KOGO has filed with the FCC to colocate with KGB-AM (760) at their site on Hwy 52.
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KOGO-AM changing sites
- Thread starter Frequency1
- Start date
The current KOGO two-tower array site is on a hillside on 60th Street near Emerald Hills Park. It would be a great place to put new housing, a neighborhood with many one-family houses. The sale of that site would likely make iHeart tens of millions of dollars.
But in addition to KOGO, those towers are also used by Audacy Sports station KWFN 97.3 and Univision Regional Mexican station KLNV 106.5. So if iHeart sells the site for development, those FM stations would also have to relocate.
I also wonder if KOGO's excellent signal would be hurt by using a tower site designed for a different AM station? With 5,000 watts low on the dial, KOGO is one of the best San Diego AM signals. KOGO is the highest rated AM station in the market. At one time it was simulcast on the full power FM station at 95.7, now KSSX. Losing the simulcast hardly hurt KOGO's ratings.
But in addition to KOGO, those towers are also used by Audacy Sports station KWFN 97.3 and Univision Regional Mexican station KLNV 106.5. So if iHeart sells the site for development, those FM stations would also have to relocate.
I also wonder if KOGO's excellent signal would be hurt by using a tower site designed for a different AM station? With 5,000 watts low on the dial, KOGO is one of the best San Diego AM signals. KOGO is the highest rated AM station in the market. At one time it was simulcast on the full power FM station at 95.7, now KSSX. Losing the simulcast hardly hurt KOGO's ratings.
I'm not sure iHeart owns the tower or the land. Several years back, iHeart began selling its towers and then leasing them back. So it could be Vertical Bridge that reaps the money from the land sale.
Remember KOGO 600 is very strong and puts a near local signal in LA because it's directional and aimed to the Northwest with an ERP of probably better than 20 kW, whereas KGB 760 is 5 kW and non-directional so the signal to the Northwest is much weaker. Inland you' ll find just the opposite-in Temecula for instance- KOGO is much weaker than KGB.
I wanted to say that those two 300 ft free-standing towers have always been a San Diego landmark, it will be sad to see them go.
Good points. However, let's not forget that the 760am site likely has much better ground conductivity. It straddles a marshy area of the San Diego River, whereas the current 600 am site is on top of a hill. Hilltop sites are not the best for optimal AM coverage.
Radioinsight reports the station has filed for an upgrade with the move... BUT.. 760's towers are shorter then 600s by about 100 feet... That will affect the signal a bi because of efficency. liek when WBBM mvoed to the WSCR 670 towers.. they had to drop pwoer because 780 was already had the max and 670 was mroe efficient for 780s use.
Make sense?
Though i havent seen anything filed for KOGO yet, its in the database somewhere im sure.
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KOGO-AM application.
enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov
Draft Copy « Licensing and Management System « FCC
Licensing and Management System
enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov
9 kW directional day, 10 kW directional night.
Little less signal to the East side and more out to sea.
Little less signal to the East side and more out to sea.
Certainly more than adequate for coverage of the "useful" population of the market. San Diego is a single county Nielsen MSA, so that is all that matters.
In my neck of the woods, KOGO measures at least 2 mV or better. It's nice to know that probably won't change from the new site.
I stand corrected, I just checked, the FCC lists the existing KOGO towers at 125 m which is over 400 ft! I always though they were 300.
This is probably a question for Scott Fybush, but is the 760 KGB (xKFMB) site the only AM facility that you can literally drive through? Its a strange experience when you drive north on fwy 52 coming from Santee as you pass West Hills Pkw. You see 2 towers to your left and one to the right. You drive between towers 2 and 3. This site has been in use since at least 1965. It must have been a nightmare building a fwy over ground-radials with out damaging anything.
KFMB prior to 1965 was on 540 kHz from another location I believe.
I stand corrected, I just checked, the FCC lists the existing KOGO towers at 125 m which is over 400 ft! I always though they were 300.
This is probably a question for Scott Fybush, but is the 760 KGB (xKFMB) site the only AM facility that you can literally drive through? Its a strange experience when you drive north on fwy 52 coming from Santee as you pass West Hills Pkw. You see 2 towers to your left and one to the right. You drive between towers 2 and 3. This site has been in use since at least 1965. It must have been a nightmare building a fwy over ground-radials with out damaging anything.
KFMB prior to 1965 was on 540 kHz from another location I believe.
No.. 620 in Tampas two towers are seperated by a highway and what was also, ironically the 620 in Wallace ID had its 2 towers seperated by a highway before one tower fell and the station went dark and got deleted.
There have been a few others over the years. KTSA 550 in San Antonio has towers on both sides of Eisenhauer Road. KSTP 1500 in Saint Paul has its night array across US 61 from its day tower and transmitter. There used to be one (the 1150?) in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It's not that hard to do - usually the transmission and sample lines go in a culvert under the road.
Interestingly, KWFN actually filed to move to the KGB-FM site just last week I believe. Nothing yet filed for KLNV, bit it seems like that is probably coming. It's too bad KWFN couldn't move all the way to La Jolla. That is such a better FM site overall.
Longterm investments in the radio biz? Pffft. I'll bet the executives got some nice bonuses for that trick at the time, though.
Both these facilities are operating at essentially max class B levels. If they moved to Soledad they would have to knock their ERP down by at least 1/3 or more. Still it's a gorgeous water path up the coast, who wouldn't want to be there. Back in ancient times Channel 8 had their studios there too right next to their free standing 300 ft tower, still in use today. And notwithstanding digital they're still on Channel 8!
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Yes, 97.3 and 106.5 ERP's are both 50kw, but their HAAT is below the 150m max. If they went to the KGB-FM tower and installed the bays around the same height at KGB's (or diplex/triplex the antenna), they'd go up to about the maximum allowable HAAT -- plus keep their 50kw outputs.
It's hard to believe that WMT, WREC, and KSJB enter into interference calculations of stations in San Diego, CA (KOGO), and Flint, MI (WSNL), but they do. Given the WMT Night pattern, it's the least surprising, second strongest interfering signal to WSNL, third strongest to KOGO.
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I would have to wonder about CKSP in Vancouver and how that impacts KOGO's night signal.
It was apparently CKBD at the time of the WSNL application. It's in there. I did a find on Vancouver and it turned up.
This is why I prefer applications which are really complete. I was disappointed that the KOGO application didn't have more information.
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