RBR+TVBR INFOCUS
HERMOSA BEACH, CALIF. — In the middle of 2016, the FCC’s Media Bureau awarded a new low-power radio station at 92.7 MHz, based in the picturesque city of Pasadena, to an arts and culture-focused nonprofit that receives funding through grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and other support from the Los Angeles Arts Commission.
This immediately raised red flags with one of the biggest Christian Contemporary Music broadcast ministries in America, today the No. 2 licensee of radio stations in the U.S., behind iHeartMedia.
In March 2017, the Media Bureau upheld its decision to award the LPFM. Now, the two parties have reached a settlement that ends any arguments about interference — unless you live in the L.A. basin and enjoy “Today’s Hit Music” on a 100kw station with a broadcast tower in the Monte San Antonio area of Tijuana, Mexico.
A settlement agreement has been filed with the FCC, via a Form 345 submission, that sees Educational Media Foundation settle its difference with Razorcake/Gorsky Press.
That’s the licensee of presently dark KFFL-LPFM in Pasadena, a 30-minute ride on the Metro Gold Line from downtown Los Angeles or via historic Arroyo Seco Parkway. Thanks to Southern California’s unique topography, KFFL’s 100-watt signal — from a tower near Eaton Canyon, was designed to hug the city that is home to the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Norton Simon Museum.
EMF said no, and steadfastly argued that its existence would cause interference with its KYLA-FM 92.7 in Fountain Valley, Calif. This is a Class A facility that serves as the Los Angeles DMA’s primary home of the worship and praise-focused Air1 network.
It’s an intriguing argument. KYLA has long benefited from a signal atop a peak in Newport Coast, in the southern portion of Orange County. As such, KYLA has a city-grade signal across the county, with in-car coverage extending to cities including Long Beach and Whittier.
In the Beach Cities, which include Hermosa Beach to the south of LAX, KYLA’s signal fades. Pasadena is outside of the official signal contour, as shown on Radio-Locator.com. Longtime Southland residents will happily argue that maps don’t illustrate the whole story, with the famed marine layer serving as a topographic signal enhancer. As such, any co-channel interference — especially from a higher elevation — could be problematic.
That’s exactly the mindset behind the argument EMF presented in a March 2017 Application for Review that sought a relook by the Media Bureau of its awardance of the Pasadena LPFM. “EMF maintains that Razorcake’s showing was defective because it failed to demonstrate that the station will not cause interference to its co-channel KYLA,” EMF argued.
The Media Bureau disagreed, leading EMF on April 21, 2017 to file a Petition for Reconsideration. This was dismissed by Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey, who noted that EMF’s petition “relies upon impermissible facts and arguments.”
This seemingly allowed Razorcake/Gorsky Press to move forward with over-the-air broadcasts of podcasts tied to the non-profit’s mission of fostering “positive, progressive, community-friendly DIY punk.”
But, it is perhaps how the 92.7 MHz is used across the L.A. Basin by EMF that continued to present issues — and not KYLA, specifically. KKLQ-FM 100.3 HD2 feeds K224EY, also at 92.7 MHz. This translator provides Air1 programming in sync with KYLA to L.A.’s Westside and the Beach Cities — explaining how Air1 can cover these communities.
Where’s the tower? It is now operating via a Construction Permit from a tower in downtown Los Angeles, having upgraded from a 65-watt facility alongside the western terminus of the 91 Freeway in Carson.
This huge upgrade for the translator, covering a valued swath of the 310 and 323 area codes, could have been vulnerable to the Pasadena LPFM.
How so? When 99-watt K216EM at 91.1 MHz began broadcasting from a tower site due west of the Rose Bowl some 15 years ago, regular reception of XETRA-FM (91X) in Tijuana was effectively silenced across L.A.’s Westside.
This was before K216FM at 91.1 MHz was added in Inglewood, Calif., using the Baldwin Hills tower site.
The only co-channel interference issues that may arise are tied to KDSC-FM 91.1 in Thousand Oaks.
In the case of K224EY and KYLA, the Pasadena LPFM — one with the same power output as K216EM — remained a problem even after the FCC declined to side with EMF.
A HISTORICAL LINK
The KYLA story, and how EMF got to a settlement with Razorcake/Gorsky Press, could be attributable in part to Amaturo Group.
In October 1995, KNJO-FM 92.7 in Thousand Oaks, Calif., was acquired by the radio broadcasting company operated by Joe Amaturo for $2 million. So was an Adelanto, Calif., Class A, serving the Antelope Valley to the north of Riverside and San Bernardino. A co-channel facility in Avalon, on Catalina Island, was then acquired and moved. This is the facility presently known as KYLA. A trimulcast was created, as “Lite FM.”
Today, the three stations are the home signals to “Air1,” with EMF having acquired the properties in December 2012 from Amaturo.
Could the historical use of the three stations, along with the fill-in translators, be interpreted as “full-market coverage” for Air1? Certainly in the eyes of EMF that seems to be the case. For the FCC, it came down to simple lines on a map — and an affirmed “no”.
Enter longtime EMF legal counsel David Oxenford, of Wilkinson Barker Knauer. He, along with EMF General Counsel Shaine Greishaber, successfully reached a settlement agreement that should make both Razorcake/Gorsky Press and Air1 leaders happy.
Ten-watt translator K212FA at 90.3 MHz in Temple City, Calif., has been used as an Air1 rebroadcast facility. It has a transmitter atop Mt. Harvard, just below the antenna farm at Mt. Wilson. From there, the signal covers Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, Sierra Madre and San Marino.
It’s excellent coverage of the areas KFFL-LPFM was designed to cover.
Indeed, Razorcake/Gorsky Press think so, too. The settlement agreement states that Razorcake “believes that it can retransmit a signal that will serve its intended audience with a program format that will serve the public interest in the same manner as the planned LPFM.
In order for Razorcake/Gorsky Press to get the translator, it must agree to one key act: the dismissal of its application and surrender to the Commission of its current construction permit for KFFL-LPFM.
Razorcake has agreed to do so, with Oakland, Calif.-based Michael Couzens serving as its legal counsel.
What will be the originating station for K212FA?
FCC documents show it is to be KTCN-FM 88.3 in Acton, Calif., a tiny 100-watt facility atop Angeles Forest Highway, pointing downslope to the Antelope Valley Freeway.
While EMF’s three-year battle against Razorcake/Gorsky Press is now at an end, listeners who enjoy “DX”-ing XHITZ-FM (Z90) in Tijuana, Baja California, which serves the San Diego DMA, will now be prevented from doing so.
Contour maps show Z90’s signal fades upon reaching the northern limits of San Diego County. But, factor in a marine layer and higher elevation, and Z90 typically barrels in thanks to its 100kw signal.
It is this very geographical and weather-related phenomenon that led EMF on its quest to squelch a LPFM that, to Washington, didn’t appear to be a threat at all to a string of stations serving the nation’s second-largest radio market.
Reporting by Adam R Jacobson from Boca Raton, Fla., with reports from Kevin Epstein and Jen Bates in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
In addition to the 92.7 MHz frequencies used across the Los Angeles DMA to bring Air1 to Southern California, EMF also uses K220HC at 91.9 MHz to reach the eastern San Fernando Valley.
