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Pioneering X-bander KCJJ 1630 Iowa City for sale?

J

joebtsflk1

Saw in the DealMaker email newsletter that an "Iowa Powerhouse AM - College Market" is for sale. Not too many stations in Iowa would seem to fit this description except for perhaps KCJJ 1630 Iowa City. Standalone AM with Captain Steve at the helm for several decades now.

Granted, iHeart might be spinning off the cross-town AM rival KXIC 800, whose 1000 watts covers even more than 10 kW KCJJ on 1630, but the sell-line had "Powerhouse", not "Big Coverage".

Still, if it is KCJJ, 10 kW on 1630 still provides some respectable coverage in the good dirt of Iowa. But KCJJ never applied for an FM translator in the windows of the last couple of years. That's going to be a big fat drag on the sale price if it is indeed KCJJ that's on the sales block.

Or, if you want to get into TV, I thinks there's a big fat UHF east of Iowa City that's been for sale for a long time, but it seems to have out-lived its usefulness, having lost its CW affiliation. (not that having the CW has been that useful for most stations...)

Would seem ironic if KCJJ were to go to a religious broadcaster, which would seem the most likely market for an AM-only play.
 
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"Powerhouse" would certainly lead one to believe it is KCJJ. They have always had a bit of an ego. Sad to see them sell out if they are indeed for sale. They are definitely unique and way more successful than I would have ever thought possible for a small market AM in the extended band. They are the most local station we have. I've never been impressed with their reception though. I can get a much better signal from KCNZ Cedar Falls at night despite being significantly closer to KCJJ. I find it odd that KCJJ didn't go for a translator. Especially since they play music.

I'd much rather see 800 KXIC sold. KXIC is totally worthless and they screwed up their translator. Might as well offload it. I doubt it is making much anyway.

I don't understand why KWKB didn't cash out with the spectrum auction. I was under the impression anyone who wanted to sell their spectrum could but maybe that was only an option for large markets with limited space.
 
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When it came to the spectrum auction, anyone who wanted to sell could, but there weren’t always buyers. A station in Springfield, MO went up for auction, got no bidders, and turned the license in so one of its sister LP stations that was getting displaced could get its spot.

As for KCJJ, I, too, was surprised it didn’t go for a translator. I got a chance to check out its studios a few years ago. Pretty impressive location on the Iowa River Landing. If I worked there, I'd be at Backpocket Brewing way too often.
 
I had slways thought that KCJJ's daytime coverage was inferior to that of KCNZ Cedar Falls or KBGG 1700 Des Moines. It could be that Iowa City's ground conductivity isn't quite on par with Cedar Falls or certainly Des Moines, but that's just a guess.

Would seem that KWKB was too far away from a top 20 market to have had a real chance at a sizable payday. Wasn't enough interest by carriers to bid on the spectrum apparently. A complete list of those stations that took auction money can be separately downloaded as Appendix A from this document https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-results-worlds-first-broadcast-incentive-auction-0
 
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