Power Outage Cuts Off 2 Radio Stations

Two Los Angeles radio stations--KKGO-FM (105.1) and KPFK-FM (90.7)--went off the air for much of Friday after an electrical transformer blew up in remote Mt. Wilson, cutting power to the stations’ mountaintop transmitters.

The outage occurred shortly before 5 a.m., said Melanie Savage, a Southern California Edison spokeswoman. Both stations were reduced to static as Edison crews worked to replace the transformer.

Edison was hoping to restore power by midafternoon, Savage said. The cause of the outage was not immediately known, and fewer than a dozen homes, if any, were affected.

Each hour of dead air cost KKGO thousands of dollars, because paid commercials were not broadcast, said Saul Levine, the station’s general manager. Levine said KKGO will soon install an emergency generator to prevent future outages. KPFK, a noncommercial broadcaster, did not suffer any losses.

KKGO is one of Los Angeles’ few classical FM stations, having switched from 30 years of broadcasting jazz in a controversial move last January. KPFK is known for its eclectic, if sometimes ragged, programming that ranges from New Age to Indian music to a program called “Communist Party U.S.A.”