November 2001

NEBRASKA:
Eternal Broadcasting is buying KCRO/660 (Omaha) from Radiomaha, Inc. for $2 million. Eternal Broadcasting is owned 51% by Dean Sorenson of Sioux Falls and 49% by R.W. Chapin of Lincoln and also owns KROR/101.5 (Hastings). (11/19/01)

NEBRASKA:
"Y102" (KRNY/102.3 Kearney) has completed its upgrade from 25kW at 100m (class C3) to 79kW at 331m (C1), improving its signal into Grand Island and Hastings. (11/19/01)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Red River Broadcasting's K44GG (Murdo) is apparently on the air. The low-power station may be rebroadacsting Red River's NBC affiliate, KDLT/46 (Sioux Falls). (11/19/01)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
A construction permit has been issued for KOTA-DT/2 (Rapid City). (11/19/01)

WISCONSIN:
First American Prevention Center has been granted a construction permit for a new 100-Watt (LPFM) station on 92.3 in Red Cliff. (11/19/01)

MINNESOTA:
Scott Richardson has joined FOX29 (WFTC Minneapolis) as assignment editor. Richardson is married to Sue Turner, a reporter for sister station KMSP/9. (11/15/01)

IOWA:
Clear Channel's Kiss 98.7 (KSMA-FM Osage-Mason City) has been granted an updrade from 6kW to 25kW. There's some confusion here because the FCC's records earlier indicated that the application had been rescinded. The upgrade would improve KSMA's signal into Mason City from fair-poor to good. (11/14/01)

IOWA/MINNESOTA/NEBRASKA/WISCONSIN:
On his monthly "Charlie Chat" broadcast on DISH Network, Echostar CEO Charlie Ergen announced a list of markets that will probably be added once the merger of DISH Network and DirecTV is complete. The list includes Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Omaha, Green Bay, and Madison. (Both companies already carry Minneapolis and DirecTV carries Milwaukee.) Ergen expects regulators to approve the sale within nine months but does not anticipate equipment changes for several years.

Also, the must-carry provision of the legislation that allowed satellite providers to carry local channels kicks in on 1/1/2002. The satellite providers will have to carry all channels in the market that ask to be carried and can provide a good-quality signal to the provider's "point of presence," the location in the market where signals are received over the air and sent via fiber to the uplink center. The legislation says if there are multiple affiliates of the same network in a market (including PBS), only one of those affiliates needs to be carried, unless two of the affiliates are in different states. Ergen said that each market would have a WB and PBS affiliate, so KTCA/2 and KMWB/23 are virtually assured for Minneapolis, while KMSP/9 (UPN), KPXM/41 (PAX), and KSTC/45 will likely also show up at the beginning of the year. The only other station eligible for must-carry in the Minneapolis market is Wisconsin Public TV station WHWC/28 (Menomonie, WI) but its unknown if they requested carriage. WPT would have to provide the signal to the point of presence since it cannot be received there. In Milwaukee, WMVS/10 (PBS), WVTV/18 (WB), WCGV/24 (UPN), WVCY/30, WJJA/49, and WPXE/55 (PAX) are eligible for must-carry and will likely be added. WWRS/52 (TBN) is also eligible but cannot be received at the point of presence. (11/13/01)

MINNESOTA:
100-Watt KADU/90.1 (Hibbing) has been off the air since August 12. The station had been running a Christian Rock format as "The Fringe" and was rebroadcast on several Iron Range translators. The station's website says it left the air to relocate its studio and a different format will be aired when the station returns to the air. A sign-on date is not known. (11/12/01)

WISCONSIN:
Shoptalk reports that Chuck Steinmetz has been promoted to vice president and general manager of WITI/FOX6 (Milwaukee), taking over for Carol Rueppel, who recently moved to KMSP/WFTC in Minneapolis. Steinmetz is a native of Milwaukee and a UW-Eau Claire graduate. (11/12/01)

NATIONAL:
FOX will end its weekday afternoon two-hour block of FOX Kids programming at the end of the year, giving the time back to affiliates to fill with syndicated programming or news. The four-hour Saturday morning FOX Kids lineup will continue. With the change, FOX will be supplying 21 hours of programming per week, excluding sports. ABC, CBS, and NBC each supply more than 60 hours of programming per week besides sports. (11/12/01)

MINNESOTA:
KRBI/1310 (St. Peter) is playing Country these days. The station dropped the mix of Adult Contemporary and Oldies about two months ago. (11/9/01)

WISCONSIN:
Starboard Broadcasting is buying 25kW WZRK/93.9 (Nekoosa) from Magnum Radio for $1.3 million. The station is currently off the air. Starboard had earlier agreed to buy WHFA/1240 (Poynette-Madison) from Magnum for $1 million. Starboard is owned equally by John Cavil of Green Bay, Mark Follett of Green Bay, and Stephen Gadjosik of Wrightstown and also owns stations in Eau Claire, Kaukana, and Lake Geneva. All run Catholic formats. The call letters of the Nekoosa station have already been changed to WDVM-FM. The WDVM calls are used on the AM side by the Eau Claire station. (11/9/01)

WISCONSIN:
The FCC has approved the settlement agreement reached four years ago by the eight groups that applied for a 6kW station on 93.1 in DeForest. Great Dane Broadcasters was issued a construction permit for the new station. From a transmitter site south of Sun Prairie, the new station will have a strong signal across Madison. (11/8/01)

WISCONSIN:
Installation of transmission facilities for the new 105.3 (Mukwonago-Milwaukee) has begun. A single-bay FM antenna has been put up on the tower also used by WTAS-LP/43. The construction permit is held by Caron Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Salem Communications, which plans to run a Contemporary Christian format as "The Fish." Call letters have not yet been assigned. Salem also owns Christian Talk WYLO/540. (11/8/01)

