The FCC granted on February 6, 2018 the application to transfer control of the longtime family-owned KFMB Stations to Tegna of McLean, Virginia. The Meyer family, most lately Elisabeth (Meyer) Kimmel, had owned the AM, FM, and TV stations since 1964, an oddity in an industry typically held in large clusters by publicly-traded corporations.

The fate of approximately 200 employees, the most of any San Diego media company and many with long seniority, lies now with the media giant made primarily of the stations from the Gannett, King Broadcasting, and Belo groups that have merged over the past few years.

The change brings up numerous questions: Continue reading FCC Approves Sale of KFMB Stations to Tegna →

Bext, a San Diego-based supplier and service provider of FM Antennas, RF Combiners, RF filters, FM Transmitters and many things RF, recently bought RF Specialties of California and moved their employees to their Tenth Avenue facility downtown. Steve Moreen, the past owner of RF Specialties of California and Program Chair of SBE Chapter 36, last year began a sales position for Dielectric, the antenna manufacturer busy with TV channel repacking orders.

I asked Bext owner and general nice guy Dennis Pieri about the sale. Continue reading Bext Takes Over RF Specialties of California →

Chapter 36 welcomes new member Darnell Forde. He tells us he retired after 20 years in the Navy as a Chief Electronics Technician and graduated from the San Diego City College Communications program with a concentration in Radio. He’s now pursuing an MBA at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Darnell has been involved in radio both as a talent and as an engineering technician.  He said he was introduced to broadcast engineering by Dick Warren in 2006 when Dick mentored him at The Soul of San Diego, KNSN AM 1240.  When the lease agreement ended, Darnell continued to maintain the studio equipment at the Bayview Baptist Church.

Why did Darnell join the SBE? “I recently discovered that I have a passion for radio, especially the broadcast engineering aspect of radio and I want to be part of the change that has already started in radio from terrestrial to new media.  Although there are complexities, I am willing to learn.

“To date, I’ve done periodic maintenance of broadcast equipment, live remotes, and tours of transmitter sites.   After leaving the Navy, my interactions with RF transmitters became limited. [I’d like to] get into radio/broadcast management and be involved in establishing new innovations in radio.”