On January 16, 2024, KUSI and KSWB-TV began their shared broadcast in the NextGen ATSC 3.0 format on UHF-TV channel 18 in San Diego.

Viewers who want to continue to receive KUSI over the air will need to perform a RESCAN on their TVs. This is generally done by entering the MENU, then looking for SIGNAL or RF or ANTENNA, selecting AIR (not CABLE), and AUTO-PROGRAM or SCAN or ADD CHANNELs on the MENU.

Their December 11, 2023 FCC application specified having the KUSI channel 18 transmitter hosting KSWB-TV “Fox 5” and ATSC 1.0 on the KSWB-TV channel 26 transmitter hosting KUSI, each atop Mt. San Miguel.

The FCC recently approved Nextstar’s purchase of KUSI. The two stations are now co-owned and are moving into the established KUSI studio facility in Murphy Canyon. 

Some models of commonly available television sets now include NextGen tuners. KRPE-LD channel 6 on Mt. San Miguel was the first area station to begin the NextGen service. 

Many thanks to Jeff Motta, Sales Manager of RF Specialties of California. Jeff made a generous donation at the end of 2023 to help support Chapter 36. RF Specialities has been based in San Diego since 2018, when Dennis Pieri acquired the West Coast divisions. 

RF Specialties distributes several major brands of broadcast RF hardware, including Nautel, Dialectric, Jampro, Kathrein, RFS Systems, Bext, and Anywave. They also represent many brands of broadcast infrastructure, including DASDEC, Sage Alerting Systems, D2D Technologies, Inovonics, Mackie, and so on. Check out all of their equipment lines here. 

The Holiday Bowl on December 27, 2023, was Hendrik Jaehn’s final production as Engineer-in-Charge at Petco Park. The San Diego Padres hired him 23 years ago to head the scoreboard video and audio control room at Qualcomm Stadium before the team moved to the new stadium downtown in 2004. He said of his duties at Petco Park, “This has been fun. It’s supposed to be work, but it’s just fun to me.”

Hendrik said Wednesday that he will be driving cross-country to a new residence in Florida over the weekend. He said he plans to travel in Europe and “maybe I’ll buy a boat and sail around for a while.”

Hendrik said he gained much of his technical knowledge while working with Fred Swift at KUSI. “Fred is another level,” he said.

He said he enjoyed teaching some of the younger technicians, but lamented the lack of basic knowledge many come into the field with. “When they don’t even have a few audio principles down, how are they supposed to even start? What can I do?”

His successor has not been announced.

iHeart Regional Lead Engineer John Rigg sent us a note on Monday, November 27, 2023: “It is with tremendous sorrow that I announce the passing of William B. Thompson. 

“Bill was a fixture in the broadcast engineering community for 40+ years.   Bill began his broadcast career in Columbus, Georgia, stopping at CNN Radio in Atlanta and then making his way to San Diego in 1988. 

“Initially working for the upstart powerhouse Q106 and Edens Broadcasting, Bill’s 35 years in San Diego have been spent entirely with iHeart Media and their predecessors.  

“Bill will be greatly missed.”

Bill had specialized in transmitter maintenance for the iHeartMedia group in San Diego. He served as LECC Vice-Chair for local EAS administration since he was the Chief Engineer of LP1 station KOGO for years.