November 2017

MANITOBA:
Canadian regulators have approved a new major FM signal for Winnipeg. The CRTC has granted Evanov Radio Group's application to move CKJS/810 to 92.7 with 35kW/154m (class B) from a tower south of the city. The AM signal will remain on the air for three months after the new FM signal signs on and then leave the air permanently, becoming the fourth Winnipeg AM station to go silent in the past quarter-century (joining 580, 630, and 1050). CKJS carries Ethnic and Christian programming, and Evanov said the move to the FM band is necessary to reverse a problem of declining revenues. The new CKJS-FM will force Baldev Gill's 50-Watt "Awaz 92.9" (CKYZ-FM) to change frequency, and the application prompted an opposition from CKYZ claiming that CKJS was simply trying to force it off the air. The CRTC decided that Evanov had followed proper procedures and stated that CKYZ should be able to find a new frequency. Evanov already has two FM signals in Winnipeg, which is the market cap for Canada, but CKJS does not count against the cap because it is licensed as an Ethnic station. (11/29/2017)

WISCONSIN:
WSLD/104.5 (Whitewater) is getting a local owner. CMC Media LLC, headed by WSLD general manager Nora Karbash, is buying the station from Illinois-based WPW Broadcasting for $1.25 million. WSLD runs a Country format and has a good signal to Janesville and Fort Atkinson. WPW is also in the process of selling its AM-FM pair in Clinton, Iowa, and also owns an AM-FM pair in Muscatine, Iowa, and five stations in Illinois. (11/29/2017)

MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN: (UPDATED)
WCCO-TV/4 (Minneapolis) has returned to DISH Network after a retransmission consent dispute took the CBS affiliate off the provider for several days. The outage began early Tuesday morning (11/21) and affected CBS owned-and-operated stations in 17 markets as well as CBS Sports Network, Pop, and the Smithsonian Channel. DISH also removed its national SuperStation feed of CBS-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate WSBK (Boston). The dispute covered the last two days of Nielsen's November ratings period and Thanksgiving Day, keeping a holiday NFL game off DISH. (11/21/2017, updated 11/24)

MINNESOTA:
New low-power FM station KRSM-LP/98.9 (Minneapolis) has announced plans to begin formal broadcasts on Friday, Nov. 24. Programming has already been streaming online since March. The 100-Watt station says it has a potential audience of about 300,000 people. It will feature community programming for South Minneapolis in six different languages, including Ojibwe and Spanish, created by more than 100 volunteers and hosts. KRSM is owned by Pillsbury United Communities and has a studio in the Waite House. For a complete listing of all of the low-power FM stations in the metro, visit the Twin Cities Class D/LPFM Stations page. (11/22/2017)

ALL-CHRISTMAS UPDATE:
The flips to all-Christmas formats are underway, mostly on the same schedule and stations as in past years. Besides the WKRU flip (below), there's also a first-time flipper in Duluth: Midwest's "My 95-7" (KDAL-FM Duluth) went all-Christmas for the first time in the current Adult Contemporary format's history. The transition on Friday (11/17) coincided with the station's appearance in the Christmas City of the North Parade. The change follows a decision last year by Townsquare's "Kool 101.7" (KLDJ Duluth) not to make the switch after ten years in the seasonal format. Non-commercial "Life 97-3" (KDNW Duluth) is also running a Christmas preview weekend.

Other pre-Thanksgiving flips so far include "Kool 108" in Minneapolis, "B93.3" and "95.7 Big FM" in Milwaukee, WOLX in Madison, "Greatest Hits 98.1" in Eau Claire, "Y105" in Rochester, "Cities 104-3" in Grand Forks, "99.9 More FM" in St. Cloud, "More 104" in Des Moines, KDAT/104.5 and "Leo 1360" in Cedar Rapids, "Mix 96" in the Quad Cities, and "Star 104-5" in Omaha. Click here for the complete list. (11/19/2017)

WISCONSIN:
Cumulus Media is apparently planning to launch a new format in Green Bay after Christmas. Adult Alternative outlet WKRU/106.7 (Allouez-Green Bay) went all-Christmas on Friday (11/17), abandoning its "KRUZ" slogan in favor of "Christmas @ 106-7." The stunt could be especially effective since Green Bay has not had a commercial station go all-Christmas since 2012. There are no obvious format holes in the market, which already has three Country formats run by Cumulus and Midwest and two CHR's operated by Midwest and Woodward. Nielsen 12+ ratings for the Spring 2017 ratings period, the most recent available, show WKRU to be the lowest-rated commercial FM station in the market, though several rimshot signals are not included in the publicly-released data. (11/17/2017)

