Question about FM translators

[K.M. Richards]

Another sidebar coming ...

Heck, if you read the publications from the era, you can see that there was at least some discussion of whether the owner of an AM could be allowed to own an FM as well. So, and in no small part owing to that concern, the earliest FMs were given "experimental" status with odd numbers and letters call signs.

At least there was some logic applied to those original call signs, which were based on the fact that FM started in a different band, as referenced in the "Saving AM Radio" thread only a week ago. For example, the first FM in Los Angeles was on 44.5mc (Hertz came later in the nomenclature ... the term "cycles" was still in use) and its call sign was K45LA ... as in "45" designating the frequency and "LA" designating the city of license.

While only tangentally relevant, here is -- as the late Paul Harvey would have said -- the rest of the story: Regular call letters were allowed about two years into the "experiment" and K45LA became KHJ-FM. (Obviously, by then the question of common ownership had been decided ... in favor of the station owners.) When FM moved to its present band in 1945, they were licensed at 99.7 briefly (three years) before moving to their present 101.1 frequency. Of course, they have been KRTH for over five decades now.

 

[davideduardo]

When FM moved to its present band in 1945, t

Not "moved" but "was moved through Sarnoff's desire to thwart any development that would distract from the introduction of television."

 

[K.M. Richards]

Not "moved" but "was moved through Sarnoff's desire to thwart any development that would distract from the introduction of television."

Well, yeah. We already know Sarnoff was indirectly responsible for Major Armstrong's committing suicide, as you and I have discussed several times in various threads.

I wonder what the General would have thought about how successful FM became despite his efforts to kill it.

 

[radiofan2023]

Other than the aforementioned ethnic broadcasters, this would appear to be the rare example of a mainstream X-band station surviving; I wonder, given their 1630kHz frequency, if there aren't a lot of radios that aren't designed to tune above 1600 but still are able to that helps make KCJJ listenable. I suspect that to be the case since they surrendered their original 1560 license so readily when the time came to do so.

Of course, it must be noted that the owner (and morning personality) Steve Bridges has made a commitment to being live in the daytime and on weekends, including local news coverage and local sports broadcasts. This is exactly the kind of station owner we need to protect with whatever future decisions are made about AM's future.

Although I disagree with that nonsensical cliché of "the exception proving the rule" I give wholehearted applause to the exception that overcomes the lack of balance in said rule.

Even though he’s been on air since the mid 60’s, Steve seems to realize that the future regarding standalone AM stations is more in digital - the station has an app and a YouTube channel. There was talk about trying to get an FM translator for KCJJ when the application window was open, but it didn’t happen. It’s the only station I listened to when I was in Iowa City, and I still listen even though I don’t live there any more, because it’s the only station that does local news in the style they do it. You won’t see headlines like “Suspect allegedly uses rock and scissors…but not paper…in assault over hair care products” anywhere else:

Suspect allegedly uses rock and scissors…but not paper…in assault over hair care products

Lang 6/15/24 A suspect is accused of using a rock and scissors…but not paper…in an assault that started with a dispute over hair care products. Iowa City Police say the alleged victim was styling the hair of

www.1630kcjj.com

 

[trusty]

Other than the aforementioned ethnic broadcasters, this would appear to be the rare example of a mainstream X-band station surviving; I wonder, given their 1630kHz frequency, if there aren't a lot of radios that aren't designed to tune above 1600 but still are able to that helps make KCJJ listenable. I suspect that to be the case since they surrendered their original 1560 license so readily when the time came to do so.

Seems that KCJJ made a choice between 1kw-U directional at 1560 and 10kw-D 1kw-N non-directional at 1630. And there were many towers (I counted 5 still standing on Google Maps (Street View).). A lot of expense was saved in that choice.

 

[fybush]

Seems that KCJJ made a choice between 1kw-U directional at 1560 and 10kw-D 1kw-N non-directional at 1630. And there were many towers (I counted 5 still standing on Google Maps (Street View).). A lot of expense was saved in that choice.

Keep in mind that for some of the AMs at the very top of the "old" band, the new X-band frequency was too close to the old one to be able to diplex both signals from the same tower. A handful of those stations actually built separate sites for the X-bander (1620 and 1580 in South Bend come to mind), but it was too expensive for most of them to do that, and so they took the old frequency off the air right away. 1580 and 1660 in Waco was one of them, as was 1560/1630 in Iowa City.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Other than the aforementioned ethnic broadcasters, this would appear to be the rare example of a mainstream X-band station surviving; I wonder, given their 1630kHz frequency, if there aren't a lot of radios that aren't designed to tune above 1600 but still are able to that helps make KCJJ listenable. I suspect that to be the case since they surrendered their original 1560 license so readily when the time came to do so.

I have a 40-year-old radio which I quit listening to, but I remember when I used to go up and down the dial at night, it would pick up KCJJ when that station first made the move.