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Daytimer WRFD-AM 880 on ALL night last night!

G

gabigley1

Did any one besides me notice that http://www.wrfd.com/ was running all night long last night on 880 AM?? WRFD is licensed for Daytime Only operation with 25 thousands watts. I'm sure the folks at WCBS-AM on 880 AM aren't happy about this and don't appreciate the added interference to their clear channel.
It not like they(WRFD) were running 250 watss where interference would have been a lot less noticeable
to WCBS-AM.

I wonder if this was operator error and or a computer glitch... Also, It's obvious to me that their
employees don't even monitor their station at all times and/or at least see to it that they cease
daytime operation at the proper licensed time.

Has this happened before at WRFD?
 
Probably a computer glitch...most of the stations in my area use a computer system or other time-clock device programmed with the FCC sunrise/sunset times for their location. If the event table gets wiped for some reason, then it won't hit the appropriate raise/lower relays and the station stays on.
 
techie2 said:
Probably a computer glitch...most of the stations in my area use a computer system or other time-clock device programmed with the FCC sunrise/sunset times for their location. If the event table gets wiped for some reason, then it won't hit the appropriate raise/lower relays and the station stays on.
Click to expand...

Interesting, but as I recall back in the old days, station that operated remote control had to have the system set up to take the transmitter off the air if the control system failed. Should not the same apply now and if a power surge or other glitch caused the control parameters to be lost that the transmitter be shut off?

If not there could be a lot of chaos with stations that reduce power or go directional failing to go to nighttime operation as scheduled.
 
gabigley1 said:
Did any one besides me notice that http://www.wrfd.com/ was running all night long last night on 880 AM?? WRFD is licensed for Daytime Only operation with 25 thousands watts. I'm sure the folks at WCBS-AM on 880 AM aren't happy about this and don't appreciate the added interference to their clear channel.
It not like they(WRFD) were running 250 watss where interference would have been a lot less noticeable
to WCBS-AM.

I wonder if this was operator error and or a computer glitch... Also, It's obvious to me that their
employees don't even monitor their station at all times and/or at least see to it that they cease
daytime operation at the proper licensed time.

Has this happened before at WRFD?

Click to expand...
Wish I had tried dx'ing 880 last night to see if I could hear WRFD; normally I hear Havana (albeit it a weak signal) during the day on 88 and then a very strong Cuban signal at night with WCBS underneath........ but then again, I'm slightly south of Columbus.

We had a station near here at 1520 (Indian Rocks Beach), that was a daytimer that was on the air 24/7 for over 18 months, before the FCC took action. (not a highly rated station, maybe no one noticed or complained); the station owners had a unique excuse, the equipment was malfunctioning and they were unable to turn the transmitter off!) :) .... or so they said, after a substancial fine from the FCC and a threat of more daily fines if they couldn't figure out a solution, they immediately found a way to turn the transmitter off at night! A modern day miracle!
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
 
We heard it last night all the way to Fargo, ND...

It was not extensively powerful, but it was audible.
 
drt said:
the station owners had a unique excuse, the equipment was malfunctioning and they were unable to turn the transmitter off!)
Click to expand...

Maybe they were too lazy to turn it off - It would be a miricle if they weren't fined. I could see 2-4 hours for tuning... But not all night.
 
The Beave said:
drt said:
the station owners had a unique excuse, the equipment was malfunctioning and they were unable to turn the transmitter off!)
Click to expand...

Maybe they were too lazy to turn it off - It would be a miricle if they weren't fined. I could see 2-4 hours for tuning... But not all night.
Click to expand...

It is highly unlikely WRFD will get in trouble with the FCC for a single incident of failing to sign off at sunset. Many, many AM stations will make this mistake once or twice.

Reading the Public Notices, it seems the ones that get in trouble are the ones that do so for weeks or months and continue to do so after the Commission notifies them of the problem.
 
If this happened in the fall on a Friday night then it could be assumed the station was utilizing the "High School Football Exemption" allowing a daytimer to stay at full power past sundown to serve the community with High School athletics.
 
radiorob2.0 said:
If this happened in the fall on a Friday night then it could be assumed the station was utilizing the "High School Football Exemption" allowing a daytimer to stay at full power past sundown to serve the community with High School athletics.
Click to expand...