MINNESOTA:
The Minnesota Twins are returning to their original home, WCCO/830, next year. The team made the official announcement Friday, a day after the Star Tribune broke the news. The announcement came hours after Entercom took over WCCO and other stations from CBS Radio (representing a return for Entercom to the market a few decades after selling its last group here). WCCO had been the Twins' flagship from when the team started in 1961 through 2006. Previous flagship "Go 96.3" (KQGO Edina-Minneapolis), which shares ownership with the Twins and carries an Adult Alternative format, had given the team its first FM home but lacks strong coverage of outlying parts of the metro area. Though Twins play-by-play will apparently no longer be heard on FM in the metro, Entercom's "Buz'n @ 102-9" (KMNB) and "104.1 Jack FM" (KZJK St. Louis Park-Minneapolis) will carry some Twins coverage. (11/17/2017, updated 11/18)

IOWA (UPDATED):
Gendreau Broadcasting is buying KCLN/1390 and KMCN/94.7 (Clinton) from WPW Broadcasting for $240,000. Gendreau Broadcasting is owned by Brad and Ashley Gendreau of nearby Thomson, IL, who the station reports also own two fitness clubs and an auto body shop. The new owners began operating the stations on Oct. 31 through a local marketing agreement. KCLN runs Soft Oldies while KMCN carries `80s and `90s Hits as "MaC FM." The stations compete with locally-owned Full Service outlet KROS/1340. Clinton, population 26,000, is under the umbrella of the Quad Cities market. (11/6/2017, updated 11/14)

WISCONSIN:
Milwaukee PBS has announced that it will retain virtual channel 36 but change some channel assignments when it surrenders one of its stations' bandwidth as a result of the FCC's spectrum auction. WMVT will surrender its RF channel 35 bandwidth on Jan. 8, and the WMVS transmitter on RF channel 8 will originate both virtual channel 10 (WMVS) and virtual channel 36 (WMVT). The lineup will include main PBS programming on channels 10.1 and 36.1, Create on 10.2 (moving from from 36.3), PBS Kids remaining on 10.3, World Channel on 36.2 (moving from 10.2), and weather programming on 36.3 (moving from 10.4). Jazz and Classical music audio channels were already dropped this fall, and a channel showing traffic cameras will be discontinued. WMVS/WMVT owner Milwaukee Area Technical College received $84,931,314 to shut down the RF channel 35 transmitter of WMVT. (11/14/2017)

MINNESOTA (UPDATED):
VCY America's FM signal in Duluth has changed frequency after receiving complaints about interference to WIMI/99.7 (Ironwood, MI). W259CV/99.7 signed on from the Duluth antenna farm at the beginning of the year and has now relocated to 97.7 as W249CX. WIMI says it received a number of complaints from listeners as far west as Brule and Iron River, WI, stating that they were receiving interference to WIMI's signal. (WIMI was also fairly easy to receive on the Duluth hillside prior to W259CV's sign-on, though it did not submit any letters from former Duluth listeners.) The FCC granted W259CV's move to 97.7 on Nov. 9 and the change was made within days. The translator retained its 250 Watts of power with the move to 97.7. It relays VCY America's Christian network from WQRM/850 (Duluth). (11/4/2017, updated 11/12)

WISCONSIN:
Madison CBS affiliate WISC-TV/3 has added weekend morning newscasts, airing Saturday from 5 to 6 and 8 to 9 a.m. and Sunday from 6:30 to 8 a.m. The station reports the newscasts launched on Nov. 4, which was the second weekend of Nielsen's November ratings period. The city's two other TV news outlets already have weekend morning newscasts: NBC affiliate WMTV/15 airs two hours on Saturday and three hours on Sunday while ABC affiliate WKOW/27 airs one hour each day. WKOW's newscast is also relayed on sister Quincy Media stations in several other Wisconsin markets. (11/12/2017)

