KPBS engineer and SBE Chapter 36 Chairman Tony McDaid says that KRAM Borrego Springs, a station licensed for Borrego Springs, asked KPBS for permission to rebroadcast its signal. The independent organization Ram Media Foundation was given permission to do so as an independent organization outside the normal signal 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 has Special Temporary Authority to remain silent while details are being worked out before returning to the air, reportedly in the next few weeks. 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.
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.
Thanks for joining us for the January 13, 2026 meeting with Tony Gervasi of GatesAir. He covered what’s new in the world of audio codecs and transport methods for both radio and TV, both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint, including satellite transport replacement.
About Tony Gervasi
Tony has been an Intraplex Sales Manager with GatesAir since 2018. He was VP of Engineering and Technology for Nassau Broadcasting from 1995 to 2013, based out of Princeton, NJ, with some 100 radio stations from Maine to Maryland. He started in radio back in 1983 as an on-air talent.
Marvin Collins with Doug Irwin at the KFI (AM) transmitter in La Mirada, CA
A late August tour of the La Mirada transmitter site tour sponsored by SBE Chapter 47 brought together an impressive collection of veteran chief engineers, including Marvin Collins, now 90, who was Chief Engineer of KFI (AM) 640 between 1976 and 2000, along with current CE Doug Irwin.
The iHeartMedia crew maintains impressive redundancy, including three capable transmitters, two independent antennas, electric generator, and standby studio.
Many thanks to GatesAir and their regional sales rep, Ron Lane, for helping to support SBE Chapter 36 activities. It was great to see Ron at our September meeting. Ron, a veteran broadcaster himself from KKOS Carlsbad, had worked for Pacific Research & Engineering before the company was acquired by Harris, that later split into two companies, one of which is today’s GatesAir.
