Mightier 1090 goes Almighty 8/1

[davideduardo]

That's the heritage of the name, but it is still Vivian Huo-owned. The FCC has sent this for Team Telecom review, and there is also a pending petition to deny by Multicultural Broadcasting, which thinks they're going to flip to Chinese and leave the FCC powerless on stopping communist propaganda.

I shudda' known you'd have the answer! Thanks.

 

[K.M. Richards]

That's the heritage of the name, but it is still Vivian Huo-owned. The FCC has sent this for Team Telecom review, and there is also a pending petition to deny by Multicultural Broadcasting, which thinks they're going to flip to Chinese and leave the FCC powerless on stopping communist propaganda.

Some 15 years ago, give or take, the Chinese government made a laughable attempt to have a shadow corporation buy 93.5/KDAY here in Los Angeles, but another person and I dug deep and brought all of the connections to light in our own filings. They made a weak attempt to challenge. but I filed additional comments in which I rebutted their arguments with links to the proof.

They pulled out of the deal after that.

 

[TomásEstefan]

I laugh when I think of a station with that name in the U.K.

A more formal version of Willy-FM might be JohnThomas FM!

 

[TomásEstefan]

In Mexico, religious associations (a type of incorporated society) cannot own broadcast stations, either on their own or through an intermediary. Nor can religious ministers (who are registered with the government).

Technically, permission from RTC is needed to air religious programming on any station, but for the last decade or so, this has been a pass-through with no real bite.

That has not prevented stations from

• Leasing their entire airtime to religious associations, which avoids the ownership issue. (Commonly these are commercial AMs)
  • Grupo ACIR did this with XEL-AM Mexico City, which fell apart when the IFT determined that the application to sell the station was to an intermediary.
  • Two Tijuana men now own XENK-AM Mexico City, which flipped to ESNE Radio programming at the start of the year.
• Being awarded to individuals and turning up as religious stations, sometimes in highly related ownership. (Commonly non-commercial social FMs)
  • Sometimes these are in the community and indigenous services!
• Being awarded to civil societies and turning up as religious stations
  • In some cases, to known concessionaires with ties to religious groups. (That station wound up having a strange history in just a few years)
• Successfully applying to program, on their own, a new subchannel whose name and logo are a trademark held by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

Remember, this is a station that has been leased and not directly operated for many years, so another lessee makes sense.

Talking about religion, I wonder if the old rule that prohibited (in Mexico) Catholic priests from wearing priestly garb outside of church grounds is still in effect?

 

[b-turner]

The Chinese 'shadow company' was actually the Douglas family trying to buy all the stations they could while the Chinese dollars were rolling through their 'advertising agency'. They'd buy the station and lease it to themselves to carry the programming the Chinese paid for.

In a nutshell, the deal worked like this: The Chinese government felt they could use radio to hire American talent (2nd & 3rd string LA Jocks) to do talk shows about sports, fashion, entertainment and other such subjects as well as music programs. If the format was identical to any American station, the Chinese felt listeners would think the Chinese think and have identical values as Americans. The only thing Chinese was China Radio International news in English on the hour (4-5 minutes). All other programming was done by Americans for Americans with no link to the Chinese whatsoever. About every week or two, somebody would criticize the Chinese government for something or say the USA has the best government on earth. I got exposed to Taylor Swift and Arcade Fire hosted by some guy from New Mexico who had worked at the Weather Channel jocking a program.

The 'ad agency' cleaned up. They got a cut from every lease, air talent and all the costs associated. The agency would go throughout North, Central and South America to meet with government agencies and station owners about expansion.

How do I know? The station I managed at the time was leased to them. I dealt with Greg Douglas. He was a great guy to deal with, very understanding and patient when something went wrong unlike all other clients who found a 45 minute drive time for our Engineer was unacceptable as we should have been back on the air the minute before we went off.

 

[Signal Geek]

Equis E Pe Erre Ese used to blast in here at night 2700 miles away.. like, nightly. .just bang in like a ton of bricks. totally wiping out 1090 KPTR Seattle.... BEFORE XEPRS lost a tower. Now its a mix of the two, literally most of the time.. with Seattle usually winning if one does take the lead


View attachment 7422

After the format switch, 1090's signal strength (as measured on my Sony ICF-5500W analog meter) became significantly stronger here in East County San Diego. Did they broaden out the directional pattern? @SomeRadioGuy, is it better in Alaska at night?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

After the format switch, 1090's signal strength (as measured on my Sony ICF-5500W analog meter) became significantly stronger here in East County San Diego. Did they broaden out the directional pattern? @SomeRadioGuy, is it better in Alaska at night?

They lost a tower over a year ago........ thats why the signal is broader.. 1090 was better the one night i listened after the change, but i have nothing to compare it to as i havent listened to am much at all lately.... and 1090 in seattle was nearly not there. conjditions have been up and down lately, so i wouldnt put much thought into this tyet

 

[Miss Tuned]

The Chinese 'shadow company' was actually the Douglas family trying to buy all the stations they could while the Chinese dollars were rolling through their 'advertising agency'. They'd buy the station and lease it to themselves to carry the programming the Chinese paid for.

