FCC Fines KURS

The FCC has issued a $12,000 monetary forfeiture and short-term renewal for Station KURS(AM), 1040 kHz, San Diego for failure to prepare issues and program’s lists in the Station’s public file and to file biennial ownership reports. The station is owned by Quetzal Bilingual Communications, associated with Jaime Bonilla Valdez of Chula Vista.

The same station was issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for violating output power limits in June 1999.

Bonilla’s group Media Sports de Mexico owns stations XHPRS Tecate (operated by Broadcasting Corporation of America as Max 105.7), XEPE 1700 kHz (also operated by BCA), XESDD 1030 kHz Tijuana, and XESS 620 kHz Rosarito, Mexico.

June Meeting: Lectrosonics to Talk About Wireless Mic Spectrum

With the FCC auctioning UHF-TV broadcast spectrum to telecom, “white space” is destined to be a mostly obsolete concept.lectrosonics

  • Will there be replacement spectrum for our wireless microphones?
  • How soon will we have to change channels again?
  • Will broadcasters and other users be reimbursed?
  • Can we use Part 74 spectrum for wireless mics and IFB?

Kelly Fair of Lectrosonics will discuss wireless microphone and IFB spectrum at  a Chapter 36 SBE meeting 12 noon on June 15, 2016 at KFMB Stations, 7677 Engineer Road, San Diego. Kelly will provide a lunch in the station deli, then move on to Studio A for the presentation. SBE members and guests are welcome.

About Kelly Fair

Kelly has been in technical broadcast audio sales for 27 years, representing Sennheiser, Riedel, Wohler, and most lately, Lectrosonics. Kelly lives, and occasionally beats a set of drums, in Los Angeles.

Time Warner Cable Purchased by Charter Communications

In much of San Diego County, your cable service provider is soon to be renamed. Charter Communications, who took over Time Warner Cable and Bright House Communications on May 18, is rebranding the combined company “Spectrum.” Support phone numbers are remaining the same as for Time Warner for the time being, but Charter is claiming their support staff is being brought back to the US from overseas, so presumably they will centralize. If you receive commercial fiber service from the old Time Warner system (TW Telecom), that part of the business was sold to Level 3 Communications in December 2014.

May 18 Meeting: RTS and Dante

By now, you’ve likely heard about the audio-over-IP protocol called Dante. It’s low-latency so that you can use it with live audio, and can pass through most data switches. Many of the largest broadcast suppliers have adopted it. RTS, the intercom company that has been around since the 1970s, will come to town and explain why their latest generation of products is knee-deep into Dante.telex-rts-logo

They can answer a few questions you might have:

  • What data rates are used?
  • What is the packet structure?
  • Does it play well in my network?
  • How many audio channels can fit at a time?
  • What is its latency? Will my air staff hear an echo?
  • When should I favor analog audio, if at all?
  • Are there phone apps that work with intercom systems now?

Jeff Shorsher of RTS/Telex will sort out these topics and more in a meeting Wednesday, May 18 at 12 noon at KFMB Stations, 7677 Engineer Road in Kearny Mesa. Join us for a lunch provided by RTS, then a general meeting and presentation. Members and guests are all welcome.

About the Presenters

Jeff Shorsher is new to RTS, but has a long history in broadcast engineering, most recently as sales representative for Commscope. He worked as engineer at KTTY (now Fox 5), Paramount Pictures, and National Mobile Television. He has math and computer science degrees from UCSD and broadcast engineering training from Palomar College.

Calvin Ogawa has served as Field Support Engineer for RTS since 2011, but has served many broadcast engineering roles in southern California, including those for Fox Sports West, ABC Network News, Paramount Studios, KCET-TV, and NPR.

Society of Broadcast Engineers