The FCC has approved temporary facilities for three Winona, Minn., FM stations after their tower collapsed during a November windstorm.
Leighton Media’s Winona radio group first reported the outage on Nov. 26, with all five of its FM signals initially knocked off the air when its tower on a bluff above Winona collapsed. There was no report of any injuries.
The tower was the transmitter site for “KG95” (KGSL/95.3 Winona) and FM translators K254CM/98.7 and K268DJ/101.5. It was also used to feed programming to “Winona Sports Network” (KWMN/99.3 Rushford) and “101.1 The River” (KRIV-FM Winona).
KRIV-FM returned to the air on the evening of Nov. 26 followed by KWMN on the morning of Nov. 27.
The FCC has now approved special temporary authority for KGSL, K254CM, and K268DJ to transmit from the KRIV-FM tower, which is just across the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.
KGSL will transmit with 720 Watts ERP from an antenna is mounted at 45.7 meters up the tower, giving it a height of about 134 meters above average terrain. A coverage map included in the filing shows the temporary facility should deliver a good signal to Winona, Fountain City, Trempealeau, Galesville, and Arcadia.
KGSL normally uses 11kW/151m (class C3).
Meanwhile, K254CM will use 15 Watts from a directional antenna mounted 20m above the ground, while K268DJ will use 50 Watts from a directional antenna mounted 26m above the ground.
It’s not immediately clear if the new facilities are on the air.
K254CM relays KWNO/1230 while K268DJ relays KHWK/1380. The AM stations were not affected.
This item was initially posted on Nov. 27 and was updated Dec. 10 based on the new FCC filings, and again Dec. 11 based on additional FCC action.