KFRC-AM 1550 KYCY 1550 K-YOU radio is dead!

[DaveBayArea]

It cannot be in the best interest of the people when owners are allowed to buy and sell stations like pork bellies to manipulate the spectrum to their own self-interest.

That's one of the better quotes I've heard so far, and so true. I also think that, overall, the focus of the FCC in the last 10 years or so has been far more administrative and far less technical, hence the huge fines for breasts and dirty words, while stations that are on the air with dead carriers for months (1310 in Barstow) or off the air completely for years (1370 Quincy) go untouched. When I was actively involved in radio engineering (late '80s to early '90s) I would have been written up for adjacent-channel spurs on my transmitter and there would be offers to help fix it from any number of fellow engineers. Today the same spurious emissions are not only ignored, but sanctioned by the FCC. They call it HD Radio.

Dave B.

 

[LKellerIII]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong - wasn't CBS, or Westinghouse, or whatever it was known as then, planning to
buy 1540 just to shut it down so they could possibly expand 1550 during the KPIX-AM 1550/FM 95.7 years in
the mid-1990s?

Enlighten me...can Ownership get away with purchasing a station with the intent of making it go dark in order to leverage another station? How is that proper stewardship of the public airwaves? Doesn't the FCC care about ANYTHING anymore?

Oh yes! The FCC cares very much about protecting the innocent unsuspecting public from:

1. Body parts that belong to living people, such as Janet Jackson's bare breasts. NOTE: body parts such as internal organs and severed limbs are now OK to look at as long as a they are pretend, and a "mature audience" warning is broadcast. These warnings make children turn off the TV immediately.

2. Sexual content they determine to be prurient, not educational. NOTE: Violence is OK to show as long as a "mature" audience warning is broadcast. See item #1.

3. "Dirty" words. NOTE: these the same words we hear on the street dozens of times every day.

I hope I have enlightened you, sioux.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the sarcasm, lkeller. The FCC's pursuit of certain content now spans a couple of generations and many presidencies both Democrat and Republican since the infamous Pacifica case. I still find the "intrusiveness of broadcasting" argument valid, although I'm sure most participating on the boards would not. I don't believe there is a proven Safe Harbor, and the lunacy of disclaimers being effective is apparent to everyone except the FCC. If your subtext is that the FCC talks out of both sides of its collective mouth on this issue, I tend to agree, and feel they have lost their way. Certainly the agency has completely lost focus of the primary mandate to ensure a multiplicty of local voices over a spectrum characterized by some degree of scarcity, a spectrum which belongs to the PEOPLE of the United States who have appointed Congress and in turn the FCC to act as Trustee. It cannot be in the best interest of the people when owners are allowed to buy and sell stations like pork bellies to manipulate the spectrum to their own self-interest. Broadcasting is a business first, in the mind of most license holders, and I do not disagree with that (and the FCC has always recognized stations must be economically viable). But beyond economic viability, the FCC's role is in fact to make sure the self-interst of a few does not infringe on the public interest of all.

Last fall was all about the nebulous "change" so many were seeking from our political leadership. With a decided Democrat majority in Congress and now a President-elect from the same party capable of appointing a new chairman, it's time for some change in the FCC, don't you think??

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

Very well said, Sioux...much better than my sarcasm, which was facile.

Yes - I do think it's time for a new FCC Chairman, for all the reasons you said, and hopefully to lessen the agency's ridiculous pre-occupation with "decency." I do believe that some broadcast standards are acceptable, and people should not be subjected to full nudity or pornography on the public airwaves, though I think the current FCC has set the bar way too low. For example, I don't think it was right that ABC was fined because Cher uttered the F word in the Oscar telecast. Nobody was hurt by it, and it was obviously not scripted. I don't care to debate whether or not Janet's "wardrobe malfunction" was accidental or planned - but the uproar over the incident was just absurd.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

It is difficult to believe that 610 KHz. and 560 KHz. were ever diplexed at the same site. If you ask any engineer about doing that today he would say it's impossible. Do you have any documentation of any articles that refer to that site?

The next time you run into Art Lebermann and/or Joe Talbot, ask. I think Art has all the historical KSFO documents regarding the transmitter site going back to the 1940s.

 

[weav]

2. 1550 AM will be KFRC-AM, and 106.9 can remain KFRC-FM.
I hope that's clear (as mud, perhaps).

Minor nitpick: 1550 AM will be KFRC (no suffix)...
"Standard Broadcast" stations don't get suffixed calls...

 

[W6WLS]

Ok, with all the comments on FCC rulings, station ownership and call letter changes,
the real question would be:

" Does AM radio (and for that matter FM) still have a bright future?
(add this to the mix, HD Radio on AM and HD Radio on FM).

