A Fiesta on your phone
Don Day | August 1, 2008Residents in Eastern Idaho are upset that KIGO-AM/Radio Fiesta 1490 is bleeding into their landline phones. The AP reports the 32,000 watt transmitter is coming into their phones and baby monitors. Station owner Albino Ortega says it isn’t his issue – that it’s Qwest’s fault. Qwest says they are looking into it.
Wow what a good marketing idea. How would you like to provide everyone’s background music all the time?
Since arbitron is only given to those with landline phones, they can be pretty sure that everyone who gets a book has heard them at some time or another..
If its coming in on baby monitors…little radio’s… then its not the telephone companies problem…sounds like its the radio stations problem…
Hola!!! This is Juan Valdez. Have you wanted to monitor your baby without listening to the ambient sound of your home or have a phone conversation while enjoying cultural music in the background? Well, now you can. Fiesta Radio and Qwest Communications have teamed up to produce FiestaPhone and Fiestababy!!! Now you can enjoy the sounds of culture while listening to your baby sleep or while conversing with friends and family on the phone.
How does this work??? You have to live next to a radio transmitter of at least 32,000 watts. The device uses it’s built-in wiring system to receive the radio station station signal. And, if you don’t like cultural music, you can listen to Michael Savage talk about autistic children, or Boise State sports.
Yes, take it from Juan Valdez. I have one of each product. It’s a great way to monitor your baby, talk with friends and family, and listen to great music.
Oh, how much??? Just $19.95 plus $20 shipping and handling. Just call 1-800-NOT-MY-FAULT and get yours today. That’s 1-800-NOT-MY-FAULT. Call today.
Buster….Would you help me market my in-the-tooth dental implant radio…and my little aluminum foil hat RF protector system too… You get first change then I am going to call Ron at RonCo….
Sure, RadioActive. Right after I market the combination Groucho mask and Spock ears that allow one to watch satellite television on the move.
By the way, I still have your order of RonCo Hair Thickener that you ordered. So you know, I wouldn’t spray it on food that you are putting in the dehydrator or rotisserie unless you want really hairy jerky or fuzzy peaches.
Oh, and for those of you who get frustrated with the boss, I have tons of RonCo’s in-shell egg scramblers. You can decorate your egg to look just like the boss then send the contents wherever you want it to go using NASA Jet Propulsion and guided missile precision. Loads of fun for every employee.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Oh, boy. Bad PR on the part of the station. I get about a call a month from people that live near KGEM (10,000 watts) and a few near KCID (a mere 1000 watts). While most of the time it IS the phone company’s fault, they are totally clueless what to do about it. We supply filters as needed, and also work with the phone company as needed, because the average public person can’t explain to them what to do. Wait until a few ticked off people start calling the FCC…..
And, by the way, if the homes were there first, it is possible it just might be the station’s problem.
RDS, the homes were there first. KIGO used to be licensed to St. Anthony and was outside that city’s limits. It was basically a simulcast of the old “94 Q FM” and then went silent again for a time. Spanish broadcasting took over it after being booted from a Bonneville/Simmons/Marathon Media signal. They applied and moved the signal to this area outside Rigby in recent history.
I have a feeling “Old Timer” might have some background. I think he’s very tight with former station owners.
Do I understand that if the homes were there first it is the station’s issue and if the station was first it is Qwest’s fault? I say never mind that issue. Work together with a common goal of fixing the problem instead of fighting over trivial matters.
That was the point I was trying to make. The station’s engineering department needs to step up and work with all parties involved to fix the problems.
RDS, I guess you planted the seed that fermented within my brain. It seems like Congress has set the example for gridlock and partisanship that some of society is following. What happened to shaking hands, rolling up our sleeves and maturely solving problems? We teach the kids to be mature and work together to solve problems and then they see Congress and others doing the exact opposite and abandon the original principles for the so-called “new way of doing business”, which involves being as impersonal, ruthless, and cold as possible. We argue about nothing and solve nothing.
