OPB is welcoming their newest station, 89.7 KOTD The Dalles. Does anyone have any technical info on this station?

KOTD is 89.7Mhz with just 12 watts of power from Stacker Butte on the Washington side. KOTD replaces translator K218AZ 91.5MHz with just 5 watts also from Stacker Butte.

Why is it that the callsign for this station doesn't have the suffix "-LP?" Searching through Radio-Locator, I see that there are a few translators on Stacker Butte, in the 10-20 Watt range. The local service contours (1 mV/meter) of these low power broadcasters barely reach The Dalles.

It's not an LP, that's why. It's a full service license. At 589 m HAAT you don't need much power to meet class A minimums which is either 100 W or 6km to the 60dBu in any direction.

The LPFM have restricted power *and* antenna height:

From the FCC Website:

"These stations are authorized for noncommercial educational broadcasting only (no commercial operation) and operate with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 watts (0.1 kilowatts) or less, with maximum facilities of 100 watts ERP at 30 meters (100 feet) antenna height above average terrain (HAAT). The approximate service range of a 100 watt LPFM station is 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles radius). LPFM stations are not protected from interference that may be received from other classes of FM stations.

can anybody recite the OPB top of hour legal ID from memory now??

They must hold the record for longest legal ID ever.

can anybody recite the OPB top of hour legal ID from memory now?
Nah, but there are three of them I do remember (from about 10 years ago):

"96.1 K-Z-E-L Eugene, is rebroadcast on translator (laser sweep sound) K272CO Roseburg, K276IH Florence, K244CS Corvallis, and K244DL Cottage Grove; that's 102.3 Roseburg, 103.1 Florence, and 96.7 Corvallis/Cottage Grove–With you where ever you go–96.1 KZEL, Oregon's Classic Rock!"

"(seagull sound) Rebroadcast on translator K211BP Florence and K-S-Y-D Reedsport-Coos Bay, you're listening to 91.9 FM K-R-V-M, Eugene-Springfield."

"New Rock 95.3 The Q - K-N-R-Q Creswell-Eugene, and 1320 AM K-N-R-Q Springfield... Rebroadcast on translator K275AA Springfield, New Rock 95.3 The Q!"

Also I did hear part of the massive "Air 1" top of hour ID (I didn't listen to the format/station, so all I remember of that one is a very long list of stations licensed to various Podunks, including the Welches station).

The guy in the Air 1 top of the hour ID goes through the stations pretty fast!

1320 KNRQ had an illegal ID for many years, since the station is licensed to Eugene, not Springfield.

Here's the reason KOTD 89.7MHz has such low power:

On July 15, 2008 the FCC granted OPB 89.7MHz also to John Day with 900 watts.

Since OPB is operating two stations on 89.7, it would have been interesting if they could have synchronized the two transmitters. However, the air distance from John Day to The Dalles is 136 miles, so it probably doesn't matter.

Now, the new, improved OPB signal, now with more than twice the power!
Toured the east gorge with the Columbia River Gorge Commission Tuesday and in-between stops at various urban areas tested the new KOTD signal on both sides of the river. It's a slight improvement only over the translator. Pretty much right to Crate's Point (the final bend on I-84 before you can see The Dalles eastbound) you're better off picking up the Hood River translator.