Determining City Of License (COL) In Jersey

[Youngblood]

To start with, I am a resident of Massachusetts, so if the text of this post shows a lack of basic knowledge about the state of New Jersey, please forgive me.

In Massachusetts, we do not have any communities that are known as "townships".
There are no "boroughs" that I know of. We might call a section of a city or town a "village" (as in the Boston suburb of Newton, which is made up of 14 villages), but the term is not widely used. No, our cities and towns are basically known by their given names (Boston, Cambridge, Great Barrington, Brewster, Southbridge, Randolph, New Bedford, Paxton, Marblehead, etc., to pull a few examples from all parts of the state). The town of Randolph, for example, is simply Randolph, not Randolph Township. And, the county that a community is in seems to be of MUCH less importance than it does in New Jersey.

With that be said, I have the following radio-related question for you Garden State readers: If someone were to put a radio station on in Montgomery Township, (Somerset County) as an example, and the physical studios were in the borough (or village) of Skillman, Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, etc., would that station give their legal ID at the top of each hour as "W___, Montgomery Township" or "W___, Skillman" (or Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, etc).

Looking forward to your responses!

 

[radiophile]

I believe it goes by postal address.
Many townships are not the postal address for where people live.
For example: In Pennsylvania, we have the same township, borough set-up as New Jersey. Many east coast people have probably heard of King of Prussia. It's where a very large (one of the largest in the country) mall is. The township is Upper Merion. But, postal addresses for people living in Upper Merion are either King of Prussia, Gulph Mills or Wayne.
In Pennsylvania, there is a postal designation of Levittown. It's not an official township or borough. Yet, WBCB AM's city of license if Levittown, not the name of the township where it is located.

 

[Slinky]

> With that be said, I have the following radio-related
> question for you Garden State readers: If someone were to
> put a radio station on in Montgomery Township, (Somerset
> County) as an example, and the physical studios were in the
> borough (or village) of Skillman, Belle Mead, Rocky Hill,
> etc., would that station give their legal ID at the top of
> each hour as "W___, Montgomery Township" or "W___, Skillman"
> (or Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, etc).

Physical studios don't have to be in a station's community of license, but the township vs. town question is still a valid one.

Any location that meets the FCC's definition of a "community" is allowed, so either townships or cities/towns could qualify. I can only think of one Jersey station that's licensed to a township, which is WSJO, but I'm sure there are more.

 

[Harold]

> To start with, I am a resident of Massachusetts, so if the
> text of this post shows a lack of basic knowledge about the
> state of New Jersey, please forgive me.
>
> In Massachusetts, we do not have any communities that are
> known as "townships".
> There are no "boroughs" that I know of. We might call a
> section of a city or town a "village" (as in the Boston
> suburb of Newton, which is made up of 14 villages), but the
> term is not widely used. No, our cities and towns are
> basically known by their given names (Boston, Cambridge,
> Great Barrington, Brewster, Southbridge, Randolph, New
> Bedford, Paxton, Marblehead, etc., to pull a few examples
> from all parts of the state). The town of Randolph, for
> example, is simply Randolph, not Randolph Township. And,
> the county that a community is in seems to be of MUCH less
> importance than it does in New Jersey.
>
> With that be said, I have the following radio-related
> question for you Garden State readers: If someone were to
> put a radio station on in Montgomery Township, (Somerset
> County) as an example, and the physical studios were in the
> borough (or village) of Skillman, Belle Mead, Rocky Hill,
> etc., would that station give their legal ID at the top of
> each hour as "W___, Montgomery Township" or "W___, Skillman"
> (or Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, etc).
>
> Looking forward to your responses!
>

An interesting question and one that points out the simplified
nature of local government in New Jersey.

When the New Jersey Constitution was rewritten in the
1940s the forms of government were simplified. As can
be seen in the Web page linked below, there are just
five forms of government a community can have:

1.) Borough 2.) Township 3.) City 4.) Town 5.) Village


Each of these forms has a very specific structure related
to the relationship between the chief executive, usually the
mayor, and the governing body, usually the council. The form
of government depends on the desires of the residents. Each
has advantages and disadvantages and some are more approriate
to communities based on their population.

