K259BG Chehalis sold to Bustos, for KZGI channel move and power boost.

[The New Chico]

Educated guess here, and it is absolutely only a guess based on some anecdotal evidence. Bellingham and points N re: Canada.
CBU 88.1 (and others)- folks here cannot get enough public radio it seems.
CJJR 93.7- only country radio around here
CFOX 99.3- CFMI 101.1- CJAX 96,9 - all strong signals that blast in here and all well programmed

Strongest signals in Whatcom county seem to be CBU (by far), then 101.1 and 96.9 All three of these broadcast in HD

 

[P-N-P]

KZGI Sedro Woolley went on the air in 2017 and was bought by Bustos in 2021 from the orginal owner. The station is non directional at 700 watts. The station can be heard almost to Burlington and probably to its out 70 dbu contour. The station has been on and off several times within the past year or two.

The proposed channel change from 105.7 to 96.9 appears to be a major modification of the license as it is neither an adjacent channels/I.F. move or resolving an interference issue.

A major facility change for a commercial or a noncommercial educational full service FM station, a winning auction bidder, or a tentative selectee authorized or determined under this part is any change in frequency or community of license which is not in accord with its current assignment, except for the following:
(i) A change in community of license which complies with the requirements of paragraph (g) of this section;
(ii) A change to a higher or lower class co-channel, first-, second-, or third-adjacent channel, or intermediate frequency;
(iii) A change to a same-class first-, second-, or third-adjacent channel, or intermediate frequency;
(iv) A channel substitution, subject to the provisions of Section 316 of the Communications Act for involuntary channel substitutions.
(2) The second group consists of applications for licenses and all other changes in the facilities of authorized stations.

(b)
(1) The FCC may, after the acceptance of an application for modification of facilities, advise the applicant that such application is considered to be one for a major change and therefore subject to the provisions of §§ 73.3522, 73.3580 and 1.1111 of this chapter pertaining to major changes. Such major modification applications in the non-reserved band will be dismissed as set forth in paragraph (f)(2)(i) of this section.

If I am not mistaken the proposed change does not allow for the expressions of interest in the allocation of 96.9 to other (perhaps preferable communites) or request a change in the FM Table of Allotments and the public would be better served by this going through the rulemaking process to substitute channel.

 

[fordranger797]

Educated guess here, and it is absolutely only a guess based on some anecdotal evidence. Bellingham and points N re: Canada.
CBU 88.1 (and others)- folks here cannot get enough public radio it seems.
CJJR 93.7- only country radio around here
CFOX 99.3- CFMI 101.1- CJAX 96,9 - all strong signals that blast in here and all well programmed

Strongest signals in Whatcom county seem to be CBU (by far), then 101.1 and 96.9 All three of these broadcast in HD

I grew up in the Seattle area, but spent some time in Bellingham (and ironically, now live on the Canadian side of the border). You’re absolutely correct about listening behaviors in Whatcom county. Almost all of the Vancouver radio stations come in around Bellingham with little interference. The notable exceptions are 93.1 and 104.3, which are too close to the HD hash of KAFE and KISM. From the two years I spent in Bellingham, CBC radio was pretty popular (among the NPR crowd). 94.5 and 95.3 seemed to get some listeners as well.

As for content, I think there’s some intrigue among American listeners when it comes to some of these Canadian stations. With that being said, listen often enough and the experience of listening becomes stale. There’s a reason why many people on this side of the border choose KISM over 101.1 or 96.9. My boss listens to KISM in his office to avoid music from Alanis Morisette and Kim Mitchell.

There are some good radio stations in Canada, though the stations in Vancouver leave a bit to be desired. The main point: if I’m a listener in Bellingham, I’m probably streaming from Seattle.

 

[bobdavcav]

Then you have KFBW-105.9 and KUKN-105.5 on the back end, south, 1st adjacent.

