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Remnants of the Old Class A FM Channels

Ai4i

Ai4i

It has been more than a third of a century since the special twenty class A channels were made the same as the other sixty commercial channels.
(92.1_92.7_93.5_94.3_95.3_95.9_96.7_97.7_98.3_99.3_100.1_100.9_101.7_102.3_103.1_103.9_104.9_105.5_106.3_107.1)
You guys listen across the FM radio band a lot more than I do, so I will pose this question to ponder.
Would you say that a disproportionate number of stations on those channels still exist and with reduced signals?
In other words, if I were to tell someone that many years ago, there were twenty commercial channels with reduced power allowances,
would a careful statistical audit of the band be able to predict most or all of those special channels?
 
Last edited:
Absolutely. The tell is that there are almost no full class B or C stations on those channels. Pretty much all of the changes that were made since the 90s on the old "class A channels" were to upgrade an existing class A to class B1 in the east or class C3 in the west.

So if you look at 94.7, there are a bunch of full class B allocations - Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, and two stations in Wisconsin: a C2 and class C3. The C3 was dropped into Green Bay after Docket 80-90, and the C2 was dropped into Wausau at the same time.

I looked at 94.3 across those same four states (IL, IN, WI, MI) and found no licenses with the maximum allocation for its zone -- and 10 of 14 were still class A authorizations.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Absolutely.
Click to expand...
Thanks, in my area, some old As have moved to first and second adjacent channels and have become C3s
and a 98.3 in Miami became a full C0. I do not remember if it happened at the same time, but a BIG game changer was when B1s, B2s, C1s, C2s, and C3s were added.
The new C0 and C1 stations became competitive with full Cs that were never at their full potential heights.

BTW...in my list above, I have no idea why, but no matter how many times I tried to change the font or erase the list and re-type it, I always kept getting a space arfter the 1 in 106.3.
If anyone knows why, I am all ears.
 
ai4i said:
Thanks, in my area, some old As have moved to first and second adjacent channels and have become C3s
and a 98.3 in Miami became a full C0. I do not remember if it happened at the same time, but a BIG game changer was when B1s, B2s, C1s, C2s, and C3s were added.
The new C0 and C1 stations became competitive with full Cs that were never at their full potential heights.

BTW...in my list above, I have no idea why, but no matter how many times I tried to change the font or erase the list and re-type it, I always kept getting a space arfter the 1 in 106.3.
If anyone knows why, I am all ears.
Click to expand...

Did you try left clicking to the right of the space and then using the backspace key?
 
In Zone I and other congested areas, many 3 kW Class As still exist. Many have been thrown curve balls by competitors by even trying to upgrade to 6 kW. But remember that a 3 kW Class A or 6 kW or Section 73.215 DA or 3 to <6 kW nondirectional Class A in a Zone I type area may serve more people than a full Class C, C0, or C1 in sparsely populated areas. Many Class B1s and C3s are DA to get closer to a population center, but unless you own all the chess pieces, the FCC and competitors use the First Local Service provision to prevent de facto competition from so called "move ins", even Class As in nearly nonexistent COLs.
 
Last edited:
Where I live now and have lived before, more of the 6kW stations remain 6kW than not. It's too crowded for most of them to upgrade. A few I'm familiar with moved a spot up or down the dial from an A to a B/C channel and upgraded, but nowhere near a full C
 
semoochie said:
Did you try left clicking to the right of the space and then using the backspace key?
Click to expand...
No space exists as I am typing it.
That space does not appear until AFTER I preview it or post it.
 
ai4i said:
BTW...in my list above, I have no idea why, but no matter how many times I tried to change the font or erase the list and re-type it, I always kept getting a space arfter the 1 in 106.3.
Click to expand...

It looks like you hit a feature of the BBS software. It is forcibly adding a space every ~100 characters so no one can post a long "word" and break the layout. One some other BBS software, users could post a long "word" (GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAL on a sports board for example, but with an extra 100 Os and As) and cause rather annoying left-right scrolling.
 
Looking more closely, there is also a space after the second 3 in 93.3
So, spaces are added after every fiftieth character
and there is not a dam thing to be done about it.
Let us try it this way:
_92.1__92.7__93.5__94.3__95.3
_95.9__96.7__97.7__98.3__99.3
100.1_100.9_101.7_102.3_103.1
103.9_104.9_105.5_106.3_107.1
 