WISCONSIN:
From the "got lost in my incoming folder last month" file: Former Kiss 92.1/Duluth program director Paul Jirovetz is now a sales rep for Clear Channel/Milwaukee. (11/8/01)

MINNESOTA:
Hometown Broadcasting intends to sell KOWO/1170 and KRUE/92.1 (Waseca) to Main Street Broadcasting once it completes its purchase of the station from Cumulus Media. Albert Lea-based Hometown is also purchasing KQPR/96.1 (Albert Lea) in that deal. Main Street Broadcasting is owned by John Linder and Lynn Ketelsen. Linder is a shareholder in the companies that own KOWZ/100.9 (Blooming Prairie), KTOE/1420 (Mankato), KDOG/96.7 (North Mankato), and KXAC/100.5 (St. James), among others. (11/8/01)

NEBRASKA:
KURK/102.9 (Imperial) has applied to upgrade from 270W to 100kW. The original construction permit for the station was for 100kW, but the power was dropped to get the station on the air before the permit expired. (11/8/01)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Jimmy Swaggart's Sonlife Radio Network has signed on translator K209DX/89.7 (Brookings). (11/8/01)

IOWA:
Saga Communications has applied for a new combined transmitter site for Des Moines market stations KIOA/93.3, KSTZ/102.5, and KAZR/103.3. The stations would all operate with 100kW at 342m, representing an upgrade for KIOA and KAZR but a downgrade for KSTZ. Saga's KLTI/104.1 is not included in the plan. (11/6/01)

MINNESOTA:
Red River Broadcasting has applied to move KZIO translator K292EZ/106.3 (Duluth) from the stations' Canal Park studios to the KQDS tower on the hill. The power would drop from 50 Watts to 19 Watts, but the antenna height would increase from -77m to 119m. (A negative number in terms of antenna height means the antenna is below average terrain.) (11/6/01)

WISCONSIN:
Z93.3 (WIZM-FM La Crosse) has changed its positioner from "Today's Best Music" to "The Number One Hit Music Station." Mix 96 (WXYM) in nearby Tomah runs a Jones Radio Network format which uses the "Today's Best Music" slogan. (11/6/01)

NORTH DAKOTA:
Programmers Broadcasting is buying KBTO/101.9 (Bottineau) from Ivers Broadcasting for $595,000. Programmers Broadcasting is owned by Jean and John Kircher of Minot. John Kircher is operations manager for KYYX/97.1 (Minot), where he goes by the name Jay Davis. (11/5/01)

NORTH DAKOTA:
Family Stations has been granted a new 1kW station on 91.9 in Bismarck. The application was mutually exclusive with American Family Association's application for a 2kW station on 91.5, and the organizations reached a settlement agreement in which American Family's application was dismissed. Family Stations operates the network that originates at KEAR San Francisco and already operates a 25-Watt translator in Bismarck at 91.7. (11/5/01)

WISCONSIN:
Following a failed attempt to sell the station, Riverview Communications has dropped the Modern Rock format of WFBZ/105.5 (Trempeleau-La Crosse) and began simulcasting with sister WKBH/1570 (Holmen). The stations run a Sports format with the slogan "ESPN 105-5." The change happened Thursday, November 1. Faith Sound had earlier agreed to purchase WKBH and WFBZ but couldn't complete the purchase. (11/2/01)

NEBRASKA:
KUCV (Lincoln) moved from 90.9 to 91.1 as planned on Thursday, November 1. With the frequency change, the station also went from 16kW to a combination of 100kW vertical and 19.5kW horizontal. (Such a setup is unusual, since most stations these days are able to use one power.) The frequency shift and power upgrade intensifies the signal in Lincoln and allows the Nebraska Public Radio Network flagship to be heard on better radios in Omaha, where there is no NPRN station. (11/2/01)

NEBRASKA:
KZFX/101.9 (Lincoln) has again applied to move its transmitter closer to its target audience in Omaha. An earlier application was dismissed by the FCC. The only apparent change this time is that KZFX applied for class "C0" instead of class "C." KZFX proposes co-locating its transmitter with KGBI/100.7 (Omaha) at its site 34km NNE of the current KZFX site. The antenna height would be increased from 345m to 365m. (11/2/01)

MICHIGAN:
UPN affiliate WUPT-LP (Crystal Falls) has moved from channel 49 to channel 25. The change apparently happened about a month ago. WUPT has recently expanded its cable coverage and is pushing to get into other areas of the Marquette TV market. (11/2/01)

IOWA:
WB affiliate KGWB/26 (Burlington) has received a construction permit that will allow it to be seen in the Quad Cities. The station would upgrade from 200kW to 2500kW and move its transmitter from Burlington to a site midway between Burlington and Davenport, increasing the population of its coverage area by more than 650%. KGWB is co-owned with FOX affiliate KLJB/18, and a waiver was granted to make the upgrade. (11/1/01)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
The FCC has approved the sale of the construction permit for the not-yet-on-air 100kW station at 92.3 in Rapid City. New Generation Broadcasting has bought the station from Gregory Gentling for $1.31 million. New Generation is owned by the Duhamel family and headed by William Duhamel, who is also President of Duhamel Broadcasting, which owns two radio stations in the market and runs another through a marketing agreement. Duhamel also owns the market's ABC-TV affiliate and its satellite stations. (11/1/01)

WISCONSIN:
Selenka Communications' 1.7kW WBIJ/4 (Crandon) has applied for a "license to cover" from the FCC, which usually means a station is on the air or about to sign on, but there have been no reports yet of the station being seen on the air. The station is upgradeable to 100kW, and that would need to occur if the station plans to compete commercially in the Wausau market. The transmitter is currently located on the northeast side of Crandon. (11/1/01)