KGOW Moving to 94.1

[b-turner]

Thank you Stan for the links. I'll settle in for a good read!

 

[davideduardo]

Here’s the thinking -

Several auto manufacturers have committed to going to either electric or at least hybrid vehicles over the next few years. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nb...ic-will-ditch-gas-diesel-powered-cars-n806806

Some of the all electric vehicles already have dropped the AM band from their radios due to interference (Tesla, BMW).
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098893_bmw-i3-electric-car-quirk-no-am-radio--but-why

There are 263 million cars and trucks on the road in the US. The average age is over 11 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_vehicles_in_the_United_States (with footnotes to more accurate souces).

If every new vehicle sold had no AM radio, it would take more than a decade to reduce AM penetration by 50%.

The i3 BMW is on track to sell less than 9,000 units this year. The Tesla that, to this moment, will not have an AM radio, is more than a year away.

The number of FM only equipped cars is so minimal as to not be important at this moment. Whether this is the start of a trend needs to be seen when electric vehicles become more mainstream and there is a large model base to analyze.

AM's problem is less one of the receives an more one of coverage, sound quality and man made interference. In addition, because of these factors, few people under 50 even listen to AM.

Unfortunately, AM stations are the most resilient in the case of emergencies. Even with a fallen tower, they can be put back on the air with a length of wire between two phone poles or even trees. When run non-directionally, they often cover far better than FMs, and in the event that all of a market area's stations are off, AMs from outside the market can penetrate, at least at night. FM is less resistant, and digital TV is useless when power is out. Web based news sources have an even weaker sustainability in emergency situations.

Another problem is the lack of economic viability of many AM stations. Fewer and fewer have their own news staff, so even in an emergency they are at a loss for a source for news unless they have an arrangement with a TV or newspaper outlet.

As a final note, the greencarreports story is full of inaccuracies. Only one nation, Norway, is eliminating analog, and the timetable does not eliminate all FM until 2022. Norway can do this as it is a) small and b) most broadcasters are state-owned. Some other countries have reduced or eliminated AM, such as France, Austria, England; in some cases this has meant the government broadcasters abandoned AM but private and niche stations remain. In any case, Europe generally has a much more dominant state broadcast entity (such as the BBC) and this allows for unilateral "the public be damned" decisions. Another error is blindly citing the percentage of AM listening with out taking into account the fact that there are 3 times the number of FM services as AM ones, so proportionally, the numbers are not as extreme. In other words, someone at that site had a big serving of Kool Aid.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Fewer and fewer have their own news staff, so even in an emergency they are at a loss for a source for news unless they have an arrangement with a TV or newspaper outlet.

A full service AM station assumes that the staff is dedicated and present during an emergency. During a life threatening ice storm on New Years Eve 2000, the KRLD news staff was getting drunk at a party, instead of warning people to stay off the roads - which were treacherous. The station was re-running a tape of a talk show instead. If it hadn't been for KTRH, which is darn hard to get in the Metroplex, I wouldn't have had any warning at all. They were on the air every 5 minutes warning people not to try to travel North to Dallas. Knowing what was going on, I slowed to 8-10 mph and had traction. 50 or so four wheel drive trucks - whose drivers flipped me off as they sped by - all ended up in the ditch along highway 380. I passed by them, stopping and rendering aid if someone was hurt. I only slipped once on an uphill, and some weeds from the side of the road under the tires had me on my way. As for dedication - a few years before in the early 90's I was on the air at WAPN, giving moment by moment reports of a tornado as it headed straight for the station. It lifted a half a mile from the station. But I was willing to wait and dive under the desk at the last moment rather than leave listeners without detailed reports of where the tornado was. Unlike the KRLD staff that partied during the ice storm. If you are a broadcaster, you have an obligation to the public you serve.

 

[frankberry]

A full service AM station assumes that the staff is dedicated and present during an emergency. During a life threatening ice storm on New Years Eve 2000, the KRLD news staff was getting drunk at a party, instead of warning people to stay off the roads - which were treacherous. The station was re-running a tape of a talk show instead. If it hadn't been for KTRH, which is darn hard to get in the Metroplex, I wouldn't have had any warning at all. They were on the air every 5 minutes warning people not to try to travel North to Dallas. Knowing what was going on, I slowed to 8-10 mph and had traction. 50 or so four wheel drive trucks - whose drivers flipped me off as they sped by - all ended up in the ditch along highway 380. I passed by them, stopping and rendering aid if someone was hurt. I only slipped once on an uphill, and some weeds from the side of the road under the tires had me on my way. As for dedication - a few years before in the early 90's I was on the air at WAPN, giving moment by moment reports of a tornado as it headed straight for the station. It lifted a half a mile from the station. But I was willing to wait and dive under the desk at the last moment rather than leave listeners without detailed reports of where the tornado was. Unlike the KRLD staff that partied during the ice storm. If you are a broadcaster, you have an obligation to the public you serve.

Please be careful when you post. How do you know that the KRLD news staff was getting drunk? Were you there?

Thanks,
Frank

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Apologies - no I wasn't there. I was fighting for my life on dangerous roads. It was, however, New Year's Eve. The assumption of excessive drinking at a party is not far-fetched. Somebody needed to be a designated "on-air" person in case there was real news. There was real news - a weather emergency, and nobody was there to cover it.

 

[N5TZQ]

With this outrageous Data caps? Unlimited Data only for a few Gigs then they throttle you down? I rarely stream music on any device. Once in a while I’ll listen to music on YouTube. But at work, on my way to and from work? It’s all over the air radio. The music I have is purchased from ITunes but most of my music comes from radios. And so does the music many that I know off.