In northern Michigan, most of the FMs started on the FM graveyards (listed by original calls). Most of those FMs have either changed frequency and/or upgraded.
92.1: WCCW Traverse City (moved to 107.5 with upgrade to C2); WBVE Beulah (dropped in after WCCW moved, moved to 92.3 with upgrade to C2, now WBNZ Frankfort)
92.7: none (then-WKJF on 92.9 blocked this one)
93.5: WBCM Boyne City (upgraded to C2); WATZ Alpena (moved to 99.3 with upgrade to C2)
94.3: WIAR Leland (signed on as C3, upgraded to C2, now WFCX); WSSW Mackinaw City (moved to 94.5 with upgrade to C2, now WYPV)
95.3: WCRM Clare (upgraded to 6kW A, now WCFX); WZXM Gaylord (moved to 101.5 with upgrade to C2, now WMJZ)
95.9: WKZC Scottville (moved to 94.9 with upgrade to C3) [WLJW Fife Lake is a recent sign-on; now-WGFE Glen Arbor was originally supposed to be here, but didn't sign on until the CP was moved to their current 95.5 home]
96.7: WITW Cadillac (upgraded to C3, now WLXV); WMBN Petoskey (moved to 96.3 with upgrade to C1, now WLXT) [WRGZ moved here from 97.7]
97.7: WKLT Kalkaska (moved to 97.5 with upgrade to C2); WMLQ Rogers City (moved to 96.7 with upgrade to C2, now WRGZ); WMTE Manistee (upgraded to 6kW A, now WMLQ) [WCHY Cheboygan is a recent sign-on]
98.3: none (WUPS on 98.5 blocked this one)
99.3: WBNZ Frankfort (upgraded to C2, now WQAN Beulah) [WATZ moved here from 93.5]
100.1: WGRY Grayling (moved to 100.3 with upgrade to C1, now WQON); WRQT Bear Lake (upgraded to 6kW A, now WOUF, has CP to move to 100.7 and upgrade to C3)
100.9: WBRN Big Rapids (upgraded to 6kW A, now WWBR); WIZY East Jordan (upgraded to 6kW A, now WQHN, has CP to upgrade to C3)
101.7: none (WLDR on 101.9 blocked this one)
102.3: WAAQ Big Rapids (upgraded to C3, now WYBR)
103.1: none (WMKC on 102.9 and WTCM on 103.5 blocked this one)
103.9: WLTO Harbor Springs (upgraded to C2, now WCMW)
104.9: none (WGFM on 105.1 blocked this one) [WAIR Lake City is a recent sign-on]
105.5: none [WSRJ Honor, a post 80-90 drop-in, moved here from the non-graveyard 100.7]
106.3: WKLA Ludington (upgraded to 6kW A, then downgraded back to 3kW A with move to Thompsonville, now WWMN) [WWMK Onaway is a recent sign-on]
107.1: WYTW Cadillac (upgraded to 6kW A, now WCKC)
 
ai4i said:
No space exists as I am typing it.
That space does not appear until AFTER I preview it or post it.
Click to expand...

I was just referring to a mode of correction after the fact. You should be able to take advantage of the edit function, once you've discovered the error.
 
semoochie said:
You should be able to take advantage of the edit function, once you've discovered the error.
Click to expand...
No!
When a long message is posted,
the space will return
after every fiftieth character
no matter how many times you remove it.
Try it yourself but use the preview mode
so you will not post your test message.
Go ahead, try it!
 
Because of the rapid changes in the classes and power levels, many of those stations upgraded as many as three times. Some went from 3 kW Class A to 6 kW Class A to Class C3 to Class C2, many under Section 73.215. It's difficult to follow between limitations in History Cards, CDBS detail, attempts to consolidate all data like fccdata.org, etc. Sometimes you would have to go to Broadcasting Yearbooks by year to do it. WMBN/WLXT went from 3 kW equivalent Class A directly to Class C, moving from 96.7 to 96.3, then moved from Good Hart back to near Petoskey and voluntarily downgraded to C1.
 
ai4i said:
No!
When a long message is posted,
the space will return
after every fiftieth character
no matter how many times you remove it.
Try it yourself but use the preview mode
so you will not post your test message.
Go ahead, try it!
Click to expand...

I believe you.
 
100.1 in the central Lake Michigan area may have been really crowded in the 1980s. Bear Lake (still on 100.1, but with CP to 100.7) and Fremont (still on 100.1 but moved to Holton) were on the frequency in western MI, while over in Wisconsin, there were 100.1's in Sturgeon Bay (moved to 99.7), Neenah-Menasha (moved to 100.3), and Port Washington (still on 100.1). Not sure if they all co-existed on 100.1, but if they did, that frequency would have been a complete mess in an area stretching from Manitowoc (WI) to around Scottville (MI)
 
I know there are some cases where a Class A upgraded while staying on a Class A frequency, as opposed to move up or down a spot or two on the dial.
 
Although I have mentioned it before, the reason why A's could not upgrade prior to the mid-80's was that any change in class was considered a major change which the FCC categorized similarly to filing for a new station. Such a change application allowed others to file applications for the same new facility.

Dick Friedman's WLEQ in Bonita Springs, an A half way between Naples and Ft Myers, filed for an upgrade. They thought that nobody would file against them as they were a solid local station in compliance with the rules. They were wrong. A herd of strike applications were filed, and finally Beasley bought out the surviving ones and took over the channel. WLEQ signed off, a total loss.

The FCC came to see this as unfair, and revised the rules on changes. This led to the full Docket 80-90 FUBAR proceeding, where A's could upgrade, A's could move frequency, stations could change city of license, and many stations were added to the table of allocations.
 
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