MN Radio: Lightning Strike Weakens KBLB, WJJY Signals

Signals are weak at Hubbard Country KBLB 93.3 and AC WJJY 106.7 after lightning struck an antenna on top of Mount Ski Gull, near Nisswa, MN.

The Brainerd Dispatch reports Hubbard Radio Station Manager Jeff Hilborn said Thursday, July 7, the antenna that was hit transmits for both KBLB and WJJY, affecting the signal on both stations. It is unclear when the lightning strike happened, as Hilborn said the signal can take time to erode when things like this happen. The severe Memorial Day storm might have been the culprit, but that can’t be said for sure.

“We’ve had transmission failure — or transmitter failure — on one select station; we’ve had tower strikes, etc., but where it actually took out the antenna for both, we’ve never experienced that,” Hilborn said.

With the antenna compromised, both stations are now being transmitted through a studio transmitter link at the Hubbard office in Baxter, though the tower there is only 100 feet tall, compared to the Ski Gull tower’s 400 feet and position on top of the hill.

“FM signals are what they call line of sight,” Hilborn said. “It will just shoot it out as far as it can go, and it goes out in a circular pattern. And so when you get up high on that tower and you shoot it out, the higher you are, the more distance you’re going to get with your signal. And now when we’re doing that there, and we’re doing it on a backup transmitter with a backup antenna, it’s just very, very compromised.”

As of Thursday, Hilborn said he had ordered a new custom-built antenna, which should take about two weeks, or 10 business days, to complete. It then has to be shipped out to the transmitter site and installed. Hilborn estimates about a three-week process to get the new antenna up and signal strengths back to 100%.

In the meantime, the station is acquiring new coaxial cable from Bemidji to string onto the tower. How far up the tower the cable can go will depend on how much cable can be secured. The cable will be hooked up to on-site antennas that were being used by AM stations but will be re-tuned to WJJY and KBLB. The new hookup should strengthen the signal to cover Brainerd and Baxter but will still likely only cover about half of the station’s typical 60-mile radius.