Signal interference issues for KTTV (Channel 11) could be reaching a resolution.
The local Fox affiliate is entering a negotiated settlement with station KGTV (Channel 10) in San Diego over the station’s respective signals, which the Federal Communications Commission have identified as being too close to each other when digital broadcasting takes effect.
The settlement negotiations were disclosed in documents filed with the FCC by attorneys and engineers for both stations. Details were not disclosed, and officials with both stations declined to comment.
As part of the changeover to digital in 2007, the FCC has conducted a nationwide review of possible signal interference issues, which are more critical in digital than traditional analog broadcasts. Digital interference can make a station’s signal unavailable to some viewers.
The FCC also identified KCET (Channel 28) as having a signal that would possibly interfere with other stations, although the PBS affiliate disputes this. Engineers for the station argued in FCC documents that the agency had exaggerated the potential for signal conflicts with KFTR (Channel 29) in Ontario and KYET (Channel 27) in Santa Barbara.
In both cases, the FCC has urged the stations to negotiate with their dial neighbors to resolve the signal bleed-over issue, and had set a mid-August deadline for resolving the conflicts. Although that deadline has passed, agency spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said the FCC has not determined when it might impose solutions if KTTV cannot complete its agreement and KCET cannot make progress resolving its problems.
The scramble for dial positions carries significant consequences for television stations. Some will have to surrender channel numbers they’ve had for decades a major component of their brand identity. Others face large increases in their power bills because broadcasting at higher frequencies takes more electricity.
News to Go
Podcasting, a technology few people had even heard of until this year, has come to L.A.’s two news radio stations.
In the first week of podcasting for KNX-AM (1070), listeners downloaded news summaries, interviews and features on ethics, cooking and computers 980 times, said Howard Freshman, a spokesman for the Infinity Broadcasting-owned stations. Programs on KFWB-AM (980) were downloaded 511 times. Listeners can play the audio anytime they want on an iPod or other digital-audio player.
For now, KNX and KFWB are doing little to advertise their podcasts, but that will change once the stations add a fuller menu of downloadable programs. “We’re still in the process where we’re getting content on the Web site and after that, we’ll really start to promote this,” Freshman said.
Back to School
The beginning of the school year marks the debut of L.A.’s largest Spanish-language newspaper in public-school classrooms.
La Opini & #243;n, a 120,000-circulation daily newspaper published by ImpreMedia LLC, has launched a Newspaper in Education curriculum for students in L.A.-area schools from kindergarten through high school. The newspaper will be integrated into lessons on current affairs, culture and geography.
The Newspaper in Education program for La Opini & #243;n is sponsored by La Curacao, an electronics and appliances retailer specializing in the Hispanic market.
La Opini & #243;n’s decision to launch the program comes as Wall Street pressures many publicly traded newspaper companies to cut back their participation in classroom programs, saying they are costly and produce few returns. Management of the Los Angeles Times, which distributes 70,000 copies in classrooms, intends to cut back on free copies distributed under the program.
Star-Struck
The general manager and program director of KYSR-FM (98.7) are leaving at the same time. The station recently lost its best-known morning personality and fell a bit in market ratings.
Still, there are no major changes in store for the station known as Star 98, insists Greg Ashlock, the regional vice president of Clear Channel Communications Inc., which owns the adult contemporary station.
The departures of General Manager Brad Samuel and Program Director Angela Perelli are not related, Ashlock said. Samuel is going to a top sales job in Clear Channel’s San Diego cluster and Perelli wants to spend more time with her family, he said.
Nor do the personnel changes, following the firing of morning show host Danny Bonaduce earlier this summer, portend a change in Star’s format, Ashlock said.
Presidential Collection
Bill Clinton, the most pop culture-savvy of recent presidents, has a CD devoted to the music that accompanied him from his boyhood home of Arkansas to the White House.
But don’t expect to hear 1970s rock stalwarts Fleetwood Mac a staple at Clinton campaign rallies or the former president himself playing the saxophone.
Museum Music, a private Los Angeles-based record label that produces CDs for sale at museum gift shops, this month released “The Bill Clinton Collection: Selections from the Clinton Music Room,” a collection of 11 jazz, gospel and American standards.
The songs including Miles Davis’ version of “My Funny Valentine” and Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” were chosen by Clinton himself.
*Staff reporter James Nash can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230, or at
[email protected]
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