KGIL 1260 Going HD

[Carmine5]

Look out, Los Angeles.  Saul Levine is bringing HD to KGIL 1260.  When that happens, he'll start doing a simulcast of K-Mozart (classical) on Sundays.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite20/Members/ShowHeadLine.aspx?ContentID=49744&ContentTypeID=101&Archive=0&FormatId=0

C5

[Savage]

Another mainstream, mass-appeal AM goes "HD."  Radio-locator advises they're DA-2 with 4 towers.  Can't help but wonder how HD is gonna work on AM with classical music, if KGIL's directional system is typical.

"Stay tuned!"  If you can stand the hiss!  And the defaults-to-analog!  And the artifacting!

[Savage]

Whoa, Nelly!  Those eastern KGIL nighttime nulls are majorly deep ones!  1260 is extremely suppressed due east towards San Bernardino and to the east-northeast.  Gotta wonder if KGIL's gonna be another "digital daytimer."

[audioguy]

That's horrible, but being a classical fan, even I would listen through the hiss and static (see, content is still king)!

Unfortunately the KGIL signal is no match for what SoCal used to have when KBACH was on 540. They had a killer signal for hundreds of miles up the coast.

Too bad they wouldn't consider going stereo with C-QUAM. KXTR (classical 1650) still uses it.

[oldiesfan6479]

What about second-adjacent hash from 1260?  I hope KFRN 1280 Long Beach
complains loudly to the FCC if 1260 starts I-CRAPping all over its (KFRN 1280)
center frequency.

This assumes Family Radio has so far stuck with analog on 1280, seeing as how
there is 1260, 1280 and 1300 all in the El Lay metro.

[RadeoEngineer]

Another case of more money than sense.  I pity the poor consultant that has to put this crap on the air, except there's gonna be some dead presidents changing hands for it.

[Carmine5]

What about second-adjacent hash from 1260?  I hope KFRN 1280 Long Beach
complains loudly to the FCC if 1260 starts I-CRAPping all over its (KFRN 1280)
center frequency.

This assumes Family Radio has so far stuck with analog on 1280, seeing as how
there is 1260, 1280 and 1300 all in the El Lay metro.

I actually know the engineer over at KFRN and last I talked to him (which was five months ago) he told me they had no plans for HD.  I should call him and get his take on KGIL going HD.

The amusing thing about KGIL is the LA spin Levine tries to put on the station, such as giving it a Beverly Hills address.  The tower site is actually in the San Fernando Valley which makes it difficult to get reliable reception in the LA basin due to the terrain.  The Long Beach/Seal Beach area where I am is especially noisy for KGIL.

From what I've been reading, HD-AM is particularly problematic for multi-tower arrays.  So I'm not sure how KGIL will fare with its 4-tower system.  I doubt those few who own HD Radio receivers in the LA basin will get a good digital signal from 1260 given that their analog signal is already spotty at best.

C5

[K6JHU]

But while we are all complaining about the AM HD, the important part is that the Classical signal will be on KKGO HD-2 where those of us with HD radios will welcome another classical signal on FM.

[Savage]

Yep.  Both of you.  Or, how about this: put classical music on the wonderfully hi-fi 32 kbps HD-2 and forget the AM version entirely?

If 1280's owners complain to the FCC about adjacent-channel hash from KGIL, hope they don't expect an actual response from the Enforcement Bureau.  The Commission has studiously avoided any official action on HD interference complaints.

The way they "resolve" complaints is informally, off the record, with mounds of "plausible deniability," advise the adverse parties that it would be in their best interests to resolve the issue privately.  In most cases this consists of the HD-interferor giving the victim station the finger.  In only one case of which I am aware - WFIL vs. WHP - did the interfering station reduce its digital injection level voluntarily.

[KB1OKL]

I can't imagine how badly classical music is going to sound on AM with iBlock with it's artificial synthesized highs, i can't take it for more than about one minute.