PSA - Pre-Sunrise Authority

[BarryATL]

I keep hearing folks refer to PSA, but it does not seem to me to be the "original" PSA the FCC authorized. WAOS (formally WACX) in Austell was authorized PSA in 1968 for 500 watts. The station signed on at 6 AM with 500 watts and then went to 1000 watts at local sunrise. WACX was a daytimer on 1600. I know they are now 24 hours and not sure if they still use the PSA.

Anybody know the reasons or history of PSA from that era?

Here are the FCC cards that show the PSA being granted in 1968.

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=46262

 

[BarryATL]

By the way, I know WAOS/WACX was using the PSA in the late 70s when Dick Bird was the chief engineer.

 

[secondchoice]

.
Before the mid 1970’s when automobiles started to get FM radios standard, AM stations equivalent listenership was close to FM now. There were a few FM stations that were successful, but not every market had one. There was no consumer internet. Many smaller market TV and radio stations signed off after midnight or 1 AM. There were some second and third shift jobs but 9 to 5 was normal. The pre sunrise authority (PSA) was a big deal. It a allowed a lot of “daytime” stations on the reginal channels to sign on with 500 watts non-directional at 6 am just in time for clock radios to go off. A lot of stations use to have heavy commercial loads during Nov. and Dec. Also, morning commercials drive commercials usually command extra revenue some and extra hour really helped financially.

The reason this was possible, the FCC use to have regional channel. The stations were limited to 5KW maximum power. Most of the regional 24-hour operations were directional at night. There were only a couple of non-directional night signals on each channel and IIRC they were at least 500 watts at night. The FCC figured the nighttime stations had enough signal in their licensed nighttime service area to ward off any skywave signal for an hour or to two. I don’t recall any “day timer” on a clear channel getting PSA in the lower 48 states. There might have been some clear channel stations with PSAs in the Pacific time zone because the skywave is usually gone by 9AM in the eastern time zone and it 6 am on the Pacific coast but I have never researched west coast radio.

One weird part of PSA service is the FCC would send you a Western Union Telegram that you would put in a frame and hang it beside the station license. The PSA hung there for decades often turning yellow brownish. Somehow the FCC “lost” their list of PSAs and the original telegram was your proof of Pre Sunrise-Service.


As for the start date for Pre Sunrise Service Authority service David might have it on his website. It most likely came after the 1941 reshuffle of AM station frequencies and the World War Two moratorium of new stations.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I keep hearing folks refer to PSA, but it does not seem to me to be the "original" PSA the FCC authorized. WAOS (formally WACX) in Austell was authorized PSA in 1968 for 500 watts. The station signed on at 6 AM with 500 watts and then went to 1000 watts at local sunrise. WACX was a daytimer on 1600. I know they are now 24 hours and not sure if they still use the PSA.

Anybody know the reasons or history of PSA from that era?

Yes, in the era of the 60's, although i don't know the date, there were authorizations for daytimers to sign on as early as 5 AM to provide local service. IIRC, there was a daytimer in N. Augusta, SC, on 1380, WGUS, which was widely heard, even to the West Coast, when it signed on at 5 AM on Monday morning on what was then an absolutely clear channel nationwide. I used to hear it in Cleveland to the point that it was a pest!

I recall that this was allowed in some kind of blanket procedure as a lot of daytimers signed on prior to sunrise in the winter months due to this... and it was a boon to DXers who could sometimes hear several of them sign on before other stations went on the air.

I'll see, later, if Broadcasting Magazine has a reference or whether the National Radio Club (AM DX) has references in "DX News" from that era.

 

[gr8oldies]

I'm aware of stations on clear channels in Ohio that were tied into the further east station's sunrise. WDAO (earlier WAVI), Dayton, OH signed on at WCAU (WPHT)'s sunrise (7:15am in December and January), the now-defunct WMVR, Sidney, Ohio on 1080 signed on at WTIC, Hartford's sunrise. I had thought all PSAs were at 6am. Some full-time stations apparently had PSAs to allow for non-directional operation at lower power from 6am-sunrise

THe afore-mentioned Austell GA station on 1600 (now WAOS) has cranked its daytime power 24/7 for a couple of decades.

