The licensure also enables the station to operate at 50,000 watts – a far greater power than previously – and without worry of being hampered by the signals of other stations.
A fire that destroyed a transmitter building and the precarious footing of two towers in line to be replaced had placed the full licensure in doubt. General Manager Dennis Weidler says he is pleased by the FCC decision.
“This granting of the license for 50,000 watts for 24 hours a day is a major blessing, and it can only be through God’s intervention,” Weidler says. “Government bureaucracy doesn’t normally function this way.
“We petitioned the FCC for this license three years ago when the station at 840 kHz in Anchorage went off the air,” Weidler says. “Our previous license was for 50,000 watts daytime, 10,000 nighttime (to protect 840 kHz) and 50,000 directional from 11 PM to 4 AM for our Russian broadcasts.”
The station currently operates on a Special Temporary Authority granted by the FCC following the fire, Weidler says. “This has allowed us to remain on at half power – 25,000 kilowatts – in a non-directional mode since August of 2005.”
With the FCC ruling, the station will not have to reduce power at sunset and will not have to worry about interference by other stations. “Everyone on 850 khz between Nome and Denver must protect us from interference,” Weidler says. “Specifically, they must either go off the air at sunset, reduce power at sunset or go to a directional pattern at sunset.
“The Covenant Church now has a Clear-Channel, 50,000-watt radio station like WABC, WLS or KOA, and no AM radio station in America has more power or greater protection,” Weidler says.
Crews will work through the summer to replace two towers that had to be taken down because they were in danger of falling. “We will begin driving pilings to bedrock this week,” Weidler says. “The towers will be painted by a work team from Tucson on June 10. A team from Towers for Jesus, a ministry that helps Christian broadcasters, will begin erecting the freshly painted towers on June 15.
A new tuning house also will be constructed. “We have work teams of varying sizes arriving in Nome as early as May 24 to begin building the new 16-by-32-foot tuning house,” Weidler says. “Two teams from Kalamazoo are coming up to install the tuning cabinets at the base of each of the three towers and repair the ground radial system.” Other teams are coming from Alaska, Florida, Kansas, and California.
Weidler says he hopes construction and testing of the signal will enable the station to operate at full capacity sometime after September.
