The following are updates to stories previously reported here and other recent FCC filings and actions:
Iowa
KGGO/94.9 (Des Moines) formally reported in a request for special temporary authority that it is operating at 75% of its licensed 100kW due to antenna problems. The station’s previous social media statement was reported earlier.
KROS/1340 and K290CL/105.9 (Clinton) submitted requests for extensions of special temporary authority following the 2020 Iowa Derecho, saying the stations continue to navigate “zoning and insurance issues.” the filings say construction is expected to be completed within 60 to 90 days.
Manitoba
CKJS/810 (Winnipeg) has left the air permanently following the planned three-month simulcast of CKJS-FM/92.7 after its sign-on last fall. CKJS’ 10kW facility had a large footprint stretching into Minnesota, North Dakota, Ontario, and Saskatchewan due to the high ground conductivity in the region. Here’s how it sounded from northwestern Minnesota in 2008:
810 is the fourth Winnipeg AM station to leave the air in the last three decades, with all of the stations (580, 630, and 1050 were the others) converting their AM licenses to FM. Just three Winnipeg AM stations remain on the air (680, 990, and 1290).
Minnesota
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s K287AD/105.3 (Bemidji) reported to the FCC that it went off the air Jan. 31, the day before WRLN/105.3 (Red Lake) formally signed on. K287AD’s filing says it exploring options for a frequency change. It had relayed KOJB/90.1 (Cass Lake).
Gray TV applied to upgrade K23MQ-D (Duluth) from 2.5kW to 15kW, remaining in the Duluth antenna farm. K23MQ’s license to cover was approved last month but your reporter has been unable to receive it at sites within the licensed contour.
Nebraska
The FCC granted Community Broadcasting/Bott Radio Network a construction permit for a new station on 90.9 in North Platte using 25kW/84m vertical (class C3).
Community Broadcasting/Bott Radio Network’s K257EF/99.3 (York) applied to move its transmitter from a site west of town to a site on the south end of town, remaining 250 Watts.
KLKN/8 (Lincoln) requested another extension of special temporary authority to operate its channel 35 digital replacement translator in Lincoln at 3.3kW rather than its licensed 5.6kW. The filing says KLKN is “continuing to research solutions and technologies that will enable operation at licensed power levels.”
South Dakota
Alpha Media’s KBRK-FM/93.7 (Brookings) says “parts necessary to repair the transmitter have proven difficult to source.” The station was granted an extension of special temporary authority to operate at about half of its licensed 100kW, a situation which first began in summer 2020.
The FCC approved a construction permit for Innovative Media Technologies’ K06QJ-D (Sioux Falls) to upgrade from 100 Watts to 3kW.
Wisconsin
Gray TV’s W31EV-D (Wausau) applied to move its transmitter 17 miles to the south, switching to a 1.2kW directional facility that would rimshot Stevens Point.