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.

The FCC moved the Low Power FM new license filing window to December 6 through 13, 2023 from November to give more time for applicants.

Several San Diego FM stations have filed to move their transmitter sites or otherwise improve their signals before the next LPFM filing window. Their applications attempt to reserve better coverage and prevent co-channel filers from encroaching. 

KVIB-LP 101.1 San Diego was granted a Construction Permit in mid-October to move from its current location atop the World Beat Center in Balboa Park to the top of a building in University Heights near the corner of Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue. This move will significantly increase the population count served since the current location has no housing within a radius that readily prevents co-channel interference from KRTH Los Angeles. KVIB is licensed to Positive Hope, Inc., an organization closely linked with the World Beat Center. 

K206AC 89.1 La Jolla – On September 21, 2023, the FCC granted a Construction Permit to increase its power from 4 to 50 watts ERP and to change its translator source to KPBS’s HD2 service. The analog signal would then broadcast the classical music secondary channel of the San Diego State University NPR affiliate. The translator sits atop an apartment highrise building at 939 Coast Boulevard near La Jolla Cove.

KCZP-LP 93.7 San Diego filed with the FCC on August 8, 2023 to move its transmitter from its current location atop the bell tower of the St. Joseph Cathedral at 3rd and Beech street in uptown San Diego to an adjacent, taller Cathedral Plaza Apartments associated with the Catholic Diocese. The new location would provide terrain clearance to the north and some downtown building clearance southward. The station, while independent of the Catholic Church, provides Catholic network programming.

Jeff Latimer, 53, a past broadcast engineer in San Diego, was reported by his wife Marsi in a Facebook post to have passed away in his sleep on October 21 in Texas. Jeff had worked at KUSI, XETV, KFMB, and OAN until the couple moved to Texas in 2021 where Jeff worked with Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Marsi had also said in the post that he had suffered what she termed a hemorrhagic stroke several months ago. He is survived by Marsi and their son Dallas. Marsi and Jeff had been married for 20 years. Marsi was a traffic and weather reporter in San Diego for many years.

I had the honor and pleasure of working with Jeff on a microwave system installation project. Our condolences to Marsi and her family.

On September 21, 2023, the FCC granted a Construction Permit by K206AC 89.1 La Jolla to increase its power from 4 to 50 watts ERP and to change its translator source to KPBS’s HD2 service. The analog signal would then broadcast the classical music secondary channel of the San Diego State University NPR affiliate. The translator sits atop an apartment highrise building at 939 Coast Boulevard near La Jolla Cove.