| Draft Environmental Impact Statement Shorts School Road Am Antenna Structures 2 Shortly after construction was completed in 1959 at the present-day Larimer Road site, a signalcompromising flaw in the hillside directly adjacent to the site was proven through ground conductivity measurements. Information collected during permit processing for KRKO�s proposal, including testimony by radio frequency engineers given at public hearings held on the project in 2002, indicates that the station�s transmitter would perform better if it were constructed further east in the Valley from its present location because the hillside immediately to the west, comprised of similar materials to the previous site in North Everett, impedes the signal as it travels to the south and southwest toward Lynnwood and Edmonds. The hillside soil at the Larimer Road site has very low conductivity. Analysis by the radio station indicates that since 1959, population expansion outward from Everett has resulted in a southward shift in the population center of the County. KRKO no longer covers portions of Everett with its night signal, nor does it serve the population as it exists in Snohomish County today. This is the result of a combination of population increases, shifts in the location of major population centers, and signal interference by the hillside adjacent to KRKO�s current transmitter site. Externally generated electromagnetic interference, the result of urbanization and development, has also degraded KRKO�s coverage.2 In 1995, the Federal Communications Commission changed rules that governed the power output of radio stations defined as �Regional� signals.3 Regional stations like KRKO that once were restricted to 5,000 watts of output are now allowed 50,000 watts under certain conditions. Furthermore, the FCC is nearing completion on a new transmission algorithm designed to make the broadcasts of all AM and FM radio stations �digital.� S-R Broadcasting Co., Inc., the owner of KRKO, is seeking to improve the station transmission facilities so that KRKO can cover the population of Snohomish County (606,024 persons),4 something not achieved by any other current signals (Snohomish County has no full-powered transmitter sites of any kind), and to prepare for the digital broadcast conversion. To accomplish this goal, the radio station seeks to move its transmitter site south and east, as in 1959, in order to increase its power. To maintain FCC interference protection limits and cover the maximum amount of Snohomish County, the only direction KRKO can move is to the southeast. 2 Elements of an urbanized environment require more radio signal to overcome the insulating effects of some types of construction, such as steel frame buildings and bridges, and to overcome the electromagnetic �noise� generated by fluorescent lighting, powerlines and computers found in these areas. Since 1959, the City of Everett and Snohomish County have grown and urbanized, contributing more �noise� to the built environment and requiring more AM signal to reach a radio. 3 The FCC has three classifications for AM stations: 1) A station with a �Clear Channel� designation is authorized to operate with the maximum permissible coverage over the largest possible area. The designation requires special protection for the nighttime �skywave� service of the station allowing its coverage to extend hundreds of miles. An example of a station with Clear Channel protection in Seattle is KIRO-AM 710. 2) A station with a �Regional� designation is now authorized to operate at increased power levels with some protection for the nighttime coverage area. KRKO-AM�s regional designation means the station�s signal is intended to cover an area less than a Clear Channel station, but quite a bit greater than a local signal. 3) A station with a �Local� designation is exclusively authorized to operate at 1,000 watts or less. The designation provides minimal protection for the station and local signals typically only cover their City of License. An example of a local signal is KWYZ-AM 1230 (formerly known in Everett as �Radio 1,2,3�) 4 2000 U.S. Census � Snohomish County Population |