WQFS at Guilford College in Greensboro NC, a perennial Princeton review top 10 station, will be going dark from approximately the end of April until I am guessing August or September due to renovations in Founders Hall. We are bummed, community volunteers like myself in particular, but on the other side we will have some awesome new digs.
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WQFS taking the summer off
- Thread starter cc917
- Start date
Good thing you just went through renewal, otherwise you'd be BEGGING for a 73.561(b) license challenge. Technically you're still begging for it, but you can't be forced into one until your next license renewal in 2019.
BTW, if you're going dark for more than 10 days, you must notify the FCC in writing. If it's more than 30 days, you need to apply for STA (Special Temporary Authority) that, if granted (and it almost certainly will be) will cover you for six months.
You sure you can't broadcast from somewhere else for a while? Even just a basic office with EAS, a computer for automation and some CD players and a mic? Or even rebroadcast someone else for a while? Sure it's not ideal but at least it CYA. Maybe WNAA, WFDD, WSNC or WUNC? All you need is a one-page agreement to make sure the other guys cover your EAS and Legal ID needs, and a radio/antenna at the transmitter to pick up the other station. (assuming you've already got the needed transmitter remote controls)
Going dark is just never a good idea if you can avoid it.
BTW, if you're going dark for more than 10 days, you must notify the FCC in writing. If it's more than 30 days, you need to apply for STA (Special Temporary Authority) that, if granted (and it almost certainly will be) will cover you for six months.
You sure you can't broadcast from somewhere else for a while? Even just a basic office with EAS, a computer for automation and some CD players and a mic? Or even rebroadcast someone else for a while? Sure it's not ideal but at least it CYA. Maybe WNAA, WFDD, WSNC or WUNC? All you need is a one-page agreement to make sure the other guys cover your EAS and Legal ID needs, and a radio/antenna at the transmitter to pick up the other station. (assuming you've already got the needed transmitter remote controls)
Going dark is just never a good idea if you can avoid it.
If this is a one-time off-air period specifically for studio renovation, I'm hard-pressed to see how 73.561(b) would apply. WQFS' regular operating schedule is 24/7...and if they apply for silent status under STA, their "regular operating schedule" is still 24/7.
What would a competing licensee apply for in that case - a license specifying shared-time operation only when the WQFS studio building is inaccessible due to renovation?
In general, I don't know of any forced share-time agreement that's specified anything more complex than a weekly schedule. I don't think the FCC would look kindly on a seasonal share-time proposal...
What would a competing licensee apply for in that case - a license specifying shared-time operation only when the WQFS studio building is inaccessible due to renovation?
In general, I don't know of any forced share-time agreement that's specified anything more complex than a weekly schedule. I don't think the FCC would look kindly on a seasonal share-time proposal...
The rules don't specify any distinction between season downtime or weekly downtime. Only that you must broadcast "12 hours per day each day of the year".
(b) All stations, including those meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, but which do not operate 12 hours per day each day of the year, will be required to share use of the frequency upon the grant of an appropriate application proposing such share time arrangement.
The last license renewal go-around when Marty Hensley of "Hoosier Public Radio" (actually a religious outfit, not NPR) filed a bunch of 73.561(b) challenges, some were IIRC against stations that were on the air for more than 12 hours a day, every day, during the academic year...but they were not making the 12 hour minimum over summer and winter breaks. As I heard it, in most cases the only reason his challenges were dismissed was because he didn't formally propose a share-time arrangement to the school, get rejected, and THEN file with the FCC to force it. He skipped straight to the "file with the FCC" part and that's not how the rule works; probably figured that if he did that he'd tip them off and incur negative publicity. Which is probably true, but it's also irrelevant. The rule doesn't give any indication as to how much downtime allows a 73.561(b) challenge. In theory, just ONE DAY when you don't make the 12 hour minimum, during the ENTIRE EIGHT YEAR LICENSE PERIOD, is enough to leave you vulnerable. Although I would think anyone who filed a challenge with the FCC based on one day's downtime would, at a minimum, have to prove it.
Mind you, this is all at the ultimate discretion of the FCC. I know that the bulk of FCC employees don't want to see stations forced into 73.561(b) share-time challenges if it can be avoided, no matter how insignificant the technicality necessary. And the FCC does have a history of conveniently ignoring its own rules on the odd occasion that it wants to. Or when Congress wants it to.
(b) All stations, including those meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, but which do not operate 12 hours per day each day of the year, will be required to share use of the frequency upon the grant of an appropriate application proposing such share time arrangement.
The last license renewal go-around when Marty Hensley of "Hoosier Public Radio" (actually a religious outfit, not NPR) filed a bunch of 73.561(b) challenges, some were IIRC against stations that were on the air for more than 12 hours a day, every day, during the academic year...but they were not making the 12 hour minimum over summer and winter breaks. As I heard it, in most cases the only reason his challenges were dismissed was because he didn't formally propose a share-time arrangement to the school, get rejected, and THEN file with the FCC to force it. He skipped straight to the "file with the FCC" part and that's not how the rule works; probably figured that if he did that he'd tip them off and incur negative publicity. Which is probably true, but it's also irrelevant. The rule doesn't give any indication as to how much downtime allows a 73.561(b) challenge. In theory, just ONE DAY when you don't make the 12 hour minimum, during the ENTIRE EIGHT YEAR LICENSE PERIOD, is enough to leave you vulnerable. Although I would think anyone who filed a challenge with the FCC based on one day's downtime would, at a minimum, have to prove it.
Mind you, this is all at the ultimate discretion of the FCC. I know that the bulk of FCC employees don't want to see stations forced into 73.561(b) share-time challenges if it can be avoided, no matter how insignificant the technicality necessary. And the FCC does have a history of conveniently ignoring its own rules on the odd occasion that it wants to. Or when Congress wants it to.
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