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560 WCKL, Catskill, Is Back On The Air. But Is It Legal ?

M

MHVRadiofan

For the first time since I resumed my sort of weekly visits to the Catskill, NY area there is programing on 560 WCKL. The question is, is it legal? The FCC database has not shown any updates since the May 22, 2014 letter inquiring about the stations silence. By now either Brian Dodge as filed an acceptable response or WCKL’s license is forfeited. The license needed to be renewed as of June 1 but is still listed as “accepted for filing.
In any event 560 was broadcasting a rather weak signal with some occasional whine and other artifacts present There is little bleed onto adjacent channels even when driving past his last known transmitting site , near where the station is supposed to be.
While the programing is the familiar WCKL fair of Standards and older oldies from the 40’s-early 60’s and Christian music on Sunday, there is a bit of a twist. True, I missed the top of the hour, so it is quite possible I missed the legal ID. However, for the brief time I listened on Saturday and 40 minutes on Sunday there was no hint of what station I was listening to, except once on Saturday. In a commercial (not a non-com like support mention) for some computer repair company, “Cousin Brian” mentioned what a great job they did for ‘Family FM’ in Massachusetts (I was driving and don’t remember the town).
Could this be an illegal simulcast with one of his unlicensed LP-FM stations. Scott Fybush reported in Northeast Radio watch that 104.7, Huntington MA was on the air ( Not licensed) using unregistered with the FCC calls WHAB. Other than the one commercial there is music and a few PSAS mixed in but I heard no ID at all.
 
jry said:
What site are they using?
Click to expand...
I don't know. I do know it is not legal wherever it is . After being evicted from the original site which is owned by Clear Channel , he supposedly was using a long wire set up near by. That was last year however. I don't know if he is still using the same place. Like I said above the signal was not particularly strong there as I drove by.
 
Do you remember that on May 22 the FCC gave WCKL 30 days to respond to allegations that the station was silent? Apparently they responded on June 30, and the letter as received by the FCC on July 9. It was posted to the government's website this week.
The letter states that the station is on the air, which at that time was technically true. As of right now they are not broadcasting, and I have not heard them in nearly 3 weeks.
WCKL claims in the letter signed by 'Tim Alan', a hospital stay prevented a timely response. Also the address on the letter is Worthington, MA not Hudson NY listed with the FCC. This is a link to the letter, as I can't copy/paste it.

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/corrp_list.pl?Facility_id=63526
There is no mention as to where they are broadcasting from.
 
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