 

[bigdonho]

PSA power could be a lot less than 500 W. I recall one station I worked at that had a PSA of 8 W. Ran the transmitter into a dummy load and got the 8 W from the transmitter's output to the mod monitor. PSA was a real help to a lot of small, rural stations. With a sign on of 715a in the winter months, the stations couldn't announce school closings early enough for parents to make alternate plans.

I seem to remember that there was a POST sunrise authorization, as well.

 

[gr8oldies]

PSA power could be a lot less than 500 W. I recall one station I worked at that had a PSA of 8 W. Ran the transmitter into a dummy load and got the 8 W from the transmitter's output to the mod monitor. PSA was a real help to a lot of small, rural stations. With a sign on of 715a in the winter months, the stations couldn't announce school closings early enough for parents to make alternate plans.

I seem to remember that there was a POST sunrise authorization, as well.

Post sunset? Yes those exist.

 

[jabba17]

Some full-time stations apparently had PSAs to allow for non-directional operation at lower power from 6am-sunrise

So, kind of like critical hours but before (and not after) sunrise, in that you had a power/pattern that was stronger than night but weaker than day?

 

[kevtronics]

When the DST start and end dates changed in 2007, the FCC recalculated the PSRA and PSSA allowances for daytimers, and a lot of them were reduced to such an extent that it wasn't worth using anymore.

 

[semoochie]

.
Before the mid 1970’s when automobiles started to get FM radios standard, AM stations equivalent listenership was close to FM now. There were a few FM stations that were successful, but not every market had one. There was no consumer internet. Many smaller market TV and radio stations signed off after midnight or 1 AM. There were some second and third shift jobs but 9 to 5 was normal. The pre sunrise authority (PSA) was a big deal. It a allowed a lot of “daytime” stations on the reginal channels to sign on with 500 watts non-directional at 6 am just in time for clock radios to go off. A lot of stations use to have heavy commercial loads during Nov. and Dec. Also, morning commercials drive commercials usually command extra revenue some and extra hour really helped financially.

The reason this was possible, the FCC use to have regional channel. The stations were limited to 5KW maximum power. Most of the regional 24-hour operations were directional at night. There were only a couple of non-directional night signals on each channel and IIRC they were at least 500 watts at night. The FCC figured the nighttime stations had enough signal in their licensed nighttime service area to ward off any skywave signal for an hour or to two. I don’t recall any “day timer” on a clear channel getting PSA in the lower 48 states. There might have been some clear channel stations with PSAs in the Pacific time zone because the skywave is usually gone by 9AM in the eastern time zone and it 6 am on the Pacific coast but I have never researched west coast radio.

One weird part of PSA service is the FCC would send you a Western Union Telegram that you would put in a frame and hang it beside the station license. The PSA hung there for decades often turning yellow brownish. Somehow the FCC “lost” their list of PSAs and the original telegram was your proof of Pre Sunrise-Service.


As for the start date for Pre Sunrise Service Authority service David might have it on his website. It most likely came after the 1941 reshuffle of AM station frequencies and the World War Two moratorium of new stations.

Your first sentence sent me for a loop! Before the '60s, AM had almost all of the radio listening and before the advent of television, all of the listening! FM couldn't hope to come close to that!

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

When the DST start and end dates changed in 2007, the FCC recalculated the PSRA and PSSA allowances for daytimers, and a lot of them were reduced to such an extent that it wasn't worth using anymore.

That was then rescinded and stations told to use what they had on file locally, as i recall.

Also if a stations night power is higher then their pre sunrise or post sunset authoirty, they can use the night power at pre sunrise/post sunset.

I ran a station with 1kw day, 27 watts night and found evidence of a presunrise authority of 500 Watts. We'd sign off at sunset but come on at 6am.

