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Is 1330 fibbing to the FCC?

C

CAVEMANager

Guest
My impression is that KWFM-1330 has been off the air for well over a year but that isn't what they are telling the FCC.
This will take you to the public affairs section of their public inspection file:
https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/am-prof...s-lists/7e564876-0af0-0e25-c632-314adcf8795f/
If this filing is to be believed, KWFM goes on the air every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. to air public affairs programming. Then apparently they go back off the air for another week. The FCC has a list of silent AM stations but KWFM isn't on that list. Over a year ago one of their officials indicated that the owners were unwilling to pay the annual regulatory fee and intended to use that method of turning in the license. Does anyone have any idea what's really going on?
 
In another thread here, I mentioned that back in late 2016, an entity called "AM Radio Licenses, LLC" seems to now have control the license.

Isn't this a shell entity for some other major broadcast organization?
 
I tune by 1330 frequently and haven't heard them for well over a year either. I'll make a point of tuning by at 7:00am on Saturday mornings.
 
Driving south on Craycroft between Sunrise and River at 5pm Friday night I was getting 1970s country music with some static. This morning at 8am the signal is strong in the Foothills. They are playing hits of the 1980s. Hosted by M.G. Kelly, not sure if this a canned national show or local. They are also taking regular ad breaks and still using STAR 1330.
 
wallyblade said:
Driving south on Craycroft between Sunrise and River at 5pm Friday night I was getting 1970s country music with some static. This morning at 8am the signal is strong in the Foothills. They are playing hits of the 1980s. Hosted by M.G. Kelly, not sure if this a canned national show or local. They are also taking regular ad breaks and still using STAR 1330.
Click to expand...

MG Kelly is good, but syndicated.. although he was on in some arizona stations as a local jock in the 90s
 
KWFM came on at 7:00am this morning (Saturday) with no ID, starting with a couple national spots that led into a talk program. Before KWFM's carrier came on, KGAK (Gallup NM) was clearly heard with their mix of country classics and Navajo "tunes". KWFM was still on this evening playing "Tucson's Classic Gold 24/7". Sounds like they may be back on the airwaves for a while.

I miss 1330 when it was KJLL, "the Jolt", back when their lineup was Out West with Fred & Nicole, John C Scott, and Imus in the Morning with local drop-ins by Doc Phillips.
 
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I heard them come back on the air on Saturday morning shortly after 7 a.m. with the public affairs program. They were on mostly with music all day Saturday and into early Sunday morning. I can only wonder if maybe someone alerted them to what's on this board and that's what prompted them to remain on the air. The country music would have been from the Gallup station. KWFM is playing old pop music.
AM Radio Licenses LLC appears to be registered in the State of Delaware. For practical purposes this company is controlled by Dr. Stanley Sprei, a physician from Yuma who also controlled Hudson Communications. Sprei appears to have sold the station to himself.
M.G. Kelly, I think, was earlier known as Machine Gun Kelly but became M.G. when machine guns became politically incorrect.
Perhaps the best question at this point is what KWFM is trying to accomplish and what might be their long term goal other than hanging on to the license. If they are trying to make money they obviously aren't doing that.
 
CAVEMANager said:
I heard them come back on the air on Saturday morning shortly after 7 a.m. with the public affairs program. They were on mostly with music all day Saturday and into early Sunday morning. I can only wonder if maybe someone alerted them to what's on this board and that's what prompted them to remain on the air. The country music would have been from the Gallup station. KWFM is playing old pop music.
AM Radio Licenses LLC appears to be registered in the State of Delaware. For practical purposes this company is controlled by Dr. Stanley Sprei, a physician from Yuma who also controlled Hudson Communications. Sprei appears to have sold the station to himself.
M.G. Kelly, I think, was earlier known as Machine Gun Kelly but became M.G. when machine guns became politically incorrect.
Perhaps the best question at this point is what KWFM is trying to accomplish and what might be their long term goal other than hanging on to the license. If they are trying to make money they obviously aren't doing that.
Click to expand...


Well, obviously they arent.. and they even admit in their filing for public service programming, they dont have any or very limited commercial advertisements
 
CAVEMANager said:
<...>Perhaps the best question at this point is what KWFM is trying to accomplish and what might be their long term goal other than hanging on to the license. If they are trying to make money they obviously aren't doing that.
Click to expand...
Still on as of Monday morning...

So, the $1000 question might be just how long the owner decides to keep the transmitter operational.

A week? A month?
 
In the past it's been a week or two. But it appears they have new imaging and liners this time around so maybe they are looking at keeping it going this time.
 
kwthom said:
Still on as of Monday morning...

So, the $1000 question might be just how long the owner decides to keep the transmitter operational.

A week? A month?
Click to expand...

They were on air at 5PM Monday. When I next checked around 7PM they were off, and still are as of right now.
 
Daytime only operation?
 
Obvious question is do they have any long term goal at all? Do they have a clue? Clearly they aren't going to make money doing what they are doing. Should be interesting to see if they go back on the air on Saturday morning to air the public affairs program.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Obvious question is do they have any long term goal at all? Do they have a clue? Clearly they aren't going to make money doing what they are doing. Should be interesting to see if they go back on the air on Saturday morning to air the public affairs program.
Click to expand...

At this point the goal sounds like being the preservation of the license. The station becomes active for a while each year, and it can maintain the license.

However, there was a station in the Catskills which did this for a day each year over nearly a decade, and the FCC decided there was no endgame. The license, IIRC, was cancelled.
 
How many other AM's are attempting to retain the license out there?
 
kwthom said:
How many other AM's are attempting to retain the license out there?
Click to expand...

Just a handful.

Being able to sign one requires a working transmitter site, and the majority of silent stations are off because they lost the site, lost a tower or had a fire or flood or vandalism and can't operate.

Getting authority to remain silent requires an STA, so they are scrutinized.
 
I might add STAs are sometimes not given. I noticed the ones that seem to be turned down are for stations that have had multiple STAs.
 
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