Are callsigns changing to -DT?

[ssnake]

Just curious... For example, I noticed that WSB's graphics still say "WSB-TV/DT".

 

[BarryATL]

Well, in the case of WSB here are the calls:

WSB 750 AM
WSB-FM 98.5 FM
WSB-TV Analog Channel 2
WSB-DT Digital Channel 39 (I think)

In the old days AM stations never had to put AM in the calls. Nowadays, whichever station has the calls first does not have to put an extension.

To address the DT issue, I am assuming that since the calls are in the FCC database and licenses are issued with DT as the extension, then DT will stay. The last part is a guess and maybe some of the engineer types can give us more insight.

 

[w9wi]

In the old days AM stations never had to put AM in the calls. Nowadays, whichever station has the calls first does not have to put an extension.

Just to be pedantic... An AM station *never* gets an -AM suffix.

If there's already an FM with no -FM suffix, an AM station cannot use the same letters. For example, 92.9 is WZGC. (not WZGC-FM) Therefore, there cannot be a WZGC on AM. It would, however, be quite common for the AM station wishing to be WZGC to convince 92.9 FM to add the -FM suffix, becoming WZGC-FM and making it possible to assign WZGC to the AM station.

To address the DT issue, I am assuming that since the calls are in the FCC database and licenses are issued with DT as the extension, then DT will stay. The last part is a guess and maybe some of the engineer types can give us more insight.

The FCC has issued a Public Notice about this:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-1253A1.pdf

Stations that once had an analog signal will have their old analog callsigns automatically assigned to their digital stations in 53 minutes, unless they asked the FCC to leave the -DT on.

Stations that never had an analog signal will keep the -DT unless they asked the FCC to remove it.

So WSB-DT 39 becomes WSB-TV 39.

 

[ExNuYawker]

Will we see a change to "Channel 39 Action News"???

 

[Kent]

Will we see a change to "Channel 39 Action News"???

No. Pretty much everyone will be punching in "2" to watch WSB-TV, just like they have on the analog boxes. I know I could punch the digital channel number in on my converter box and still get the station, but it would automatically map back to the old analog channel number if it found the station.

As has been mentioned before, the real difference isn't the channel numbers; it's how they're mapped. Channel numbers used to be mapped to various frequencies at the TV factory. Now, they're mapped at the TV itself. The only reason you may need to know exactly which channels individual stations are on is to determine what kind of antenna you need.