(An aside: At one time South Orange had the village form
of government and was known as "The Village of South
Orange." The citizens changed to the township form of
government but the "village" identification conjures up
such pleasant thoughts of quaintness that the municipality
is now known as "The Township of South Orange Village."
Cute, eh?)

See:

http://rcomm.net/hillside-nj.com/public_html/types.htm

The FCC regulations regarding a broadcast station license
states:

"Sec. 73.1120 Station location.

Each AM, FM, TV and Class A TV broadcast station will be licensed to
the principal community or other political subdivision which it
primarily serves. This principal community (city, town or other
political subdivision) will be considered to be the geographical station
location."

The key phrase is "political subdivision." This implies that
broadcast stations will not be licensed to geographic areas.
Therefore, in New Jersey, a station would be licensed to one
of those political subdivisions described above, i.e., borough,
township, city, town, village.

In answer to your question, a station could be licensed
to, for example, Rocky Hill, since that community is a
political subdivision. In this case it's a borough. See:

http://www.rockyhill-nj.gov/

Belle Mead, on the other hand, is a geographic area that
is part of Montgomery and Hillsborough Townships in
Somerset County. I presume then that a station in Belle
Mead would identify itself as "WXXX, Montgomery," or
"WXXX, Hillsborough," depending on the exact station
address.

Compared to other examples of municipal organization I
have seen in the U.S., the New Jersey model seems very
simple. Considering that it has been used for the past
60 years without much complaint, it seems to serve
the citizens well.

As an aside, you'll ingratiate yourself better with many
people in New Jersy if you didn't use "Jersey." It's
much the same in the West, I understand, where locals
bristle at "Frisco" or "Vegas."

Hope the info helps.

 

[tom]

Wrong !!!!! WSJO is licensed to Egg Harbor City,
NOT Egg Harbor Township. WXGN (90.5) on the other
hand ... IS licensed to Egg Harbor Township.

>
> Any location that meets the FCC's definition of a
> "community" is allowed, so either townships or cities/towns
> could qualify. I can only think of one Jersey station
> that's licensed to a township, which is WSJO, but I'm sure
> there are more.
>

 

[pab]

> Wrong !!!!! WSJO is licensed to Egg Harbor City,
> NOT Egg Harbor Township. WXGN (90.5) on the other
> hand ... IS licensed to Egg Harbor Township.

The interesting question is, what would happen if the FCC licensed a station to "Hamilton Township." Which of the two (three?) would it end up being, and how would they list themselves?

An interesting parallel I can remember is from upstate New York where I went to college. Five stations, two licensed to the Town of Olean, two licensed to the Village of Olean, and one licensed to "Saint Bonaventure, NY" which only exists as a political entity in a USPS Zip Code database. The two Town and two Village stations all Legal ID'd as "Olean," IIRC.

<P ID="signature">______________
The Pab Sungenis Project - http://www.lowbudgetradio.com</P>

 

[MikeF]

> and one licensed to "Saint Bonaventure, NY" which only
> exists as a political entity in a USPS Zip Code database.
> The two Town and two Village stations all Legal ID'd as
> "Olean," IIRC.
>

Which is similar to WJSE, Petersburg, NJ.

Petersburg is a section of Upper Township in Cape May County and to my knowledge only exists politically as a zip code.

 

[Harold]

Re: Determining City Of License (COL) In New Jersey

> > Wrong !!!!! WSJO is licensed to Egg Harbor City,
> > NOT Egg Harbor Township. WXGN (90.5) on the other
> > hand ... IS licensed to Egg Harbor Township.
>
> The interesting question is, what would happen if the FCC
> licensed a station to "Hamilton Township." Which of the two
> (three?) would it end up being, and how would they list
> themselves?
>
> An interesting parallel I can remember is from upstate New
> York where I went to college. Five stations, two licensed
> to the Town of Olean, two licensed to the Village of Olean,
> and one licensed to "Saint Bonaventure, NY" which only
> exists as a political entity in a USPS Zip Code database.
> The two Town and two Village stations all Legal ID'd as
> "Olean," IIRC.


