Townsquare Media studios in downtown Wenatchee will be impacted by emergency Chelan PUD repairs on Thursday evening.
The utility discovered damage as the result of vandalism to distribution equipment near the Townsquare Media building at 231 N. Wenatchee Avenue.
The isolated emergency repairs will force several radio stations to suspend broadcasting for several hours while PUD crews work on the repairs.
Chelan PUD crews will need to shut down power to the Townsquare Media building for up to 8 hours on Thursday evening, Jan 29th, starting at 9:30pm.
Hemera Technologies
Hemera Technologies
The vandalized PUD equipment provides electricity to the building that houses the studios of KPQ-AM and FM, The Quake 102.1, KW3, 99.5 The Apple, KYSN, 1340 The Hawk, Talk 106.7, and KWNC in Quincy. The YWCA Thrift Store is located in the same building.
The effected radio stations will suspend broadcasting temporarily at 9:30pm on Thursday, and are scheduled to resume regular broadcasting by 5:30am on Friday, January 30th
The repairs cannot be delayed, according to Chelan PUD, and must be performed as soon as possible. The PUD is delaying the power shutoff to the radio stations until a live Cashmere High School basketball broadcast has concluded on Thursday night.
The planned outage is not related to the just-completed repair work to the KPQ-AM transmitter located off Hawley Street in Wenatchee. A damaged part that forced the station to temporarily operate at lower power has been replaced. KPQ-AM 560 is now at full power, and poor reception in outlying areas has been cleared up.
Listeners should note KPQ-AM560 is also broadcast at FM 101.7 in the immediate Wenatchee area. You can also stream the station on the KPQ app or KPQ.com