• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Central Coast KRML/Carmel - Original (Licensed) signal off the air @ 1410 AM

P

powers

My dad lives less than a mile from the KRML transmitter near Carmel Rancho right near the Carmel River (behind some apartments or condos). I've noticed on three visits over the last two years (the last one being a couple of weeks ago) that KRML's AM station is not putting out anything....no carrier, nothing, while the FM translator at 94.7 is doing a pretty good job of covering the local (Monterey/Salinas) area. I did hear an ID on the FM station mentioning the AM 1410 signal but there is no signal there.

It seems to be running an illegal operation and nobody seems to be turning them in, especially if it's been over 2 years without a signal. They are not running on any HD signal either so it seems like they've got problems. A friend of mine in the broadcast industry says KRML just doesn't have any money, so maybe other stations are feeling sorry enough not to report them, or the FCCis not pressing anything if they DO know, or maybe there is a standing agreement that they are allowed to keep broadcasting on the translator until they fix things that need to be fixed. I was just always under the understanding that the ONLY reason a translator can originate their own programming is if an AM station is a Daytimer and has to shut down at night. Otherwise, they are not running legally.

Can anyone enlighten me on their story?
 
A daytimer can run their translator 24/7...part of why so many went to daytimers. Yes, the AM must be on the air otherwise there is nothing to translate.

The FCC deletes stations silent for more than a year except in very unusual circumstances. And no money isn't one
 
I checked out the station's website. Its writings look fairly eccentric. Maybe only someone who is eccentric would get involved in local radio.

The music is Adult Alternative. The station says "We cover multiple genres and eras, with the idea that they didn’t start making good music yesterday and they won’t stop tomorrow."

There are a few brokered shows listed about wine, jazz and local artists. The list of advertisers, or "partners" as they are called, seems impressive. And nowhere is "1410 AM" mentioned. All references are to "94.7 FM" and "Alexa, Google and Siri."
 
Weiserguy said:
Good observation. IIRC, KRML was the station that Clint Eastwood used to own.
Click to expand...

I don't recall Clint ever owning KRML, but it is where he shot the studio scenes for "Play Misty For Me" (1971), and the KRML calls were used for the station in the film.

199146.jpg

1410 has been in trouble for a while, a lot of it being the issues all AM stations face, exacerbated by a weak signal.

The then-owner filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, and as part of the settlement, gave the radio station to Monterey County Bank. They held it for a shade under two years and then sold it in 2011 for $150,000 cash (about a tenth what the guy who went bankrupt paid for it seven years before).

The buyer, Scot E. McKay, doing business as Carmel Valley Athletic Club, Inc., died of cancer in 2013. The McKay family still owns the athletic club and apparently the radio station.
 
KRML did have a STA granted in 2022 that expired on May 16, 2023. Did someone forget to renew it?

This is in reference to the request filed November 3, 2022 on behalf of KRML Radio, LLC
("KRL"). KRL requests special temporary authority ("STA") to operate station KRML(AM) with
reduced daytime power.1 In support of the request, KRL states that due to transmitter failure, the
station is currently operating with a reduced daytime power of 50 watts. Therefore, until the
necessary transmitter repairs are completed, the station requests STA to continue to operate with
reduced daytime power. No changes are proposed to the nighttime operation.
 
I may get in trouble for posting this but given this thread and the separate thread about KVWM (970 kHz in Show Low, AZ) being off frequency, I have to wonder if people at the FCC are more concerned about granting the wishes of the current leader than making sure that radio stations are on their proper frequencies and actually on the air when they're supposed to be on the air.
 
ted chittenden said:
I may get in trouble for posting this but given this thread and the separate thread about KVWM (970 kHz in Show Low, AZ) being off frequency, I have to wonder if people at the FCC are more concerned about granting the wishes of the current leader than making sure that radio stations are on their proper frequencies and actually on the air when they're supposed to be on the air.
Click to expand...
The FCC has not had any regular field crews "out and about" looking for violations or doing inspections for several decades. They mostly depend on complaints filed by other stations or people from the general public that understand how to do a formal filing.