There seems to be a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding
about the "township" thing.

A "township" in New Jersey is a political unit, identical
to a city except for the form of government. I know that
the term is used differently in other states. Do not use
anything you learned from those other states to the civil
governments in New Jersey.

Many radio stations in New Jersey are licensed to
townships. Some are licensed to boroughs. Both places
are municipalities in their own right with mayors,
councils, often police and public works departments.
Some townships, such as Woodbridge, rival cities in
their size. The term "township" tells you nothing
about the size of a municipality, only its form
of government.

Frequently, communities share the same name but different
form of government. This sometimes leads to confusion. For
example, in Morris County there are two Rockaways, one is
a township and the other a borough. They are separate
entities. In the same county voters in Chester Township
and Chester Borough rejected plans to combine the two into
one muncipality. Neither community is less a muncipality
than the other.

Postal addresses tell you nothing about the political
status of a community. Often the post office will have
the geographic or historical name of an area, not the
name of the municipality. Ironia, for example, has a
post office with that name. But Ironia is merely a
geographic area within Randolph Township.

I hope this clears up the confusion.

 

[Harold]

> > and one licensed to "Saint Bonaventure, NY" which only
> > exists as a political entity in a USPS Zip Code database.
>
> > The two Town and two Village stations all Legal ID'd as
> > "Olean," IIRC.
> >
>
> Which is similar to WJSE, Petersburg, NJ.
>
> Petersburg is a section of Upper Township in Cape May County
> and to my knowledge only exists politically as a zip code.
>

This is an interesting case. The FCC regs require the
community of license to be a political, not a geographic,
subdivision. It seems like Petersburg is the latter.

 

[k2pg]

The community of license for a radio station in New Jersey does not necessarily have anything to do with the kind of political subdivision. Here are some examples:

WBBO, Ocean Acres. There is no such municipality as "Ocean Acres" anywhere in the state of New Jersey. Ocean Acres is the name of a housing development that straddles two municipalities, the townships of Stafford and Barnegat.

WOBM (AM), Lakewood Township. Originally, this station was licensed to just "Lakewood". Lakewood and Lakewood Township are one and the same thing. The name of the COL was changed when WOBM upgraded from being a daytimer on 1170 to fulltime status on 1160. By using "Lakewood Township" as the COL, WOBM was able to finesse a nighttime power level that is higher than the daytime power of 5 kW, as it could then put an interference-free nighttime signal over the retirement communities on the outskirts of the township.

WOBM-FM, Toms River. Although Toms River is a county seat (for Ocean County), it is not a municipality in itself. It is a section of Dover Township (not to be confused with the Town of Dover in Morris County, which is the COL of WDHA).

WGBZ, Cape May Court House. Like Toms River, Cape May Court House is a county seat, but it is not a municipality. It is a section of Middle Township.

As an aside, many boroughs are towns that seceded from surrounding townships. The Borough of Metuchen seceded from Raritan Township (now Edison Township, Middlesex County) in 1903 and the Borough of Carteret seceded from Woodbridge Township around the same time. The Borough of Beach Haven seceded from Eagleswood Township and several other communities on Long Beach Island seceded from Stafford Township on the mainland.

 

[k2pg]

> Any location that meets the FCC's definition of a
> "community" is allowed, so either townships or cities/towns
> could qualify. I can only think of one Jersey station
> that's licensed to a township, which is WSJO, but I'm sure
> there are more.
>

WSJO is licensed to Egg Harbor CITY, not Egg Harbor Township (two different municipalities). However, WOBM (AM) is licensed to Lakewood Township and states that in its legal ID. The other Lakewood station, however, WMDI-LP, simply uses "Lakewood" as its COL. Lakewood and Lakewood Township are one and the same thing. (See my post above for the reason why WOBM uses "Lakewood Township" as its COL.)

 

[westlife]

A related question...

