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CC Accuses Competitor of Deliberate Jamming During Dennis

C

CentralFLEagle

Guest
I know this has nothing to do with Tampa Bay radio, but I thought you would be interested in this from the Panhandle. Some S E R I O U S doo-doo if it turns out to be proven.

According to a story from Panama City television station WJHG, during Hurricane Dennis listeners to one of Clear Channel's stations there, WPAP-FM, were hearing nothing more than a hum. A very serious matter, as WPAP is the area's primary EAS station. CC's CE investigated, and traced the source to the building of a competitor, Double OO Radio, which owns four stations in the market.

With a deputy sheriff on hand, they went inside and allegedly discovered a transmitter running and set to WPAP's frequency, causing the jamming.

As much as I dislike CC, if this is true Double O is guilty of an inexcusable violation, especially under the circumstances. That's the kind of crap that gets one's licenses revoked posthaste, or a HUGE fine!

<P ID="signature">______________
Robert Charles Pickering
Lakeland, Florida</P>
 
> I know this has nothing to do with Tampa Bay radio, but I
> thought you would be interested in this from the Panhandle.
> Some S E R I O U S doo-doo if it turns out to be proven.
>
> According to a story from Panama City television station
> WJHG, during Hurricane Dennis listeners to one of Clear
> Channel's stations there, WPAP-FM, were hearing nothing more
> than a hum. A very serious matter, as WPAP is the area's
> primary EAS station. CC's CE investigated, and traced the
> source to the building of a competitor, Double OO Radio,
> which owns four stations in the market.
>
> With a deputy sheriff on hand, they went inside and
> allegedly discovered a transmitter running and set to WPAP's
> frequency, causing the jamming.
>
> As much as I dislike CC, if this is true Double O is guilty
> of an inexcusable violation, especially under the
> circumstances. That's the kind of crap that gets one's
> licenses revoked posthaste, or a HUGE fine!

I've been following this on the North Florida board. Wow. What would compel somebody at Double O to pull something like that? To try and drive people over to one of their stations for storm coverage? Heads should roll, and it'll be interesting to see how much the FCC mans up on this one.
 
I wouldnt believe much if any of this story. First of all, someone with a small transmitter on the same frequency would only be able to interfere with a high power station only a few hundred feet if at all. The only thing I know of that happened up there during that time was an EAS screwup, warning about some type of radiological problem?





> > I know this has nothing to do with Tampa Bay radio, but I
> > thought you would be interested in this from the
> Panhandle.
> > Some S E R I O U S doo-doo if it turns out to be proven.
> >
> > According to a story from Panama City television station
> > WJHG, during Hurricane Dennis listeners to one of Clear
> > Channel's stations there, WPAP-FM, were hearing nothing
> more
> > than a hum. A very serious matter, as WPAP is the area's
> > primary EAS station. CC's CE investigated, and traced the
>
> > source to the building of a competitor, Double OO Radio,
> > which owns four stations in the market.
> >
> > With a deputy sheriff on hand, they went inside and
> > allegedly discovered a transmitter running and set to
> WPAP's
> > frequency, causing the jamming.
> >
> > As much as I dislike CC, if this is true Double O is
> guilty
> > of an inexcusable violation, especially under the
> > circumstances. That's the kind of crap that gets one's
> > licenses revoked posthaste, or a HUGE fine!
>
> I've been following this on the North Florida board. Wow.
> What would compel somebody at Double O to pull something
> like that? To try and drive people over to one of their
> stations for storm coverage? Heads should roll, and it'll
> be interesting to see how much the FCC mans up on this one.
>
 
> I wouldnt believe much if any of this story. First of all,
> someone with a small transmitter on the same frequency would
> only be able to interfere with a high power station only a
> few hundred feet if at all. The only thing I know of that
> happened up there during that time was an EAS screwup,
> warning about some type of radiological problem?

Apparently, the interference was bad enough to cause a CC engineer to call a cop and show up at Double O's studios and found a Bext XL1000 running at 92.5 (WPAP's frequency) in the rack room during Hurricane Dennis. Now, they're saying they've run that transmitter at other times, during various dayparts during ratings periods, to interfere with another station, in addition to WPAP. Check out the thread on the North Florida board. Juicy, indeed.
 
I was up in Panama City during Hurricane Ivan last year. I thought both groups of broadcasters did a good job. A tornado came through Panama City Beach and hit the Double O studio knocking all of their stations off the air. For over a day, the only radio came from the CC stations.

Very interesting situation....
 