What is that saying …? “When all is said and done, much more was said than done.” Or something like that.
Chock me up as one of those people who get to listen to KGEM in one of my old phones. Since the phone is about circa 1980, I figured it wasn’t shielded properly and just enjoy the slight background music. Where is the KGEM transmitter? It is off McMillan Road where a lot of construction has recently been happening?
The KGEM transmitter is behind the old KJOT/KGEM building on Cassia Street – about a stone’s throw from Borah High School.
We also heard KGEM in the phones at my parents home on the 2nd Boise Bench for years.
Years ago I worked briefly between radio jobs at where else? Radio Shack. As I recall, this was a common problem next to a couple of transmitter sites near Murray, Utah. I sold a set of snap-on ferrite core filters for about $10. By tying your telephone cord around these passive filters, the problem was fixed. I don’t know if the “Shack” still carries them, but I am sure there has to be some consumer electronics outfit someplace that carries the “animal.”
Back in the 1980’s, KGEM had a construction permit to go to 50KW. The proposed TX location was to be near Micron etc… The decision to build out was never given the go ahead once when it was discovered that the RF that would be introducted into the plant and the housing developments etc would cost a fortune to remedy.
We (KGEM) will supply fiters as needed to solve the problem. We use three kinds depending on the nature of the problem and the severity. Right now I can’t recall who makes them (it’s in my file at work). The easiest and simplest looks like a DSL filter. (In fact, sometimes a DSL filter will solve the problem). It is a little filter with about a 6 inch pigtail with a modular plug on it, and in the other end of the filter is a modular jack. Just put in line with the phone. It works about 80% of the time. The next level is a small, hard-wired filter we can install where the phone line enters the house. It will solve many where the plug-in unit fails. Finally, there is a ferite “donut” that we can loop the line thru that we can use on stereo speaker lines, TV leads, etc. to solve the problems ceated in those units. We will supply one filter. If they need more, we tell them where they can buy them. There are one or two problem homes I get called back on periodically, but for the most part, once fixed I rarely ever hear from them again.
Send Mr. Smith to Washington: A Problem Solver, Not A Problem Maker.
Paid: Committee To Send Mr. Smith to Washington.
Congratulations on rolling up the sleeves and getting your hands dirty solving problems and not participating in the minutiae. You are a credit to your profession and a great American.
And on that note, it should be that said Mr. Smith is a hell of a nice guy as well!!!
You’re in the White House. It’s 3 am and the phone rings. Do you want a Congressman that is going to listen to KGEM’s broadcasting or do something to prevent such disturbances?
Mr. Smith will do something to prevent the disturbance from ruining his beauty sleep and not just talk about it.
If you want action instead of reaction, vote to send Mr. Smith to Washington. He’ll solve problems.
Oh yeah, he’s a nice guy too. RadioActive says so. When RadioActive talks, people listen.
Paid, People Sending Mr. Smith to Washington, Buster Bronco, Treasurer.
Ok, now what? I’m supposed to chime in and say something like, “I’m Mr. Smith and I approve this ad.” Oh, well. But, now that I think about it, KGEM might be a better thing to have on your phone at 3am than some of the alternatives….. :)
I wonder how X-rated radio would work. lol.
As a longtime KGEM over-the-phone-listener, I would concur with the gentlemen Mr. Smith. I’m surprised that I can hear that transmitter over in my neck of the woods.
So, if what I thought was the KGEM transmitter off McMillan Road isn’t, then does anyone know what that is?
If you are talking about what I think you are talking about, it is a rather large (for a cell tower) cell tower. KGEM has the three towers over on Cassia street not too far from Borah High School. Worth noting is that KGEM comes in stronger than normal in the Ustick, 5-Mile, McMillan area due to some strong re-radiation from the power lines in the area. That may add to the misconception that it is located near there.