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
Grinnell College’s KDIC/88.5 (Grinnell) says it continues to coordinate repairs and installation of a new antenna but won’t be able to return to the air before the current special temporary authority to remain silent expires on May 26. Since students who would operate the station will soon be leaving on summer break, the station has requested an extension of the STA until Oct. 27. The station went off the air in August 2020 due to storm damage. The FCC deleted its license in 2022 but then restored it after the college filed a petition for reconsideration.
Minnesota
In a followup to an item from Friday’s Weekly Log, Pioneer PBS station KWCM/10 (Appleton) has now requested special temporary authority to remain silent. The station’s May 19 filing says it initially went off the air May 9 because a construction crew inadvertently cut power and fiber optics lines at the station’s transmitter site. While both services have been restored, the station’s filing says it is still dealing with issues with “antiquated equipment” between the new fiber line and the transmitter. The filing says it is unclear whether service can be restored within 30 days. KWCM translator K08QE-D (Fergus Falls) also requested special temporary authority to remain silent; KWCM satellite KSMN/20 (Worthington) already has an STA to remain silent after reporting that it went off the air in February due to a studio-transmitter link equipment failure.
The FCC granted Lowcountry 34 Media LLC’s K30QX-D (Duluth) an upgrade from 1kW to 15kW.
Nebraska
Nebraska Public Media’s K10JW-D (Verdigre) has increased power from 6 to 15 Watts.
North Dakota
Roseland Broadcasting’s KXBK-LD/15 (Bismarck) applied to increase power from 850W to 3kW.
South Dakota
Real Presence Radio’s K264DG/100.7 (Brookings) was granted a move to 90.1 with the new callsign K211GF, remaining 250 Watts, and the station filed a license to cover application indicating the frequency change has been completed.
Wisconsin
On May 16, Civic Media closed on its purchase of the following stations from Magnum Media and David R. Magnum: WCFW/105.7 (Chippewa Falls-Eau Claire), W228EP/93.5 (Eau Claire), W251BU/98.1 (Kenosha), WLCX/1490 (La Crosse), W239CV/95.7 (Oshkosh), WRJN/1400 (Racine), and W260CV/99.9 (Racine).
Disclosure: Jon Ellis was an employee of Gray Media Group at the time this item was posted. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.