By SETH GARNER
Student Reporter
Amarillo College’s FM90 is closer to returning to full power of 100,000 watts after completing major transmitter repairs.
For now, the station will remain at reduced power while waiting for the air conditioner to be fixed at the station’s tower site.
The project was approved by the AC board of regents in August 2024, but progress has moved slowly. FM90 Program Director Amy Presley said a combination of Texas Panhandle weather and the age of the transmitter have contributed to the delays in repairs.
“The transmitter puts off a lot of heat, so much that it has its own vent hood,” Presley said. “We’ve had several days over 100 degrees so it’s not possible to turn our transmitter back to full power until the A/C unit is repaired. If we were to turn it on it could cause catastrophic failure of our equipment.”
Broadcast Engineer Damien Duran compared the problem to putting a metal fork in a microwave and turning it on. “You’re going to get a bunch of arcing and sparking,” he said. “Essentially, that’s the same concept whenever it comes to reflected power in these transmission lines.”
Ultimately, Duran said operating a transmitter at 100% power under those conditions will violate FCC regulations.
After replacing the transmission line, Presley said the old transmitter tubes had to be refurbished in order to allow the station to resume broadcasting at full power. The tubes in question are from a transmitter that was constructed in the 1980s. “The company does not exist anymore that makes the tubes, so we had to send them off,” she said.
While FM90 staff and listeners wait for the station to return to full power, Student Music Director Evan Banner said the experience has reinforced FM90’s impact.
“I’ve realized there’s so much we could do as a station with
wider reach,” Banner said. “When it eventually happens, it will be very exciting for us and
the community.”
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