If you look at the issues with translators and even full licensed stations in several markets in Texas, you will see problems and violations that have gone on for almost a decade with no FCC intervention. In another example, an AM in San Juan lost its transmitter site 8 years ago and they claimed to the Commission they were running temporary facilities using a wire strung down the side of a beachfront condo in the El Condado section of the city. There was no such installation.

Ted, you can't blame everything wrong or irregular about radio on the current president or the current administration.

I can remember back in the 70's that the field engineer of one FCC office even carried a trowel and a rake and would check the status of buried AM antenna radials on his complete inspections. Today, that area does not even have a field inspector and the last time any station had an inspection, per the local broadcaster association, was over a decade ago.
 
davideduardo said:
The FCC has not had any regular field crews "out and about" looking for violations or doing inspections for several decades. They mostly depend on complaints filed by other stations or people from the general public that understand how to do a formal filing.
Click to expand...

I think that for those who are "getting up there" in age -- myself included -- who have not been in the business and seen the changes in FCC policy and operation from a need to know perspective, it is easy to think (or maybe the better word is "remember") how FCC field inspections used to be conducted.

As long as Ted, and others like him, get the point now about the different radio and television world we now live in, your explanation is much welcomed, mi amigo.
 
Gregg. said:
And nowhere is "1410 AM" mentioned. All references are to "94.7 FM" and "Alexa, Google and Siri."
Click to expand...
That's pretty normal for a music-intensive station on AM that has a translator. They really want to steer people to the FM Stereo signal when they can hear it. I heard an ID on the station itself mentioning both 94.7 and 1410 AM, however it may have just been an older ID that they ran. They are not running anything, not even a carrier signal on AM 1410 and this is definitely K234DH. For a translator, Radio-Locator and the (Longley-Rice?) other map that I see on the RadioLand app shows that they have a pretty blasting coverage map for a 250 watt signal, easily hitting Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz and a good part of the bay. I've confirmed while driving that they have a decent signal in the Salinas and Monterey areas.
 
Frequency1 said:
KRML did have a STA granted in 2022 that expired on May 16, 2023. Did someone forget to renew it?

This is in reference to the request filed November 3, 2022 on behalf of KRML Radio, LLC
("KRL"). KRL requests special temporary authority ("STA") to operate station KRML(AM) with
reduced daytime power.1 In support of the request, KRL states that due to transmitter failure, the
station is currently operating with a reduced daytime power of 50 watts. Therefore, until the
necessary transmitter repairs are completed, the station requests STA to continue to operate with
reduced daytime power. No changes are proposed to the nighttime operation.
Click to expand...
2022 must have been a bad year for KRML. In March of that year, there was enforcement activity from the FCC for not maintaining an online public file for inspection.
 
I have to wonder if the only thing that's keeping the FCC from allowing the AM to shut down, and FM translators becoming the primary signal...is money. That would mean losing all the revenue from FCC fees associated with an AM license. Just a thought...
 
If translators were relicensed as a separate class of service (I have proposed A0 in my past posts on the subject) I imagine the FCC would set the license fees accordingly and make up the difference.
 
And we have a sale!

KRML and it's FM translator have been sold to El Avance LLC (Spanish for 'To Advance') for $10,000 plus $54,000 in advertising spots to be aired over a 36 month period of time.

radioinsight.com

Station Sales Week Of 4/17

The Archie Dale led Louisville Black Media will purchase Gospel 1240 WLLV/101.9 W270CR and R&B Oldies 1350 WLOU/104.7 W284AD Louisville
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
KilowattKat said:
And we have a sale!

KRML and it's FM translator have been sold to El Avance LLC (Spanish for 'To Advance')
Click to expand...
Actually, that is Spanish for "The Advance" or, perhaps, "The Advancement".

"To Advance" would be "Avanzar".
 


Back
Top Bottom