Tidbits

Before I get another email from somebody telling me that they heard KQV on the air with Bloomberg radio, let me tell you what has been happening. The last couple of Saturday mornings, the station has been on the air at 1410 – which, despite the fact that they have a silent STA, can be done. As long as Calvary Inc. owns the station (which should not be too much longer now) and the towers remain constructed in Ross Township, they are legally obligated to maintain the site. That means the tower lights must come on at night, etc. I suspect that once the transfer of ownership takes place and Broadcast Communications Inc. becomes the license holder, these little on-air “visits” will cease. BCI owner Robert Stevens expects that once all of the approvals happen and the new transmitter is built in North Versailles, the station will be back full time late in the year.

Speaking of stations being off the air, WQED-FM (89.3) was off the air for a portion of Tuesday due to a transmission line failure. Morning host and station producer Jim Cunningham told his listeners via Facebook that the work will require a climb up the tower in Oakland and the rainy weather that we’ve experienced the last couple of days has hampered that effort. 89.3 is on the air as of Wednesday morning at 800 W out of 28 kW with a tower climb expected to happen on Friday. Cunningham reminds listeners that programming is available via the station’s website, for those in Johnstown via 89.7 FM (WQEJ), and for those in Greenville, PA via 88.1 FM at Thiel College “when the students aren’t playing their death metal.”

Speaking of public broadcasting, the gaming website/app TWITCH.tv – a service of Amazon.com – is again showing a Mister Rogers Neighborhood marathon in celebration of his 90th birthday, which was a week ago. As of this writing, the marathon has about another week and a half to go. The marathon started out with what was considered to be 90 favorite episodes in no particular order. Then proceeded into showing every episode ever made. The first such marathon was done last May. This year it seems more streamlined with fewer of the obnoxious breaks Twitch threw in in between programs.