KUSI and KSWB-TV Begin Their NextGen Broadcast

On January 16, 2024, KUSI and KSWB-TV began their shared broadcast in the NextGen ATSC 3.0 format on UHF-TV channel 18 in San Diego.

Viewers who want to continue to receive KUSI over the air will need to perform a RESCAN on their TVs. This is generally done by entering the MENU, then looking for SIGNAL or RF or ANTENNA, selecting AIR (not CABLE), and AUTO-PROGRAM or SCAN or ADD CHANNELs on the MENU.

Their December 11, 2023 FCC application specified having the KUSI channel 18 transmitter hosting KSWB-TV “Fox 5” and ATSC 1.0 on the KSWB-TV channel 26 transmitter hosting KUSI, each atop Mt. San Miguel.

The FCC recently approved Nextstar’s purchase of KUSI. The two stations are now co-owned and are moving into the established KUSI studio facility in Murphy Canyon. 

Some models of commonly available television sets now include NextGen tuners. KRPE-LD channel 6 on Mt. San Miguel was the first area station to begin the NextGen service. 

RF Specialties Joins Chapter 36 as Sponsor

Many thanks to Jeff Motta, Sales Manager of RF Specialties of California. Jeff made a generous donation at the end of 2023 to help support Chapter 36. RF Specialities has been based in San Diego since 2018, when Dennis Pieri acquired the West Coast divisions. 

RF Specialties distributes several major brands of broadcast RF hardware, including Nautel, Dialectric, Jampro, Kathrein, RFS Systems, Bext, and Anywave. They also represent many brands of broadcast infrastructure, including DASDEC, Sage Alerting Systems, D2D Technologies, Inovonics, Mackie, and so on. Check out all of their equipment lines here

Audacy Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Radio Insight reports that the Audacy group filed for bankruptcy to reorganize in order to service its $2.66-billion debt load. Another $926-million of debt will mature later this year. Audacy management said it has restructured its debt with a “supermajority” of its debtors in order to reduce its service payments to a realistic level.

A memo to employees said, “Audacy will operate normally during this process. There will be no disruption to your wages and benefits. Our current leadership team will continue to lead the Company, and day-to-day roles and responsibilities will not change. Overall, it will be business as usual….”

It’s no secret that the broadcasting industry has been hit hard with reduced advertising spending as alternative media, such as streaming, grab a bigger slice of the listening audience pie. 

In San Diego, Audacy stations include KBZT  “Alt 94.9”, KYXY 96.5, KWFN “97.3 The Fan”, KXSN “Sunny 98.1”, and KSON 103.7 “New Country.” These stations were derived from CBS and Lincoln Financial ownership that consolidated through a merger with Entercom in 2017, then rebranding as Audacy in 2021. Audacy manages 235 radio stations in 48 markets, according to Inside Radio. 

SBE January 9 Online Meeting – Chad Davis on Artificial Intelligence in Broadcasting

Chad Davis

Think a Windows workstation will replace your job or that of your on-air colleagues? Chad Davis’s presentation offers a no-nonsense discussion of generative AI tools and how they can be used ethically in the creation of media content and the streamlining of business processes at broadcast stations.

Join us on January 9th at 11:30 AM PST on a Zoom conference. RSVP here.

About Chad

Chad Davis leads Nebraska Public Media Labs, the R&D unit at Nebraska Public Media currently focused on generative AI and game development. He also writes and publishes the weekly Public Media Innovators Weekly newsletter, covering the intersection of emerging media and public media.

Hendrik Jaehn Retires from Petco Park

The Holiday Bowl on December 27, 2023, was Hendrik Jaehn’s final production as Engineer-in-Charge at Petco Park. The San Diego Padres hired him 23 years ago to head the scoreboard video and audio control room at Qualcomm Stadium before the team moved to the new stadium downtown in 2004. He said of his duties at Petco Park, “This has been fun. It’s supposed to be work, but it’s just fun to me.”

Hendrik said Wednesday that he will be driving cross-country to a new residence in Florida over the weekend. He said he plans to travel in Europe and “maybe I’ll buy a boat and sail around for a while.”

Hendrik said he gained much of his technical knowledge while working with Fred Swift at KUSI. “Fred is another level,” he said.

He said he enjoyed teaching some of the younger technicians, but lamented the lack of basic knowledge many come into the field with. “When they don’t even have a few audio principles down, how are they supposed to even start? What can I do?”

His successor has not been announced.

Society of Broadcast Engineers