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Central Coast KVYB Gets Groovy With True Oldies Channel

DavidEduardo said:
Remember, most of those higher power stations are using high-gain antennas... 8, 10 and 12 bays. So they can run a 40kw or so transmitter (which for FM consumes a lot less than an AM transmitter of the same power) and the power bill is not huge relative to the kind of billings you can get in markets like Santa Barbara, Memphis, etc.
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True, but there is a tradeoff: beam width is narrower with a higher number of bays, making the signal more subject to multipath and blockage by physical obstructions.

More than 30 years ago for a period of time, KMAJ (Topeka)'s antenna was damaged and the station temporarily ran with one bay. I was told that the station's then-owner noticed improved reception in Topeka proper and seriously considered reconfiguring the station. This was back when KMAJ had 100 kw and 370m HAAT; after Cumulus bought it, the station was downgraded anyway to facilitate a move of its Lexington, Mo. station at 107.3 to North Kansas City.
 
K.M. Richards said:
I don't specifically remember those, but they did have a lot of liners with similar phrasing.

What I remember most is their identifying as "being on a stereo cruise".

And KRUZ is not the highest-powered grandfathered station with over 100kW ERP. That distinction belongs to WLFP/99.7 Memphis (the former WMC-FM; it changed calls a couple of years ago) with a whopping 300kW horizontal and 100kW vertical ERP.
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Actually they were indeed wrong about California as KPFK is 110 kW, and so is KQED. KRUZ is 105 kW.
 
lanceventa said:
I wouldn't go off this list as there's a few omissions and 2013 is a long time ago in terms of changes.

WRVQ Richmond VA at 200kW/109m is another obvious omission.
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Of course, and there may have been a later version that wasn't archived.

Unless there is some other reason - unavailability of a suitable site, greater coverage with increased height, etc. - a station is unlikely to give up this status. For example, KMZU Carrollton, Mo. had 110 kw ERP until 1990 when it swapped frequencies with KCFX Harrisonville so that KCFX could move its transmitter site into Kansas City. KMZU also got better coverage in west-central Missouri out of the deal - going from a 60m tower to 302m and maximum C1 status with 99 kw. It did lose coverage in the Kansas City metro, but that's not what KMZU was (or is) interested in. So both sides of the transaction gained something.

It makes me wonder why KHKI in Des Moines sticks with its 105 kw from a sub-500-foot tower, thereby earning it C1 status (though at least not C2), but Cumulus is probably in no position to change matters.
 
K.M. Richards said:
I got curious after I posted my latest retort, so I pulled the history card for KRUZ.

Its CP was issued in 1958 on what would eventually become KTYD's frequency (99.9 mc) at a whopping 1kW ERP -- at ground level, no less -- and was amended a year later to 103.3 at 50kW on Broadcast Peak (which, BTW is officially named Santa Ynez Peak, if anyone cares). It would appear that even then, it was using a high-gain multi-bay antenna because the TPO was specified as 5kW. And it still almost didn't get on the air; the CP expired and was reissued one month before KMUZ signed on in July 1961.

The new CP authorized the 105kW ERP with 10kW TPO, and they upgraded to those facilities in November and went to a 12-bay antenna higher on the tower a year later.

It gets more creative after that: A CP was issued in 1968 for 38kW ERP/11kW TPO which also specified 105kW in a lobe created by a 2½ beam tilt of the antenna. They were licensed with those parameters in 1969 and subsequent renewals continued to reference the 105kW ERP.

Hey ... wake up! I know it's boring stuff.
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That's probably why I could receive KMUZ-FM at Pismo Beach in the late 1960s and early 1970s when my family took sand duning trips there but not any of the other Santa Barbara radio stations (In Fact, the only AM I could receive from that area was KACY at 1520 kHz licensed to Port Huene--if I got the spelling correct).
 
ted chittenden said:
(In Fact, the only AM I could receive from that area was KACY at 1520 kHz licensed to Port Huene--if I got the spelling correct).
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You got most of it right, Ted, except you left off the last syllable. Port Hueneme. (A gold star for getting the spelling correct!)
 


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