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Daytime AM stations at night

U

Unknowable

Guest
Is it okay for a daytime AM station to leave their transmitter on at night, just kill the programming? KBIB 1000 AM in San Antonio has done this ever since I can remember. Every night the signal is on but the audio is quiet.
I thought the whole thing should be silenced, not just the audio.
 
You are correct. The FCC says you can transmit during the terms of your license. If that is sunrise to sunset, then you can have the transmitter on for the times designated for the specific month. It says nothing about programming being off but the transmitter being off.
 
NO Station can transmit just a dead carrier...it must be fixed in 3 hours or the signal has to be turned off.....LEGALLY the TOH must be transmitted so it cannot be left a dead carrier......Part 73 says so...
 
b-turner said:
You are correct. The FCC says you can transmit during the terms of your license. If that is sunrise to sunset, then you can have the transmitter on for the times designated for the specific month. It says nothing about programming being off but the transmitter being off.
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That comes from a man who manages a daytimer, Mouse. One that goes off when it shoud, returns as soon as possible, and NEVER has "mistakes" that allow it to operate after hours. KBIB should absolutely go off the air completely, not just run a dead carrier. They have a contact # to voice your concern. 830-914-2083

Ken Hutchinson started KBIB in 1989. I doubt this practice has been going on since then. They may be trying to save wear and tear on the equipment. Powering up and down really does a transmitter no favors. Still illegal as all get out, without night authorization. KSHJ here in Houston used to go silent from midnight to 6am during its last couple of years, when it was still KCOH. Of course, 1430 has night authorization, so in that case they were only breaking the rules by not IDing at the TOH between 12-6a.
 
Okay I called the contact number Purple gave and let the guy who answered know about the night time signal. He didn't really seem to know what was going on, but I did make him aware of this website so hopefully they can fix it soon...
 
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KBIB is still illegally on at night. I can hear the quiet signal...
 
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purpledevil said:
They may be trying to save wear and tear on the equipment. Powering up and down really does a transmitter no favors.
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A solid state transmitter is made up of modules, and they are fairly low power. Turning them on and off is not too much different than turning your TV on and off. Leaving such a transmitter on wastes quite a lot of power, even at a lower power level.

Older transmitters with high voltage and big relays instead of solid state switches did not like turning on and off as much. But most such transmitters are long gone.

KSHJ here in Houston used to go silent from midnight to 6am during its last couple of years, when it was still KCOH. Of course, 1430 has night authorization, so in that case they were only breaking the rules by not IDing at the TOH between 12-6a.
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You mean they left the carrier on from Midnight to 6 AM? That would consume a lot of power!
 
We had a station in our area that signed off, filed a silent STA but ran a dead carrier 24/7 for 4 months. They finally sold and a semblance of regular programming has commenced.
 
DavidEduardo said:


You mean they left the carrier on from Midnight to 6 AM? That would consume a lot of power!
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Sure did! Once the on air shift ended at midnight, or shortly thereafter, the DJ would make his "good night" announcement and welcome listeners to tune back in at 6:00am, and that was it. Only thing you could hear on 1430 was a dead carrier with KTBZ Tulsa faintly underneath. That lasted all the way up to the sale of 1430 to its current owner. It now runs around the clock, KCOH's assets were purchased by Jesse Dunn, moved to 1230 via an LMA with LBI, and it too began airing programming 24/7 again. I guess they just thought it was a cheaper alternative to leave 1430 unmanned overnight and didn't have the proper personnel available to shut the station all the way down. Or they didn't have the desire. Either way, that was certainly during one of the darkest periods of KCOH's existence.
 
Sammo770 said:
Isn't KBIB a college station owned by the college? If this is the case they probably don't care...
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Or they don't know better. At 250 watts, even an energy audit is not likely to show excessive power consumption, as the transmitter (if solid state) probably uses less than 5 or 6 kilowatt hours in the night period... probably less than $50 in what is likely a much larger total transmitter site power bill.
 
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