B
Big Moe
Guest
I don’t hear Legal and proper ID’s anymore.
Aren’t the Legal ID’s “call letters” and “city?”
What gives?
Aren’t the Legal ID’s “call letters” and “city?”
What gives?
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9
93QClassic.com
Guest
They're required, but the FCC doesn't care unless someone complains. Then the resident agent (who always has a lot more pressing issues like unlit towers, cell phone jammers, tracking down sources of interference, etc) has to take time to build a violation case. He has to listen in, then document the violation with a recording, get proof, etc. Then issue a Notice of Violation and give the station time to respond. Then refer everything to overworked and underpaid bureaucrats in Washington, DC to see if they want to do anything about it. Bottom line: Half-assed compliance will get by.
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
Of course, we are one of only a handful of countries which require announcement of the call letters. They are, in my opinion, an anachronism.
Here in Los Angeles, several stations have never bothered to change call letters after subsequent on-air branding and/or format changes. They include KCBS-FM (CBS-FM to Arrow 93 to Jack), KYSR (Star 98.7 to Alt 98.7), KDLD (KDL to Indie to José), KXOL (El Sol to Latino), and the champion KWIZ-FM which has its original call letters from back in the 1960s, and has not only had numerous format changes has changed languages a few times.
Given the more pressing issues at the FCC and the personnel with too much on their bureaucratic plates to care about sweating the small stuff (as Joe said using different verbiage), I don't know why we still bother.
Here in Los Angeles, several stations have never bothered to change call letters after subsequent on-air branding and/or format changes. They include KCBS-FM (CBS-FM to Arrow 93 to Jack), KYSR (Star 98.7 to Alt 98.7), KDLD (KDL to Indie to José), KXOL (El Sol to Latino), and the champion KWIZ-FM which has its original call letters from back in the 1960s, and has not only had numerous format changes has changed languages a few times.
Given the more pressing issues at the FCC and the personnel with too much on their bureaucratic plates to care about sweating the small stuff (as Joe said using different verbiage), I don't know why we still bother.
U
Unregistered
Guest
Many stations either don't care or don't know about a legal ID.
P
purpledevil
Guest
LOL, well John, you're not listening very hard then. There are several stations that aren't ID'ed correctly, and others that seem to not bother. I won't list out all the offenders and bore everyone so badly that they fall asleep, so I'll just give an example of each.
650 KIKK Pasadena. Legal ID is KIKK Pasadena, KKHH HD-3 Houston. CBS' version is KIKK, KKHH HD-3 Pasadena, Houston. It's within the spirit of the law, I suppose.
Then we jump up the dial to 1140. Let me know when you hear the words KYOK and Conroe side by side. Plenty of KYOK mentions, nary a peep about Conroe serving as its COL.
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
I'm sure Mr. Unregistered Guest has been listening to stations that bury the legal as a "fly-by" between spots in the closest stopset before the hour, and obviously it has worked because he doesn't hear the IDs.
Call letters and optional inserts and City of License.
In the middle can be things like channel for FMs, ownership and network.
WZZZ, Shelby Broadcasting Company, Lynchburg is legal.
"The transmitting station may insert
between its call letters and its community
of license the following information:
the frequency of the transmitting
station, the channel number of the
transmitting station, the name of the
licensee of the transmitting station
and the licensee providing the programming,
and/or the name of the network
of either station."
FCC, 73.1201
Community, David, not city of license......
Just as an aside: About a decade back, Oldies KKSN-FM, whose legacy Top 40 was KISN, buried the legal ID about six minutes before the hour. At the top of the hour, they had a jingle that literally sang, "97.1 KISN Portland". I always thought that was suspect but the legacy station was certainly guilty of numerous station ID violations.
U
Unregistered
Guest
Actually I can give the call letters of the station in question... KLMO (98.9 Dilley/San Antonio). I listened from 12:53 to about 1:04 a few minutes ago, heard a couple songs before the hour and even one and part of another after the hour. Not once did I hear either the call letters or the frequency. I don't recall them mentioning the station name either.
Yes, the rules specify "community" but that usage dates back to when a "city" and a "community" were synonymous. But several rulings, such as the Humble City, NM, grant in 1971 (AM 1110) changed the meanings for all future references. Humble City was actually a "place" and not a "city". It was unincorporated and had no post office at the time. The FCC found that "places" that were not towns or cities or villages which were formally incorporated could be considered as a "community".
At the same time, the FCC developed community ascertainment requirements that made "community" synonymous with the primary service area of a station, which could be many, many cities, towns, townships, villages, counties, parishes and such.
For the purpose of defining the implementation of station ID requirements, I find the term "city" less ambiguous for station staff. Otherwise, we'd have stations identifying with the broader name of the metropolitan area they are in as that is really what the FCC defines "community" as for terms of service obligations. "City" clarifies that it is one specific town, not the combination of many... which is what a community really is.
This is a case of the FCC engaging in doublespeak. For ID's, they say "community" and really mean "city" while in ascertainment, they say "community" and toss in every jurisdiction in a station's coverage area. In one instance, they mean "one" and in the other they mean "many" and have never noticed the contradiction.
That's why I specifically said "city" and then went on to quote the FCC's exact rule which says "community".
Of course!! Thanks for the details but I couldnt resist ribbing a little LOL.......Thanks for being a good sport about it....AND showing the history behind it...(A lot of people these days tend to pass right over the history of radio; be it broadcast or amateur...the new "CBHams" in my area start talking about "Putting on the 1st Amateur TV repeater"....AHHHHH WE HAD one in the 1980s....I was half owner...and most of the equipment is still on the site.....but when they are told that, they get defensive because their ego balloon had been burst and they find out they are not the 1st to do it....AWWWWWWWW..one fat "Boss Hawg" tries to defile my name with them because he wants to be a top BOSS and have them think he is the tech leaders....older hams know the real story and one widow, whose husband was a Navy spook in WWII and STILL does not know HALF of what he did because of security reasons, caught me at a QCWA lunch and said they are just flat out jealous of my background and feel imitated...and then said "But you are the friendliest guy I know who is willing to TEACH someone" Yep, I would be glad to help them NOT reinvent the wheel....but their egos refuse to allow that to happen..)
OH well, I digress.......Again, thanks for the "rest of the story" as a former co-employee was known to say!
OH well, I digress.......Again, thanks for the "rest of the story" as a former co-employee was known to say!
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