How many Washingtons and Raritans are there in NJ?

And many of the road signs don't help, either... for example, I live in Warren Township, which everyone here just calls "Warren". People in this area say "I live in Warren", but to avoid confusion with Warren County, I usually add "Township" to be more specific (and even then, many people still think it's in Warren County!). Anyway... the road signs around here don't say "Warren"... they say "Warrenville", the name of what was once a small village in the 1800s which became a part of Warren Township. We have Warrenville Road and a store named Warrenville Hardware, but otherwise it doesn't exist -- just like Coontown, another historical village that once existed within the township. And the one licensed broadcast station that we had, experimental station WI2XAM on 1700 kHz at the Lucent/iBiquity headquarters, had its city of license as "Warren"... not "Warrenville" or "Warren Township"; just "WI2XAM, Warren".

<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[westlife]

> In Pennsylvania, there is a postal designation of Levittown.
> It's not an official township or borough. Yet, WBCB AM's
> city of license if Levittown, not the name of the township
> where it is located.

And to add insult to injury, the ZIP Code boundaries don't exactly follow township/borough/municipality/city boundaries. For example there is a section of Bridgewater, NJ in which the residents have Bound Brook mailing addresses, because of this reason.

One station which exemplifies that caveat is 1040 WCHR, which is located in the village of Locktown, within Kingwood Township, but has a Flemington ZIP Code (even though they are completely outside the boundaries of Flemington), so their City Of License is Flemington, not Locktown or Kingwood or Kingwood Township.

<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[MikeConway]

Studios are now permitted anywhere within the Primary coverage. WKTU-103.5 with a Lake Success, Long Island COL and WHTZ-1003. Newark have studios in Jersey City. WSNR-620 licensed to Jersey City has studios in Manhattan as do WPAT (Paterson) and WSNW (Newark). WMCA and WWRV New York have studios Hasbrouck Heights and Paterson, respectively.In Essex County, Short Hills, a neighborhood in Millburn and Upper Montclair (a area of Montclair) have their own ZIP Codes.

 

[deepstblu]

> Any location that meets the FCC's definition of a
> "community" is allowed, so either townships or cities/towns
> could qualify. I can only think of one Jersey station
> that's licensed to a township, which is WSJO, but I'm sure
> there are more.

WNJC Washington Township (the one in Gloucester County)
WWNJ Dover Township
WXGN Egg Harbor Township

 

[deepstblu]

> > > and one licensed to "Saint Bonaventure, NY" which only
> > > exists as a political entity in a USPS Zip Code
> database.
> >
> > > The two Town and two Village stations all Legal ID'd as
> > > "Olean," IIRC.
> > >
> >
> > Which is similar to WJSE, Petersburg, NJ.
> >
> > Petersburg is a section of Upper Township in Cape May
> County
> > and to my knowledge only exists politically as a zip code.
>
> >
>
> This is an interesting case. The FCC regs require the
> community of license to be a political, not a geographic,
> subdivision. It seems like Petersburg is the latter.

Any number of similar COL situations in the state: North Cape May, Villas, Canton, Blackwood, Manahawkin, Ocean Acres, Toms River, Lincroft, Zarephath, Stirling. Perhaps the rule is not strictly enforced.

 

[deepstblu]

> > Any location that meets the FCC's definition of a
> > "community" is allowed, so either townships or
> cities/towns
> > could qualify. I can only think of one Jersey station
> > that's licensed to a township, which is WSJO, but I'm sure
>
> > there are more.
>
> WNJC Washington Township (the one in Gloucester County)
> WWNJ Dover Township
> WXGN Egg Harbor Township

Forgot WDVR Delaware Township

 

[Neal]

Thats how I got WUPC-LP..

