Two small suburban FM signals are competing to move to Minneapolis after a low-power FM station’s license expired.
The license of KQEP-LP/97.9 (St. Paul) expired April 1 after it did not seek license renewal and the FCC database is now listing the station’s status as “license cancelled.” The station, owned by New Culture Center in the Midwest, had signed on in late 2017 carrying Chinese-language programming.
A filing from Park Public Radio’s KPPS-LP/97.5 (St. Louis Park) says KQEP-LP has not been heard on the air in more than a year and there is no transmitting antenna at its licensed coordinates. It was licensed to transmit from a U of M-owned building on University Avenue near the St. Paul-Minneapolis border, delivering a strong signal to parts of both cities.
Within hours of KQEP-LP’s license expiring, both KPPS-LP and Central Baptist Theological Seminary’s K250BY/97.9 (Plymouth) applied to move to sites in Minneapolis.
KPPS-LP is currently licensed to transmit with 100 Watts on 97.5 from St. Louis Park. It seeks to move to 97.7 with 100 Watts, sharing the transmitter site of KRSM-LP/98.9 (Minneapolis) in South Minneapolis.
The proposed KPPS-LP facility would cover parts of St. Louis Park, which would remain its community of license.
Meanwhile, K250BY is currently licensed to transmit with 250 Watts directional from its studio at a church in Plymouth, though its low antenna height limits its reach. K250BY seeks to remain on 97.9 but change its community of license to Minneapolis and move its transmitter to the IDS Center, where it would transmit with a different 250-Watt directional pattern.
The directional antenna is needed to limit the signal towards KEFE-LP/97.9 (Lakeville), K249ED/97.7 (Albertville-Nowthen), and KENL-LP/98.1 (St. Paul). Despite the limitations, the move would still represent a large upgrade to K250BY’s coverage area.
K250BY relays the Christian format of WCTS/1030 (Maplewood-Minneapolis).
It’s not immediately clear how the FCC will sort out the competing applications.
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