December 2014

WISCONSIN:
Gray TV's WSAW (Wausau) has added Heroes & Icons TV on channel 7.3, replacing weather programming. H&I is a new subchannel from Wiegel Broadcasting carrying classic TV westerns, crime dramas, and superhero shows. WSAW carries CBS on 7.1 and syndicated programming, including MyNetworkTV, on 7.2. (12/30/2014)

MICHIGAN:
A sister company to Armada Media is buying a group of five radio stations in the Escanaba area. The $1.8 million asset purchase agreement calls for AMC Partners, LLC, to buy the Lakes Radio/Radio Results Network group, which includes News/Talker WCHT/600 (Escanaba), Hot Adult Contemporary "Magic 97" (WGLQ/97.1 Escanaba), Country WCMM/102.5 (Gulliver-Escanaba), Classic Hits "Kool 105.5" (WGKL Gladstone-Escanaba), and Oldies "Cruisin' 1490" (WTIQ Manistique). AMC Partners, LLC, is headed by Christopher Bernier of Fond du Lac, Wis., and has the same mailing address and many of the same principals as Armada Media Corporation, which owns four Upper Midwest radio groups. Bernier is also the majority shareholder of the Radio Plus Bay Cities Group in nearby Menominee, Mich., and also heads a radio group in the Fond du Lac area. Lakes Radio, Inc. is headed by Tom Koser of Rice Lake, Wis., who owns 73 percent of the company. (12/29/2014)

NEBRASKA:
iHeartMedia has launched a Rock format on two recently-launched translators in Omaha after a couple of months stunting with Christmas music, but the way the translators are set up suggests another format may eventually be headed for one of them. K235CD/94.9 (Omaha) and K272FE/102.3 (Council Bluffs-Omaha) are now "Rock 94-9 and 102-3," with 94.9's programming originating on the HD2 channel of KISO/96.1 (Omaha) and 102.3 coming from the HD2 of KFFF/93.3 (Bennington-Omaha). The new format primarily competes with Journal Broadcasting's "Z92" (KEZO/92.3 Omaha). K235CD and K272FE carry separate iterations of the same playlist, with imaging mentioning "Rock 94-9 and 102-3" on both frequencies but separate top-of-the-hour ID's. Both transmit from a tower at the WOWT-TV building with virtually identical coverage areas, though K235CD's 110 Watts go slightly farther than K272FE's 99 Watts. The similar coverage areas and separate feeds for each translator suggest that "Rock" may not be the long-term plan for both. (12/27/2014)

WISCONSIN:
The Milwaukee Radio Alliances's WZTI/1290 (Greenfield-Milwaukee) and W262CJ/100.3 (Milwaukee) have ended two months of "Elf" Christmas music stunting and started "The Party". The Rhythmic Oldies playlist includes pop hits from the 1960's to 1980's. WZTI's most recent identity prior to "The Elf" was "Martini Radio," which started out in March 2013 with a Nostalgia/Lounge playlist but had more recently added soft pop hits of the '70s and '80s. (12/27/2014)

MINNESOTA:
A local group is making an attempt to bring local TV back to Alexandria and central Minnesota. The region was once its own market but is now within the Minneapolis-St. Paul viewing area, and economic factors led both KCCO/7 and KSAX/42 to drop news updates that had aired within Minneapolis newscasts. Now, former KSAX employees Jason Hirsch and Mark Anthony have launched "KoolTV" on channel 21.3 of Selective TV's K21GN-D (Alexandria) and streaming at kooltv-mn.com, with hopes of getting regional cable coverage from Bemidji to St. Cloud and Redwood Falls. Current programming consists of classic TV shows and movies in the public domain, but the station's ultimate goal is local programming. Plans for 2015 include a local morning show, locally-originated newscasts at 5, 6, and 10 p.m., and St. John's University football, among other programs. (12/23/2014)

MINNESOTA:
Shortly after returning to the air, KBEK/95.5 (Mora) is operating at reduced power. The station tells the FCC in a request for special temporary authority that the main transmitter suffered a catastrophic failure. KBEK is using a backup transmitter generating about 5kW ERP, about one-fifth of the normal 25kW, while it pursues repairs or possible replacement of the transmitter. Genesis Technology Communication LLC is in the process of buying KBEK from Colleen McKinney. (12/22/2014)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
A tower collapse has taken VCY America translator K258AG/99.5 (Mitchell) off the air. VCY tells the FCC in a notification of suspension of operations that the 310-foot tower west of Mitchell, which VCY owns, was knocked down during a snowstorm on Dec. 15. FCC records indicate the tower was constructed in 2007. VCY says repairs or a replacement will be made shortly. (12/19/2014)