Radio isn’t going anywhere in 10 years.

5G is coming with 1Gig a secong download speeds. That means we will soon be throttled to 4G speeds...which is more than ample for streaming.

 

[Mrtejano]

5G is coming with 1Gig a secong download speeds. That means we will soon be throttled to 4G speeds...which is more than ample for streaming.

Not at all Network providers, I had T-Mobile and when I went over my allowance I would be throttled to 2G.

 

[tb_]

Not at all Network providers, I had T-Mobile and when I went over my allowance I would be throttled to 2G.

I have ATT's "Unlimited Plus" plan. ATT claims to throttle after 23gb... but I use 70-80gb a month and still get full LTE speed, often times ~90-100mbps...

 

[umfan]

I'd be really interested to see if Gow is making any amount of money from it's attempt at a national sports network. It co-branded first with Sporting News, then Yahoo! Sports and now SB Nation. Hard to imagine this is doing well for the company.

 

[AnyHuman]

Now someone else has had enough with Centro.


TX BLFT-20160307AAW K231CN 93460 CENTRO CRISTIANO DE VIDA ETERNA License to cover.
E 94.1 MHZ HOUSTON, TX
Informal Objection filed
10/17/2017 by ROY E. HENDERSON

 

[Mrtejano]

Now someone else has had enough with Centro.


TX BLFT-20160307AAW K231CN 93460 CENTRO CRISTIANO DE VIDA ETERNA License to cover.
E 94.1 MHZ HOUSTON, TX
Informal Objection filed
10/17/2017 by ROY E. HENDERSON

What does the objection state?

 

[N5TZQ]

What does the objection state?

Probably that its interfering with 94.1 in Brenham. Who knows? I can hear the sports station up in Conroe and Tomball....

Interesting to note that the Brenham 94.1 is trying to modify a little closer to Houston, and the always silent 94.1 KJAZ Point Comfort (same owner) is seeking to downgrade. If the Point Comfort goes away the Brenham/Hempstead channel can move close enough to cover Houston as a rimshot. Perhaps even to Senior Road. In any event, the 94.1 translator would simply have to move...

 

[ContinuousWave]

Probably that its interfering with 94.1 in Brenham. Who knows? I can hear the sports station up in Conroe and Tomball....

Interesting to note that the Brenham 94.1 is trying to modify a little closer to Houston, and the always silent 94.1 KJAZ Point Comfort (same owner) is seeking to downgrade. If the Point Comfort goes away the Brenham/Hempstead channel can move close enough to cover Houston as a rimshot. Perhaps even to Senior Road. In any event, the 94.1 translator would simply have to move...

Don't bet on a 94.1 moving to Sr Rd...94.5 and 93.7 blocks any full power signal on 94.1 within 65 miles of Mo City..

 

[Mediafrog+]

Don't bet on a 94.1 moving to Sr Rd...94.5 and 93.7 blocks any full power signal on 94.1 within 65 miles of Mo City..

KLTR 94.1 in Brenham has a CP to upgrade from a C3 to a C2 which would give it some coverage in the far west and northwest parts of the Houston market. Of course, who knows if this will ever get built with the track record of its current owner.

 

[BamaTX]

5G is coming with 1Gig a secong download speeds. That means we will soon be throttled to 4G speeds...which is more than ample for streaming.

Don't count on it anytime soon. Most wireless carriers are planning to use ultra high frequencies for "5G". Distances and indoor reliability will be extremely limited.

 

[BamaTX]

Yes they are, that explains why when a radio station goes up for sale companies jump fast to try to purchase them like if it was a new IPhone. That’s why FM Translators are trying to pop up everywhere cause Radio is already dead. So let’s just spend money on something that is dead right??

Yeah, um not really.

Do you really think Radio One would get all of it's money back from the KRTS-FM purchase by selling KROI-FM today?

Hell no. Radio is slowly dying. I rarely use the AM/FM option on my vehicle. Spotify carriers most of the workload.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Don't count on it anytime soon. Most wireless carriers are planning to use ultra high frequencies for "5G". Distances and indoor reliability will be extremely limited.

And when you say "Ultra High", you ain't talking UHF here. The FCC has approved 5G usage in the 26 GHz and 37 GHz bands.

 

[BamaTX]

And when you say "Ultra High", you ain't talking UHF here. The FCC has approved 5G usage in the 26 GHz and 37 GHz bands.

No I did not (my bad). Didn't mean to confuse the spectrum for UHF TV with the spectrum being gobbled up by carriers for 5G use.

At the proposed "5G" spectrum, even a piece of paper can disrupt service. I expect "5G" range to be limited to WiFi ranges on mobile devices and a small city block for fixed devices (and that's being ultra generous wink wink).

 

[davideduardo]

Do you really think Radio One would get all of it's money back from the KRTS-FM purchase by selling KROI-FM today?

The years of semi-consolidation and consolidation (raising of caps slightly and then totally) of the 90's created more demand than supply, and multiples increased from the 8 to 12 times cash flow to 16 to 18 times cash flow.

The recession, the failure of consolidation to work for the biggest players and, then, new media, have pushed the prices back to the level of multiples of the 80's.

 

[ContinuousWave]

KLTR 94.1 in Brenham has a CP to upgrade from a C3 to a C2 which would give it some coverage in the far west and northwest parts of the Houston market. Of course, who knows if this will ever get built with the track record of its current owner.

As long as the proposed site is 65 miles from Senior Road, it can happen...but that's as close as it can get.