This aircheck is a testament to the strength of a Pioneer SX-3900 receiver, combined with a Winegard 10 element FM yagi antenna and rotor. I pulled this in from my location in Apple Valley, Minnesota. As the crow flies, this is over 250 miles from Mitchell! No special atmospheric conditions were needed, either. I enjoyed regular reception of this station. Life before the FM band became jammed with stations and especially those damn translators!
KQRN was KORN’s FM station. For years, Mitchell had one AM station (KORN) and one FM station (KMIT.) They were not co-owned, however. KQRN signed on with 100,000 watts on 107.3, playing a contemporary music mix. I believe they were automated during all or most of the broadcast day (?)
Although licensed for 24 hour operation, KQRN signed off at midnight. Here, station manager Gary Kim does the sign off and wishes everyone a good day. Also included is one of their sweepers. A Technics stereo cassette deck and Scotch Dynarange 90 tape was used to make the recording.
#1 by Wade Brandis on November 13, 2009 - 4:50 pm
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Do you hate translator stations? They do serve a purpose though…mainly for people who are religious.
#2 by Drew on November 14, 2009 - 7:46 am
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Hi Wade,
I don’t hate translators per se. But I believe they are abused more often than not these days.
The original purpose of a translator was a valid one: used to fill in coverage holes within an FM station’s licensed contours. Most often, these were caused by terrain. Especially useful in mountainous areas out west. Rapid City is a perfect example: The 100kW stations on Terry Peak have huge signals that can be heard about 100 miles to the east. But they are “shadowed” in parts of Rapid City, due to the hills which block the signal. Rapid City is well within the stations’ primary coverage contours. So, a translator is used to fill in the “gap” caused by terrain shielding. That’s fine. However, translators are specifically NOT to be used to extend coverage of a station past it’s licensed coverage area or used as a mini “network.”
This is exactly what is happening with these religious stations. Someone found a loophole in the law for non-commercial operations. So now, you have stations located several states away beaming programming via satellite to multiple translators. This is an abuse of the rules and should be addressed by the FCC, in my opinion. The interference factor isn’t an issue in sparsely populated areas. But in bigger cities, it’s terrible. In the Twin Cities, there are now FM translators (used by broadcasters in distant markets) on nearly every second adjacent channel from the local stations. In some cases, there are 2 translators on the same frequency in different parts of the metro. In the Burnsville area, 106.5 is a hopeless jumble of the Refuge Radio translator in Elko, the KUOM translator in St. Louis Park, and KFMC from Fairmont. The translator requirements need to be tightened and reformed.
#3 by scott on November 28, 2009 - 1:33 pm
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I’m pretty sure all of their programming was mechanically reproduced!
#4 by Drew on November 29, 2009 - 8:26 am
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When did KQRN sign on? When we’d go to the Black Hiills (mid-late 1970s), we’d usually stop in Mitchell for the night. I remember KORN-1490 and KMIT, then on 102.3 with 3kW. But I don’t remember anything on 107.3.