Engineers caring for suburban broadcast stations have been pleading for a way to receive San Diego County LP-1 and LP-2 (Local Primary) radio stations to relay for years. KLSD and KOGO are both AM stations with the usual reception problems: local noise sources, competing strong signals that are difficult to filter, and tight nighttime coverage patterns. Sometimes, an HD2 carrying the LP station is substituted, and that can be challenging without the proper receive equipment or signal strength. Sometimes another, secondary station is substituted. 

This week, KPBS-FM Director of Engineering and Operations Mark Goodman verbally agreed to act as a second LP-2 source for the San Diego County EAS Operational Area.

This means that stations in San Diego County can now tune to KOGO (AM) 600 kHz for their LP-1 monitoring and either KLSD (AM) 1360 kHz or KPBS-FM 89.5 MHz or LP-2 monitoring. Those stations that might be able to receive KLSD but not KOGO at night can opt to receive the two LP-2 stations, KLSD and KPBS.

The updated plan that I edited has been reviewed by local emergency administrators and broadcast engineers. I then submitted the plan to Richard Rudman, Vice-Chair of the California State Emergency Coordination Committee, and was given preliminary approval. We can operate with the new plan pending its formal adoption by the state and FCC.

If you are in charge of your broadcast facility EAS execution, you should keep a copy of the revised plan with your other EAS materials. We will send a copy to known broadcast engineers by May 9, 2025. The plan is not publicly distributed. If you don’t receive it by then, you can send me a request. Mention what stations in San Diego County you maintain if I don’t already know.