Two New LPFM Stations in San Diego County (May 31, 2005)

Two new low-power FM radio stations have signed on in East San Diego county recently.

The first one signed on a while ago, but nobody reported on this, KJBQ-LP, 103.3, with the handle "Jukebox 103.3", broadcasts in an unincorporated community of Potrero, some 50 miles east of San Diego just northeast of Tecate. Potrero is located two miles east of the intersection of state highways 94 and 188. Click Here for the Map.

KJBQ-LP, a two-watt station, plays a classic hits format and is broadcasting on the Internet in the dreaded Windopes Media Player format from their website http://www.rockingthebox.com/. The station is owned by Mountain Empire Community Broadcasting Inc. and is at PO Box 27 (what a funny number), Potrero, CA 91963.

MCB Inc. was formed April 10, 2000, to own and operate the low-power 103.3 FM to serve the Mountain Empire communities of Potrero, Campo, and Morena Village. On June 8 of that year, the non-profit station under the rules of the FCC, filed an application to operate a 100-watt sation on 103.3 MHz, and on October 10, 2002, the station received the construction permit and were issued the call sign of KJBQ-LP.

From their website: "In order to reach the widest possible number of people in the community we need to play a wide verity of music The thinking is in general most older people listen to the radio in the afternoon and most younger people listen in the evening. The cross over times are in the morning and early evening hours." The station plays certain format blocks at different times such as Classic Rock, Oldies, Pop, 60's Rock, AOR, and Local Church.

Read about the KJBQ-LP station file at fcc.gov http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KJBQ-LP

The second LPFM signed on just the other day. KRLY-LP, "Lite 107.9 FM", is broadcasting two watts of music from Alpine, and is owned by East County Broadcasting Inc. A two-hour loop of the format suggests that it will be broadcasting MOR rock/pop hits from the 70s and 80s, similar to the format of KCBQ-FM from 1993-95. Reception was best along Alpine Blvd just west of Viejas, but people in the Fletcher Hills and Mt. Helix areas reported picking up the signal so strong that it overpowered the KWVE 107.9 radio station from San Clemente.

Read about the KRLY-LP station file at fcc.gov http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KRLY-LP

Another low-power San Diego county radio station is so far East that it's logically in the state of Arifornia (Arizona-ish California), that is, Borrego Springs. KKJD-LP broadcasts at 50 watts from that area and is run by the Borrego Springs Christian Center. http://www.calvarychapel.org/christiancenter/

Read about the KKJD-LP station file at fcc.gov http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KKJD-LP

Two other low-power radio stations have been broadcasting in San Diego county for some time. KCRW in Santa Monica http://www.kcrw.org/ runs a one-watt repeater K210CL at 89.9 FM from Lemon Grove to relay its programming in the Near East part of San Diego county such as Spring Valley and Rancho San Diego.

Read about the station file at fcc.gov: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=K210CL.

There's also K220GJ at 91.9 FM in Borrego Springs broadcasting CSN Radio http://www.csnradio.com/ programming at a full 50 watts of religious power.

KPRI 102.1 has seven repeaters scattered all over San Diego county, with a 130 watt, a 50 watt, and a 75 watt in San Diego, a 65 watt in La Mesa, a 52 watt in Pacific Beach, a 25 watt in Lemon Grove, a 62 watt in Rancho Penasquitos.

You can check out more information about the local low power radio stations from this page at TVRadio World.com http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/ca/radio.asp?m=sdi as well as from the LPFM Database.com page here http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/piratejim/lpfm1.html

Imperial's 96.1 To Campo (May 31, 2005)

My name is Tony Driskill. I'm the General Manager for The Valleys Q96 - The #1 Hit Music Station & Real Country KROP-AM. KSIQ-FM has filed for the change of city of license/downgrade to Campo. The reality is, a station license for San Diego is worth anywhere from 15 to 25 MILLION dollars - a station in Imperial County, no matter how successful (we've been the ratings & revenue winner for the 20 years since I put the station on the air as the P.D.) is worth about 5 million, based on our outstanding cash flow. My company, Cherry Creek Radio has made a business decision. Yes, there are other options for Q96 as a radio station, i.e: purchasing another signal in the market & moving the format, etc. That seems unlikely. This is a very sad time for me personally. The radio station has been a huge part of the Imperial Valley & my life. Stop with the speculations - grieve the upcoming loss of a great radio station that served its community for over 2 decades.

The Wires - Nationwide (May 31 2005)

It's like Tivo for radio, but is it legal? Various devices that enable listeners to record Internet radio streams and then convert them into MP3 files are catching on and making Web radio and streaming services more appealing to the general public. But some legal experts say the recording software may violate digital copyright laws and does little more than promote piracy (read more - Reuters)