KPXM Minneapolis moving tower closer to Mpls

[Mr Tony]

Looks like ION is moving their tower to Minneapolis
For the folks that dont know, KPXM tower is about 55 miles NW of Minneapolis in St Cloud. ION has this setup with a lot of their O&O stations...a little outside of a metro area...which has made it hard to pick up

The FCC has granted ION affiliate KPXM-DT (St. Cloud) a transmitter move to Shoreview, the location of all of the other major Minneapolis-St. Paul stations. The station, originally KXLI/41, has broadcast from a tower near Big Lake since its sign-on in 1982. The location made the station difficult for many Twin Cities viewers to receive. KPXM will remain licensed to St. Cloud, though the move will put the city on the edge of KPXM's coverage area

 

[daddyzlod]

That's good, then I should get a stronger signal out here in nowhere land.
I see on the tv guide listings, that they play some pretty good movies at times.

 

[Mr Tony]

yep at night they actually have a decent set of programming

 

[ziggy29]

I would think it's in the best interests of most of these stations to be as close to the "cluster" of towers in a market as possible. That would help them reach OTA viewers who don't have rotators and aim to a fixed direction -- usually at the highest concentration of local network signals.

 

[Mr Tony]

ziggy

all the other stations in Minneapolis transmit from one area (the Shoreview telefarm). KPXM (formerly KXLI) has been transmitting from the site 50 miles NW since they signed on. Originally they were designed to handle the Mpls market and St Cloud which is about 20 miles NW of the tower maybe as a affiliate but it became a Independent station for years playing old public domain stuff until it became Ion