KFBW doesn't have anything to do with 105.7 anymore. That may have been why that signal was directional when it was in Raymond, but now that it's from South Mountain, if KFBW was the only thing that signal had to worry about it could be a full C from there. That spacing already exists between 99.3 South Mountain and 99.5 Portland, as well as 97.7 South Mountain to 97.9 Portland. I'd have to check on 105.5 to see if that affects spacing. I think Bill said when the original application to go to South Mountain was filed that the reason that signal is the way it is is because of 105.7 in Yakima, which is why I thought a move to Gold Mountain would be a possibility, and there is a second-adjacent example to work off of, 91.3 (C2?) to 91.7 C1. That means in theory 105.3 shouldn't be an issue, not so sure about 106.1 being a full C from West Tiger. That may require 105.7 to be a C3 or even A, but assuming they would have to change COL again, that would cover Kidsap County quite well.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

radioinsight spells out what this move means and what station is likely going to move as a result of all of this. go there to read it, if you want.. i dont recall if its behind the paywall or not so i dont wanna share it in case it is

 

[RF101]

Boss Bill originally filed for a directional C2 on a different South Mountain tower but for a quick-build switched to a non-directional C3. South Mountain is just outside distance-wise of the second-adjacent Seattle clearances.

The big mystery is the final destination of that Raymond Class A.

Gosh. This is like a 3D chess game as seen on an old episode of Star Trek...

 

[crainbebo]

105.7 Yakima is barely a factor, there's a giant range of mountains called the Cascades in the way. I doubt there's more than a couple of sporadic spots where knife-edge prop allows reception of The Hawk on the west side of the state.
Pretty sure the R-I article is on the paywall.

 

[Red Plume]

105.7 Yakima is barely a factor, there's a giant range of mountains called the Cascades in the way. I doubt there's more than a couple of sporadic spots where knife-edge prop allows reception of The Hawk on the west side of the state.
Pretty sure the R-I article is on the paywall.

In real-life, yes, it's barely a factor. But on paper, the contour they have to protect is right around Enumclaw and Graham.

 

[Red Plume]

I stared at the chess game for about an hour, and really the best move I could see is:

• 106.5/Raymond moves to Ocean Shores
• 102.1/Ocean Shores moves to Union, with Tacoma coverage
• 105.7/Union is moved north and downgraded, not to hit Seattle, but to move out of the way so 102.1 can move to Union.

Can't wait to see what it actually is. 102.1 was never able to move east prior to now, because there was no station to replace service in Ocean Shores.

 

[JackindaBox]

I think Bustos is going to buy the translator not the main station KNWN-FM. Lotus already bought that.

 

[crainbebo]

Sunny 102.1 isn't moving to Tacoma. Forget about it. It has always been a Grays Harbor-oriented station, Elma west to Ocean Shores, and down into Pacific County, and probably will remain that way (Rhys Davis just retired last December after 25 years or so). I'm surprised it took this long for 102.1 to go to local origination in all other dayparts, given they were reliably on the ABC and later Dial Global/Westwood One AC networks.

 

[crainbebo]

In real-life, yes, it's barely a factor. But on paper, the contour they have to protect is right around Enumclaw and Graham.

Even in Packwood, KRSE is a wispy trace in the static (50 mi from tower), if an airplane doesn't fly over and reflect CBU-FM Vancouver from the back. Was there for the flea market last Labor Day Weekend. Too 'tourist-trap' for me, high prices, so I probably won't return. Surprisingly, a few Tri-Cities FMs put noisy but decent signals out there (notably KFAE). 1400 feet elevation in a deep valley with 40+ miles of mountains to the ESE. 96.1 and 102.9 are fine in the valley. 95.1 and 104.3 Centralia were just burbles in the noise, and I figured they were stronger than that...but it is 60 miles to the east.

 

[RF101]

If I recall correctly, an FCC Broadcast Auction frequency winning bid (South Bend or Raymond) was once used as sacrificial fodder to upgrade another Puget Sound station (perhaps KNWN). Perhaps there's a another scenario like that at play. The 102.1 suggested move matches that complexity..

