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KQGO KZGO Sold to EMF

There is a message on the website/Facebook that states a license transfer was applied for on 12/03/2020, but nothing I have read states when it will actually take place. You might want to check some of the local media or broadcast boards. All the past music news is still available but everything cuts off at the above mentioned date.
 
Looks like the online stream for GO 95.3 is down now as well. Both FM stations are still on air for the time being at least. Very sad to see these stations go. They influenced a lot of my music taste, even if I usually listen to KXXR nowadays.

Does anybody on this board know when the sale will be completed and the station's final day of broadcasting will be, or where to find out once it is finalized?
I was wondering the same thing. I don't see the application on the FCC's site yet, but I know it has indeed been filed and accepted. I would assume 60-90 days after filed, which would put it at early February to early March.
 
KQGO is still on FM, but as of today is no longer generating RDS for some reason. KZGO is still transmitting too, but has no stereo(!) anymore. I'd imagine nobody is even making sure everything is still working, so it's just a matter of time before one of these stations fall off air. Sad to see these stations go out like this, KQGO shaped a lot of my music taste.

1611523330383.png
(KQGO-FM, notice how there's no RDS subcarriers at 57k)

1611523567374.png
(KZGO-FM, no stereo pilot at 19k)
 
KQGO is still on FM, but as of today is no longer generating RDS for some reason. KZGO is still transmitting too, but has no stereo(!) anymore. I'd imagine nobody is even making sure everything is still working, so it's just a matter of time before one of these stations fall off air. Sad to see these stations go out like this, KQGO shaped a lot of my music taste.
Interesting, and sad indeed. I wonder if the audio chain is being moved from the existing studios to the transmitter buildings (or it could really be that things are failing and nobody is around to "fix" the issues). I know the streams for both stations stopped in early January, and the last video I saw from "inside" the studios looked like the studios were in a state of disassembly (late December).

It's kinda creepy, because the FM signals are essentially "zombies" airing music that was placed into rotation in November. I know music rotations don't change THAT much, but the last I listened I would still hear "new music" sweepers (some even voiced by the former DJ's) aired before songs added to the rotation prior to November (at least last time I checked the signal a few weeks ago). They obviously still have at least one salesperson left selling ads, unless those have also stopped recently.

Not sure why they didn't negotiate an LMA into the sales agreement, guessing EMF really didn't care when they would take them over.

Edit: I stand corrected. They are currently playing the new Foo Fighters track as I speak. Very little imaging in the last 20 minutes (Ironically a "new music" liner for a track they have been playing for months, but NOT for the Foo Fighters track), they even missed their legal TOH ID. Clearly someone is still updating the music for 96.3 at least.
 
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I've had 96.3 on for about 3 hours now in the background as I work, and other than one piece of imaging for "new music" it's been just music and commercials (one set per hour, around 5 minutes). No other identifying production, even after the commercials, and absolutely no TOH legal ID for the last 3 hours.

I'll have to check my car to see if the HD signals are still up. Since one of the subchannels is leased, I bet it is.
 
Yep, that's what I've noticed too. I flip on GO 96.3 a few times a day and I hardly ever hear any kind of station identifiers. It's basically a jukebox with ads. They just fade between tracks and advertisements. Before RDS stopped being generated, they didn't even bother to clear the text during commercial breaks and it would keep displaying the name of the last song being played until the commercial break was over. I don't think I've heard an ID since November either.

I've also noticed a very limited number of songs playing for the most part. I've heard this "Fire for You" song four times today, and I've only been tuned to this station for maybe 25 minutes all day. It's playing as I type this! As you said, they're still playing the DJ "weekly pick" segments from November as well. I never listened to GO 95.3 much, but I can't imagine it's doing much better.

They are still broadcasting in HD, and it does seem to be working on all the subchannels. I don't have an HD radio (I don't like how the compression sounds), but I can use my SDR with some open source software to decode it. Here are the list of the subchannels it's broadcasting.

