The following are updates to stories previously reported here and smaller recent FCC filings and actions that do not merit a full story of their own at this time:
Iowa
The Educational Media Foundation has applied to operate KIMI/107.7 (Malvern, IA) with 50kW/124m (class C2), delivering a rimshot signal to Omaha. Regular readers will recall that two previous attempts to build a station on 107.7 in the Omaha market have been thwarted by complaints of interference to air navigation at Offutt Air Force Base. KIMI has been temporarily using 110 Watts while it worked to resolve the issue, which is not mentioned in the latest application. The FCC granted a license to cover for the station on 107.9 in Humboldt, NE, in 2017, but FCC records show it has been transmitting from Iowa on 107.7 since 2013 under a series of temporary authorizations.
The Educational Media Foundation’s K281BS/104.1 (Hiawatha-Cedar Rapids) applied to move to 103.9 and increase from 170 to 250 Watts. K281BS was last known to carry “K-Love” from WLKU/98.9 (Rock Island) but lists KXGM/89.1 (Hiawatha-Cedar Rapids), which carries “Air1” on its primary channel, as the station to be rebroadcast after the facility change.
M&M Broadcasting has applied to change the location of a future FM translator northwest of Des Moines, which was granted during the AM Revitalization effort to relay KDLS/1310 (Perry). M&M is seeking to move K232FX/94.3 from Granger to Dallas Center, where it would transmit with 250 Watts. The translator faces a January 2022 construction deadline.
Trinity Communications’ KWKY/1150 (Des Moines) says work continues to detune a Warren County public safety radio tower a few hundred feet from the station’s directional antenna array. KWKY is seeking an extension of special temporary authority to operate at 25% of licensed power and with a variance from licensed parameters, with the hope that the work will be completed within 30 days. It normally uses 2.5kW day and 1kW night, with different day and night directional patterns.
Minnesota
Santamaria Broadcasting’s KMNQ/1470 (Brooklyn Park) is transmitting at 3.5kW rather than its licensed 5kW. The station’s request for special temporary authority says that on May 7, engineers discovered that KMNQ was operating at reduced power due to several component failures. The filing says some replacement parts are no longer manufactured, so it’s unclear when replacement parts will be purchased. KMNQ was also off the air for most of 2020, citing equipment updates.
Edge Spectrum requested for a six-month extension through tolling to get low-power TV station KTCJ-LD (Minneapolis) back on the air. The station was forced to leave its previous home on channel 50 last summer due to the discontinuation of channels 38 and up and has a construction permit to return to the air on channel 13, facing a statutory one-year deadline. However, its filing says Edge desires to reconstruct the station in ATSC 3.0 using a distributed transmission system but is awaiting guidance from the FCC.
Edge Spectrum requested an extension of special temporary authority to operate K26KF-D (Duluth) and K35JN-D (Duluth) at 100 Watts while it works to build the 5kW facilities specified in their construction permits. Current programming is unknown.
Nebraska
The license of K228DI/93.5 (Sidney) expired June 1 after it did not file for license renewal. The translator was owned by Friends of Christian Radio and was last known to relay KCMI/97.1 (Terrytown-Scottsbluff).
CSN International’s K255CJ/98.9 (Briggs-Omaha) went off the air June 7 “due to a problem with the transmitter” but it hopes the problem will be solved shortly.
North Dakota
The University of Northwestern-St. Paul’s KFNW/1200 (West Fargo) plans to begin work soon to relocate its directional antenna array about ten miles to the southwest. The station’s four-tower array is currently at a site on the southwestern corner of Fargo that has become surrounded by development. It will move to a rural site near Davenport, ND, and continue to transmit with 50kW day and 13kW night with separate day and night directional patterns. The process will begin by disassembling and moving three of the four towers from the current site to the new site. While the work is underway, KFNW has requested special temporary authority to transmit non-directionally with 10kW day and 3.25kW night from the remaining tower at the current site. Meanwhile, KFNW translator K273DJ/102.5 has moved from the AM site to a nearby tower to prepare for the work.
Future low-power TV station K15MQ-D (Bismarck) was granted a downgrade from 15kW to 850 Watts from a different site. It faces a July 13 construction deadline but has separately requested an extension to Sept. 30 under a tolling waiver, saying that while transmitters and antennas are scheduled to be delivered by July 1, delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic mean installation may not happen until August. A pending application would transfer the permit from HC2 Station Group to Roseland Broadcasting.
South Dakota
CSN International is buying K260BT/99.9 (Rapid City) from Radio By Grace in exchange for two FM translators in Mississippi. CSN also owns KWRC/90.9 (Hermosa), which serves the southern Black Hills.
Gray TV says NBC/FOX/ABC affiliate KDLV/5.1 (Mitchell) is transmitting at reduced power of 500kW due to a transmitter failure. The station broadcasts on RF channel 26 and normally transmits with 1,000kW, serving the south-central portion of the vast Sioux Falls TV market.
Wisconsin
Zoe Communications’ WXNK/940 (Shell Lake) requested an extension of special temporary authority to operate at 50 Watts, rather than its licensed 1kW, following a 2019 brush clearing accident by a utility company that damaged its tower and facilities. The station’s latest filing says its close proximity to an airport is causing challenges, as the tower is grandfathered. The update says the station is exploring options to co-locate on another tower or modify the existing facility to specify a shorter electrical length.
Quincy Media’s WYOW/34.1 (Eagle River), which transmits on RF channel 28, completed an upgrade from 70kW to 80kW. Quincy is in the process of selling the station to Gray TV.
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