The problem with KJET moving northward is that there are not any major tower sites in that direction that clear 2nd adjacent with Seattle stations...

 

[fordranger797]

Sunny 102.1 isn't moving to Tacoma. Forget about it. It has always been a Grays Harbor-oriented station, Elma west to Ocean Shores, and down into Pacific County, and probably will remain that way (Rhys Davis just retired last December after 25 years or so). I'm surprised it took this long for 102.1 to go to local origination in all other dayparts, given they were reliably on the ABC and later Dial Global/Westwood One AC networks.

Exactly. Credit to Bill on this one, he just brought in some fantastic local talent for Sunny. AJ (Warm 106.9 alumni) is the new morning host, and it seems like he’s doing a fantastic job with it so far.

This isn’t to say that some technical changes couldn’t happen, but I would find that very surprising. And to add to that, any technical changes would probably not give Sunny as much coverage around Grays Harbor County.

 

[fordranger797]

If I recall correctly, an FCC Broadcast Auction frequency winning bid (South Bend or Raymond) was once used as sacrificial fodder to upgrade another Puget Sound station (perhaps KNWN). Perhaps there's a another scenario like that at play. The 102.1 suggested move matches that complexity..

The problem with KJET moving northward is that there are not any major tower sites in that direction that clear 2nd adjacent with Seattle stations...

Good point. South Mountain seems to be a bit better than Capitol Peak for trying to get more of the signal into Seattle. However, the next site to the north (east) would be Gold Mountain, and as previous mentioned, that’s a no go.

 

[Red Plume]

The problem with KJET moving northward is that there are not any major tower sites in that direction that clear 2nd adjacent with Seattle stations...

Yeah, that's the problem I keep running in to. Why not just move the COL to Skokomish?

Something that's going on is requiring the move in Sedro Wooley. Moving towards Olympia probably wouldn't require that. There are some transmission sites between Discovery Bay and Blyn, but that KBKS contour that they have to protect looks like a tad too close.

 

[Red Plume]

The problem with KJET moving northward is that there are not any major tower sites in that direction that clear 2nd adjacent with Seattle stations...

I guess there's not really a reason for KJET to move, maybe it's all to send more signal over Bremerton and in the Seattle direction with a directional antenna. After checking, I think the KRSE contour is much closer than I thought.

102.1 could always use another community, like Skokomish as the COL. That still seems possible since 106.5 appears to be involved.

 

[Kelly A]

I stared at the chess game for about an hour, and really the best move I could see is:

• 106.5/Raymond moves to Open Sores
• 102.1/Open Sores moves to Union, with Tacoma coverage
• 105.7/Union is moved north and downgraded, not to hit Seattle, but to move out of the way so 102.1 can move to Union.

Can't wait to see what it actually is. 102.1 was never able to move east prior to now, because there was no station to replace service in Open Sores.

There, I fixed it...

 

[Red Plume]

• Sunny 106.5/Raymond moves to Open Sores
• 102.1 The Bull/Open Sores moves to Union, with Tacoma coverage
• KUBE 105.7/Union is directional north

There, I fixed it...

/s I fixed it one more!

 

[Kelly A]

/s I fixed it one more!

As an aside and explaining what I mean by "Open Sores"; years ago I contemplated buying a station in that town. It stands to reason being a fishing/vacation community that local advertisers operate seasonally, as would the radio station, but it was seriously bad. Local businesses were seemingly always living on the ragged edge of insolvency, and the poor collections reflected that trend. There was a lot of interest in advertising on the station during the tourist season, then not much interest in being willing to pay when the bill came due. The beaches there were becoming less appealing too, as compared with Oregon beaches right down the road. Rumors of hypodermic needles washing up on shore, reports of broken glass injuries, and tons of cruise ship trash washing ashore, were killing the reputation. Pretty much all that was left was the fishing business, but many of those who worked in the area didn't live in the area, so local businesses only really saw tourism. After I saw the down-trending interest in that community, I decided to run away.