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KARN AM Directional array also messed up

W

wpiv926

This from FCC.GOV. Obviously, KAAY wasn't the only station that Citadel bean counters were ignoring. This explaination from the new owners was filed in mid November of last year.

EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH WARRANT TEMPORARY OPERATIONS

RADIO LICENSE HOLDING CBC, LLC ('RLH-CBC') EXPLAINED IN ITS LAST REQUEST, WHICH EXTENDED THE KARN(AM) SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY ('STA'), THAT VANDALS HAD STOLEN A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF COPPER TRANSMISSION LINE FROM THE STATION'S ANTENNA SYSTEM. SEE BESTA-20120208ADP. THE FORMER OWNER'S ENGINEER WAS ABLE TO GET THE STATION BACK ON THE AIR AT TWENTY FIVE PERCENT (25%) OF IT LICENSED NIGHTTIME POWER IN THE NON-DIRECTIONAL MODE.

AFTER CUMULUS ACQUIRED KARN LAST YEAR, IT EVALUATED THE STATION AND DETERMINED THAT THE DAMAGE WAS SO SEVERE THAT REPAIRS WOULD REQUIRE A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WORK AND EXTRA SECURITY MAY BE NECESSARY TO PROTECT THE TRANSMITTER SITE.

RLH-CBC IS CURRENTLY OPERATING KARN AT 5 KILOWATTS NON-DIRECTIONALLY DURING THE DAY AND 1.25 KILOWATTS NON-DIRECTIONALLY AT NIGHT, PURSUANT TO SECTION 73.1635 OF THE RULES, AND RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS AN EXTENSION OF ITS STA TO OPERATE IN THIS MODE DURING NIGHTTIME HOURS. RLH-CBC IS CONSIDERING A VARIETY OF OPTIONS TO RESTORE NIGHTTIME SERVICE INCLUDING BURIAL OF TRANSMISSION CONTROL AND SAMPLE LINES TO REPLACE EXISTING EQUIPMENT THAT HAS PROVEN TO BE SUBJECT TO VANDALISM. ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS AND INSTALLATION WITH RESPECT TO THIS OPTION, OR ANY OF THE OTHER OPTIONS, WILL REQUIRE ADDITIONAL TIME.
 
So I've been away from The Land of Opportunity for what seems like a lifetime now. How was the KARN signal and audio quality before the thieves hit?

Back in the day I always assumed that some deity must have created what was then KARK as "The Gold Standard" for engineering quality. One of my early mentors would tell tales of how he got started in the industry working there. It was "The Great Depression" and a benevolent Chief Engineer would let my mentor sleep on the floor of the transmitter building because times were tough.

Back in the '50s you could ride in a car blind-folded and tune across the dial and identify some stations by the audio sound and quality. (Some were that good.... some were that BAD!)

And to my ear.... KARK was the best of the best. But that was another day, another time, another universe.
 
KARN-AM at least dumped IBOC recently, but the low-quality analog audio remains. Stations that adopted IBOC ("HD Radio") apparently had to decrease their frequency response and they sound choked.

GRC, I do remember KARN-AM during its talkradio heyday when they had good audio for an AM station, sometimes it could be heard weak here at night. But that was years ago.
 
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