In 2022, when Audacy sold the tower site of Sports Radio 610 KILT in Houston, the sale brought in a reported $15.6 million but necessitated a fresh approach for the station’s infrastructure.
KILT operated on four towers at the old site, called West Road. The company applied to relocate to a transmitter site about six miles away at Welcome Lane, with modified directional antenna patterns and diplexing on the existing 11-tower array used by Salem Media Group’s KNTH(AM). KILT also would decrease power from 5 kW day/night to 2.7 kW day and 2.5 kW at night, in part to meet concerns of Mexican authorities.
KNTH uses nine towers by day and 11 at night. Audacy Regional Director of Technical Operations Armando Gonzales said the KILT system will use five of those towers in daytime and six at night. “We also designed non-directional operation on three of the six towers for emergency operation.”
Hatfield & Dawson were the consulting engineers for this project while Phasetek Inc. designed and provided the tuning, phasing, detuning and ATU cabinets.
Benjamin F. Dawson III, PE, noted that KILT has been on the air since 1948. “But when we examined the possibility of changing transmitter sites, we determined that its licensed facilities are objected to by Mexico,” he said.
Click on the photo to toggle between pictures of the tower project.
“Moving to the 11-tower KNTH site allowed flexibility in our design of new antenna patterns, configured to be compliant with the U.S.-Mexico bilateral agreement. Mexico still objected, and so the initial operation is with reduced power until the Mexican problem is resolved.”
Phasetek and Hatfield & Dawson analyzed the filtering and feed system requirements, and Phasetek constructed the necessary equipment, then installed and adjusted the filters and feed system, which is now in operation. “Altogether a very complicated but electrically elegant installation,” Dawson said.
Jose Cruz, local director of technical operations, oversaw the day-to-day work for Audacy, while Gonzales and his boss John Kennedy, SVP of technical operations, selected and managed the contractors, budget and permitting processes. They also pulled resources from other markets in the region as well as the local staff to help with the buildout.
Audacy hired Cellsite Solutions to provide a prefabricated transmitter building and handle civil documents. RIO Steel and Tower was contracted to do the civil work. The project also brought in a new Nautel NX5 transmitter; for backup a Nautel XR6 was brought over from the decommissioned site.
Utility power at Welcome Lane was inadequate to support another AM station, so a new service had to be established for Sports Radio 610 KILT.
Also, “Since all of Houston is in a flood zone, it can be challenging to navigate the process,” Gonzales said. “During the project, Houston experienced a longer rainy season than normal, which made the site flooded and extended the project for months.”
The project is nearing completion now; and since February KILT has been operating from the new site nondirectionally and with reduced power from one tower under special temporary authority. “We will be submitting our final numbers to the FCC very soon,” Gonzales said.
“Utilizing existing AM properties to collocate other AMs, rather than building a new facility, is an economical solution,” he said.
“The long-term agreements and operation help facility budgets for large AM properties to be shared rather than one entity being responsible. I also believe this extends the life of many AMs in larger metropolitan areas, as the land values exceed the revenue by multiple years. A project like this is not new to our industry. However, I believe it brings into focus the innovative ways that today’s modeling can bridge AM technology with the future.”
Read about other interesting facility projects in the ebook “Awesome RF Buildouts.”