NORTH DAKOTA:
More of western North Dakota's oil patch can now hear Catholic teaching and preaching with the sign-on of KZTW/104.1 (Tioga-Williston) carrying the "Real Presence Radio" network. The new station uses 100kW/160m (class C1), widening the programming that had already been available on translator K206EI/89.1 (Williston). "Real Presence Radio" signed on in 2004 and now reaches most of the population of North Dakota with include six full-power stations, two translators, and two low-power FM affiliates. (12/18/2014)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Me-TV affiliate KWSD/36.1 (Sioux Falls) is off the air due to transmitter problems, according to a notification of suspension of operations filed with the FCC. The station says it has been off the air since Nov. 21 and hopes to resume operations in a timely fashion. KWSD is owned by James F. Simpson's JF Broadcasting, a sister company to the licensee of the Rapid City NBC affiliate. (12/17/2014)

NEBRASKA:
The FCC has fined Cochise Broadcasting $7,000 for main studio violations at KOMJ/1490 (Omaha). The fine stems from an FCC agent's unsuccessful attempts to inspect KOMJ's main studio in August 2013. According to the forfeiture order, Cochise "accepts the finding that its former main studio was not fully staffed" and said it has made changes to come into compliance. The Commission's Enforcement Bureau had also proposed a $10,000 fine for alleged public file violations, but determined that Cochise did not actually violate public file rules. Cochise is in the process of selling KOMJ to Walnut Radio, LLC, a deal which received FCC approval last week. (12/16/2014)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
The FCC has cleared the way for another big FM signal to sign on in the Black Hills, rejecting a competing application from an existing broadcaster which the FCC says still has a chance to upgrade. Alex Media won the new station on 94.3 licensed to Lead in a 2012 FCC auction with a $45,000 bid. 94.3 cannot be constructed to deliver a strong signal to Rapid City due to existing stations; the FCC Audio Division's action this month approves Alex Media's plan to construct the new station to 96.7, using 100kW/501m (class C) from an existing tower on Terry Peak, home to many other major Black Hills FM signals. To make way for the new station, Mount Rushmore Broadcasting's KZMX-FM/96.7 (Hot Springs) will be required to move to 96.3 but will keep its current power level and coverage area. KZMX-FM fought the change, saying the move would prevent it from upgrading in the future. The FCC found that KZMX-FM actually would still be able to apply for an upgrade on 96.3, and also questioned whether the station would've actually upgraded on 96.7 since it has been off the air for most of the past two years and has not taken advantage of the upgrade potential in the three decades the station has been licensed. Alex Media will have to pay for KZMX-FM's frequency change. FCC records indicate KZMX-FM is currently silent due to staffing reasons, along with sister stations KZMX/580 (Hot Springs) and KFCR/1490 and KAWK/105.1 (Custer). (12/16/2014)

MINNESOTA:
D&K Distributors is buying the Todd County AM/FM combo of KEYL/1400 (Long Prairie) and KXDL/99.7 (Browerville) from Prairie Broadcasting in exchange for settling a debt of $123,058.32. D&K is owned by Doug Frauenholtz of Prior Lake, a Twin Cities suburb. (12/14/2014)

WISCONSIN:
The E.W. Scripps Company will be allowed to keep a duopoly in the Green Bay market once it completes its merger with Journal Communications. In approving the merger, the FCC included a new failing station waiver for MyNetworkTV station WACY-TV/32.1 (Appleton-Green Bay). The Green Bay market has fewer than the eight voices required for TV duopolies, but Journal was able to purchase WACY to operate alongside its "NBC26" (WGBA Green Bay) in 2012 through a failing station waiver. The FCC agreed that WACY continues to meet the definition of a failing station because it still has low ratings, isn't desirable to buyers as a standalone station, and would have negative cash flow if it operated independently. Once the merger of Journal and Scripps is completed, the former Journal broadcast stations will be kept as part of Scripps and the two companies' newspapers, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, will be split off into a separate company called Journal Communications. Journal's other broadcast holdings in the Upper Midwest include two radio stations and NBC affiliate WTMJ/4.1 in Milwaukee and five radio stations and CBS affiliate KMTV/3.1 in Omaha. (12/14/2014)

WISCONSIN:
World Radio Link is transferring two Wisconsin FM translators, two translators in Michigan, and the construction permit for a full-power FM station in Georgia to sister organization Edgewater Broadcasting for a total of $350,000. The Wisconsin translators are W242BB/96.3 (Medford) and W256BE/99.1 (Lancaster), the latter of which has a construction permit to move its transmitter to Dubuque, Iowa. W256BE is licensed for 10 Watts from Lancaster and has a construction permit to use 205 Watts from Dubuque. Clark Parrish of Twin Falls, Idaho, is the contact representative for both organizations. (12/14/2014)

NEBRASKA:
King Forward, Inc. is selling K29GL (Lincoln) to DTV America for $30,000. Both companies are headed by John Kyle of Florida. (12/14/2014)