1611800047428.png

Will be interesting to see what they do with their HD-2 station PraiseLive, because I'm pretty sure it's a competitor to EMF. They also have an analog translator in St. Paul for their HD-2 station.

Very much a zombie station. I just hope they give it some kind of on-air sendoff I can listen to instead of programming suddenly just cutting to EMF.
 
Yep, that's what I've noticed too. I flip on GO 96.3 a few times a day and I hardly ever hear any kind of station identifiers. It's basically a jukebox with ads. They just fade between tracks and advertisements. Before RDS stopped being generated, they didn't even bother to clear the text during commercial breaks and it would keep displaying the name of the last song being played until the commercial break was over. I don't think I've heard an ID since November either.

I've also noticed a very limited number of songs playing for the most part. I've heard this "Fire for You" song four times today, and I've only been tuned to this station for maybe 25 minutes all day. It's playing as I type this! As you said, they're still playing the DJ "weekly pick" segments from November as well. I never listened to GO 95.3 much, but I can't imagine it's doing much better.

They are still broadcasting in HD, and it does seem to be working on all the subchannels. I don't have an HD radio (I don't like how the compression sounds), but I can use my SDR with some open source software to decode it. Here are the list of the subchannels it's broadcasting.

View attachment 1586

Will be interesting to see what they do with their HD-2 station PraiseLive, because I'm pretty sure it's a competitor to EMF. They also have an analog translator in St. Paul for their HD-2 station.

Very much a zombie station. I just hope they give it some kind of on-air sendoff I can listen to instead of programming suddenly just cutting to EMF.
The PraiseLive HD2 signal was an agreement made when they bought 95.3 (the former owner was PraiseLive). Not sure if that agreement ends with the sale to EMF, but I would imagine EMF will look for a way out of that agreement if it does. The HD3 is leased to a Hmong station that broadcasts on the former KFAI translator out of St Paul, not sure what will happen with that either.

Unless they recorded the sendoff before dismantling the studios, I wouldn't count on any sendoff. Not only do they not have any airstaff left, but at least one of the former airstaff has already accepted a new gig with The Current. In addition, the studio space was leased, not sure when the lease is up, but they may already be out of there.

A sad end of commercial broadcasting on 96.3. It's too bad they couldn't have at least given the airstaff a few days to say goodbye back in early December, but I am guessing they just wanted to cut their losses and move on.
 
The PraiseLive HD2 signal was an agreement made when they bought 95.3 (the former owner was PraiseLive). Not sure if that agreement ends with the sale to EMF, but I would imagine EMF will look for a way out of that agreement if it does. The HD3 is leased to a Hmong station that broadcasts on the former KFAI translator out of St Paul, not sure what will happen with that either.

Unless they recorded the sendoff before dismantling the studios, I wouldn't count on any sendoff. Not only do they not have any airstaff left, but at least one of the former airstaff has already accepted a new gig with The Current. In addition, the studio space was leased, not sure when the lease is up, but they may already be out of there.

A sad end of commercial broadcasting on 96.3. It's too bad they couldn't have at least given the airstaff a few days to say goodbye back in early December, but I am guessing they just wanted to cut their losses and move on.
It was quiet this afternoon, so I read the sales agreement filed with the FCC.

The time brokerage agreements for the HD2 and HD3 do transfer to the buyer at closing, but the Hmong programming on HD3 is a 'verbal agreement and is subject to (EMF's) right to require termination.'

The sales agreement said the goal was to close by the end of December 2020, but we all know the FCC doesn't usually move that fast.
 
It was quiet this afternoon, so I read the sales agreement filed with the FCC.

The time brokerage agreements for the HD2 and HD3 do transfer to the buyer at closing, but the Hmong programming on HD3 is a 'verbal agreement and is subject to (EMF's) right to require termination.'

The sales agreement said the goal was to close by the end of December 2020, but we all know the FCC doesn't usually move that fast.
Is there a chance you could link the sales agreement? I was looking for it on the FCC public files the other day but I didn't see anything related to the sale. Thanks!
 