ILLINOIS/IOWA:
The FCC has approved an FM station's move-in into the Quad Cities market: WQUD/105.5 (Erie, IL) will change to 107.7 and move its transmitter to a site east of the metro area using 6kW/97m (class A), delivering a city-grade signal to most of the Quad Cities area. WQUD signed on two years ago with a "Vintage Radio" format of `60s to `80s Rock and Country. The station is owned by John Muhich and Robert Walker's JMRW, LLC. The Quad Cities are one of the more under-radio'ed markets in the region, with only seven full-power commercial FM stations delivering city-grade signals to Davenport. (11/11/2017)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Midwest Communications has signed on 250-Watt K286CN/105.1 (Sioux Falls), relaying the News/Talk format of KELO/1320. The translator was moved north from Iowa as a result of last year's AM revitalization window. KELO is already relayed on the rimshot signal of KELQ/107.9 (Flandreau-Sioux Falls), but the translator provides stronger coverage to Sioux Falls itself. An article about 105.1's launch on KELO's website quotes Brand Manager Greg Belfrage as saying there are "no immediate plans to make changes on FM 107.9." The article touts 107.9 as a signal for Brookings and Flandreau, both of which are outside the geographic boundaries of the Sioux Falls metro as defined by Nielsen Audio. KELO's lineup includes a local morning show hosted by Belfrage and syndicated conservative talkers including Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. (11/11/2017)

IOWA:
A "Fiesta" is beginning as the "Sun" sets in Sioux City: K246CJ/97.1 (Sioux City) and its AM originating station, KZOI/1250 (Dakota City, NE), have dropped the syndicated "Sunny Radio" `80s Hits format in favor of "La Fiesta." It's the first Spanish-language FM station in Sioux City, a market which Nielsen says is 17 percent Hispanic. "La Fiesta" competes with the Spanish Adult Hits format of iHeartRadio's "La Preciosa" (KWSL/1470). KZOI is owned by "Sunny Radio" operator Cup O' Dirt, LLC; its owner John Small describes the change as a difficult financial decision in a Facebook post but says they are working on bringing "Sunny" back to the Sioux City dial. (11/10/2017)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Two Aberdeen-area AM stations have gone silent as a new owner prepares to convert them back to commercial status. Robert J. Ingstad's KKAA, LLC consummated his $85,000 purchase of KKAA/1560 (Aberdeen) and KQKD/1380 (Redfield) from Family Stations on Oct. 31 and immediately took the stations off the air, according to notifications of suspension of operations filed with the FCC. Family Stations had been running their non-commercial Christian network on the stations, but Ingstad tells the FCC he intends to convert the stations back to commercial status and possibly make other technical modifications. Both stations have pending applications for FM translators in their respective communities of license. Ingstad had previously owned the stations as part of a larger group before divesting them to Family Stations to clear the way for a merger in 2004, but Ingstad later exited the market.

11/12 update: Robert J. Ingstad is also seeking FCC approval to transfer KKAA's license from KKAA, LLC to i3G Radio, LLC for $60,000. i3G is a partnership between siblings Robert J. Ingstad, Todd Ingstad, and Tallie Colville. KQKD would remain owned by KKAA, LLC. (11/6/2017, updated 11/12)

MINNESOTA:
CBS affiliate KCCO-TV/7 (Alexandria) plans to leave the air permanently at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 30, the station tells the FCC. KCCO owner CBS sold the station's bandwidth for $9,987,598 in the FCC spectrum auction earlier this year. Its VHF channel 7 bandwidth was not reallocated to any other station.

KCCO had originally indicated its intention to channel share, meaning the station would retain its license by originating its programming on another station's transmitter, but the new filing does not indicate any such deal is in place. It currently carries CBS on 7.1 and Decades Network on 7.2 in a full rebroadcast of WCCO-TV/4 (Minneapolis). KCCO tells the FCC that it is working to get WCCO's signal added to an area translator system and working with a few cable providers to switch their feeds from KCCO to WCCO.

KCCO signed on as standalone NBC/ABC affiliate KCMT-TV in 1958 and was originally the only station receivable in much of west-central Minnesota. It added satellite KNMT/12 (Walker) in 1964, and the stations changed their affiliation to CBS in 1982. However, the station's ratings began to decline and the Alexandria/Walker market started to lose counties after cable systems and translators brought Minneapolis TV signals to more households in western Minnesota.

Midwest Communications, then the owner of WCCO, bought the stations in 1987 and converted them to semi-satellites as KCCO/KCCW, folding the remaining counties of the Alexandria/Walker market (then #183) into the Minneapolis market. KCCO/KCCW continued a full-length newscast for a few years after the sale, but local news was later reduced to cut-ins and discontinued completely in 2002. Here's a retrospective the station ran when its 6 p.m. newscast ended.