 

[rosecitymedia]

KCTA in Corpus Christi still utilizes their pre-sunrise/post-sunset authority to this day. A 50kW daytimer, but it signs on well before sunrise in Texas. I can hear it past sunset, depending on the time of year, as well. All of it relates to sign on/off of WBZ, and I have been told by a couple of old-timers that if WBZ goes off the air for maintenance or what have you, KCTA is authorized to stay on the air at 50,000 all night. Grain of salt may be needed, but that's the legend down this way.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Your first sentence sent me for a loop! Before the '60s, AM had almost all of the radio listening and before the advent of television, all of the listening! FM couldn't hope to come close to that!

I'd like to invite Huff to give us some data from the 60's showing how FM gradually increased its share of listening in different major markets. It was by no means uniform in each one.

In my personal experience in what became Arbitron market #14, in late 1978 FM had less than 15% of all listening, yet by early 1979 had grown to over 50% of the total.

Some markets showed sudden FM growth due to "huge" new formats or stations taking over a segment, while other markets were much more gradual. Another market showing a rapid FM expansion was Miami, where both WMYQ and WHYI successively added large share blocks to the FM totals.

 

[DavidEduardo]

KCTA in Corpus Christi still utilizes their pre-sunrise/post-sunset authority to this day. A 50kW daytimer, but it signs on well before sunrise in Texas. I can hear it past sunset, depending on the time of year, as well. All of it relates to sign on/off of WBZ, and I have been told by a couple of old-timers that if WBZ goes off the air for maintenance or what have you, KCTA is authorized to stay on the air at 50,000 all night. Grain of salt may be needed, but that's the legend down this way.

One I am directly familiar with is 1020 in Los Angeles, now KTNQ. Before it graduated from daytimer status to became a fulltime station, it would sign on at 9 PM every Sunday night and broadcast all the way through sunset on Monday.

That was because KDKA had regular silent periods every Sunday night at midnight through 6 AM EST on Monday, allowing daytimer KPOP/KGBS to run all night one night a week. And, of course, they signed on at Sunrise in Pittsburgh, using the first hours of broadcasting for one of LA's early Spanish language shows.

 

[kevtronics]

Under previous ownership, daytimer 1500 WGHT in NJ claimed they had FCC authorization to stay on the air from 6 AM to 6 PM year-round. They would then repeat the day's programming from 6 PM to 6 AM on their web stream, so all the time checks would be correct.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Under previous ownership, daytimer 1500 WGHT in NJ claimed they had FCC authorization to stay on the air from 6 AM to 6 PM year-round. They would then repeat the day's programming from 6 PM to 6 AM on their web stream, so all the time checks would be correct.

That is obviously a stretch of FCC rules on what "daytime" means.

On the other hand, for decades Mexico defined "daytime" as 6 AM to 7 PM, all year long, for its few daytimers. I don't know if that is still the rule there now that most AMs have been migrated to FM, but at least from the 60's to the 90's this was their rule.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Some markets showed sudden FM growth due to "huge" new formats or stations taking over a segment, while other markets were much more gradual. Another market showing a rapid FM expansion was Miami, where both WMYQ and WHYI successively added large share blocks to the FM totals.

A huge catalyst for FM expansion in the early 70's was the Beautiful Music format, especially Schulke. The success of the format got radios onto the FM band. (In Miami, it was Sudbrink's WLYF.) That paved the way for FM Top 40 stations as you mention.

 

[DavidEduardo]

A huge catalyst for FM expansion in the early 70's was the Beautiful Music format, especially Schulke. The success of the format got radios onto the FM band. (In Miami, it was Sudbrink's WLYF.) That paved the way for FM Top 40 stations as you mention.

But remember that the Beautiful Music format was much slower in building than Top 40. Most markets already had one or more "good music" stations, like WVCG 1070 and WOCN-1450 in Miami and their older listeners took years to migrate to FM.

 

[gr8oldies]

I worked at a 1570 in Indiana, starting in late 1983 and we had authorization to stay on with normal 250 watt non-directional until 6pm in the winter. It was only between a half hour and 45 minutes but it was something.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I worked at a 1570 in Indiana, starting in late 1983 and we had authorization to stay on with normal 250 watt non-directional until 6pm in the winter. It was only between a half hour and 45 minutes but it was something.

I think that may have been a term of license where you had to sign off at sunset in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuilla, Mexico.