The following are updates to previously-reportedĀ itemsĀ 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
The FCC granted Western Iowa Tech Community College a new low-power FM station on 94.3 in Sioux City, using 30 Watts, with the callsign KWSR-LP. The college also owns public radio station KWIT/90.3; KWSR-LP will carry student programming from a separate facility.
KM Radio of Independence’s KQMG/1220 and KQMG-FM/95.3 (Independence) submitted filings on May 22, 2024, indicating that the FM station resumed operations on Dec. 28, 2023 and the AM station resumed operations on Dec. 29, 2023.
Dubuque-based Aquinas Communications is buying translator W211BZ/90.1 (Galena, IL) from The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago for $12,000. The application states W211BZ will switch its input to Aquinas’ KCRD-LP/98.3 (Dubuque). Aquinas also applied to transfer control of KCRD-LP from a two-person board to a five-person board.
Digital Networks-Midwest’s K31PO-D (Des Moines) reports that it has completed a move of its transmitter from Marshalltown to a site near Collins. The highly-directional 2.5kW signal reaches an area between Des Moines, Ames, and Marshalltown.
Gray Media Group is buying K27LX-D (Salix), along with three other low-power TV stations in Georgia and West Virginia, from Lowcountry 34 Media for a combined $350,000. K27LX-D is licensed for a 200-Watt signal covering Sioux City. The deal values K27LX-D at $100,000.
Minnesota
Edge Spectrum was granted construction permits to move the transmitters of low-power TV stations KTCJ-LD/13 (Minneapolis) and KHVM-LD/18 (Minneapolis) from Shoreview to the west metro suburb of Maple Plain. The stations will use directional antennas pointed towards Minneapolis, with KTCJ-LD using 3kW and KHVM-LD using 15kW. The stations are currently silent pending their move to new channels after their previous channels, 48 and 50, were discontinued as part of the spectrum repack.
A license to cover application indicates Subarctic Media’s K276EH/103.1 (Mankato), which relays KFSP/1230, has completed a move to an antenna 78 meters higher on its existing tower just outside of the city. The move expands K276EH’s coverage area and increases the signal strength to Mankato.
Nebraska
Digital Networks-Midwest’s K36QD-D (Omaha) reports that it has completed a move from its previous transmitter site near Schuyler to a new site near Valley, using a 3kW directional signal.
The University of Northwestern-St. Paul’s K296DS/107.1 (Alliance) has completed a frequency change to 95.7, where its new callsign is K239DC. With the move, the translator was also able to expand its coverage area by switching to a non-directional antenna and increasing power to 250 Watts. K296DS had previously relayed KSLT (Spearfish, SD) and the license to cover application indicates K239DC is relaying KSLS (Dickinson, ND), which itself is a satellite of KSLT. The filing indicates the feed of KSLS is received from K219LV/91.7 (Hemingford), which has completed an upgrade from 36 to 170 Watts and also switched to a non-directional antenna.
South Dakota
Nexstar’s KDLO-TV/3 (Florence-Watertown) requested an extension of special temporary authority to operate at reduced power of 2.8kW while work continues to reconstruct its tower. The station is licensed for 14.4kW. It had gone off the air in late 2022 due to a tower collapse and returned to the air at reduced power in November 2023. The station’s new filing says tower construction is not complete due to weather, manufacturing, and installation issues, but restoration of full-power operations is anticipated in the near future.
SagamoreHill of Portland’s K32FW-D (Pierre) reports that it has completed its move to a new transmitter site, upgrading from 100W to 1kW.
Wisconsin
The Salvation Poem Foundation’s WEQL/104.9 (La Crosse) was granted special temporary authority to operate at slightly reduced power of 650 Watts, rather than its licensed 800 Watts, due to damage from a lightning strike. (WEQL transmits from an antenna at 201 meters above average terrain, achieving a coverage area equivalent to a 3kW/100m station.)
WRVM’s W280AF/103.9 (Phelps) has completed a frequency change to 103.7, where its callsign is W279EM. It continues to use 27 Watts. The move makes way for a future full-power station on 103.9 in the region.
Family Worship Center Church’s WIWN/68.1 (Fond du Lac-Milwaukee) was granted an extension of special temporary authority to operate at increased power of 34kW on RF channel 5 while it awaits an FCC decision on a petition to move to channel 7. The station’s request noted that Family Worship Center Church is the station’s new licensee, saying it wishes to extend the STA “to deliver an improved signal on a temporary basis until it is able to implement this permanent solution.”
Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.