MINNESOTA:
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that KLBB/1220 (Stillwater) plans to leave the air at the end of March. Owner Dan Smith tells the newspaper that it's been difficult running a small AM station on the edge of the Twin Cities and after selling the station's longtime tower site for development, he doesn't want to take the risk of investing in a new AM transmission plant. KLBB transmits with 5kW daytime and 254 Watts nighttime, nondirectional, from a site on Brick Street in Stillwater. The station has a pending application for a new 250-Watt FM translator on 107.5, which specified the Brick Street site but would have to be modified since the tower is due to be demolished. Smith tells the paper he has not had any luck finding a buyer. KLBB carries a Soft Oldies format with local sports and Packers football. The callsign was originally used with a similar format on KLBB/1400 (St. Paul) from 1982 until it became KMNV in 2005. (2/28/2018)
SOUTH DAKOTA/NEBRASKA:
A belated note that South Dakota's Rosebud Sioux Tribe has changed the format at KINI/96.1 (Crookston, NE-St. Francis, SD) after buying the station from the St. Francis Mission last fall for $1. As first noted by DX-midAMerica, KINI is now carrying a Top 40 format. While full-time Top 40 may be unusual for a tribal station, KINI's new format complements the mix of Native, Country, and Rock music heard on the tribe's KOYA/88.1 (Rosebud, SD). KINI, which is a commercial station, had previously carried a wide mix of Catholic and Native programming with some Adult Contemporary and Country music. St. Francis Mission noted on its website last year that it will get 10 hours of airtime per week for the next 15 years. KOYA broadcasts with 51kW/195m while KINI uses 90kW/152m (both class C1). (2/27/2018)
WISCONSIN:
Milwaukee has received its seventh and eighth FM signals relaying formats originating on AM, with several more potentially coming.
Radio/DX Information from Wisconsin reports that 99-Watt W241CI/96.1 has signed on, relaying the Gospel format of Joel Kinlow's WGLB/1560. The translator license was moved north from Illinois a result of the second 2016 AM Revitalization filing window.
Meanwhile, WTMJ/620 reports that its News/Talk/Sports format is now being relayed on 250-Watt W277CV/103.3. W277CV is owned by Frank Glass McCoy, who moved the translator north from Illinois using "Mattoon waiver," which allows translators to be moved farther than normal when they pledge to relay a specified AM station.
W277CV had originally sought to move to Milwaukee as a translator of WRRD/1510 but dropped that application and filed a new one to instead relay WTMJ. The change initially promoted an objection from WRRD, which later received a construction permit for a translator on 101.7 during the 2017 AM Revitalization filing window.
WGLB and WTMJ join AM stations WPTT/1540 (92.9), WJTI/1460 (97.9), WJYI/1340 (98.7), WZTI/1290 (100.3 and 107.3), WSSP/1250 (105.7), and WNOV/860 (106.5) in having FM translators. (See a complete list on the Wisconsin Radio Markets page.) WAUK/540 and WSJP/1640 also have pending applications for FM signals, leaving iHeartMedia's WOKY/920 and WISN/1130 as the only AM stations in Milwaukee not seeking translators. (2/24/2018)
MINNESOTA:
The Minnesota Broadcasters Association has hired Stephen M. Usery as its interim executive director. Usery comes from a background in financial and operational management, including work with Oneworld Alliance, US Airways, Northwest Airlines, Sun Trust Banks, and Twin Cities PBS. The Association said in a news release that Usery's first priority will be to stabilize operations and work closely with the board, accounting, and legal advisors to create a budget, complete tax records, and provide updates to members. He will represent the MBA at the NAB State Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., this Sunday. (2/22/2018)
SINCLAIR DIVESTITURE:
Sinclair Broadcast Group intends to sell a station in Des Moines, as well as WPIX (New York) and others, as part of a nationwide divestiture to gain regulatory approval of its acquisition of Tribune Media.
In a filing that appeared in the FCC database on Wednesday morning, Sinclair is seeking to transfer nearly two dozen full-power licenses to Sinclair Divestiture Trust, headed by Richard A. Foreman.
