Document wish list:

• NTIA funding – both power increase and Bedford St. move
• CPB-qualification
• Bedford St. deal
• Board minutes from that period

Significant Events

• Applying FCC approval to change frequency and transition to vastly upgraded transmitter power and antenna facility on the west side of town.  Joan Rubel and Vinnie Curren worked on that, Steve Lewis and Ben Dawson assisted.
• Applying for and getting the NTIA grant.  We had NTIA funding for the power increase / move to WMTV’s tower and for the build-out of the new facility on Bedford Street.  Memories are currently vague about whether it was one grant or two, but funding was critical.
• Getting CPB qualified, with the Community Service Grant then rolling in to help subsidize operations.  Joan Rubel did all of that.
• Managing to buy the Bedford St building from STASH at a time when interest rates were 18%.  Joan Rubel and Mark Fuerst pulled that miracle off.

Documents and filings

FCC

Melissa Askew at the FCC and Samual Flores of Berry Best Services found this collection of documents related to the power increase.  Click here for a zipped archive of all the documents they retrieved.  [I haven’t exploded them into details yet, but they’ll go in this timeline]

• 1-22-79 — Application for the move the transmitter from Winnebago Street, to the west-side towers, radically increasing HAAT (and thus coverage) — granted 10-9-79 — I was gone (left in early summer 1977 to go to grad school) — Joan Rubel, Vinnie Curren and others can flesh out this story.
  • HAAT (height above average terrain) – 937feet,
  • ERP (effective radiated power) – 1.3kw
  • Antenna – Phelps-Dodge FMC-LP-2, 2 bays (a placeholder for the application)
  • Transmitter – ?? – no info in the FCC history cards
  • Location – 43°03’01.0″N 89°29’15.0″W

Reminiscences

• Vinnie — about the first test of the new transmitter and antenna