Mediafrog+ said:
Whatever happened to the 50kw upgrade? It was apparently tested, but never implemented. Still appears to be operating at the original 800 watts.
It is still in limbo. The FCC authorized KILE for Program Test Authority {PTA} with only 4.8kW, not the 50kW that was constructed. I have a felling that the FCC realized that they made an error authorizing KILE 50kW on a crowded frequency like 1560 and crowded adjacent frequencies. The 50kW with the narrow pattern KILE has is going to emit likely somewhere around 300kW ERP in the major lobe and there are a fair amount of stations in that path that will suffer some seroius interference during Critical Hours and in the winter time.
IF KILE has only tested with the authorized 4.8kW the station has had numerous reports of reception up to the Canadian border. When they go to 50kW the signal will easily be heard well into Canada during CH and winter days. There are over a dozen stations in the main lobe path that could get wiped out by KILE at 50kW.
The latest hold up is KILE filed an Amendment to augment the daytime pattern as they can not bring the pattern into the originial specifications. The FCC in it's usual wisdom denied the amendment because Mexico objected to the increased power towards one of Mexico's many phantom stations that likely will never be built and the interference was over mostly, if not all of the Gulf.
When and if KILE finally gets approval for their 50kW day rig is anyone's guess. The FCC has not exactly been burning any candles getting applications handled in a timely manner. My only guess is that the FCC is terribly understaffed for so little to get done in such a long time period.
No word yet on KILE's application for 1kW nights from Bear Creek Park. Unfortunately the power and pattern will not make KILE much of a player in the nighttime field of stations. Very narrow pattern over Bellaire, period. The station will serve very little of the Houston metro. KILE did have some high power nighttime patterns that were dismissed by the FCC for some dumbass technicality that really had no bearing on the application or the station causing interference to any country except Cuba.
I would not count on the sale of KILE being a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. While I certainly wish RAFTT the best of luck in this sale, there are some stipulations that must be met before the sale will become a reality.
KILE must have a license for the 50kW daytime pattern and a Construction Permit for 1kW nights and the leases for the day and night sites. The use of Bear Creek Park for the nighttime site is not a certainity and is subject to approval by Army Corps of Engineers.
KILE has not had any luck in securing a nighttime CP yet and I am wondering what nit-picking technicality the FCC will come up with this time for the 1kW nights. KILE did just what Mediafrog had suggested at least a year ago, if not longer and that was go for low power closer into the city. Hopefully this application will be granted.
Nine Million for a high end frequency station with what looks like decent coverage of Houston, but not the outlying areas is a hefty sum of cash. Apparently AM's in major markets still will command a good price tag on the station. I wonder what KILT-AM or KTRH, two stations that have very good metro coverage would sell for today? Twenty to Thirty Million?