In a nutshell, the deal worked like this: The Chinese government felt they could use radio to hire American talent (2nd & 3rd string LA Jocks) to do talk shows about sports, fashion, entertainment and other such subjects as well as music programs. If the format was identical to any American station, the Chinese felt listeners would think the Chinese think and have identical values as Americans. The only thing Chinese was China Radio International news in English on the hour (4-5 minutes). All other programming was done by Americans for Americans with no link to the Chinese whatsoever. About every week or two, somebody would criticize the Chinese government for something or say the USA has the best government on earth. I got exposed to Taylor Swift and Arcade Fire hosted by some guy from New Mexico who had worked at the Weather Channel jocking a program.

The 'ad agency' cleaned up. They got a cut from every lease, air talent and all the costs associated. The agency would go throughout North, Central and South America to meet with government agencies and station owners about expansion.

How do I know? The station I managed at the time was leased to them. I dealt with Greg Douglas. He was a great guy to deal with, very understanding and patient when something went wrong unlike all other clients who found a 45 minute drive time for our Engineer was unacceptable as we should have been back on the air the minute before we went off.

The Chinese did this in London, partnered with a local London broadcaster to operate something called Panda Radio on DAB. The station programming wasn't all bad - it was live and local personality and music radio. Most of the presenters were young and green, a lot had come straight out of school, but fresh talent isn't a bad thing. The news was mostly domestic UK and world news, but every so often they'd lead on a positive story about China, or have a studio discussion about something China-related. It didn't last especially long, it was dead last in the ratings but that was at least partially because it didn't seem to be marketed anywhere at all.

As you say, the aim seemed to be less hardcore political propaganda, and more soft content to show that China is just like the West and we shouldn't be afraid. There are bits of this on CRI as well, I tune in occasionally and hear them just chatting on air about dating apps, or driving etiquette, or air travel, or any number of other very soft topics that you'd hear on any Western show on a slow day.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

The Chinese did this in London, partnered with a local London broadcaster to operate something called Panda Radio on DAB. The station programming wasn't all bad - it was live and local personality and music radio. Most of the presenters were young and green, a lot had come straight out of school, but fresh talent isn't a bad thing. The news was mostly domestic UK and world news, but every so often they'd lead on a positive story about China, or have a studio discussion about something China-related. It didn't last especially long, it was dead last in the ratings but that was at least partially because it didn't seem to be marketed anywhere at all.

As you say, the aim seemed to be less hardcore political propaganda, and more soft content to show that China is just like the West and we shouldn't be afraid. There are bits of this on CRI as well, I tune in occasionally and hear them just chatting on air about dating apps, or driving etiquette, or air travel, or any number of other very soft topics that you'd hear on any Western show on a slow day.

I hear the later on CGTN all the time, and i can always tell its CGTN even if i dont listen long... they just have a certain style and it seems its the same couple of english hosts whenever i listen

 

[Signal Geek]

No one has mentioned yet that 1130 KSDO is also Spanish Religion. Even with just 2.5kw, their long-wire off the KGB-FM tower has decent coverage. So when you add in 540 AM (very good signal, with transmitter right by the ocean) and 1040 AM, 1090 is jumping into a pretty crowded format in San Diego. And that's just on AM. On FM, you have 100.1 La Nueva Vida (class A near Julian, but still audible in parts of the metro area), plus 87.7...

 

[boombox4]

Catholics aren't so much into "soul saving" as are the evangelicals. Mostly, Catholic-formatted radio is designed to be more akin to fellowship, like the members of your parish.

Relevant Radio is into soul saving, but they're not as heavy duty about it as protestant or evangelical Christian radio in the US, but they do mention that as one of their purposes. They're sort of a 'full service' religious broadcaster for Catholics.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Just when you think you’ve heard it all….


…. You run across Spanish Catholic RAP music on 1090!(as I did tonight)

 

[101.9 La Kalle]

Just when you think you’ve heard it all….


…. You run across Spanish Catholic RAP music on 1090!(as I did tonight)

I feel like that's the most absurd thing ever, but I'm not doubting you. I also love how it contradicts the long time view on Spanish language rap/reggaetón I've seen when talking to older Hispanic Catholics: "Reggaetón is the devil's music," "Reggaetóneros sell their soul," etc etc.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I feel like that's the most absurd thing ever, but I'm not doubting you. I also love how it contradicts the long time view on Spanish language rap/reggaetón I've seen when talking to older Hispanic Catholics: "Reggaetón is the devil's music," "Reggaetóneros sell their soul," etc etc.

Well thats sure what it sounded like to me... rap/pop..... it was some very very hip sounding spanish catholic music