We could not fit a 100 watt station into Lakewood,NJ Nor could we get Brick,NJ because of WBGD
However according to the US census and USGS Maps.There is a city in NJ dating back to the 1700's and is still listed even though its now only about 1 sq mile in size, and now part Of Brick,NJ
The City of Arrowhead Village,NJ
This city was not listed as having a radio station and they granted us WUPC-LP
its called being creative within the requirements for getting a license.
Its still considered its own City according the the U.S. Govt.
Go figure..
The FCC could not fit a 100watt station at 60 feet in Lakewood on 102.3
Yet they Could fit a 38 watt translator at Over 170 feet in lakewood on the same Frequency.. 2 stations on the same freq within 11 miles of each other
both having a city grade signal in lakewood.. NOPE this wont work at all..
Ive said it once and Ill say it again... Lets file For a translator in Jersey City on 101.1 directional and see if the FCC will approve it.... I doubt it.
heck its about 11 Miles seperation..
I look at things like Fox News fair and balanced...

> > In Pennsylvania, there is a postal designation of
> Levittown.
> > It's not an official township or borough. Yet, WBCB AM's
> > city of license if Levittown, not the name of the township
>
> > where it is located.
>
> And to add insult to injury, the ZIP Code boundaries don't
> exactly follow township/borough/municipality/city
> boundaries. For example there is a section of Bridgewater,
> NJ in which the residents have Bound Brook mailing
> addresses, because of this reason.
>
> One station which exemplifies that caveat is 1040 WCHR,
> which is located in the village of Locktown, within Kingwood
> Township, but has a Flemington ZIP Code (even though they
> are completely outside the boundaries of Flemington), so
> their City Of License is Flemington, not Locktown or
> Kingwood or Kingwood Township.
>

 

[Harold]

Re: Determining City Of License (COL) In New Jersey

> Studios are now permitted anywhere within the Primary
> coverage. WKTU-103.5 with a Lake Success, Long Island COL
> and WHTZ-1003. Newark have studios in Jersey City. WSNR-620
> licensed to Jersey City has studios in Manhattan as do WPAT
> (Paterson) and WSNW (Newark). WMCA and WWRV New York have
> studios Hasbrouck Heights and Paterson, respectively.In
> Essex County, Short Hills, a neighborhood in Millburn and
> Upper Montclair (a area of Montclair) have their own ZIP
> Codes.
>

Those familiar with Short Hills and Upper Montclair
can understand why they have their very own Zip codes.

Millburn, by the way, has been persuing efforts to
leave Essex County and become part of Morris County.

 

[Bill_W]

> To start with, I am a resident of Massachusetts, so if the
> text of this post shows a lack of basic knowledge about the
> state of New Jersey, please forgive me.
>
> In Massachusetts, we do not have any communities that are
> known as "townships".
> There are no "boroughs" that I know of. We might call a
> section of a city or town a "village" (as in the Boston
> suburb of Newton, which is made up of 14 villages), but the
> term is not widely used. No, our cities and towns are
> basically known by their given names (Boston, Cambridge,
> Great Barrington, Brewster, Southbridge, Randolph, New
> Bedford, Paxton, Marblehead, etc., to pull a few examples
> from all parts of the state). The town of Randolph, for
> example, is simply Randolph, not Randolph Township. And,
> the county that a community is in seems to be of MUCH less
> importance than it does in New Jersey.
>
> With that be said, I have the following radio-related
> question for you Garden State readers: If someone were to
> put a radio station on in Montgomery Township, (Somerset
> County) as an example, and the physical studios were in the
> borough (or village) of Skillman, Belle Mead, Rocky Hill,
> etc., would that station give their legal ID at the top of
> each hour as "W___, Montgomery Township" or "W___, Skillman"
> (or Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, etc).
>
> Looking forward to your responses!
>
I am originally from the town of Stoughton, MA, just down 139 from Randolph. When I was young, my family moved to Cherry Hill Township in NJ, known as Cherry Hill, NJ, 3 zips, 08002, 08003, or 08034. I now live in Gloucester Township, NJ but, that is not my mailing address. There is also a Glouester City also in Camden County which gets the Gloucester mailing address. My mail comes from Somerdale, NJ, the Borough next to me. NJ has different forms of local government than you have up in MA. Our local municipalities are incorporated as cities, boroughs or townships. Up in Mass., they're incorporated as cities or towns.