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View Full Version : Firehose versus squirt gun: who's going to win 103.1 in the Springs?



iowegian3
August 11th, 2014, 01:38 AM
Colorado City-Pueblo's KJQY "Power 103.3" has invited first adjacent Colorado Springs' WAY-FM translator on 103.1 to a good old fashioned Pueblo West 4th of July Wet Parade, of sorts.

If you aren't familiar with the Wet Parade, spectators bring 500 or 1000 gallon water hauling tanks to refill their artillery.

You will not be able to defend yourself with a squirt gun.

WAY-FM uses an HD2 signal from 99.9 KVUU to feed their translator on 103.1. Both 99.9 and 103.1 are atop Cheyenne Mountain, so 200 watts goes a long ways. It's still a squirt gun.

KJQY uses 100,000 watts 103.3 from a 165 meter HAAT tower some 55 miles away on North Rattlesnake Butte. Ground level there is about 6200' above sea level. Colorado Springs official height is about 6300' ASL, give or take a few hundred feet for location. Between those two locations, nothing but Colorado blue-sky line-of-sight. From the KJQY site, the elevation gradually falls some 1500 feet towards Pueblo. The terrain then gradually rises along the Fountain Creek valley straight up to Colorado Springs' east side. It may be a long way to shoot a fire hose, but there isn't much in the way to stop it.

Apparently Power 103.3 suffers significant 1st adjacent interference in the Springs from WAY-FM's 103.1 translator, though
the application doesn't mention it specifically. WAY-FM won't move the translator to 92.5, as specified in the granted construction permit. So, to avoid the damaging interference, KJQY is filing to move to the only C1 frequency still open: 103.1.

I don't think that KJQY's app has a chance of drowning a lit match in Hades, but that's besides the point. It's just an attention getter.

Here are some of KJQY's comments from their application:

PURPOSE OF THIS MINOR MODIFICATION APPLICATION: OUR SIGNAL IS BEING BLOCKED BY A TRANSLATOR REBROADCASTING STATION OWNED BY WAY MEDIA. ALTHOUGH WE HAVE RECEIVED COMPLAINTS FROM BONA FIDE LISTENERS, WAY MEDIA REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND REMEDIATE THESE COMPLAINTS. MOREOVER, THE FCC HAS ALREADY GRANTED WAY MEDIA AN ALTERNATIVE FREQUENCY WITH MORE POWER THAN WHAT THEY ARE CURRENTLY USING, AND FROM THEIR EXISTING TRANSMITTER LOCATION.

WE OFFERED TO BUY A NEW ANTENNA FOR WAY MEDIA, WE EVEN OFFERED TO PAY FOR A TOWER CREW TO INSTALL THE NEW ANTENNA, AND WE ALSO OFFERED TO RUN FREE ANNOUNCEMENTS INSTRUCTING WAY FM LISTENERS TO TUNE TO THEIR NEW FREQUENCY. BUT WAY MEDIA REFUSES TO CHANGE FREQUENCIES. INSTEAD, WAY MEDIA'S ATTORNEY RESPONDED TO OUR OFFER BY STATING 'I DID DESCRIBE YOUR OFFER TO WAY MEDIA, INC. TO SAY THEIR REACTION WAS UNENTHUSIASTIC WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT.' THIS RESPONSE IS QUITE CONFUSING, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE PURPORTED MISSION OF THIS CHARITABLE, NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION.

AS A PRIMARY STATION, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE NO LEGAL OR FINANCIAL OBLIGATION TO ASSIST A DISPLACED SECONDARY STATION SUCH AS WAY FM, WE ARE TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING. WE ARE A SMALL, FAMILY-OWNED OPERATION AND THIS IS OUR ONLY RADIO STATION. UNLIKE WAY MEDIA, WE DO NOT OWN A NATIONWIDE CHAIN OF TRANSLATOR REBROADCASTING STATIONS. OUR RESOURCES ARE LIMITED, AND WE ARE SIMPLY UNABLE TO GIVE WAY MEDIA THE HUGE PAYOUT THAT THEY ARE SEEKING. WE OFFERED WHAT WE COULD AFFORD, AND YET THEY CONTINUE TO BLOCK OUR STATION.

SINCE WAY MEDIA IS FORCING US TO CHANGE FREQUENCIES, WE HAVE CONDUCTED A SEARCH FOR EQUIVALENT-CLASS C1 CHANNELS TO WHICH KJQY COULD MOVE. ONLY ONE CHANNEL IS AVAILABLE, AND IT IS ADJACENT-CHANNEL 276C1, 103.1 MHZ. SINCE THERE IS NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE FREQUENCY FOR US TO MOVE TO AND WAY MEDIA HAS LEFT US WITH NO OTHER OPTIONS, WE ARE SEEKING AN ADJACENT CHANNEL CHANGE TO CHANNEL 276C1 FROM THE APPLICANT'S CURRENTLY LICENSED SITE.


Longley Rice maps courtesy of Nautel's website indicate a 60 dBu or better signal for KJQY over much of east Colorado Springs. KJQY and WAY-FM could have an interesting water fight on 103.1 over the Springs.

Rob
August 11th, 2014, 10:02 AM
I ran across this application (https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101646309&formid=301&fac_num=164269) you are talking about, this morning.

It's insane and sad that Way-FM with their little translator has pretty much bullied full-power FM KJQY to move frequencies. It appears that the owner of KJQY has gone beyond what I've ever seen an owner take to resolve this matter. It doesn't make Way-FM look good, especially being a religious non-profit.

It will be an even worse interference mess once KQJY moves to 103.1 FM, since a 200 watt signal from Cheyenne Mountain (that Way-FM has) is the equivalent of a few thousand (or tens of thousands) watt signal from a tower at ground level of the Springs' and Pueblo.

I'm sure KJQY is hoping with the move to the same frequency, Way-FM will finally move their translator to 92.5 FM (with a power increase from 200 to 250 watts), where they have had an active construction permit (https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101542485&formid=349&fac_num=76196) to do for about a year and a half.

Hopefully Way-FM will do the right thing and just move to 92.5 FM, and also pay KJQY any costs they incurred during this battle, including the costs of promoting KQJY's move to 103.1 FM.

iowegian3
September 22nd, 2014, 12:44 PM
Looks like WAY-FM's translator K276FL on 103.1 in the Springs is about to get baptized by fire, or rather by firehose (continuing my unwieldy analogy in the original post) as KJQY 103.3 Colorado City - Pueblo now has a construction permit to move its 100 kW signal to 103.1, which will cause massive interference on 103.1 in the Springs.

Even though WAY-FM's K276FL has a CP to move to 92.5, WAY-FM has been unwilling to do so, per KJQY's statement in Exhibit 1 of their app
https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101646309&formid=301&fac_num=164269

You'd think the FCC would send WAY-FM an order to cease operations on 103.1 if it had been causing 1st adjacent interference to a full power station in 103.3 KJQY. Or that WAY-FM would have voluntarily vacated 103.1 for 92.5.