apply towards their debt.
 
Regardless, the company gets to bank a big pile of cash for the old site that they might even apply towards their debt.

Similar to what the owner of KHJ did... bought the station in 1990 for $23 million, and then in 2014 sold the land for $57 million and the station for just under $10 million after moving it to a shared, diplexed site. Coverage suffered, but the profit was considerable, even after taxes.
 
Regardless, the company gets to bank a big pile of cash for the old site that they might even apply towards their debt.

And Cumulus is getting closer to the sale of the dirt under WMAL's sticks outside D.C. A lot of Ancient Modulation owners are finding the highest and best use of their license is to sell the land under their tower(s). In the case of WMAL, they'll be sharing tower space with Salem's 5~Seventy. Nighttime coverage not as good as their present location, but $75m from Toll Bros will help ease the pain!
 
This is part of what the FCC calls AM revitalization. Owners put their AM content on an FM translator and HD2. And magically AM has been revitalized.
 
Inland San Diego night time reception of 790 WAS listenable. Other signals now bury it.

If the Radio Locator maps are semi accurate, KABC lost San Diego at night with the move to a different site. But that's not the market for them. And is often the case, some stations don't want to accept the reality of programming to listeners within their immediate service area.
 
Did KABC also increase power for nighttime operation or just day?

Day and night. Principally, they had to compensate for the considerably lower radiation efficiency of the KWKW towers, which are half-wave at 1330, and are quite short (105°) at 790.

They also had to observe the new protection requirements towards Mexico at night, resulting in less signal towards southern Orange County.

The daytime coverage with the increased power is nearly identical to the old coverage with 5 kw. At night, it is identical except towards the south-southeast.
 
I say shut her down forever i know but flip it to something worth listenin to. There aint much on kabc worth listenin to. They air reruns at night. If that isnt pathetic i dont know what is. Clueuless is clueless bout kabc.
 
I say shut her down forever i know but flip it to something worth listenin to.

KFWB was going nowhere, but that didn't stop Lotus from buying 9~Eighty and putting something on that would attract an audience. Perhaps Cumulus is too proud to try something else on the storied KABC...even though that story came to an end a long time ago.
 
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