SUGAR LAND

[OldChicago]

I think that since Sugar Land, TX has grown so much recently, perhaps it now meets
the FCC requirements to have its own radio station. What would be the chances of
putting a Class-A FM station in Sugar Land be.


Old Chicago

 

[davideduardo]

I think that since Sugar Land, TX has grown so much recently, perhaps it now meets
the FCC requirements to have its own radio station. What would be the chances of
putting a Class-A FM station in Sugar Land be.


Old Chicago

There is no obligation that a community of any size have a radio station. There is no size restriction for having a station. If there were a frequency that could be made to work, it would have been filed for decades ago. Now, with all the move ins and rimshots, it is unikely bordering on impossible for an allocation to be given to that or any other FM channel in the Houston metro.

 

[jd]

(David beat me to the punch on this but here's the reply I was typing ...)

Actually Sugar Land has qualified as a licensable community for quite a few years. The growth of a town has little to do with qualifying as a place for an allocation, and in fact there are some instances where the community of license is not even an incorporated place; KYND 1520 Cypress has had to justify their right to be licensed to a community that technically doesn't exist. The FCC has also also allowed stations to be licensed to places like Air Force bases, and so on.

So for Sugar Land the chances for getting its own station (not some COL change of an existing Houston area station) are basically zero. The adjacent channel and mileage separation requirements just aren't workable unless a wholesale re-allocation of the local FM band were to take place, which is highly unlikely.

 

[oldjohnny]

Talking about Sugar Land, I noticed passing through there that KSBJ's translator was back on.

 

[purpledevil]

Which is still odd to me, oldjohnny. Why exactly does KSBJ need 99.7 anymore? 89.3 penetrates the SW areas such as Sugarland pretty well these days. Seems to me that New Wavo Communications wouldn't mind getting that puny translator silenced and upgrade KVST to penetrate the Houston market. Would it be too short spaced to KSHN/Liberty for something like this to occur?

 

[oldjohnny]

Which is still odd to me, oldjohnny. Why exactly does KSBJ need 99.7 anymore? 89.3 penetrates the SW areas such as Sugarland pretty well these days. Seems to me that New Wavo Communications wouldn't mind getting that puny translator silenced and upgrade KVST to penetrate the Houston market. Would it be too short spaced to KSHN/Liberty for something like this to occur?

I think they would have to worry more about KSHN and KNFX. I'm no engineer, but I always assumed that translators are destined for interference from other stations and actual liscenced stations are given the upper hand on these types of issues, but I may be wrong. I really can't see them moving east or South because of KSHN. I think we are pretty safe to say KVST is stuck in this part of town for now. Unless Wavo or Trinity buy each other out, then we might see another rimshot. I think KSHN would be safe enough to upgrade to 100kw from Devers since KNGT just upgraded and moved more to the east it may be possible to move KVST to another frequency and another city (perhaps say 101.5 in Navasota). Any one know of more limitations (other than ownership)

 

[ilistentotheradio]

Which is still odd to me, oldjohnny. Why exactly does KSBJ need 99.7 anymore? 89.3 penetrates the SW areas such as Sugarland pretty well these days. Seems to me that New Wavo Communications wouldn't mind getting that puny translator silenced and upgrade KVST to penetrate the Houston market. Would it be too short spaced to KSHN/Liberty for something like this to occur?

I think they would have to worry more about KSHN and KNFX. I'm no engineer, but I always assumed that translators are destined for interference from other stations and actual liscenced stations are given the upper hand on these types of issues, but I may be wrong. I really can't see them moving east or South because of KSHN. I think we are pretty safe to say KVST is stuck in this part of town for now. Unless Wavo or Trinity buy each other out, then we might see another rimshot. I think KSHN would be safe enough to upgrade to 100kw from Devers since KNGT just upgraded and moved more to the east it may be possible to move KVST to another frequency and another city (perhaps say 101.5 in Navasota). Any one know of more limitations (other than ownership)

Then your upgraded KSHN will be short spaced to KYBI, and your 101.5 Navasota to KSAM.

 

[oldjohnny]

101.5 would maybe be able to fit in Navasota with the antenna being somewhere in the Northwest-West as a Class A (Of course we have to watch KROX).

But OF COURSE, you are right, the real problem is KYBI (I completely forgot about the Lufkin-Nacogdoches market). I just remembered that right before KILT turned on their IBOC, you could sometimes hear 100.1. There could be some reshuffling but doing that will take years in the making and money to be wasted. And that is if every owner agrees.

 

[jd]

Talking about Sugar Land, I noticed passing through there that KSBJ's translator was back on.

I guess they got things straightened out then, but the paperwork hasn't caught up on the FCC site. Last I saw the FCC had denied the request for an KSBJ's STA extension so they could get it back on. Seems they somehow forgot to file a license renewal and the K259AB call letters were deleted.