The FCC’s Media Bureau canceled the license for KASA-AM in Phoenix, AZ and its associated FM translator for not operating from its authorized tower and other technical violations.
The case began in December 2023, when Entravision filed a complaint alleging that the translator caused harmful interference to its KDVA(FM) (now KFUE), licensed to Buckeye, AZ. The broadcaster also alleged early this year that KASA had been silent without authority or operating from an unauthorized location for more than a year. That’s when KASA licensee KASA Radio Hogar, Inc. applied for Special Temporary Authority (STA) and/or a waiver.
If a station needs to transmit from another location, it needs prior FCC permission. Section 312(g) of the Communications Act says that a broadcast station’s license normally expires automatically if it fails to transmit broadcast signals for 12 consecutive months. Transmissions from an unauthorized location don’t count, according to the decision signed by Audio Division Chief Al Shuldiner.
The Class D KASA was authorized to transmit from a tower site located at 33° 22′ 36.2″ N, 112° 05′ 27.5″ W since its initial licensure in 1967. It continued operating from that location after KASA acquired the station in 1992. In 1993, KASA had a three tower away built, according to the FCC’s ASR database. Each structure was just under 380 feet AGL.
In 2019, however, KASA reported a large portion of the tower site was sold. A school was built on the land and the station said it couldn’t resume transmitting from there.
In September 2019, KASA sought an STA to operate at reduced power using a 100- foot long-wire antenna supported by two wooden poles, approximately 25 feet above ground at 33° 22′ 33.1″ N, 112° 05′ 17.3″ W. KASA described the STA site as an adjacent parcel. The Commission granted the initial STA on September 20, 2019, and extended it five times. The latest STA expired in December 2022.
KASA admitted it didn’t seek authority to operate either the station at variance from licensed parameters or to keep it and the translator off-air. KASA said this was an “inadvertent oversight.” The licensee reported periods of silence due to equipment failures but said that no authority was needed because it repaired the equipment promptly and the silence lasted for only a few days.
However, there was a long lapse from February 19, 2024, to April 17, 2024, when equipment failed, was sent to Texas for repair, and was damaged in transit. KASA admits it didn’t seek authority to remain silent because it thought the repairs would be quick.
The bureau said KASA’s arguments aren’t compelling enough to warrant reinstating the license. The agency canceled the licenses for the AM and the FM translator and wiped the call letters from its database. KASA was ordered to stop broadcasting within a day after receiving the May 8 notice.
KASA was ordered to maintain the tower until it’s dismantled. KASA’s STA requests were dismissed as moot and so was the Entravision interference complaint.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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