Happy to see that one of the DJs on KQGO, Jordan, was hired at KXXR/93X here. Thought I recognized his voice when he was on for the first time last night. 93X is usually what I listen to most of the day, so I'm glad the station lives on a bit there.
 
Happy to see that one of the DJs on KQGO, Jordan, was hired at KXXR/93X here. Thought I recognized his voice when he was on for the first time last night. 93X is usually what I listen to most of the day, so I'm glad the station lives on a bit there.
Zeke landed at The Current, but is holding down overnight shifts for now, not sure if that will change.

Ben is doing a weekend shift at KTIS, if you can stomach the music (ironic since 96.3 will be a competitor soon). Christy, Dana, and Reed haven’t landed anywhere just yet.
 
According to the Star Tribune, EMF doesn't expect to take the stations over until April. That seems like a longer than normal time for a sale like this to be approved, doesn't it?

I was also curious about the agreement to keep broadcasting Praise on the HD-2 signal. Looks like the initial agreement with Northern Lights was for 5 years, with two options of one year each to extend for $5,000. The original 5 years would have been up last month, so if EMF has to honor that agreement, it looks like Praise could be on the HD-2 signal as long as early 2023.

 
According to the Star Tribune, EMF doesn't expect to take the stations over until April. That seems like a longer than normal time for a sale like this to be approved, doesn't it?

COVID-19 has slowed most operations down. The FCC's Media Bureau was not exempted from that.
 
COVID-19 has slowed most operations down. The FCC's Media Bureau was not exempted from that.
Looks like the application was finally granted. Not sure when EMF will take over operations, but anyone wishing to give a final listen should probably do it.
 
Looks like the application was finally granted. Not sure when EMF will take over operations, but anyone wishing to give a final listen should probably do it.
Got mine in last weekend. Just like what was posted earlier, no imaging or even much of a legal ID, just dead segues into songs and spot breaks.

Fun while they lasted.
 
KZGO displays "Religious Music" as their genre with RDS.

I hear some new songs in their playlist, so I think someone is still working there.

I have not heard any commercials in the past hour of listening.
 
Shockingly, GO 96.3/KQGO seems to have somehow survived April 1. I was very much expecting it to flip at midnight, so much so I was recording it during that time. Hah.

They're still playing ads and adding new music, so there's still somebody there keeping the lights on. I've noticed that they do (kind of) legal ID around 40 minutes into the hour. Not at the right time, but at least they're doing it at all. I'm sure KZGO IDs then too, but I can't stand the format long enough to find out, haha.

Here's the legal ID for KQGO, recorded 35 minutes into the hour, mostly just for historical value. I can't upload MP3 to this site, so I zipped it to keep the forum software happy.
 

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Shockingly, GO 96.3/KQGO seems to have somehow survived April 1. I was very much expecting it to flip at midnight, so much so I was recording it during that time. Hah.

They're still playing ads and adding new music, so there's still somebody there keeping the lights on. I've noticed that they do (kind of) legal ID around 40 minutes into the hour. Not at the right time, but at least they're doing it at all. I'm sure KZGO IDs then too, but I can't stand the format long enough to find out, haha.

Here's the legal ID for KQGO, recorded 35 minutes into the hour, mostly just for historical value. I can't upload MP3 to this site, so I zipped it to keep the forum software happy.
I, too, was not expecting it to survive past midnight on April 1st. Not sure why I am "anticipating" the change, as I'll likely never tune into the "new" format, but the radio nerd in me is curious I guess. I wonder what the hold up is? Also, what does it say about EMF's "excitement" to have the new signals if we are over a week past approval without them taking over? Could it be delays in getting equipment installed at the transmitter sites?
 
It sounds to me like this is a cool place to have worked. I have much fonder memories of working for small companies like this. Although most of these have been low-budget operations, we had a more close-knit, family feel to the staff. Not so much when I've worked for corporations like iHeartMedia or Cumulus.
 
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