Some one else said, "Game Over" (with broadcast radio), the only few really left are those
adults forty plus years, who still enjoy tuning the dial, perhaps force of habit, (I still do)

Today's generation has the I-pod
and cell phone stored music, and probably don't tune around listening to there fav AM-FM
like we used too.

Can HD-Radio bring life back?
M~

 

[DavidKaye]

Today's generation has the I-pod
and cell phone stored music, and probably don't tune around listening to there fav AM-FM
like we used too.

A couple months ago I asked for some brainstorming about doing a radio broadcast of a weekly live music series I put on in a local theater. After hashing it around a bit with Tim Pozar over lunch, I brought the idea back to the various musicians I know. Their consensus was that it would work better as a podcast, since none of the musicians I spoke with listen to the radio with any regularlity, if at all.

There you have it. For people in their 20s and 30s, in my acquaintance at least, the future ain't radio.

That said, there still seems to be a place, however limited, for antics like Pirate Cat radio, the SF pirate that has been on the air over 10 years. However, their business model is that people pay $30 a month and help out in the Pirate Cat cafe in order to have a radio show.

Maybe the future of radio is in the DJ wannabees? Some years back, the Whisky and other nightclubs in LA, faced with a glut of rock bands, decided to charge the bands to play in their clubs. Sometimes when there is an abundance and few takers, the business model turns on its head.

 

[dungboy]

Today's generation has the I-pod
and cell phone stored music, and probably don't tune around listening to there fav AM-FM
like we used too.

There you have it. For people in their 20s and 30s, in my acquaintance at least, the future ain't radio.

I asked my 18 year old daughter what stations she and her friends listened to, her answer was "none" when I asked why she said "what for?"...

 

[LKellerIII]

RE: the "younger generation" and radio. I think anybody that declares radio dead is being premature. All the following have been predicted since World War II: Pay TV would kill free TV; TV would kill movie theatres and radio; VCRs and DVRs would kill commercial TV; and the 500 channel TV world would kill off the big TV networks.

Old media has had to change- sometimes drastically - in response to new media. TV didn't kill radio, but the network radio dramas and comedies were virtually gone by the early 1960s.

I have 3 kids - 13, 21 and 25, and they all listen to radio to some extent, though certainly not as much as I did at their age. Oddly enough, my politically involved and aware 25 year old daughter has become a fan of KGO, and particularly Gene Burns, for some reason. When she was a kid riding in the car with me - she would object loudly if I put on KGO. She claimed it made her carsick.

Regarding HD radio on FM - I think it may have a future. I quite enjoy the additional choices and variety it provides.

 

[W6WLS]

Yes, perhaps I was a bit jumpy on thinking that "radio is dead" or would be someday soon.

Radio still does have a strong offering, but, I simply "fear the worst" (and I'm not being all doom and gloom)
I am beginning to see yet another "change" coming to pass, perhaps this is where it might go?

AM Radio, will still be used for News and Information along with Sports, (not music or alike), HD-AM might give a slight interest back to it, but to those who already enjoy the programming, with much better clarity than ever before. ***Note: Unless the FCC relaxes or fixes the current lower power output on HD that is mandated, or changes to a better game plan, HD-AM will go the way of Stereo-AM Radio**

FM Radio, good still for music of all kinds, and with more available programming on FM HD1, 2 and 3,
this will open a new door that might save the band.

But, here is where I think (sadly) it’s going, and the simple questions that others asked their kids,
"do you still listen to the AM-FM radio" with a "what for answer" shows the long term trend and what
the next few generations will do, with a few exceptions, some young people who are savvy enough to
want information and know what is happening around them.

Don’t get me wrong, I have always enjoyed the AM-FM dial, and will, to my dying days, I just don’t see
the great enjoyment, and excitement that we as kids (or teens) had with radio, for our children. :'(

Perhaps I just miss the Radio Days of Old,
Mike~

 

[kenrayc]

This has nothing to do with bay area radio ,but in Fresno the KYA tribute station BOSS Radio KYAF is now on 95.3 from Kerman.Boss radio to me was KYNO the station built by bill Drake.they have 6000 watts ERP 428 ft compared to the Firebaugh stick at 900 watts at about 70 feet'

 

[semoochie]

Pay TV may not have "killed" free TV but the kind of numbers a big hit show receives now, would have brought immediate cancellation 30 years ago!

 

[kenrayc]

This has nothing to do with bay area radio ,but in Fresno the KYA tribute station BOSS Radio KYAF is now on 95.3 from Kerman.Boss radio to me was KYNO the station built by bill Drake.they have 6000 watts ERP 428 ft compared to the Firebaugh stick at 900 watts at about 70 feet'

Go to find out Vern White was using another one his illegal signals in Clovis.With KBHH off the air,he took the opportunity to use that frequency.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Where is "Chris Edwards" these days, anyway? Not the real one, who is still doing radio sales in SF as far as I know...