All posts by Gary Stigall

Local News

KRAM (FM) Borrego Springs Is Now a KPBS-FM Satellite Station

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On February 10, 2026, KRAM Borrego Springs began relaying KPBS-FM, which is now including the station in its top-of-the-hour station identifications. The independent organization Ram Media Foundation was given rebroadcast permission as an independent organization outside the signal coverage area of KPBS-FM San Diego. The foundation is associated with Gabriel Wisdom, a financial advisor and former on-air personality at KGB-FM and KPRI.

KRAM (FM) is licensed with 100 W ERP on 90.5 MHz using a horizontal antenna at a height above ground of 25 feet at 730 Christmas Circle, which had previously been a Wells Fargo Bank. The station has a Construction Permit to operate at 470 W ERP at 36 feet above ground level from the same location. A story about the station’s return is at GoToBorregoSprings.com.

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Local News, National

EAS Regular Weekly Test Sent Improperly

The IPAWS RWT for the week of January 11—17 did not send correctly, so this was a true test of your EAS device.

From the FEMA:

“We discovered after the IPAWS RWT chron job launched the Monday morning IPAWS RWTs that the associated IPAWS digital certificate in use had expired. As individual EAS devices are required by FCC Rules to check CAP message digital signatures, the EAS device should have flagged the incoming RWT as expired. Let’s consider this week to be a test of EAS device security. We have replaced the expired digital certificate. Next week’s messages will be properly signed with a valid digital certificate.”

For that week, you should have received an error about the lack of certificate, or received no RWT from IPAWS at all. If you received a valid RWT, you have a validation issue. Log the exception and pat yourself on the back.

Meetings

November 19 Online Meeting: Chris Crump from Comrex

We’ll explore all things Comrex, including a discussion about their new product, FieldLink and the issue broadcasters face with frequencies related to wireless mic/IFB. Chris Crump will be presenting with context and a history lesson.

Many of us might not quite remember the early days of Comrex. The first products produced by its founder, John Chaney, in Sudbury, Massachusetts were some of the television industry’s first wireless mic and IFB devices. They were used on Broadway, by the NFL, and by television stations all over the United States. A lot has changed since then, including the problems with frequency congestion that caused a shift in product line focus in the late 60s. We’ll discuss the issues that broadcasters, especially at sporting and live concert events, face when trying to do sideline or in-the-stands reporting in addition to covering some new solutions being offered by Comrex and other vendors.

About Chris

Chris Crump has served as the Sr. Director of Sales & Marketing for Comrex since 2004. In 1987, he began his professional radio career at ABC/Cap Cities Detroit before taking the Features Editor position at MediaBase Research/Monday Morning Replay. On-air, remote broadcast engineer, Creative Services Director roles followed for Capitol Broadcasting  in Orlando and the Ron & Ron Radio Network in Tampa/St. Petersburg.  In 1996, Crump moved to the manufacturing side of the broadcast business performing sales & marketing roles for Spectral, Inc., Euphonix, Symetrix and Klotz Digital America. He is a CBNE certified member of the SBE chapter in Atlanta. 

Join us Wednesday, November 19 at 11:00 PT on Zoom. This meeting was organized by Chapter 9, Phoenix. 

ZOOM LINK HERE