KZTC-LD channel 7 has asked the FCC to approve the transfer of its ownership to Intrigue TV of Stamford CT for $187,500.
At the same time, Intrigue TV asked for a Major Change from VHF channel 7 with 3 kW ERP to UHF channel 25 using 12kW ERP to achieve approximately the same coverage from Mt. Woodson. They propose to continue to beam southward to protect Los Angeles stations.
Continue reading KZTC-LD Selling. Buyer Applies for UHF ChannelEngineers 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.
The SBE has released the latest addition to the Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides. The new document covers low-power FM (LPFM) stations. The SBE released the AM, FM and TV Guides in 2024. The SBE partnered with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to produce the Guides. These guides are designed to aid stations and Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) inspectors in evaluating a broadcast station’s compliance with FCC rules and regulations.
The Guides are being developed to replace the FCC Self-Inspection Checklists that were first released in the 1990s, but had not been updated for nearly 15 years. While the previous Checklists only provided references to rules, the new SBE Guides include recommended practices for stations to establish policies and procedures for their own stations to ensure overall regulatory compliance.
The SBE Government Relations Committee, chaired by Charles “Ched” Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE, formed a working group of SBE members in April 2022 to begin reviewing and updating the Guides. Additional Guides for other broadcast services are under review and will be released later.
The Guides are available for download from the SBE website under the Legislative/Regulatory and Resources tabs. They are free to SBE members.
[This article was corrected to reflect KSDW’s operation on an FCC-approved STA—GS 3/25/25]
On March 14, 2025, the FCC granted the Assignment of Authorization for KSDW (FM) 88.9 Temecula from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa (“CCCM”) to the Educational Media Foundation (“EMF”). The station broadcasts using a Special Temporary Authority from Mt. Woodson east of Poway with 900 watts ERP, vertical polarization only. As of this writing, the station is broadcasting the Spanish-language “Radio Nueva Vida” stream of EMF programming that can also be heard in San Diego County on KKLJ 100.1 in Julian and K253AD 98.5 in Oceanside. The original license was for a site on Palomar Mountain, though in their STA filing to the FCC last year, CCCM said that their lease with the Pauma Indian Tribe there was revoked.
Also on March 14, the FCC granted the transfer of K245AI 96.9 licensed to San Pasqual, CA (a city east of Pasadena) but actually located atop Mt. Woodson. The station is broadcasting EMF’s “K-Love” contemporary Christian music programming.
Veteran broadcast engineer and SBE member Mark Goodman has assumed the role of Director of Engineering and Operations at KPBS-FM/TV. The position opened last year when Leon Messenie retired. Mark says his responsibilities include Master Control and Production operations.
Mark joined KSWB-TV as a broadcast engineer. In 2006, he left to join XETV when it was Fox 6, where he eventually became Director of Technology for what had become CW6. In 2017. When Televisa closed their US operations, he moved to KFMB-TV with a number of other employees. In 2019, he took an engineering position at KPBS-AM/TV.
Mark says he and his wife Veronica have been married 26 years. His daughter Dakota commutes with Mark to SDSU. His twin daughters Summer and Autumn attend Steele Canyon High School. When Mark is not working or hanging out with his family, he collects vinyl albums and recently rebuilt a Technics SL-2000 turntable.
Regarding KPBS projects, Mark reports they are replacing their Rohde & Schwarz TV transmitters with new GatesAir ULXTE-30 and ULXTE-16 models. Tony McDaid has been preparing the site for their arrival.
There’s been a lot of turnover after long engineer tenures. “We have had more retirements. Kevin Birch retired at the beginning of January and the retirement of Leon Messenie back in June of course both were large losses for the station and me personally. Both Kevin and Leon knew where all the bodies were buried. I could never fill Leon’s shoes but strive to provide the level of excellence he always maintained in everything he did. I’m also lucky to be able to hire Kevin Schrader back part time for special projects and have the opportunity to still take advantage of his mentoring and advice. Kevin retired at the end of January last year. I’m dreading the retirement of my boss and mentor Bruce Rogow…at the end of June. I’ve been busy but it has been a blast working with such a great team here at KPBS.”
On a personal note, when Mark answered my ad for an engineer position at XETV in 2006, I received two unsolicited phone calls in support of his technical work and attitude, and he proved to be a genius-level talent with a patient ear for users. He and Paul Redfield turned around XETV’s IT plant in short order, and with our cross-border fiber link, we soon had a remarkably modern, versatile system for moving data for an STL, a cable return, phone, intercom, and media.