In late 2014, St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California submitted paperwork to sell its KSFH-FM license to Mountain View Public Broadcasting. The assignment of the 87.9 FM non-commercial class D high school radio license (a rarity, as there are only a few licensed radio stations on 87.9 FM) was just approved by the FCC on June 18, 2015.
As we wrote previously, Mountain View Public Broadcasting plans to air programming for the South Asian community. In a recent filing, the group enumerated the live programs that it plans to air during weekdays. Planned programs will be in Punjabi and English and will include daily talk shows focused on finance, politics, consumer affairs, legal topics, and more. Other public affairs shows will provide programming for new immigrants.
Over the past few months, KSFH has filed several Special Temporary Authority applications. Back in November, 2014 it asked for, “an extension of the special temporary authority to operate noncommercial educational FM station KSFH from the temporary location as authorized…until the station’s permanent facilities can be reconstructed.” On May 20, 2015, KSFH asked for another extension, which was granted on May 21, 2015.
It’s also worth noting that KSFH’s days on 87.9 FM may be numbered, as a February, 2015 request in with the FCC is proposing a license modification, potentially moving to 100.7 FM with 10 watts of power. According to the KSFH request,
Due to operational challenges faced on this channel, which is outside the normally-used FM broadcast band, the station is filing this request to move to a channel in the non-reserved band in connection with a proposal to change transmitter site. At present, KSFH receives extensive first-adjacent channel interference from Low Power TV station KBKF-LP San Jose, which operates on Channel 6 and is thus effectively on the first-adjacent channel to KSFH.”
As we’ve written before, the lower end of the FM dial (around 87.7 FM) has been a back door of sorts for lower power television stations operating on channel 6. Sometimes those stations can be heard spilling in to 87.9 FM as well.
I’m sad to see the loss of a high school radio station and I haven’t seen an active KSFH website in awhile. The old site indicates that streaming radio will continue at St. Francis High School, so hopefully we’ll hear some good news in the fall when classes resume.