However, not all of the stations may be divested. For example, in Des Moines, Sinclair filed applications to place both NBC affiliate WHO/13.1 and FOX affiliate KDSM/17.1 into trust, but says it only actually intends to divest one of the stations but does not yet know which one will be sold.
Sinclair would retain all other current Sinclair and Tribune stations in the Upper Midwest.
Nationally, Sinclair seeks to divest a few other stations to comply with the national ownership cap, but different Sinclair filings submitted on the same day contain conflicting accounts of which stations will be spun off. Both filings say WPIX (New York) and KSWB-TV (San Diego) will be divested, while one also says WGN-TV (Chicago) will be divested. Read the documents here: 24-page document, 102-page document. (2/21/2018)
NORTH DAKOTA:
Four Ingstad family stations in North Dakota have shuffled, tweaked, or changed their formats as one FM simulcast begins and an AM trimulcast ends:
KOVC continues to carry an information-intensive Country format but appears to have dropped the "Dakota Country" slogan. It recently added FM translator K242CZ/96.3 (Valley City). (2/20/2018)
MINNESOTA:
iHeartMedia's "Hot 102.5" has transitioned from Classic Hip-Hop/R&B to a contemporary Hip-Hop/R&B format, retaining the "Hot" slogan. The change was first noted by RadioInsight and happened Feb. 12. "Hot 102.5" is heard on the Educational Media Foundation's K273BH/102.5 (Fridley-Minneapolis), which transmits from the IDS Center, and the HD3 channel iHeart's KTCZ/97.1 (Minneapolis).
The new format competes primarily with Northern Lights Broadcasting's two-year-old "Go 95-3" (KZGO St. Paul-Minneapolis). Non-commercial outlet KMOJ/89.9 (Minneapolis) has served the African American community for four decades and currently carries an Urban Adult Contemporary format on its main channel, with current Hip-Hop and R&B on HD2.
102.5's change ends the unusual situation of having two Classic Hip-Hop formats in the Twin Cities; Cumulus Media continues to carry the format on its "105 The Vibe" trimulcast. (2/18/2018)
MINNESOTA:
Salem Communications Conservative Talk station WWTC/1280 (Minneapolis) has applied to move from its longtime transmitter site in St. Louis Park to its studio site in Eagan, where it would be co-located with sister station KKMS/980.
WWTC currently transmits with 5kW using a non-directional pattern during the day and a directional pattern at night; it proposes using 10kW day and 15kW night from Eagan with slightly different daytime and nighttime directional patterns. (Various coverage maps are included in this engineering statement beginning on page 31.)
The move would improve WWTC's signal to St. Paul and the eastern and southern suburbs but slightly weaken its signal in the western suburbs.
The application did not specify a reason for the proposed move. Salem also recently moved the planned site for a WWTC translator on 107.5 FM from the St. Louis Park site to the KYCR/1440 site in Golden Valley, though Salem's KDIZ/1570 also transmits from the St. Louis Park site and has not applied to move.
WWTC is one of the oldest radio stations in Minnesota, having signed on in 1925 as WRHM, and has transmitted from St. Louis Park for more than 50 years, according to FCC history cards. (2/17/2018)
MINNESOTA/NORTH DAKOTA:
No double-dipping: The FCC has dismissed several Upper Midwest AM stations' applications for new FM translators because they had already applied for translators during a previous window. The FCC cited the earlier applications in dismissing proposed new FM translators for KMHL/1400 (Marshall, MN), KOWZ/1170 (Waseca, MN), and KHND/1470 (Harvey, ND). KMHL and KOWZ were both granted waivers to move translators during 2016 AM revitalization filing windows, and their new translators are both on the air. However, KHND's first application was dismissed for failure to file a required form by a deadline and the station was never granted a translator. (2/17/2018)
NORTH DAKOTA: (UPDATED)
Gray TV is buying a second full-power station in the Fargo-Grand Forks market, My Network TV station KCPM/27 (Grand Forks), from Charles Poppen's G.I.G. of North Dakota, LLC for $255,000. KCPM recently returned to the air after having been silent for much of the past year due to problems delivering programming to the transmitter.
