The following are updates to previously-reported items and other recent regulatory filings and actions concerning Upper Midwest broadcast stations. This report is created by the author and is not an official report of the FCC.
Iowa
Minn-Iowa Christian Broadcasting was granted the callsign KJWC for its future station on 90.5 in Hampton.
Michigan
West Central Michigan Media Ministries’ WIHC/97.9 (Newberry) reported that it’s operating at 37% of its authorized 50kW due to repeated failure of its transmitter tube that it is addressing with the manufacturer.
Minnesota
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s K287AD/105.3 (Bemidji) was granted a move to 107.9 as K300EA after being displaced by the sign-on of WRLN/105.3 (Red Lake). The new 92-Watt facility will transmit from the Paskvan Industries tower on the far northeast side of Bemidji. The translator relays the Leech Lake Band’s KOJB/90.1 (Cass Lake).
On the same day the FCC approved the license to cover for Gray TV’s newly-constructed K30QY-D (Oakland, MN), the station applied to move its transmitter 23 miles south to a site near Mason City, IA, and upgrade to 15kW non-directional.
The FCC again granted tolling to My Central Valley’s construction permit for new station KMYN-LD/32 (Duluth), setting the latest construction deadline at Aug. 30 after the permittee provided documentation of a delay in antenna shipments.
Callsigns were approved for several new Minn-Iowa Christian Broadcasting stations: KJRX/89.1 (Delhi), KJBG/89.5 (Hutchinson), and KJCA/88.1 (Marshall).
Nebraska
iHeartMedia’s KFFF/93.3 (Bennington-Omaha) has completed the move of its transmitter to the Crown Point antenna farm ahead of the demolition of its previous site, the old WOWT(TV) facility. KFFF now uses 1kW/361m, remaining class C3 and with essentially unchanged coverage of the Omaha metro area.
Community Broadcasting/Bott Radio Network reported that translator K257EF/99.3 (York) has gone off the air as it moves to its new tower site closer to York, where it will remain 250 Watts.
Theater Organ Preservation of Nebraska applied to upgrade future station KEZL/89.7 (Culbertson) from 6kW/102m (class C3) to 32kW/105m (class C2).
DTV America’s KQMK-LD/21 (Omaha) reported that it is transmitting with 5kW, rather than its licensed 10kW, due to a damaged fan in the transmitter and HVAC issues.
North Dakota
Gray TV’s K28QT-D (Dickinson) was granted a construction permit to upgrade from 350W to 15kW.
South Dakota
Northern Plains Baptist Church applied to reduce the power of future station KFCA/88.1 (Aberdeen) from 6kW/85m to 800W/47m.
James River Broadcasting applied to move K296FI/107.1 (Pierre) from a tower south of town to a centrally-located site, reducing power from 250 to 100 Watts.
Wisconsin
The FCC has approved a plan to change the callsign of WXRO/95.3 (Beaver Dam) to WBEV-FM effective Aug. 1. The Good Karma Broadcasting station currently uses the slogan “95X” and operates alongside WBEV/1430.
With its sale to Magnum Communications pending, W256AE/99.1 (Chippewa Falls) has applied to move to 93.5 and relocate its transmitter to the tower at the WEAU-TV studio in Eau Claire, where it would use 250 Watts. The change will resolve an interference situation that has existed since WKFX/99.1 (Rice Lake) signed on more than twenty years ago. The application says W256AE will continue to relay WCFW/105.7 (Chippewa Falls).
Northwestern Media’s WNWC-FM/102.5 (Madison) notified the FCC that it has begun transmitting an HD Radio signal, which is the culmination of a project the station has been promoting for several months:
Weigel Broadcasting’s TV-49 Inc. submitted the formal application for the new station on channel 31 in Wittenberg that it won in the recent FCC auction with a $2,770,000 bid. The new station would transmit with 17kW directional from a site just east of Wittenberg, serving a rural area between Green Bay and Wausau but not reaching either city. As a full-power license, the new station will be able to exert must-carry rights on cable and satellite systems across the Green Bay market, in which Wittenberg is located.
The FCC again granted tolling to My Central Valley’s construction permits for new low-power TV stations WZEO-LD/26 (La Crosse) and WRJT-LD/34 (Wausau), setting the latest construction deadlines at Aug. 30 after the permittee provided documentation of a delay in antenna shipments.
Baraboo Broadcasting Corp. was also granted tolling of the deadline to construct new low-power TV stations W22FK-D, W25FT-D, and W36FN-D (Baraboo) until Oct. 10. The FCC said the permittee’s requests detailing delays in securing a transmitter site are “well-documented” but only granted about half of the extension that had been requested.
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