• 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

KSCO(AM), Santa Cruz, CA Whoops

alok said:
Mike,
Good points.
I also am surprised that the translators don't really cover "well" the deep null they have toward Dallas, TX, the info I have is that the AM puts out about 5-15 watts in that direction at night and that null seems to go right over Watsonville.
They have three FM translators per radio-locator.com . . . two are licensed for Watsonville but none are located in Watsonville, it seems none have a lobe that really goes over Watsonville.
There are about 52,000 people there and that is just Watsonville.
I am sure they figured this all out, two of the translators do hit Morgan Hill and Gilroy it seems, per radio-locator.com. That is good.
since the AM does cover those areas daytime, but not at night
take care,
Al
Click to expand...
Al, let's remember, too, what the priority (enforced by the FCC) was in those days:

Serve the community of license. Full stop.

Watsonville, 17 miles away, had its own radio station, KHUB, that signed on ten years before KSCO. That station, ironically, is now KOMY, and Zwerling owns it. There's an argument to be made that it no longer serves Watsonville in the way it did in 1947---when there were only 10,000 people there.

Morgan Hill and Gilroy are 40-45 miles from Santa Cruz. If you buy a lower-powered AM station in Santa Cruz, you should have no expectation of putting a signal over there. And "they can hear us" is not the same thing as serving those communities.

The FCC has allowed a bunch of stuff in the last 40-ish years that have resulted in an over-populated FM radio dial and stations cannibalizing markets that aren't even their own. The whole FM translator for AM stations thing is the latest and worst.
 
FCC made the fine official in The Daily Digest.

"1. In this Forfeiture Order, the Media Bureau (Bureau) issues a monetary forfeiture to Zwerling Broadcasting System, Ltd (Zwerling), in the amount of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000). The forfeiture stems from our determination that Zwerling willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), and sections 73.1350, 73.1560(a)(1), 73.1635, 73.1690(b), and 73.1745(a) of the Commission’s rules (Rules) by operating KSCO(AM), Santa Cruz, California (Station) at a variance from its authorized parameters."

DA-22-1318A1.pdf
 
In response, Zwerling has ceased all local programming, and if he can't find a buyer by the end of the year, both stations will go dark. This is according to Radio insight
 
KilowattKat said:
...if he can't find a buyer by the end of the year, both stations will go dark. This is according to Radio insight
Click to expand...
Which he suggested a month or two ago. And that's how this is going to play out. Nobody's going to pay him what he wants for the stations AND foot the bill to fix the directional system. There ABSOLUTELY will be buyers for the land, and he'll cash that out and send the licenses back in.
 
Last edited:
michael hagerty said:
Which he suggested a month or two ago. And that's how this is going to play out. Nobody's going to pay him what he wants for the stations AND foot the bill to fix the directional system. There ABSOLUTELY will be buyers for the land, and he'll cash that out and send the licenses back in.
Click to expand...
Sad, yet completely anticipated end to this story.

EDIT: Craiglslist listing
 
Last edited:
KilowattKat said:
In response, Zwerling has ceased all local programming, and if he can't find a buyer by the end of the year, both stations will go dark. This is according to Radio insight
Click to expand...

Not true, not according to what i read
radioinsight.com

As FCC Upholds $20,000 Fine; KSCO Plans To Cease Local Programming

The FCC today upheld its proposed $20,000 forfeiture against Zwerling Broadcasting System, Ltd’s Conservative Talk 1080 KSCO Santa Cruz CA
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

"local programming is going away" nowhere in the radio insight article or the local newspaper article does it say the station is going dark, in fact... quite the opposiute, Zwerling says they will probably pick up syndicated programminug
 
The guy is a bit crazy, a bit delusional, ... and out of touch.

How the hell do you lose $40,000 a month? thats real hard to do
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Not true, not according to what i read
radioinsight.com

As FCC Upholds $20,000 Fine; KSCO Plans To Cease Local Programming

The FCC today upheld its proposed $20,000 forfeiture against Zwerling Broadcasting System, Ltd’s Conservative Talk 1080 KSCO Santa Cruz CA
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

"local programming is going away" nowhere in the radio insight article or the local newspaper article does it say the station is going dark, in fact... quite the opposiute, Zwerling says they will probably pick up syndicated programminug
Click to expand...
What kills me in that piece is this line:

"The fine comes as owner Michael Zwerling has placed the station up for sale on Craigslist. "

Not, y'know, with a broker----on effing Craigslist.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Not true, not according to what i read
radioinsight.com

As FCC Upholds $20,000 Fine; KSCO Plans To Cease Local Programming

The FCC today upheld its proposed $20,000 forfeiture against Zwerling Broadcasting System, Ltd’s Conservative Talk 1080 KSCO Santa Cruz CA
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

"local programming is going away" nowhere in the radio insight article or the local newspaper article does it say the station is going dark, in fact... quite the opposiute, Zwerling says they will probably pick up syndicated programminug
Click to expand...
My goof! Got the Zwerling saga mixed up with the other article about the two stations in Page, AZ going dark ( another sad situation), that I had just finished reading before posting.
 
michael hagerty said:
What kills me in that piece is this line:

"The fine comes as owner Michael Zwerling has placed the station up for sale on Craigslist. "

Not, y'know, with a broker----on effing Craigslist.
Click to expand...

I'd never heard of this Zwerling fellow before, so out of curiosity I did a search for him on Radio Discussions. Came across this thread from back in 2007, 15 years ago now, saying he was selling the stations back then...

 
boiseengineer said:
Those are the only substantial towers in the Santa Cruz area.
Either keep one tower for both AMs' or...
Bet there's lots of people that would love to see them go away.
Click to expand...
I used to be very excited to see an AM radio tower in my travels. Now, most of the time, I just wonder when it transmitted anything I’d want to hear and what else could be done with all that land.
 
boiseengineer said:
<...>
Bet there's lots of people that would love to see them go away.
Click to expand...
Yet another sad ending is coming soon, but these endings certainly seem to be more common than many here would like.
 
boiseengineer said:
Allrightythen...
lookout.co

Is the end near for local radio at Santa Cruz’s KSCO?

According to KSCO owner Michael Zwerling, local programming at the Santa Cruz AM radio station could be coming to an end. Zwerling has been trying for weeks to sell the station, and he says if he has no takers, he’ll convert the station to all syndicated programming on Jan. 1.
lookout.co lookout.co
Click to expand...
He said KSCO’s signal can potentially reach “in the daytime, north of Sacramento to south of Bakersfield.”

(Bill Drake voice)

And the material misrepresentations just keep on comin'!"
 
michael hagerty said:
He said KSCO’s signal can potentially reach “in the daytime, north of Sacramento to south of Bakersfield.”

(Bill Drake voice)

And the material misrepresentations just keep on comin'!"
Click to expand...
... and on a good day, in Gilroy and Hollister.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom