A group of radio stations that lease space on an American Tower Corp.-owned broadcast tower located at the top of Buckman Mountain Road in the Austin, Tex., neighborhood on the west bank of the Texas Colorado River are coping with broadcast issues that began early Saturday morning.
At least two stations, which do not have backup transmitters, remain unable to return to the FM dial.
According to The University of Texas at Austin’s KUT Radio, both KUT-FM 90.5 and eclectic Adult Alternative KUTX-FM 98.9 went dark on the morning of January 13. So did other stations that use the facility. However, backup transmitters went into motion, including that for KUT-FM.
KUT sibling KUTX-FM does not have a backup transmitter. On its website, “The Austin Music Experience” has notified listeners that it is “experiencing technical difficulties and is not broadcasting over the FM dial right now,” while directing KUTX’s audience to stream its broadcast signal.
KJFK-AM’s FM translator putting a signal over Austin, K242DE at 96.3 MHz, is also dark. On Instagram, the station posted on Sunday, “A major radio antenna in Austin is experiencing technical issues which has resulted in multiple stations being off the air, including the ‘96.3 JACK FM’ signal in Austin,” it said. Neither the signal for KJFK-AM or for KJFK-FM in Llano, Tex., due west of Austin, are impacted.
What caused the multiple-station signal outage? It is not yet determined, as poor weather prevented tower crews from climbing up to examine the problem. As such, UT-Austin says “it could be weeks before KUTX is back on the air.”
Other stations on the tower include KKMJ-FM, KVET-FM, KAMX-FM, KASE-FM, KFMK-FM, KMFA-FM and KVLR-FM.
A request for comment from American Tower Corp. has been sent by RBR+TVBR via e-mail.
