KVOD 88.1-FM Coverage Area on July 9th

Here is the coverage area for Colorado Public Radio's new-and-unimproved KVOD 88.1-FM (formerly K-Love's KFDN-FM Christian radio simulcast in Denver). Until CPR engineers get FCC approval to boost the signal, this map shows the BEST CASE SCENARIO for listening to KVOD in the Denver metro area. You may want to test the boundaries of the coverage area and try out an HD radio in your car and in your home BEFORE you commit to buying not one but two new HD radios at $100 apiece--minimum--because you may be more than a bit disappointed with the promise of HD radio coverage in and around Denver, despite the (wiggly) language used by CPR managers to cover their asses.

From the Colorado Public Radio website:

"HD Radio: Both KVOD and KCFR are also available on HD Radio, a new technology that allows Colorado Public Radio to offer two distinct channels on one frequency with consistently high sound quality. In addition to its new location at 88.1 FM, KVOD classical music will also be available on HD Radios at 90.1 FM HD-2. KCFR news and information will also be at 90.1 FM HD-1. If you receive 90.1 FM clearly, without interference, HD Radio may offer a good solution in your home or car. Learn more about HD Radio [emphasis added].

So, during these tough economic times, how much money do you have to spend on new radios for your home and auto? Also, with gas prices hovering at or above $4/gallon, how many of you who are spending less time commuting in your cars; opting instead for public transit, actually have portable HD radios? None of you? Well, you can buy one of those too. The Visteon-brand Jump Radio costs $170 on the Shop NPR website. And if HD radio just never pans out, you can always tell your kids (who have never heard of public radio) that you bought a 21st century version of the Betamax; something else they have never heard of!

Colorado Public Radio Blog is told that the reason that KVOD at 88.1-FM cannot raise power beyond 1200 watts from Mount Morrison is because K-LOVE has a station at KLHV 88.3-FM in Fort Collins that is powered at 150 watts. KGNU is at 88.5-FM in Boulder, and it presently powered at 4000 watts. If Colorado Public Radio raised power for its new KVOD at 88.1-FM, it might interfere with one, the other, or both.

CPRB has also learned that 88.1-FM might be able to raise power slightly; from 1200 watts to a few hundred watts more, but to raise it further would require Rocky Mountain PBS, Channel 6 TV in Denver, to power down (or off) its analog signal, giving KVOD more room on the left side of the FM dial. However, that may still not help KVOD's analog signal reach farther north because the frequencies immediately adjacent to KVOD on the right side of the dial are both up north; located in much of the area that Colorado Public Radio loses by moving KVOD from 90.1-FM in the first place.

By the way, why doesn't Colorado Public Radio provide detailed frequency coverage information to its listeners -- the PUBLIC? My guess is that the average public radio listener is curious and intelligent enough to understand this stuff, right? So much for news and information!

Coverage Map courtesy of Radio-Locator.

What HD Radio will Mean to Vail Listeners.

One June 20th, the Colorado Public Radio Board of Directors tabled (until September 2007) consideration of an action item on the agenda to begin transmitting in HD radio on FM 89.9 HD1 in the Vail Valley. However, it appeared that CPR management had already ordered the necessary equipment in May 2007, without Board consideration or approval.

So if this change passes in September 2007, and Colorado Public Radio uses FM 89.9 HD1 digital/analog for "KCFR News listeners," even those people who have not spent $200+ on a new HD radio, will continue to get the KCFR news. However, when CPR broadcasts classical music on FM 89.9 HD2, only listeners with HD radios in their homes and cars will get KVOD music.

Do the listeners in the Vail Valley want this, need this, or think this is a good idea? I would like to know your opinion, so please email me, Frances Koncilja. The Board of Colorado Public Radio should also hear your opinion, so please email Colorado Public Radio too, contacting Board Members directly if you like.

As to an exclusive KCFR News channel running 24/7--how many times can anyone listen to the same 30 minutes of Colorado Matters--the only original news content produced by Colorado Public Radio!

*See the Colorado Public Radio station map to find your Denver-run, public radio station.

KUNC Upgrades Its Transmitter Site.

If you had trouble reaching KUNC in Denver, Colorado before, you will likely have better reception today. Here is the information from KUNC in Greeley, Colorado.

"Last night at 7 pm, KUNC flipped the switch on our new transmitter site at Buckhorn Mountain, which will significantly improve our signal over the majority of Northern Colorado, the I-25 and Highway 36 corridors, and much of the metro Denver area. However, some areas may experience a weaker signal." --KUNC

Here is the old KUNC coverage map, and here is the new KUNC coverage map. Maps (and thanks) provided by Radio-Locator. As you can see, the new location of their antenna changes the coverage area in Denver and in the surrounding areas of northern and northeastern Colorado.

This will surely mean more competition for National Public Radio (NPR) listeners in the Denver Metropolitan area, because KUNC, like KCFR and KUVO, broadcasts some NPR content. I guess Denver public radio just got more interesting, to say the least!

Just so everything is clear, so to speak: KUNC broadcasts on 91.5-FM in Denver, KUVO broadcasts on 89.3-FM in Denver, and KCFR broadcasts on 1340-AM (and 90.1 FM-2) in Denver and 1490-AM in Boulder.

This just in: I was reminded from a source (via email) that Colorado Public Radio tried to buy KUNC a few years back (2001). Here is an article from Current.Org in which Max Wycisk, President of CPR, tells readers that:

"Public radio and television have historically been under-funded, so a lot of that local premise is never realized," He said. "Putting our resources together gives us the ability to generate more and deeper local and regional programming."

Now it seems as though KUNC is surviving without Colorado Public Radio's "deeper local and regional programming." What is that programming again? Deeper, local, and regional?