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KLZT 107.1 La Z Turns Into an FM Translator!

R

Ryan Williams

In a special temporary authority request dated for July 24th and filed last Friday, Waterloo asks that KZLT be able to operate from it's master FM antenna on the Fox 7 tower due to a "Catastrophic failure" of its main antenna, which is southeast of ABIA just over the line in Bastrop County. The STA antenna is also the main antenna for KLBJ-FM and KBPA (Bob FM) along with K259AJ (KLBJ AM's translator) and K274AX (ESPN 102.7). The STA application states those two full power FM's are currently operating from their auxiliary antennas.

The STA request for KLZT is for 200 watts of ERP, which is less than the 250 watts ERP of their two other translators on that antenna. The reason for this limitation is that the STA request needs to stay inside the 60 dBu contour of the licensed full-power 50,000 watt facility. It is stated it might take up to six months or longer to repair the main antenna.

I don't see any mention of the signal issue on their website and there aren't any complaints on the Facebook page either. It will be interesting to see if this signal change affects ratings this period or if the 200 watts from Westlake are enough to cover what is needed (I kind of doubt it).

The STA was approved today.
 
This was the old KGSR, right? I get it and K-NAC turned around. One was 107.1, the other 107.7.

In any case, 200 watts will get listeners 6-8 miles of reliable reception in each direction by car. Half that for in home reception. With 93.3, 95.1, 104.3, 104.9 and 107.7 all carrying Spanish-language programming, can 107.1 even survive against such fierce competition with such a flea-powered signal for the next 180 days?
 
rosecitymedia said:
. With 93.3, 95.1, 104.3, 104.9 and 107.7 all carrying Spanish-language programming, can 107.1 even survive against such fierce competition with such a flea-powered signal for the next 180 days?
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It all depends whether 107.1 has a format that is not duplicated on the others.

I’ve said it too many times before, but ther is a wide variety of formats that could be done. Some big formats in Mexico don’t work here because they appeal to upper and middle class who migrate in very small numbers as they live better in Mexico than they could ever live here. Other formats play lots of English language music, which is easy to find on the San Antonio dial; most of those listeners are already English proficient.

So the rel question is whether 107.1 is doing something different enough to sustain its audience despite the weak signal.
 
rosecitymedia said:
This was the old KGSR, right? I get it and K-NAC turned around. One was 107.1, the other 107.7.
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Yes, KGSR was originally on 107.1. KNNC was 107.7.

I don’t recall 107.1’s original incarnation as KLIO, or if that call was actually ever used on the air. I do remember KGSR predecessor KSSR which had a sort of New Age/Smooth Jazz format, rather like the original version of KTWV in Los Angeles.

Trying to remember if the current 107.1 facility is the original from 1986. There may have been an early upgrade from a lesser facility (I think Giddings was the original COL) but my memory is rather vague on that.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Trying to remember if the current 107.1 facility is the original from 1986. There may have been an early upgrade from a lesser facility (I think Giddings was the original COL) but my memory is rather vague on that.
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I believe that the current 107.1 is closer in to town than the original.

KROX (101.5) was from Giddings originally before moving in and changing to Buda. I think 107.1 has always been Bastrop though.
 
107.1 came on the air as KSSR, originally a class A, in January 1987. It flipped from country to new age "Star 107" in 1989. It upgraded to a C2 and later changed calls to KGSR and moved towards AAA.

KROX was previously KGID 101.7 Giddings, a class A, before it upgraded and moved to 101.5 to target Austin.
 
I wondered why there HD was off, Bob FM HD is off, also KVET has been off since they worked on the tower.
 
The title for this thread is misleading. It implies that the KLZT license had been converted.
 
K.M. Richards said:
The title for this thread is misleading. It implies that the KLZT license had been converted.
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Ha! It was tongue in cheek because the STA requests a power level below co-located, co-owned translators. It wasn’t that they literally converted a 50,000 watt C2 FM to a 200 watt translator. That would obviously make no sense.
 
I would have suggested "a pseudo-translator" (with the quote marks).
 
I'm pretty sure KLZT is still at normal power, I can get them clear still in Luling.
 
jras20 said:
I'm pretty sure KLZT is still at normal power, I can get them clear still in Luling.
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Are the usual HD channels still on? I doubt the aux would have those.

Perhaps the issue with the KLZT antenna was not as severe as initially thought, and they are already back to some semblance of normal?
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Are the usual HD channels still on? I doubt the aux would have those.

Perhaps the issue with the KLZT antenna was not as severe as initially thought, and they are already back to some semblance of normal?
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No HD on KLZT it has been off for a while now.
No HD on BobFM
No HD on KVET (been without HD since Feb.)
 
KLZT HD is back on. No sub channels hadn't been any in a long time.
BobFM HD is back on with 102.7 on HD-2.
 
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jras20 said:
KLZT HD is back on. No sub channels hadn't been any in a long time.
BobFM HD is back on with 102.7 on HD-2.
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Normal signal strengths on 103.5 and 107.1? The KLZT antenna issue might have been resolved, but I haven’t seen a “resumption of normal operations” filing yet.

A similar antenna failure recently affecting some other stations in the Austin market was fixed rather quickly.
 
I was just outside of Luling heading towards Austin seems to be normal power for both stations.
 
Business question: If KTSA 107.1 in San Antonio wanted to increase its power, could they make a deal with KLZT that would give them both acceptable range? Seems like KLZT covers way more than it really needs to serve Austin metro. Let's say Alpha made a proposal and KLZT accepted. What would be next step - engineering evaluation to look at all 107.1's and adjacent frequencies in south Texas? Would that take weeks, months, or years?
 
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