When WKTU does their TOH, they say WKTU Lake Success New York. Do they mean Lake Success, NY or are they implying “Lake Success and NY” as they technically serve the NYC Area? For example Z100 says “WHTZ Newark/New York City.” I was always curious if they mean WKTU Lake Success/NYC or WKTU Lake Success, NY.
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TOH Question
- Thread starter djl
- Start date
The rule is "call sign, community of license," with no explicit requirement to give the state as well as the community name. So I'd read the actual ID part as "WKTU Lake Success" and the "New York" as being a tag to the actual ID. You can hear it either way, and both interpretations are legal.
The most blatant burying of a city of license was this example of WGNG in (Pawtucket) RHODE ISLAND! (No one wan'ted to be associated with "Pawtucket".)
I think they actually got cited for it by the FCC.
Listen here (about 3:05)
https://youtu.be/1om_k9H0-7s?t=182
Even their logo simply emphasized "Rhode Island"
secondchoice
Star Participant
WBYQ now WQQK right after it’s purchase by Moony (WMAK) in 1976, reversed the audio phase on one it channels just for the Hendersonville part of the ID so all you heard on a mono FM radio was:
WBYQ ---- Nashville.
I didn’t have a stereo FM radio but I was told you could hear Hendersonville in a set of headphones. IIRC the FCC didn’t like that either.
WBYQ ---- Nashville.
I didn’t have a stereo FM radio but I was told you could hear Hendersonville in a set of headphones. IIRC the FCC didn’t like that either.
Kemosabe
Star Participant
I'm surprised WGNG didn't append "Providence" to its legal ID. After all, where would Rhode Island be without Providence?
I'm reminded of the deceptive ID of the short-lived CKMR (93.9 MHz) in Windsor, Ontario. Owing to differences in Canadian regulations, the station's TOH ID was a rushed and hushed voice announcing, "More 94 Detroit Windsor." Meanwhile, the jingles intoned such things as, "Motor City weather …" and "More 94, The Motor City."
KML0224
Star Participant
Two stations ID in the Hartford radio market as "Waterbury/Hartford": WWYZ-FM 92.5 (Country) and WMRQ-FM 104.1 (Alternative). Technically, they only have to say Waterbury. A similar thing is always done for New Britain/Hartford on FM radio and TV. WRCH-FM 100.5 (A/C) and WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 are licensed to New Britain. The only station which is actually dual-licensed here is WKSS-FM 95.7 (CHR/Top 40) of Hartford/Meriden.
The ID rule is pretty much the only one left and there is still much confusion as a result of a prejudice with the COL in most cases. It has been buried, sliced, and diced in every creative way a human could think of to do it. BUT, it is definitively "WXXX, NEW CITY", WXXX-FM, NEW CITY". Put anything else in the front, or back you want. "WQHT, Lake Success/New York City" is fine.
It is legally, whatever it says on the license.
As a listener, you wouldn't know it unless you did some surfing of the FCC.org website.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
It is legally, whatever it says on the license.
As a listener, you wouldn't know it unless you did some surfing of the FCC.org website.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
That's a perfectly acceptable ID.
There was a time when you had to petition the FCC for a dual-city COL. I used to work for a station that kept a telegram from the FCC in the license book granting permission to ID as "Mesa/Phoenix." It's no longer required to ask permission (as long as Mesa came first) but they kept it in the license book anyway.
Meanwhile, the TV station licensed to Mesa must have ID'ed as Phoenix-Mesa for 40 years before the current corporate VP of engineering came to town to help move the studio, saw the ID roll by, and ordered them to immediately fix the Chyron to say Mesa-Phoenix. That should tell you what kind of a priority the ID rule is for the FCC. If your nose is clean, they're not going to make an effort to ding you, but if you don't get the ID right they'll assume you don't do other things right and they're more likely to inspect you.
WNET's TOH ID is interesting. With radio, a verbal ID lasts a certain amount of time, but when an id is animated on TV, how long does it have to be displayed?
I'm not sure there is a definitive answer for that. Could you place it in a frame of video, such as the movie theater practice?
The fact that "WNET Newark is there", the dissolve of the "ark" into New York is fine since it started with the legal ID in the first place. I have never seen it in the rules that an ID can not be animated.
I never saw where you couldn't use a political logo as a wiper, either, but...
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
The dual-city ID is fine but I find it totally unnecessary. Don't box yourself to anything you don't want to do in the future. What I mean by that is that if you place "-FM" in the calls, somebody else may not be able to use it on FM, but it doesn't protect the root call sign. It is why WNBC-TV dropped the "-TV" after the sale of 660. They had to apply to the FCC to drop the "-TV" in order to maintain the root.
Besides, let's say your dual-city name changes? You would have to apply for the change to reflect the new name. That gives you 2 targets. Just have one and make nice with the community of the second. They will like you better for voluntarily including them.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
Perfectly acceptable on paper and in print...but not the way it sounded on the air! LOL!
If it was perfectly acceptable, they wouldn't have gotten cited.
(Listen to the jingle.)
That is, if you wanted the added city to be part of your license.
There was never a rule to simply add worc (cities) the the end of your legal ID.
All the Miami TV Stations list themselves as (an example of their NBC Station) WTVJ Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. My assumption is that the Miami stations? Antenna Farm is in Pembroke Pines (between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale).
I just was always curious if WKTU meant WKTU Lake Success, New York or WKTU Lake Success/New York (as if it was a dual COL) even though in Lake Success you do not get WKTU at a City Grade signal. It comes through as more like a Grade A signal, but definitely not City Grade (as Lake Success is 25 miles from NYC).
I just was always curious if WKTU meant WKTU Lake Success, New York or WKTU Lake Success/New York (as if it was a dual COL) even though in Lake Success you do not get WKTU at a City Grade signal. It comes through as more like a Grade A signal, but definitely not City Grade (as Lake Success is 25 miles from NYC).
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