Even that don't fly anymore... (although a ND-DN 24 hour station) KDEF-Albuquerque, NM tried that one for 2 years.. only to be fined buku dollars.
leaving the station down to the owner to operate it.
As the owner and CE were the ones having control of the transmitter.
No working Remote control at the remote control point.
 
After normal sign off time, shouldn't there just be a dead carrier (no sound/modulation)? Did they have a network feed up that just continued airing past sign off time? What is their normal sign off operation? Do they do a full regular sign off with station information, thanking people for listening and inviting them to tune in tomorrow? If that's the case, how did the network or whatever get back on?
 
johnbasalla said:
After normal sign off time, shouldn't there just be a dead carrier (no sound/modulation)? Did they have a network feed up that just continued airing past sign off time? What is their normal sign off operation? Do they do a full regular sign off with station information, thanking people for listening and inviting them to tune in tomorrow? If that's the case, how did the network or whatever get back on?
Click to expand...

They do run a "due to FCC regs we must sign off at this time liner" but they stream online 24/7 so after the sign off ID they go on with programming for web only.
 
I completely forgot to check out the 880 frequency last night. (Saturday); did this happen again? If so I will make it a point to see if I can receive WRFD here, even though I would likely hear it under Radio Havana and WCBS.

drt,
st.petersburg,fl
 
radiorob2.0 said:
If this happened in the fall on a Friday night then it could be assumed the station was utilizing the "High School Football Exemption" allowing a daytimer to stay at full power past sundown to serve the community with High School athletics.
Click to expand...

Naah, WRFD doesn't do high school sports.

Most daytimers don't even bother trying (or do it tape delayed with a next day replay). It's the stations that have flea power at night that usually "forget" to lower power until after the game is over.
 
Time to drop ALL stations to 5000 Watts D/N for metro and 1000W D/N for smaller populations. Thy should be done. The heck with the interference crap can hear most 50KW stations clear at night anyway.
 
drt said:
I completely forgot to check out the 880 frequency last night. (Saturday); did this happen again? If so I will make it a point to see if I can receive WRFD here, even though I would likely hear it under Radio Havana and WCBS.

drt,
st.petersburg,fl
Click to expand...

Don't know about Saturday night but Tonight (Sunday) I flipped over to the AM dial as I came up high st on a drive and got WCBS NY loud and clear after 9pm, so it appears whatever happened their engineers have corrected.
 
Thanks XMusicMatt;

I chekcked it out about an hour after you did (around 10pm) and had basically the same resulrts; no WRFD, but to my amazement WCBS for in the foreground, a rarity here; especially in the summer; Radio Havana was in the background; almost as though they were on reduced power (maybe part of their new austerity program announced a few days ago).......... but not a hint of any other station(s) such as WRFD.

drt,
st. petersburg

XMuiscMatt wrote:
"Don't know about Saturday night but Tonight (Sunday) I flipped over to the AM dial as I came up high st on a drive and got WCBS NY loud and clear after 9pm, so it appears whatever happened their engineers have corrected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
willcail said:
What was airing? Or what do they air when they are broadcasting at 25 watts? Anything?
Click to expand...

WRFD-AM is licensed for Daytime Only Operation on 880 AM. Their licensed sign off time is 9:00PM for the month of July.
They are licensed for 23,000 Watts during the daytime hours only. They have no
Nighttime authorization from the FCC.

As far as programing I heard after 9:00 PM when they should have signed off the air is listed on their web stream program schedule here:
http://www.wrfd.com/ProgramGuideDaily/
So, at 9:00 PM, the Janet Parshall's America show is scheduled from 9:00 PM to
12 MN and that is what was aired last Friday night. Of course they should have left the air by 9:00PM last Friday night but instead stayed on on broadcast their overnight WFRD web stream.

The legal IDs I heard on the top of every hour at night were for WRFD 880 AM.
So, it would seem, at least that one night they were intentionally broadcasting at
night because they gave their legal IDS at the top of each and every hour.
In the evening when they normally sign off for the day they ask
their listeners to go to their web stream to continue to hear WRFD programming.
Apparently their legal IDs are also on their web stream when WRFD is normally off
the air.

Some one mentioned on this thread that they heard WRFD-AM in Fargo N.D. on
Friday Night during their one night and all night operation. I'm curious if any
complainants have been filed against WRFD with the FCC by WCBS 880 AM in NYC.
 
What programming was running. I would have thought they had nothing scheduled it would be dead air or do they just let the sat audio go all night?
 
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