Gray also owns NBC affiliate KVLY-TV/11.1 (Fargo) and low-power CBS affiliate KXJB-LD (Horace-Fargo), the latter of which is simulcast on KVLY-DT2 and rebroadcast on LPTV stations in the Grand Forks and Mayville areas. KCPM is currently licensed for an 11.1kW signal but a news story posted on KVLY's website says the new owners will upgrade KCPM to cover the entire Fargo market. The article says management is still considering programming options for KCPM, which will get a new callsign.
Gray says in its filing that the purchase of KCPM should be allowed because of a recent FCC change that simplified rules to only restrict ownership of top-four stations; previously, Gray would have had to seek a waiver because the sale would have left fewer than eight TV ownership voices in the market. (2/12/2018)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
NBC affiliate KNBN/21 (Rapid City) returned to DirecTV on Feb. 4, just in time for the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics. A retransmission consent dispute had taken the station off the satellite provider on Jan. 1. The Rapid City market covers the western third of South Dakota as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. (2/10/2018)
MINNESOTA:
With the News/Talk format of KNSI/1450 (St. Cloud) now being relayed on new translator K257GK/99.3 (St. Cloud), original KNSI translator K277BS/103.3 (St. Cloud) is slated to split off with a different format. As first reported by RadioInsight, a Facebook page is teasing a March 5 flip to "Z Rock," originating on the HD3 signal of KZPK/98.9 (Payesville-St. Cloud). The stations are owned by Leighton Enterprises. "Z Rock" would compete with the Hard Rock format of Tri-County Broadcasting's "Rockin' 101" (WHMH/101.7 Sauk Rapids-St. Cloud) and the Classic Rock format of Townsquare Media's "103.7 The Loon" (KLZZ Waite Park-St. Cloud), the latter of which used a "Z103" slogan in the `90s. St. Cloud also has fringe reception of Twin Cities Hard Rocker "93X" (KXXR/93.7 Minneapolis). (2/8/2018)
ONTARIO:
Canadian regulators have approved a move to FM for CBC Radio One in Ear Falls. The CBC's CBOI will move from a 40-Watt signal on AM 690 to a 50-Watt signal on FM 95.5. The CRTC says it received no interventions to the application. The only other radio signal receiveable in Ear Falls, except for nighttime AM skywave, is a 50-Watt rebroadcaster of commercial Adult Contemporary outlet CKDR-FM (Dryden) on 97.5. (2/6/2018)
MORE APPLICATIONS FOR NEW FM TRANSLATORS:
The FCC database is now listing applications for new FM translators that were filed during the most recent AM revitalization filing window, and 98 applications were filed in the Upper Midwest. Some of the applications conflict and will ultimately need to be resolved through amendments or an auction. As you might expect, the band is getting quite full after several rounds of translator and low-power FM applications, and many of the frequencies now being sought are more likely to receive interference complaints from existing stations (for example, five St. Cloud-area applications are one dial position away from Twin Cities signals). Many AM stations that already have translators have applied for new ones, presumably either allowing the original translator to be repurposed (to relay an HD2 channel, for example) or to cover a different area.
Several applications were filed in the Twin Cities area:
NEBRASKA:
KHUB/1340 (Fremont) switched to Country as "The Big Dog" on Feb. 1 following the launch of K255DF/98.9 (Fremont). The new format includes gold from the `80s and `90s along with current Country and continues to include "Morning Fremont," local newscasts and sports play-by-play, and the statewide "Sports Nightly" show at 6 p.m. KHUB and "The Best Mix 105.5" (KFMT Fremont) are owned by the Seline family's Walnut Radio LLC and serve an area under the umbrella of the major Omaha stations, with fringe coverage of Omaha. (2/4/2018)
NEW FM TRANSLATORS GRANTED (1/29-2/2):
The FCC has granted the following applications for new FM translators filed under last year's AM revitalization window:
Only 17 of the original 110 Upper Midwest applications filed during the window remain pending; 11 of those were part of mutually exclusive groups that may have resolved their conflicts through amendments. The full list of applications is posted on the 2017 AM Revitalization Translator Applications page. (2/3/2018)
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