Broadcast Status
April 28th - Planned Power Outage - PG&E pole replacement at Laughlin Peak, 8:30am-3:00pm.
91.5 FM may go down if the Cal Fire maintained generator does not kick in (as happened on March 24th).
April 17th - Hard drive failure. Drive that holds audio cuts for air broadcast failed and hundreds of audio cuts have to be replaced with a prior backup of our audio cuts drive. Since KZYX programming is so dynamic and the cuts change every time a new show or promo is loaded into our broadcast computer, some of the cuts may be from a prior week (weather, calendar, promos, etc.), may be outdated. Thank you for your patience.
We are setting up an incremental backup system that will immediately backup changes in the audio cut drive and minimize outdated audio cuts. We are also switching away from platter spinning mechanical drives to SSD drives that have no moving parts (not foolproof, but more reliable). Also looking into a RAID system for backups.
April 7-8th - There was an issue with the automated downloading of Thom Hartmann's Show from our Pod Silo App, where the show would try to download and go into the proper folder, but fail. At first it seemed like it was the App itself after a Windows update to the Ops Computer on Monday 4/7. So the App was reset and it was verified that Pod Silo was connecting to the host server. When it failed again (Tuesday), further investigation showed it was one of our backup hard drives that was failing, and intermittently locking up some of the folders on a separate hard drive that is where shows for airing are deposited. That backup drive was removed and will be replaced and the files on it transferred to a new drive. Pod Silo is operating normally at this time.
March 29th - Phones at Willits studio not going over the air and this prohibited "Trading Time" from using the phones on-air. A subsequent visit to the studio showed that the cable that plugs from the phone system to the audio console was unplugged.
March 25th, 2025 - Update - Intermittent Internet causing audio dropouts. Went to the Talmage studio and worked with Sea Kay Internets Services to troubleshoot the . Internet problems at Talmage Studio. Internet seems to have stabilized. We will continue to monitor. This incident is closed.
March 25th, 2025 - UPDATE - PG&E replaced the power pole at the 91.5 transmitter site, and when the power was restored, the power supply on the STL (Studio Transmitter Link) failed. We were able to get a replacement unit to the Laughlin Peak transmitter site and replace it. Our signal was restored at approximately 7:30pm. While the tower engineer was on-site, he was also seeing that the signal being received by the STL was very weak and seeing many bit errors. This is why we've been having the micro dropouts on the 91.5 signal. This was confirmation of our suspicion that indeed it was a weak signal to the STL. There are a few things it could be (dish misalignment, problem with the microwave transmitter at Cold Springs site, co-channel interference, etc.). We will be scheduling another site visit to further troubleshoot the problem.
March 24th, 2025 - PG&E is replacing a power pole in Laughlin Peak between 8:30am and 4:00pm. There could be a disruption of the 95.1 signal at that time. We do have a generator we share at the site, but it is not in our control.
91.5 Micro Dropouts - We are aware of the micro dropouts on the 91.5 signal. This is due to the STL (Studio Transmitter Link) microwave signal that goes out from the Cold Springs transmitter site and received about 40 miles away at the Laughlin Peak transmitter site. There are a few possibilities that can cause this and we will be going to the Laughlin Peak site (weather permitting) to take the STL strength readings and troubleshoot. It could be an alignment issue between the microwave dishes, it could be co-channel interference or local signal interference at Cold Springs or at Laughlin Peak. This is not an issue in the broadcast studios. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
91.5 FM may go down if the Cal Fire maintained generator does not kick in (as happened on March 24th).
April 17th - Hard drive failure. Drive that holds audio cuts for air broadcast failed and hundreds of audio cuts have to be replaced with a prior backup of our audio cuts drive. Since KZYX programming is so dynamic and the cuts change every time a new show or promo is loaded into our broadcast computer, some of the cuts may be from a prior week (weather, calendar, promos, etc.), may be outdated. Thank you for your patience.
We are setting up an incremental backup system that will immediately backup changes in the audio cut drive and minimize outdated audio cuts. We are also switching away from platter spinning mechanical drives to SSD drives that have no moving parts (not foolproof, but more reliable). Also looking into a RAID system for backups.
April 7-8th - There was an issue with the automated downloading of Thom Hartmann's Show from our Pod Silo App, where the show would try to download and go into the proper folder, but fail. At first it seemed like it was the App itself after a Windows update to the Ops Computer on Monday 4/7. So the App was reset and it was verified that Pod Silo was connecting to the host server. When it failed again (Tuesday), further investigation showed it was one of our backup hard drives that was failing, and intermittently locking up some of the folders on a separate hard drive that is where shows for airing are deposited. That backup drive was removed and will be replaced and the files on it transferred to a new drive. Pod Silo is operating normally at this time.
March 29th - Phones at Willits studio not going over the air and this prohibited "Trading Time" from using the phones on-air. A subsequent visit to the studio showed that the cable that plugs from the phone system to the audio console was unplugged.
March 25th, 2025 - Update - Intermittent Internet causing audio dropouts. Went to the Talmage studio and worked with Sea Kay Internets Services to troubleshoot the . Internet problems at Talmage Studio. Internet seems to have stabilized. We will continue to monitor. This incident is closed.
March 25th, 2025 - UPDATE - PG&E replaced the power pole at the 91.5 transmitter site, and when the power was restored, the power supply on the STL (Studio Transmitter Link) failed. We were able to get a replacement unit to the Laughlin Peak transmitter site and replace it. Our signal was restored at approximately 7:30pm. While the tower engineer was on-site, he was also seeing that the signal being received by the STL was very weak and seeing many bit errors. This is why we've been having the micro dropouts on the 91.5 signal. This was confirmation of our suspicion that indeed it was a weak signal to the STL. There are a few things it could be (dish misalignment, problem with the microwave transmitter at Cold Springs site, co-channel interference, etc.). We will be scheduling another site visit to further troubleshoot the problem.
March 24th, 2025 - PG&E is replacing a power pole in Laughlin Peak between 8:30am and 4:00pm. There could be a disruption of the 95.1 signal at that time. We do have a generator we share at the site, but it is not in our control.
91.5 Micro Dropouts - We are aware of the micro dropouts on the 91.5 signal. This is due to the STL (Studio Transmitter Link) microwave signal that goes out from the Cold Springs transmitter site and received about 40 miles away at the Laughlin Peak transmitter site. There are a few possibilities that can cause this and we will be going to the Laughlin Peak site (weather permitting) to take the STL strength readings and troubleshoot. It could be an alignment issue between the microwave dishes, it could be co-channel interference or local signal interference at Cold Springs or at Laughlin Peak. This is not an issue in the broadcast studios. Thank you for your patience and understanding.