IOWA:
Nexstar Broadcasting has announced plans to rebrand ABC affiliate WOI-DT/5 (Ames-Des Moines) as "Local 5 News" starting Jan. 5. The station will debut a new anchor team: Jack Miller, who once worked in Cedar Rapids, will anchor evening newscasts alongside station veteran Stephanie Angleson, who currently anchors the morning newscast. The new "Good Morning Iowa" will be anchored by Sabrina Ahmed and Elias Johnson. WOI is also gettig equipment upgrades and a refreshed news set. Nexstar recently bought the station, currently branded as "ABC5," from Citadel Communications, which failed to pull the station out of a decades-long ratings drought. Nexstar is also in the process of buying Pappas CW affiliate KCWI/23 (Ames-Des Moines), which does not have a full news department but does run a local morning show. (12/11/2014)

MANITOBA:
CBC-TV has announced plans to change the news schedules at its stations around Canada next fall, including Winnipeg's CBWT/6. Instead of carrying a 90-minute block of news at 5 p.m., CBWT will carry a 60-minute 6 p.m. newscast. The change could leave the province without any 5 p.m. TV newscast unless one of the market's other TV stations chooses to enter the timeslot. CBC Manitoba's only other TV newscast is a 10-minute broadcast at 11 p.m. Meanwhile, CBWT will drop a simulcast of CBC News Network in the 6 a.m. hour in favor of a simulcast of CBC Radio One programming. The CBC announced the changes as part of a press release touting plans for new smartphone apps and more frequent website updates. (12/11/2014)

WISCONSIN:
WRJN/1400 (Racine) has dropped several syndicated talk shows and replaced them with a mix of `50s to `80s hits, as well as Christmas music in the evening hours. Local information-based programming continues in morning and afternoon drive. The change coincides with the flip of FM sister station WEZY/92.1 (Racine) from Adult Contemporary to "Q92 Country" targetting Racine and the southern Milwaukee metro area. Magnum Broadcasting recently bought the stations from Bliss Communications. WRJN has been on the air since 1926, making it one of the oldest stations in the country. (12/9/2014)

ALL-CHRISTMAS UPDATE:
Santa's list got longer Monday (12/8) as Westwood One's syndicated Adult Standards format and the non-commercial Family Radio network both switched to all-Christmas formats. The Westwood One network, which has affiliates including KLBB/1220 (Stillwater-Minneapolis), WNAM/1280 (Neenah-Menasha-Appleton), and KRNT/1350 (Des Moines), had already been playing a significant amount of Christmas music since Thanksgiving along with some songs from its regular Soft Oldies playlist. Meanwhile, Family Radio has set aside most of its regular schedule of Christian teaching and preaching in favor of traditional Christmas music. Follow the full list of this year's flips here. (12/8/2014)

WISCONSIN:
New station WEMP/98.9 (Two Rivers) is on the air carrying an Easy Listening/Soft Oldies format. The official sign-on came Sunday (12/7) at 4 p.m., a year after the station first conducted testing. WEMP uses 6kW/89m from the WLKN/98.1 (Cleveland) tower south of Manitowoc, with a main coverage area extending as far south as Sheboygan. It's owned by Mark Heller's Metro North Communications. Heller plans to begin simulcasting WEMP's programming on WLWB/1530 (New Holstein) next week. He also owns Oldies-formatted WGBW/1590 (Denmark-Green Bay). (12/8/2014)

NEBRASKA:
Classic TV network Antenna TV is coming to Omaha in January, according to an announcement on the network's Facebook page. Antenna TV will be carried on KMTV/3.2, replacing Live Well Network, which is leaving the air nationally. KMTV, owned by Journal Broadcasting, carries CBS on its main channel. (12/6/2014)

MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN:
CBS-owned stations, including WCCO-TV/4 (Minneapolis), are back on DISH Network after a brief outage due to a retransmission consent dispute. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The dispute affected stations in 17 markets, as well as Showtime and some other CBS-owned national networks. The stations were off DISH Friday evening but returned by Saturday morning. (12/5/2014, updated 12/6)

MINNESOTA/MICHIGAN:
Learfield Communications is now the owner of state news and farm networks in Minnesota and Michigan, adding to its existing networks serving Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. It bought the Minnesota News Network, Minnesota Farm Network, Michigan Radio Network, and Michigan Farm Radio Network from Saga Communications for an undisclosed price. Learfield Sports already has a presence in Minnesota, distributing Golden Gophers sports broadcasts. (12/4/2014)

IOWA:
The Antenna TV affiliation in the Cedar Rapids market is moving from KWKB/20.2 (Iowa City) to KCRG-DT/9.3 (Cedar Rapids). The Gazette, which is co-owned with KCRG, reported in Monday's print edition that KCRG-DT3 will begin carrying the classic TV network on Jan. 19, 2015. 9.3 will carry news and weather updates from KCRG-TV9 News during Antenna TV programming. KCRG-DT3 currently carries Live Well Network, which is leaving the air nationally. (12/3/2014)