KCCW, serving north-central Minnesota, will remain on the air as a full satellite of WCCO. The Alexandria area is also served by Hubbard Broadcasting's KSAX/42 (a satellite of ABC affiliate KSTP-TV St. Paul), as well as "Pioneer Public Television" (KWCM/10 Appleton) and a number of low-power TV/translator systems. "Kool TV" launched several years ago on Alexandria's Selective TV LPTV system carrying local news and sports broadcasts. (11/5/2017)

NORTH DAKOTA/MINNESOTA:
Midwest Communications has signed on two new FM signals in Fargo-Moorhead: K231CV/94.1 rebroadcasts the News/Talk format of KFGO/790, while K297BW/107.3 rebroadcasts Sports talk from "The Fan" (KNFL/740). The translators broadcast with 250 Watts from the KVOX-FM tower in Moorhead. Both were moved into the market as a result of last year's AM revitalization window. They join two competing AM-on-FM translators in Fargo along with two competing translators fed by HD2 channels. A complete listing is available on the North Dakota Radio Markets page. (11/4/2017)

IOWA:
iHeartRadio's "Mix 96" (KMXG/96.1 Clinton-Quad Cities) is due to become the first Upper Midwest station to flip to all-Christmas. The station is promoting a flip from its regular Adult Contemporary playlist on Monday, Nov. 6, at 6:15 a.m. Two other all-Christmas stations are already up and running in the region, "North Pole Radio" on WXXM-HD2 (Sun Prairie-Madison) and "The Gift" on W291CJ/106.1 (Marquette), but neither interrupted a regular format. Once again this year, you can track the flips on the All-Christmas List and follow the links to compare previous years. (11/4/2017)

WISCONSIN:
FCC filings indicate Woodward Communications has recently signed on two new FM signals in the Oshkosh area. W256DD/99.1 relays the Sports Talk format of WSCO/1570 (Appleton), while W292FA/106.3 relays the News/Talk/Sports format of WHBY/1150 (Kimberly-Appleton). Both are licensed to Oshkosh but rimshot the north end of the city from the WHBY tower site north of town, using 250 Watts. The translators were moved to the area as a result of last year's AM revitalization filing window. Both WHBY and WSCO are also relayed on FM translators in Appleton. Woodward also indicates in an FCC filing that it intends to switch W292DR/106.3 (De Pere) to WHBY, giving WHBY a rimshot signal to Green Bay. (11/2/2017)

LARGE LPTV SALE APPROVED:
The FCC will allow an investment company headed by Phil Falcone to purchase hundreds of low-power TV licenses nationwide, including a half-dozen in Minneapolis, from several licensees after reaching a consent decree with the sellers. The deals call for Falcone's HC2 Holdings to buy a majority interest in DTV America for $13,200,158 and to buy assets from King Forward, Tiger Eye Broadcasting, Tiger Eye Licensing, and Bella Spectra for $2,672,707.

In recent years, the sellers have moved many of their licenses closer to major cities, including Minneapolis, but the FCC says they appear to have violated its rules:

"The Licensees� pattern of repeated station moves occurred as follows: (1) filing of a construction permit to relocate the station within 30 miles of its current licensed site, which site often would be located in an empty field, parking lot, or base of an existing tower; (2) upon grant of the construction permit, the Licensees would construct the facilities using equipment that it did not intend to leave in place permanently; (3) the Licensees would file a license application; (4) following grant of the license application, the Licensees would apply for special temporary authority to be silent on the ground that the station could not continue to transmit a broadcast signal 'due to reasons beyond the applicants control,' at which point the Licensees would remove the equipment from the site and file for a new construction permit at a location up to 30 miles from the location set forth in the recently granted license. Licensees employed these practices repeatedly for many of the Stations, with the ultimate intent of moving each such station more than 30 miles from the station�s originally licensed site."

The consent decree says temporarily constructed facilities do not satisfy its construction requirements. It says HC2 is a "qualified, third-party successor-in-interest" who was not aware of, or involved in, the sellers' alleged noncompliance with FCC rules. As part of the consent decree, the sellers will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty and relinquish 31 licenses, including K28NF-D Fort Dodge, WDUE-LD Minneapolis, and W21DG-D Wausau.

The stations included in the deal are too numerous to list here, but are listed beginning on page 17 of the order and consent decree. HC2 Holdings is separately buying other LPTV stations from Three Angels Broadcasting Network and Mako Communications. (11/1/2017)