> I wouldnt believe much if any of this story. First of all,
> someone with a small transmitter on the same frequency would
> only be able to interfere with a high power station only a
> few hundred feet if at all. The only thing I know of that
> happened up there during that time was an EAS screwup,
> warning about some type of radiological problem?

I don't know. Somebody mentioned they were using a Bext transmitter. I think I've seen one. You can re-assign the frequency, and they'll run 1kw. Double O supposedly has a 3 or 4 bay antenna on their STL tower out behind the studios which a post said was around 140 feet high. 1kw into that antenna, at 140 feet could sure cause some interference.
 
Good grief. If you're going to jam your competitor's signal, perhaps you should consider getting out of the business. Because if you don't believe in your product, you don't belong in this business.
 
in deference to CC (and i'm not, nor have i ever been, a CC employee), they seem to be, of late, incredibly removed from evil, unlike the heretofore beat-into-the-ground image. (rumors are that they have started hiring "live" announcers for stations in dayparts previously occupied by Otto)

jamming a competitor's signal, a primary EAS, during a major weather event? to what end or benefit?

here's hoping that it was some engineering testing thing that went horribly, horribly wrong instead of something intentional. (a collegial assist to get a secondary or back-up mitter in working condition?)


not to distract from the serious tone of the thread here, but Fake User Name: that's the best online id i've seen yet. well done. (rofpmpl)

(i also like Mark Coney, Mike Rowfone, and Megan A. Watts.)
 
> in deference to CC (and i'm not, nor have i ever been, a CC
> employee), they seem to be, of late, incredibly removed from
> evil, unlike the heretofore beat-into-the-ground image.
> (rumors are that they have started hiring "live" announcers
> for stations in dayparts previously occupied by Otto)
>
> jamming a competitor's signal, a primary EAS, during a major
> weather event? to what end or benefit?

The station on the receiving end of the jamming was Clear-Channel owned WPAP, 92.5, the primary EAS station for the area. The company that owned the transmitter that caused the problem was Double O Broadcasting.
>
> here's hoping that it was some engineering testing thing
> that went horribly, horribly wrong instead of something
> intentional. (a collegial assist to get a secondary or
> back-up mitter in working condition?)

Doesn't appear to be, as only the OM was in the building when the CC chief engineer and deputy showed up. I expect there will be some serious repercussions. A radio colleague of mine, who lives near the area,
called me today and said he expects the Tampa field office will
investigate.

I don't know anything about Double O, either good or bad. I do know that WPAP has pretty much been a leader in the market starting way before CC owned them.
I'm not too far from there, and listen to Glenda Gayle on occasion..
>
>
> not to distract from the serious tone of the thread here,
> but Fake User Name: that's the best online id i've seen yet.
> well done. (rofpmpl)
>
> (i also like Mark Coney, Mike Rowfone, and Megan A. Watts.)
>
<P ID="signature">______________
..broadcasting from the land of bent towers, flooded studios and wind...Florida!!</P>
 
> Good grief. If you're going to jam your competitor's
> signal, perhaps you should consider getting out of the
> business. Because if you don't believe in your product, you
> don't belong in this business.
>

I was looking at the posts on the N. FLorida board. Amazing stuff. I would think the FCC would revoke the licenses if true. Maybe a criminal investigation since it involved the EAS station during a hurricane evacuation. I can't think of a stronger violation of FCC rules than operating an illegal transmitter to block another stations signal, during a weather emergency.
 
Actually...

Not so much an accusation as much as it was a confirmation (they were caught red handed with their pants down).

IMHO, its wrong, no matter who does it!

> I know this has nothing to do with Tampa Bay radio, but I
> thought you would be interested in this from the Panhandle.
> Some S E R I O U S doo-doo if it turns out to be proven.
>
> According to a story from Panama City television station
> WJHG, during Hurricane Dennis listeners to one of Clear
> Channel's stations there, WPAP-FM, were hearing nothing more
> than a hum. A very serious matter, as WPAP is the area's
> primary EAS station. CC's CE investigated, and traced the
> source to the building of a competitor, Double OO Radio,
> which owns four stations in the market.
>
> With a deputy sheriff on hand, they went inside and
> allegedly discovered a transmitter running and set to WPAP's
> frequency, causing the jamming.
>
> As much as I dislike CC, if this is true Double O is guilty
> of an inexcusable violation, especially under the
> circumstances. That's the kind of crap that gets one's
> licenses revoked posthaste, or a HUGE fine!
>
 
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