KNX off the air for 36 minutes

Some early-morning commuters were deprived of their news fix Tuesday when a transmitter problem knocked KNX-AM (1070) off the air for 36 minutes.

A faulty chip on the station’s main transmitter in Torrance shut down its power at 6:03 a.m., said KNX transmitter supervisor Larry Wichman. Normally, anyone at the station’s Hollywood studio can press a button to switch to the backup transmitter, but that button also failed, he said.

Executive news producer Ronnie Bradford called Wichman at home, and Wichman was able to talk him through another, more involved procedure to start the backup transmitter. The station was on the air again at 6:39 a.m.

KNX general manager George Nicholaw said it was the longest time the station had been off the air that he could remember.