http://www.kwjg.org/
KWJG-FM is a community radio station in Kasilof Alaska.
They pulled the plug on their electric power a year ago – their license will be revoked on August 13th for being silent for a year.
The reason?
Government funded KBBI-AM in Homer wants to build a new FM station and KWJG was in the way. We believe the Alaska Public Broadcast Commission asked the Federal Communications Commission to find reasons to issue the Notice of Violation. This Notice will ultimately result in a substantial fine putting us out of business.
In case you were thinking about snatching up the license, the population of Kasilof is 471.
Does that mean Government funded KBBI-AM in Homer can make money in town that size, or is there more to the story, as usual?
Must be much more to the story. The FM band in Alaska is far from crowded, so it must be to capture the listeners by removing their choice to listen to something else.
Government funded KBBI and government run FCC, lots of tax payer dollars at work here, and you can bet it is too much for the 471 people (100+ families) to pay the legal bills. Get out your wallet, Nidster. 😉
“Get out your wallet, Nidster.”
I don’t have enough money, or CC’s to use a wallet!
The official explanation to the FCC is that one of the station’s volunteers had allowed the station to hook into their electric meter and that was turned off. Maybe the power company told them you can’t be running a radio station from a residential drop, or maybe the hookup was done improperly.
Alaska is atypical in that a large portion of the FM stations are run by “Native Americans”, which Congress and the FCC have been bending over to be helpful in getting them expedited licenses (If you were born before Alaska became a State, are you still a Native American? Is Native American an oxymoron?)
I found the FCC infractions – the Public File was missing
1) station logs for the past two years
2) a copy of the station license
3) a copy of the current ownership report
4) a copy of the 2008 version of the FCC pamphlet “The Public and Broadcasting” – they had the 2003 version
Radio Stations are required to file a report every two years of who is running the station – The FCC filing was last done in 2003 and then in August 2012 an updated copy was submitted saying “same as last time” Mr. Glynn (the president) owns 110% of the station. Want to bet he also isn’t doing IRS paperwork?
The 501(c)(3) information online says the last filing was in 2009, reporting $0 in assets and $0 in income. What is 110% of $0? As you probably know, by being a 501(c)(3) tax deductible non-profit, the organization is prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities.
The station is 1 Kw – they also have a 250 watt station in Homer
Wow! having a 1 Kw signal must reach out how far? 5,000 to 10,000 yards, depending on mountains?
The State Run media has, or will have a lot bigger power signal once they get to build a new FM station. Betcha it’ll only cost the taxpayer between $100 to $200 million a year target the population with dialectics out the wazzzooo.
1 kw on AM will go far in Alaska – when it is not dark there, it is dusk. lol seriously, even with the midnight sun in the summer, the sun never rises very high in the sky…. and how far do you think it is to the closest station on the same AM frequency?
Do we have border protection arrangements with Russia? Sarah Palin says you can amost hear Russian AM stations from Wasilla
I don’t think there are AM stations in Russia anywhere near Alaska. Eastern Siberia has a few ports for the Russian military but not much else. In comparison, Alaska is a tropical wonderland land because it gets the warm Japan current that Siberia does not.
The 1 kW is for the FM station.
The proposed KBBI-FM has 9,600 people living in its 60 dB protected contour, only about 900 of which can’t hear the 250 watt KMJG-FM in Homer, which is a simulcast of the 1kW KWJG-FM in Kasilof, 50 miles away.
Note that “M” is an upside down “W” – I bet nobody else broke that secret code.
Among the 40 hours a week of live programming was a show reporting on each of the dogs in the various dog pounds. Now that is Public Radio! Who needs Diane Rehm when you can hear the local female dogs barking?
Pretty impressive list below. Here she takes on Rush Limbaugh, and she tells him to get down on his knees”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THcVQOcJDEM&feature=player_detailpage
“Many of the nation’s prominent newsmakers, journalists, and authors have appeared on the Diane Rehm Show, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, and photographer Annie Leibovitz. In 2000, Rehm became the first radio talk show host to interview a sitting president in the Oval Office when she interviewed President Bill Clinton.”
I thought I heard one bark, “We Have to Pass the Bill So That You Can Find Out What Is In It”
Nidster, was Bill the one sitting, or was that Monica? 😉
CC, if memory serves, it was Monica squatting in front of a hunched-over, Bill.
Of course, my eyesight is nowhere near as sharp these days.
KBBI-AM is located in Homer (where KMJG-FM is) and has been there since the 1970s. They are an NPR affiliate, have an actual independent board of directors and file ownership reports every 2 years and have an EEOC report on their web site. Homer has a population of around 5000, but the AM station is 10 kw day/night
It’s a fact that KBBI has an FM construction permit on an adjacent channel 91.3 in Homer that potentially could overlap kwjg on 91.5, except it is 49 miles away, far beyond the limits for adjacent channel protection. Homer has 13 FM Translators – so the band isn’t so uncluttered as you might think
So you might be thinking – what possible reason is there for 15 radio stations (including translators) in a town of 5,000 people?
So’s they can be in the Guiness Book of World Records for most radio stations/person?
Or, it’s they reach out to the Fishing/Crabbing Fleet, obviously.
When I visited Martinique, I found it had at least that many translators of Paris/French stations.
But, what was the population, including Pelicans?
but can they translate Rush Limbaugh into Eskimo?
Or, into crackas?
Here is the map from the FCC filing
https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101209743&qnum=5120©num=1&exhcnum=1
KBBI-FM’s construction permit expires 8/12/13
Timing is everything
Can’t be late with those top’o’hour IDs too. 😉
There is no update on the web site, but there are FCC filings on the 14th that the two stations have resumed operations
Good thing he doesn’t own a TV station and didn’t file his report on Children’s TV programming!
http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2013/07/articles/childrens-programming-and-adve/more-big-fcc-fines-for-childrens-television-violations/index.html