Question Twelve: What can be done to improve our signal strength?

KPFA Listener-Sponsor candidates

Carl Bryant -

Steven Conley -

Bob English - Keep our transmitter in top shape.

Dianne Enriquez - I think it is important for members of the board take the expert advice of our engineers and staff and really do the best possible to support their opinions and ideas.

Sherry Gendelman - Restoring the full power of the transmitters is a great start.

Mathew Hallinan –

Chandra Hauptman – I don’t know. Not my area of expertise.

David Heller – I don’t know what the FCC rules are but putting repeaters in weak areas would probably help. I know a few places where I lose reception because of mountains and/or valleys. This should be studied and see where it would be cost effective to add the extra antennae.

Warren Mar – We have a great reach now but there are some canyons. There are parts of the West side of San Francisco, where KPFA’s signal is hard to get (the Sunset neighborhood). We need to look at the areas where our signal is weak, the populations we are not reaching and look at the most financially cost effective way we can try and change that.

Susan McDonough - One immediate task for the board could be to raise funds for a repeater in Auburn to reach a wider population in the eastern part of the state.

Antonio Medrano - This I would need to study, do not know enough.

Attila Nagy - As in the case of the Sacramento area, placing signal repeaters is a solution. Also, making sure that cable providers carry KPFA.

Richard Phelps – Put signal repeaters in the weak reception areas.

Mara Rivera - Have repeaters in areas of poor reception, such as many places in San Francisco, where I live. We could have many more listeners if this were done.

Paul Robins - Negotiate repeater stations in areas where the signal does not reach.
Increase funding to pay for increase in power.

CC Campbell Rock – These are technical questions, but I would suggest investing in a larger, more strategically placed tower.

Tracy Rosenberg – Look into repeaters where signal trouble has been reported.

Gerald Sanders - Put signal repeaters in the weak reception areas. Maybe Sacramento?

Sureya Sayadi - KPFA past management unfortunately did not challenge the encroachment of our signal in Sacramento by a commercial station and this is one of the reasons we lost many listeners there. We need to work to get KFPA and Pacifica on local cable stations and community access stations. We should also work with sister station KPFK to have state wide programs on housing, health care and labor that could not only bring new voices on but help build a statewide audience on the issues facing working people in California.

John Van Eyck - Boosters in hard to reach areas like the south peninsula and Central Valley. Find the funding to pay for a repeater frequency in Auburn.

Joe Wanzala - Pacifica needs to conduct an analysis the signal strength of its listening areas and identify pockets that for various reasons, from geographic barriers to interference from other signals, do not receive the signal and develop a comprehensive plan to install additional repeaters at strategic locations. Pacifica may also consider utilizing public access cable networks to reach listeners.

Jim Weber - Local station signal strength has always been a problem involving local politics. But one KPFA problem area near San Francisco was solved, I believe, by an alliance with a cable company that served that area. There was also a discussion at KPFA for a phone line connection to New Orleans to broadcast KPFA over a local station to the Katrina victims. That tactic may work in many areas.

Stan Woods - To set up repeater stations in weak signal areas like Sacramento and even parts of San Francisco.

Steve Zeltzer - KPFA past management unfortunately did not challenge the encroachment of our signal in Sacramento by a commercial station and this is one of the reasons we lost many listeners there. We need to work to get KFPA and Pacifica on local cable stations and community access stations. We should also work with sister station KPFK to have state wide programs on housing, healthcare and labor that could not only bring new voices on but help build a statewide audience on the issues facing working people in California.
Finally, the KFPA board has passed a resolution to build a Pacifica station in New Orleans and I support this initiative. The people of the South and the Katrina area desperately need free speech radio and we could build tremendous support nationally for the establishment of a station in this area which would also help get our signal out nationally.

KPFA Staff candidates

Shahram Aghmir - I am not familiar with the details of what is needed to bring about such improvements. However, this is an important issue that needs to be studied, and its costs and benefits need to be clearly identified since a stronger signal could lead to a larger number of listeners.

Mary Berg - One major problem IMO is that our signal doesn't reach Sacramento well. There are also significant parts of San Francisco which don't get our signal.  Several solutions have been proposed over time; I've been involved with this locally and also on PNB Technology committee and would like to continue that work.

Chris Brown - This is an issue I am not familiar with. Would the FCC allow our signal to get stronger? If so, are there other companies that would be opposed to this?

Brian Edwards-Tiekert - In the past year, we've installed a booster on Mount Diablo, oriented to push our signal into the Stockton area and the southern Sacramento valley. We've secured permission from the FCC to set up a translator in Auburn, which would extend our signal along the I-80 corridor from the fringes of Sacramento up into the Sierra foothills. That project should move full steam ahead.

Jeannine Etter - I think that more advertisement is the key to strengthen the listenership. We have many people within our local communities who are not in the loop. Clear Channel has too many of listeners who would greatly benefit from our programming. We need to make efforts to pull them in.

Mary Tilson – We have an excellent signal…need more information on areas of weakness.