FCC FLAGS KANSAS LPFM FOR OPERATING 499% ABOVE AUTHORIZED POWER • A HOUSE THAT IS ALSO A “SMART SPEAKER”

Music by Christian singer Freako

is popular on WCGG

Listeners to KCGG-FM in Kansas City, Kansas, may be wondering why the station is now so hard to hear. 

The reason is,that the FCC has ordered KCGG to operate at its authorized power: 6-watts.

When the FCC did a site visit to KCGG in late 2019, they learned that KCGG was operating at 49.9-watts, 499% times what the station should be doing. LPFM stations can operate at a maximum of 105% of their authorized power.

During the site visit, the FCC Agent also found that KCGG was not running required EAS tests and the station did not have a program log.

KCCG is an owned by La iglesia Casa De Dios Para Las Naciones (the House of God For The Nations, a Kansas City-based church that operates KCGG as an outreach to Hispanic and African-American communities. The station has a page on Facebook [link].

Spurious emissions” erupt close to AM tower sites

Perhaps the reason KCGG goosed the power is because it is on the far-reaches of the Kansas City metro. 

A big portion of potential listeners can’t receive the station. KCGG is not using an audio stream.

The FCC has given the owners of KCGG twenty days to reply, in writing to the complaint the a series of questions about why the violations occurred and what the station is doing to make certain it doesn’t happen again.

The Commission went easy on KCGG. They could have been fined or even ordered the station off the air. Those penalties could still happen if the FCC does receive a timely reply.

 

THE DISHWASHER WAS TALKING TO ME

WLS-TV in Chicago reported that a family ("The Smiths”)  Is trying to find the cause of  strange sounds that are emanating from inside a wall in 9-year old Brianna’s bedroom.

The Smiths said the sound usually are voices or music. 

It is keeping Brianna up at night.

This may sound like an episode of The Twilight Zone, but it really happens. 

The cause is likely “harmonics” from close-by AM radio transmitter. 

We know this is true because it also happened at our house in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis.

144O AM night-time coverage pattern

Our house was less than a quarter of a mile from the transmitter site of 1440 AM, a 1950’s era AM station.  When the station, now KYCR, was built it seemed like it was located in the country. Today two freeways surround the transmitter site. At night, 1440 AM pushes 5,000-watts into a high directional coverage pattern. So the feeling of RF was in the wind.

At our house, we had an old dishwasher. 

When the dishwasher ran at night, audio from 1440 AM could be heard when the dry-cycle was running.

That wasn’t a problem when 1440 AM was repeating Classic Rock KQRS-FM. 

Then they changed the format to Radio Disney and we bought a new dishwasher.