The race is on to fill the low band TV channels abandoned last year by NBC, CBS, and Tribune Broadcasting in Los Angeles. Kenneth Fullam applied for a low power TV license to broadcast on channel 4 from Palomar Mountain. The 240 watt digital outlet would be directional toward San Diego. Low band VHF fell out of favor during the digital transition due to concerns about impulse noise and the physical size of antennas needed to receive those channels efficiently.

Fullam filed similar channel 4 low power applications to serve West Los Angeles and Newport Beach. No word on what Mr. Fullam intends to do with these stations.

Clear Channel Radio Engineer Dean Imhof will join the expanded six-station Broadcasting Company of the Americas group as Director of Engineering beginning Monday, January 18. He and veteran engineer Bill Lipis will have to move the Finest City Broadcasting studios on Granite Ridge Drive to the Sorrento Mesa BCA studios by the end of the month.

Dean and the Clear Channel engineers had been hired to maintain the FCB technical facilities after they broke away from the larger Clear Channel group in December 2005.

Dean began his career at KOZN radio in Imperial at the age of 15. He has extensive experience with the automation systems at Clear Channel and Finest City Broadcasting after starting with Jacor in 1997.

Clear Channel Director of Engineering John Rigg said he will definitely miss Dean’s talents at the group facility.

Local Media of America, backed by Thoma Bravo, on January 7 took over operations of Finest City Broadcasting. FCB  had operated Mexican-licensed radio stations “Z-90” XHTZ 90.3 FM, “91X” XETRA 91.1 FM, and “Magic” XHRM 92.5 FM. Broadcasting Company of America, led by CEO John Lynch, convinced LMA to back taking over the FCB financial obligations and grow the stations. They will join “XX Sports Radio” XEPRS 1090 AM, “the Walrus” XHPRS 105.7 FM, and San Diego 1700 XEPE AM.

Lynch had been head of Noble Broadcasting when it operated XETRA AM and FM before its sale to Jacor in 1997.

Past KNSD technical manager Randy Mickler died December 20 at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer. According to his successor Dave MacKinnon, he had retired earlier in 2009. A San Diego Union-Tribune obituary said that Mickler had worked at channel 39 for 29 years and had received several Emmys for his creative work there. His wife Jane Clifford had achieved some notoriety herself as a columnist for the Union-Tribune.