Let's help KPFK: I've been a customer (I hate to say just "supporter") of Pacifica Radio stations since the Sixties, when I was devoted to WBAI in New York. In my opinion, Pacifica almost single-handedly invented both the radical Left and public broadcasting. The whole concept of listener-supported radio was created by Lewis Hill at KPFA in Berkeley back in the Fifties, and it's a shame the guy never lived to see it take over the whole bottom end of the FM dial. In time, I believe, it will become the primary business model of all broadcasting. And today the stations have a wider range of programming among them than you'll find across all the other stations in the country.
Anyway, today the whole network of stations — WBAI/99.5 in New York, WPFW/90.1 in Washington, KPFT/90.1 in Houston, KPFA/94.1 in Berkeley and KPFK/90.7 in Los Angeles — are all ganging up to help KPFK finish upgrading its transmission facility, a job apparently left unfinished because moneys allocated to it were squandered through internal Pacifica politics, which at the organization are tragically legendary.
For technical background, the Bonny Doon engineering folks have some terrific Web pages devoted not only to the KPFK transmitter upgrade (see here and here), but to the rest of the antenna farm that serves Los Angeles from Mt. Wilson — as well as to other projects around the country.
It would be nice if KPFK pointed toward those pages, or worked with the Bonny Doon people on an explanation of the situation. For whatever reason, the station didn't finish the upgrade and is stuck with 30,000 watts instead of the licensed 110,000. The folks on the air are also saying the station has "the largest signal west of the Mississippi." This is wrong. At full power, it's the largest signal in the country, period. FM and TV signals have ranges that are products of effective radiated power and height above average terrain. KPFK was grandfathered long ago with a license for 110,000 watts at 2831 feet above average terrain, which is far in excess of the limit of 50,000 watts at 500 feet (or progressively lower wattages at progressively higher heights) that non-grandfathered stations in that part of the country are technically allowed. Most other Los Angeles stations were similarly grandfathered (here's the whole list), but none beats KPFK.
To put this signal in perspective, no station in New York exceeds the 50kw/500' limit. Most stations there broadcast from the Empire State Building with between 610 and 6700 watts. Only one station in Chicago, WFMT/98.7, is grandfathered above the legal limit, and it's still only 15,500 watts. In San Francisco there are a few grandfathers, the biggest of which is KQED/88.5, with 110,000 watts, but at only 1290 feet — less than half KPFK's height.
The old KPFK transmitter rig may have spec'd out at 110kw, but it achieved that with a 14-bay antenna (you can see it on some of the Bonny Doon site photos), which concentrated all the energy narrowly at the horizon, and produced nulls down toward the population centers. It was far from the best signal in town. The new antenna is only 4 bays and uses a much more modern design, so it will spread that big signal much more evenly. A better signal is also needed to push back an interloper: a classical station on the same frequency in Tijuana, Mexico which has only come on the air in the last couple of years. Its signal is small, but carries suspiciously well. It ruins KPFK in the fringes, even up here in Santa Barbara. (I wrote about this a bit on Usenet a couple years ago.)
Anyway, it's a worthy cause. KPFK is a terrific station. If you listen, or are simply in a position to help out, please do.
3:50:45 PM 
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