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
Kirkwood Community College’s K295AC/106.9 (Iowa City) went off the air Sept. 7 due to its licensed tower site being dismantled, a decision which was beyond KCC’s control. Separately, the FCC has granted K295AC a construction permit to co-locate with K253BE/98.5 at a site on the north side of Iowa City. Though K295AC will reduce power from 250 to 170 Watts, its coverage area will expand due to higher antenna height. It will continue to relay KCCK/88.3 (Cedar Rapids).
Michigan
J&J Broadcasting and SNRN Broadcasting requested a second extension of consummation of their sale of five radio stations in Hancock, Ironwood, and Ontonagon to BTC USA Holdings Management. The filing states “a number of commercial issues arose in the closing process” but that closing is now anticipated in the next few weeks.
Minnesota
Central Baptist Theological Seminary’s WCTS/1030 (Maplewood-Minneapolis) says in a FCC filing that a problem with its antenna system is nearly fixed. Since March, it has had special temporary authority to operate at a variance and/or reduced power at night since March; with that authority due to expire Sept. 20, it has requested an extension.
The University of Northwestern-St. Paul has returned the license of K227AN/93.3 (Lynd), which had been gone off the air in March due to suspected antenna damage from an ice storm. The translator had relayed KNWC-FM/96.5 (Sioux Falls). Its coverage area partially overlapped with KRGM/89.9 (Marshall), which also relays KNWC-FM.
Alpha Media’s K269EC/101.7 (Mankato), which relays KQMK/95.7 (Lake Crystal), went off the air Sept. 11 “due to the loss of its site.” The station’s request for special temporary authority to remain silent says Alpha is evaluating options to relocate the translator.
Gray TV’s K30RA-D (Racine), which is currently licensed to transmit with 1.55kW from a site just south of Rochester, has applied to move its transmitter to Dexter with 1.3kW directional.
Nebraska
Gray TV’s KSTF/10.1 (Scottsbluff) reports that it went off the air Sept. 9 due to a transmission line failure. The filing says repairs are expected within 30 days. KSTF had also been off the air for a week in late August due to a transmission line problem.
Following the FCC’s approval of a move of KUON-TV/12 (Lincoln) to RF channel 27, Flood Communications has applied to change the channels of two low-power TV stations that will be displaced by the move. KFDY-LD (Lincoln) would move to channel 34 and KOHA-LD (Omaha) would move to channel 30. KFDY-LD would also get an upgrade from 3.65kW to 15kW as part of the channel change, while KOHA-LD would remain 15kW.
Theatre Organ Preservation of Nebraska’s KEZL/89.7 (Culbertson) has applied for an upgrade to 15kW/102m, which would replace a previous permit to upgrade to 32kW/102m. KEZL signed on last year with 6kW/102m.
The Nebraska Rural Radio Association closed on its purchase of K259DL/99.7 (Burwell) from The Praise Network on Sept. 14.
South Dakota
The FCC formally granted a construction permit for Prairie Winds Broadcasting’s KGIM/1420 (Aberdeen) to permanently move to sister station KSDN’s site with 1kW day and 210 Watts night. KGIM has been transmitting from the KSDN site since 2017 under special temporary authority.
Wisconsin
Weigel Broadcasting amended its proposal to move a future station on channel 31 from Wittenberg to Shawano to specify a 65kW facility from Shawano, rather than the 1,000kW that was listed in the original petition filed in July.
The FCC granted David Magnum’s W278BQ/103.5 (Manitowoc) a construction permit to move to 93.1 as W226CX, which would include an increase in power from 38 to 250 Watts.
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.