Time for the monthly check-in. KPLS is still dead.
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Denver KPLS (1510) off the air
- Thread starter Mark Roberts
- Start date
Guess what?
It's on the air this morning.
The audio is distorted and undermodulated, but it's on the air.
Update at 9 am: the audio seems to be gradually getting better though it still doesn't sound quite right.
It's on the air this morning.
The audio is distorted and undermodulated, but it's on the air.
Update at 9 am: the audio seems to be gradually getting better though it still doesn't sound quite right.
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And...at 6 pm, they're off again.
Meanwhile, a silent STA request was filed on Tuesday (finally), stating:
The station went off the air on December 18, 2024, when the station’s transmitter site was struck by lightning.
However, lightning in Denver in December would be unusual. The following screenshot from lightningmaps.org doesn't show any lightning in Colorado on that date, nor on any other date in December before the 18th. There was more lightning activity than usual in December on the 18th but none in Colorado.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were a demand for a further explanation.
Meanwhile, a silent STA request was filed on Tuesday (finally), stating:
The station went off the air on December 18, 2024, when the station’s transmitter site was struck by lightning.
However, lightning in Denver in December would be unusual. The following screenshot from lightningmaps.org doesn't show any lightning in Colorado on that date, nor on any other date in December before the 18th. There was more lightning activity than usual in December on the 18th but none in Colorado.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were a demand for a further explanation.
Nope, doubt it... ive seen one sentence STA filings that were accepted yet gave no real detail
Except, in this case, it took them until September before filing the STA request. That's not a good look.
Edited to add: There evidently is some financial hardship present. The 8 pm ID also had a plea to raise $80,000 to pay past expenses, though that was for Radio 74 International and not specifically for KPLS. Still, that could get them off the hook.
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It's back on at 8 pm, this time with much improved audio.
thats happened before with stations, they file an sta months after the silence. the sttaion will get an admonishment, warned if they do it again, theres trouble.. or they might get a small fine.. and if they did, i guarentee they could pleasd it down or get it eliminated.
The FCC is not delete/fine happy like thhey used to be
They're still rubber-stamping WFME's STAs despite previously warning Family Radio that they need to make real progress towards restoring a permanent transmission site for the station.
One thing to point out here: the main issue is that the licensee waited more than nine months before reporting its silent status to the Commission. I don't think that will just be waved off, at least not initially.
I've seen it happen and I can't recall many times when the licensee got much more than a peepee slap in recent memory.
Silent notifications are related to the statutory loss of license for stations silent more than one year. This is not something that the staff or commission can just blow off.
but this station hasn't been off more than a year... thats one thing if they were. youre kinda looking for a problem/creating one/being even mroe stingy with the rules than the commish is.
do I like that some flagrantly violate the law? No.. but who are they hurting? Themselves. IF the station hasnt broken a law that would result in the loss of license or huge fan, the FCC tends to be pretty lienient these days.
Should they have called up the FCC 11 days after they went silent to notify them? Yup.. you can do a verbal with the FCC and that will suffice in most cases. 10 days to notify, 30 to ask for permission.
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The station actually went off the air on December 10th. I'm not sure why they would say the 18th. I know that because I was off from work that day. I heard them in the morning but that night, they were off the air. I kept checking and they never did come back until this week.
A possible reason why the FCC is so lenient with reporting when a station is off the air is that there are not many options left. If the FCC were to fine a station like this with a shoestring budget, it might force them off the air permanently. And, if that happened, who would want to take over the license of a AM station on the upper end of the dial? Chances are the frequency would go dark.
A station can make a showing of financial hardship to the staff, though that means opening up the books. This doesn’t seem to be rare and does result in a reduction of the fine (in at least one case I’ve seen, involving LPTVs in southeastern Colorado, the fine was eliminated altogether after financial statements were provided, backing up the plea of poverty) in conjunction with a plan to ensure future compliance. So the FCC does account for financial exigencies as long as there’s a plan for making sure the regulatory fault doesn’t happen again.
My point, which everyone seems to be missing here, is that waiting nine months to make a formal filing for a silent STA (note, not a silent notification, which is short-term, but an STA that’s longer-term) is highly likely to result in further regulatory action.
No, were not missing it, what we are saying is the regulatory action won't be as severe as you seem to think it will be.
As if you had not read what I had written, which basically stated that any threatened fine can be (and has been) reduced or even waived upon evidence of economic hardship.
Never mind…set to “ignore”….
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I bet the current administration will or already has basically told the FCC "do nothing" unless there is a complaint. To be fair, it seems for more that a decade or two, unless they can make a case without leaving the office, nothing will happen as long as there is no complaint. Even pirates (sorry unlicensed operators) can go many years without getting busted. I guess if it really bothers someone, file a formal complaint with the commission.
I just wonder how many AM facilities are not on the air for more than a month (which is really bad and nobody should be that ignorant and own a station) and without informing the FCC. I guess it's like speeding not enforced unless egregious. In GA unless it's a school or construction zone any ticket written for a speed 10 mph or less over the posted sppeed limit will not hold up in Court.
I just wonder how many AM facilities are not on the air for more than a month (which is really bad and nobody should be that ignorant and own a station) and without informing the FCC. I guess it's like speeding not enforced unless egregious. In GA unless it's a school or construction zone any ticket written for a speed 10 mph or less over the posted sppeed limit will not hold up in Court.
KPLS’s audio today, Thu Apr 16th at 549pm local time is awful.
I have no idea if it’s network audio, that the station is picking programming via an internet feed or there’s an internet feed to the transmitter, but….
… the station sounds like it’s a low bit rate stream constantly skipping and buffering. the audio is “listenable” but it’s full of digital gurgles, like a stream that’s about to fail and drop but catches up with itself… carries on, reinsert and repeat.
I have no idea if it’s network audio, that the station is picking programming via an internet feed or there’s an internet feed to the transmitter, but….
… the station sounds like it’s a low bit rate stream constantly skipping and buffering. the audio is “listenable” but it’s full of digital gurgles, like a stream that’s about to fail and drop but catches up with itself… carries on, reinsert and repeat.