Local News

KZTC-LD Sold, Switching to UHF

[Updated 5/27/2025 to reflect FCC actions] The FCC granted the sale of KZTC-LD channel 7 to Intrigue TV of Stamford CT for $187,500 on May 22, 2025.

Two days before, the FCC granted Intrigue TV a Major Change from VHF channel 7 with 3 kW ERP to UHF channel 25 using 12 kW ERP to achieve approximately the same coverage from Mt. Woodson, continuing to beam southward to protect Los Angeles stations. Intrigue had gained permission from the current owners to file for the channel change.

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Local News

KUPA NCE Cancels Construction Permit

On May 5, 2025, Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association filed with the FCC to cancel its construction permit for KUPA FM 89.9 (Facility ID 766985) atop Hot Springs Mountain with Warner Springs as the community of license.

According to the manager of KPRI and the SCTCA FM Project, John Fox, “Barring interference from co-channel KCRW in LA and a station in Mexicali, the new class B FM would have been heard in parts of the city of San Diego and thanks to shielding from the Santa Ana mountains, through much of the Temecula Valley, plus most places in between, terrain permitting. The plan was at least initially to simulcast KPRI, Pala, turning “Rez Radio” into a multi-channel brand. It would have been totally solar and wind-powered with a propane generator backup.”

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Meetings

Chapter 36 Meeting May 21 – Bext at iHeartMedia

You may know San Diego distributor Bext for their local repair lab and warehouse full of reliable FM Transmitters, Antennas, RF Filters and Combiners, but did you know they now have a line of transmitters with built-in features like IP remote control, RDS, SNMP, Digital Micro MPX capability, internal audio processor and more? The lower wattage units are now LPFM FCC Certified, too. 

Dennis Pieri and his staff engineers will demonstrate their XL FM transmitter line and its audio processor. They plan to bring a compact new FM filter to show off. 

Join us on May 21, 2025 at 12:00 noon at iHeartMedia, 9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego. They’re buying pizza, as well.

National

SBE Releases LPFM Station Self-Inspection Guide

The SBE has released the latest addition to the Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides. The new document covers low-power FM (LPFM) stations. The SBE released the AM, FM and TV Guides in 2024. The SBE partnered with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to produce the Guides. These guides are designed to aid stations and Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) inspectors in evaluating a broadcast station’s compliance with FCC rules and regulations.

The Guides are being developed to replace the FCC Self-Inspection Checklists that were first released in the 1990s, but had not been updated for nearly 15 years. While the previous Checklists only provided references to rules, the new SBE Guides include recommended practices for stations to establish policies and procedures for their own stations to ensure overall regulatory compliance.

The SBE Government Relations Committee, chaired by Charles “Ched” Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE, formed a working group of SBE members in April 2022 to begin reviewing and updating the Guides. Additional Guides for other broadcast services are under review and will be released later.

The Guides are available for download from the SBE website under the Legislative/Regulatory and Resources tabs. They are free to SBE members.

Local News

Two Calvary Chapel Stations Transferred to EMF

[This article was corrected to reflect KSDW’s operation on an FCC-approved STA—GS 3/25/25]

On March 14, 2025, the FCC granted the Assignment of Authorization for KSDW (FM) 88.9 Temecula from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa (“CCCM”) to the Educational Media Foundation (“EMF”). The station broadcasts using a Special Temporary Authority from Mt. Woodson east of Poway with 900 watts ERP, vertical polarization only. As of this writing, the station is broadcasting the Spanish-language “Radio Nueva Vida” stream of EMF programming that can also be heard in San Diego County on KKLJ 100.1 in Julian and K253AD 98.5 in Oceanside. The original license was for a site on Palomar Mountain, though in their STA filing to the FCC last year, CCCM said that their lease with the Pauma Indian Tribe there was revoked.

Also on March 14, the FCC granted the transfer of K245AI 96.9 licensed to San Pasqual, CA (a city east of Pasadena) but actually located atop Mt. Woodson. The station is broadcasting EMF’s “K-Love” contemporary Christian music programming.

Society of Broadcast Engineers