Six Seattle-area Stations Broadcast at 50,000 Watts Fulltime

[Gregg.]

Over the years, several Seattle area stations on regional frequencies have been boosted to 50,000 watts day and night. They all have to use directional antennas at night but I was surprised Seattle has nearly the number of 50,000 watt outlets as NYC (7) and the same as Chicago (6).

710 KIRO......Class A - Directional at night
950 KJR........Class B - Directional day and night
1000 KOMO...Class A - Directional at night
1090 KFNQ....Class B - Directional day and night
1380 KRKO....Class B - Directional at night (Everett)
1520 KKXA....Class B - Directional day and night (Snohomish)

And there are three other stations that run 50,000 watts in the daytime...

770 KTTH....50,000 watts days/5,000 watts nights
820 KGNW...50,000 watts days/10,000 watts nights (Burien)
880 KIXI.....50,000 watts days/1,000 watts nights (Mercer Island)

 

[fybush]

Over the years, several Seattle area stations on regional frequencies have been boosted to 50,000 watts day and night. They all have to use directional antennas at night but I was surprised Seattle has nearly the number of 50,000 watt outlets as NYC (7) and the same as Chicago (6).

710 KIRO......Class A - Directional at night
950 KJR........Class B - Directional day and night
1000 KOMO...Class A - Directional at night
1090 KFNQ....Class B - Directional day and night
1380 KRKO....Class B - Directional at night (Everett)
1520 KKXA....Class B - Directional day and night (Snohomish)

And there are three other stations that run 50,000 watts in the daytime...

770 KTTH....50,000 watts days/5,000 watts nights
820 KGNW...50,000 watts days/10,000 watts nights (Burien)
880 KIXI.....50,000 watts days/1,000 watts nights (Mercer Island)

If you think about it, it's easier to do this at the corners of the country, especially on the class B channels. If you're a class B in, say, Missouri, going from 5000 to 50,000 watts is going to interfere with someone in just about any direction where you might want to push that extra power. But if you're in Seattle, you can push that power north and west and not interfere with anyone. That's probably even more true in the PNW than anywhere else - in Florida, for instance, class B power increases are harder to do because there are Caribbean signals that still need to be protected, and southern California has Mexico to deal with.

 

[xmtrland]

820 KGNW is 50KW day and 5KW night.
880 KIXI is 50KW day and 10KW night.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

Over the years, several Seattle area stations on regional frequencies have been boosted to 50,000 watts day and night. They all have to use directional antennas at night but I was surprised Seattle has nearly the number of 50,000 watt outlets as NYC (7) and the same as Chicago (6).

710 KIRO......Class A - Directional at night
950 KJR........Class B - Directional day and night
1000 KOMO...Class A - Directional at night
1090 KFNQ....Class B - Directional day and night
1380 KRKO....Class B - Directional at night (Everett)
1520 KKXA....Class B - Directional day and night (Snohomish)

And there are three other stations that run 50,000 watts in the daytime...

770 KTTH....50,000 watts days/5,000 watts nights
820 KGNW...50,000 watts days/10,000 watts nights (Burien)
880 KIXI.....50,000 watts days/1,000 watts nights (Mercer Island)

And you could put their total cume inside the Clink.

 

[xmtrland]

I bet a few FM stations wish they had KIRO 710's cume.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

Good point...subtract KIRO and my statement is more accurate.

 

[Gregg.]

I should mention a seventh almost-50,000 watt station, 1300 KKOL. It broadcasts at 50,000 watts by day and 47,000 watts at night. But it currently has a cume of zero.

It lost its transmitter location and is silent. Salem Media, its owner, is searching for a new location. And I assume that will mean a reduction in power, since directional tower arrays are probably not worth the cost of the land they sit on.

 

[bobdavcav]

I thought KKOL had a permit to diclex with KLFE on Bainbridge Island?

 

[iamarussianpirate]

Good point...subtract KIRO and my statement is more accurate.

not much more accurate.