IOWA:
Saga Broadcasting has brought more "More" to Iowa: The former "Lite 104.9" (KLLT Spencer) is now "More 104.9," with a freshened-up version of Adult Contemporary. The move came Monday, a month after the FCC database says its callsign was changed to KMRR. Saga also runs "More 104" (KMYR/104.1 Ames-Des Moines). (12/3/2014)

NORTH DAKOTA:
Longtime CBS affiliate KXJB-TV/4.1 (Valley City-Fargo) went silent Sunday night (Nov. 30) after its program lineup was moved to channel 11.2 of Gray TV NBC affiliate KVLY-TV (Fargo). Gray made the move after buying KVLY because new FCC rules limit shared services agreements like the one that had allowed KVLY to run KXJB for the past decade. Gray exercised an option to buy KXJB and then sold the station's license to Major Market Broadcasting for $75,000. Major Market Broadcasting, headed by Indian American journalist Ravi Kapur of San Francisco, will have to change the station's callsign and come up with new programming. KVLY ran a story about KXJB's 60-year history on its Sunday night newscast. Gray recently made similar moves in the Bismarck and Lincoln markets, but this move marks the first time a legacy "big three" network has been moved from a primary affiliation to a subchannel in the Upper Midwest. The addition of "KX4" on channel 11.2 moves Me-TV to 11.3. (12/2/2014)

WISCONSIN:
WEZY/92.1 (Racine-South Milwaukee) has dropped its longtime Adult Contemporary format in favor of Country as "Q92" following Magnum Broadcasting's purchase of the station. Owner Dave Magnum said research found that Country music fans in the South Milwaukee/Racine area would like another radio option. The format launched early Tuesday morning after the installation of a new antenna and new audio processing system. Magnum plans to change the station's callsign to WMKQ. The company also recently bought Country-formatted WBWI/92.5 (West Bend), which serves the northern Milwaukee metro area, along with WRJN/1400 (Racine) and WBKV/1470 (West Bend), bringing its total to 16 radio stations and three low-power TV stations in Wisconsin. (12/2/2014)

NEBRASKA:
KAMI/1580 (Cozad) is now carrying an all-Christmas format amid the Nebraska Rural Radio Association's purchase of the station. New sister station KRVN says KAMI will carry a Classic Country format beginning Dec. 29. As reported here last week, NRRA is buying KAMI from Community Broadcasting for $87,500 and is operating the station under a local marketing agreement. Community Broadcasting, operator of the Christian-formatted Bott Radio Network, will retain KCVN/104.5 (Cozad). (12/1/2014)

IOWA:
The FCC has deleted what might've been a new rimshot FM station for the Waterloo market. Commission records indicate KCOO/103.9 (Dunkerton) had been off the air since at least Feb. 29, 2012, far longer than the one year maximum set by federal law. On Oct. 7, the FCC Media Bureau's Audio Division sent a letter to KCOO owner Magnolia Radio Corp. giving it 30 days to prove that KCOO had been on the air. The license was deleted on Nov. 21. It doesn't appear KCOO was ever on the air for anything other than testing. Ace Radio Corp. won the construction permit for the 6kW/95m station in 2006 with a $455,000 bid. Ace sold the CP to Magnolia as part of a nine-station deal in 2009; Magnolia applied for KCOO's license to cover in 2011, followed by a series of requests for special temporary authority to remain silent. A 2012 plan to sell the station to Matinee Media was never consummated. (12/1/2014)

WISCONSIN:
The former WNLI/88.5 (Sturgeon Bay) is back on the air as WPVM, relaying the Christian format WRVM/102.7 (Suring), but is operating at lower power than before. WRVM, Inc. says in a request for special temporary authority filed with the FCC that its purchase of WNLI from the Educational Media Foundation didn't include the station's former transmitter, which was more than 40 years old and had become unreliable. 88.5 had used 50kW/158m but is now using 15kW/158m. The station has applied to keep 15kW as its current facility, which will mean a downgrade from class C1 to C2. (12/1/2014)

WISCONSIN:
The FCC has granted the sale of WMZK/104.1 (Merrill-Wausau) and WJMT/730 (Merrill) after rescinding its earlier approval of the deal due to a paperwork error. The FCC's Audio Division said in August that the stations had failed to provide adequate public notice of the sale from Quicksilver Broadcasting/Barracuda Broadcasting to Radio One Communications, LLC. The FCC has now approved the $595,000 deal after giving the stations a second chance to run on-air announcements and notices in the newspaper. The new owner has already been operating the stations under a time brokerage agreement. (12/1/2014)