6+ Weekly Cume Jan-Dec '18 avg
KJR - 159k
KOMO - 374k
KIRO-AM - 379k
KTTH - 167k
KIXI - 90k

You got 3 of 9 correct - KGNW (27k), KKXA (26k), KFNQ (32k). KRKO must not subscribe as they don't show up on the ranker.

 

[xmtrland]

I thought KKOL had a permit to diclex with KLFE on Bainbridge Island?

1330 does, Salem is building it and when completed and on the air will complete the swap with Intelli LLC for KPAM in Portland (Salem got KPAM and Intelli got 1330.) Daytime power 50KW night is 3.2KW. Wonder if the calls will still be KKOL. Have not seen anything

 

[semoochie]

1330 does, Salem is building it and when completed and on the air will complete the swap with Intelli LLC for KPAM in Portland (Salem got KPAM and Intelli got 1330.) Daytime power 50KW night is 3.2KW. Wonder if the calls will still be KKOL. Have not seen anything

1300

 

[DavidEduardo]

KRKO must not subscribe as they don't show up on the ranker.

An a rule that started mid-2018, non subscribed stations now have to have a 0.1 rating to appear even in the data subscribers get. KRKO did not even have a 0.1 share prior to the new rule, so we assume that whether subscribed or not, it is below a 0.1 share or less than a 0.01 rating.

 

[Gregg.]

KRKO has an FM translator, as well as the 50,000 watt AM station. It is running Classic Hits/Oldies. A former KOMO and KRWF personality does mornings and voice tracks during the day. So it's not like it's doing some format that few people would listen to.

I don't know why its ratings don't even show... unless it's not encoding.

 

[Bongwater]

KRKO has an FM translator, as well as the 50,000 watt AM station. It is running Classic Hits/Oldies. A former KOMO and KRWF personality does mornings and voice tracks during the day. So it's not like it's doing some format that few people would listen to.

I don't know why its ratings don't even show... unless it's not encoding.

PPM holders tend to be in south Seattle or the Eastside. Neither KRKO 1380 (to say nothing of it's 95.3 translator) can be heard there very well. Namely in south Seattle.

However both KRKO and KKXA throw surprisingly blowtorch signals east at night. I've heard both clearly in Montana and KKXA as far as North Dakota (where it clashes with KOKC.)

 

[DavidEduardo]

PPM holders tend to be in south Seattle or the Eastside. Neither KRKO 1380 (to say nothing of it's 95.3 translator) can be heard there very well. Namely in south Seattle.

Snohomish County gets approximately 18% of the meters, in proportion to the population. County distribution is one thing they do quite well.

In addition, within counties, Nielsen has Geo-zones where specific groups of ZIP Code / Census areas are "attempted at" proportionality. So even in King County, which has about 50% of the meters, there is an effort to distribute them in proportion to the population of specific areas within the county.

 

[DavidEduardo]

KRKO has an FM translator, as well as the 50,000 watt AM station. It is running Classic Hits/Oldies. A former KOMO and KRWF personality does mornings and voice tracks during the day. So it's not like it's doing some format that few people would listen to.

I don't know why its ratings don't even show... unless it's not encoding.

There are two reasons for a no-show:

First, they are not subscribed and thus don't appear in the public release data.

Second, if they are not subscribed, they may not have achieved a 0.1 rating (about a 1.0 to 1.1 share) and thus don't quality even for inclusion in the subscriber data.

 

[Kelly A]

Snohomish County gets approximately 18% of the meters, in proportion to the population. County distribution is one thing they do quite well.

In addition, within counties, Nielsen has Geo-zones where specific groups of ZIP Code / Census areas are "attempted at" proportionality. So even in King County, which has about 50% of the meters, there is an effort to distribute them in proportion to the population of specific areas within the county.

That's a great point David. Since King County has the highest population and density, much higher and denser than Snohomish or Skagit Counties to the North, would the concentration of panels/meters in that area be more geographically spread out?