I turn to the group to vent. After months of listening to 93.9 WDUC on every radio I own in Columbia, I was not very happy when I heard jazz instead of the typical AC/Classic Hits this morning. Apparently WMOT's Columbia translator is up and running on 93.9 and destroying one of the few stations that come in the basin of Columbia. I realize Columbia is out of the protected coverage of WDUC, but the terrain allowed it to be much stronger than 97.1, any Fish, 100.1, 97.5, 98.3, 102.5 and even 97.9! (I wasn't DXing it - clock radios, seek in multiple cars, etc). I use to listen to 93.9 all the way up to McEwen @65, but now, splatter past 396. It seems this would affect some of their Western protected coverage area near Henry Horton. Wasn't WMOT going broke? Why this? I could understand KLOVE wanting a needed translator in Columbia. I realize it is what it is and their on paper contours don't overlap, but I'm VERY frustrated, especially since Nashville has no AC offering and Huntsville's is splattered over by another unnecessary Columbia translator.
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FCC has done it again
- Thread starter NashvilleNative
- Start date
How close (distance wise) are you to the offending translator(s)?
Send an e-mail or better yet a letter to WDUC with your complaint.
Describe exactly where you are, how long and often you have been a listener, and the radios you are using. If they chose to do so they can file a complaint with the FCC against that translator, even though you are out of WDUC's "protected" contour. FCC rules state basically that the translator still has to remedy any interference complaints from regular listeners no matter how far away from the desired station. WDUC can't solicit listeners to write them about translator interference but they can use your letter in the complaint. If the translator can't fix the interference they will have to go off the air.
Describe exactly where you are, how long and often you have been a listener, and the radios you are using. If they chose to do so they can file a complaint with the FCC against that translator, even though you are out of WDUC's "protected" contour. FCC rules state basically that the translator still has to remedy any interference complaints from regular listeners no matter how far away from the desired station. WDUC can't solicit listeners to write them about translator interference but they can use your letter in the complaint. If the translator can't fix the interference they will have to go off the air.
1. Follow boiseengineer's advice.
2. Also send a letter to the FCC. Make sure it doesn't follow your letter to WDUC word-for-word and don't give it the appearance of a form letter. You are the public and you are not being served. You and I know the FCC may choose to ignore you. However, you have a better chance of being heard if you write than if you don't write. And it's better odds than winning a translator lottery.
2. Also send a letter to the FCC. Make sure it doesn't follow your letter to WDUC word-for-word and don't give it the appearance of a form letter. You are the public and you are not being served. You and I know the FCC may choose to ignore you. However, you have a better chance of being heard if you write than if you don't write. And it's better odds than winning a translator lottery.
secondchoice said:
I can look out my window and see it. I'm at most 2000 feet away from the antenna farm just West of downtown Columbia. I'd guess the interference would be in most of the county since they're on the same frequency. (I know to the North for sure, but maybe not as bad toward Marshall County - I'll have to check). It's frustrating because WDUC's signal was much clearer than 93.7 or 94.1. There was also a listenable signal out of Lewisburg on 95.9 (that no one ever listened to), but the new Brentwood translator leaves that frequency with nothing but a bleeding battle this far South. Oh well, at least we have a semi-oldies station, even if it is automated 24/7.
Thanks for the advice. The people at WDUC have done a great job with a small station and unfortunately lost their young OM last month as well.
NashvilleNative said:
If you are that close, this could be hard to fix. Which is older your house or the antenna farm? Are there any "RF" danger signs on the fences around the antenna farm? I know of a few "short" tower class C FM's have the signs, and you are suppose to "limit" your time at the tower site. I have even seen in some FCC paperwork for station sales "RF danger" disclosures.
On the other hand, I lived in a trailer about 55 steps from the front door of a 3KW class A station I worked at. It messed up channel 11 (pre digital days), but it was easy to get to work.
Most of the nearby historic homes pre-date commercial radio. Mine's somewhat newer - from the 30s, haha. I haven't noticed any signs, but will look. I know of (3) translators and (1) 4kW class A (Less than 5kW total that I'm aware of). There's probably an AM or two, as well as cell. It is what it is and they aren't going anywhere. I'll just accept that the Duck's gone and I won't listen to 97.9 downtown. I'm grateful for the WLX translator, but as mentioned before, Way's 99.3 is worthless, as the signal it broadcasts is full of static and bleeds all over WSIX. And 88.7's signal is pretty good. It is nice to look out the window at night and see the blinking tower light in the "distance," as if we're in a big town.
NashvilleNative said:
Make that (4) translators. I forgot about the other frequency no one listens to, 91.9, the Bible Broadcasting Network out of North Carolina. Meanwhile, KLOVE has static and local AMs have no FM presence. On a side note, despite how much I can't stand much of the format, an urban r&b/hip hop station would pull in great numbers, even as a class D translating an AM (I think it's too far out for WUBT to be able to have a translator). WUBT is a hard signal to grab and 92.1 is another bleeding war.
R
Remington
Guest
Folks, this is just the beginning. The Commission is trying to shoe horn thousands of low power FM stations into the band and soon you will be lucky to hear a translator much more that 6 or 7 miles from the tower (which is all they were originally intended to cover). You will also find that your favorite Class A and C3 FM stations will be much harder to pick up too.
It doesn't help much either that the cheap parts manufacturers have been using for the past 20 years in most FM receivers still aren't sensitive enough to pick up anything if you live more than 25 or 30 miles from a stations transmitter site. :
It doesn't help much either that the cheap parts manufacturers have been using for the past 20 years in most FM receivers still aren't sensitive enough to pick up anything if you live more than 25 or 30 miles from a stations transmitter site. :
Remington said:
Hi, Remington. Welcome to the discussions on radio.
This thread is interesting. The title, and your post in particular, make it sound like the FCC is on an agenda to stupidly establish and relocate frequencies. CONGRESS kind of "jammed the LPFM issue down the throat of the FCC" whether the bureaucrats liked the idea or not.
The FCC does not decide to go out and shoe-horn anything. American citizens and corporation line up at the FCC, after reading the technical rules, and then John Doe (citizens) and Charlie Corporation hire engineers and lawyers to find innovative ways to file applications that we find surprising and push them through the bureaucracy known as the FCC.
We could have an interesting office pool on how many LPFM applications will be filed this October, how many will end up actually be granted by the FCC after all the legal sifting is done, and then how many will actually get built. (In previous windows, applications were approved that never got built: the applicants ran out of funds, got into organization-killing squabbles, or came to their senses and said: What we proposed doing, what we thought we wanted to do makes no sense. Let's don't built it.
After previous windows, there are currently, give or take, 800 LPFMs out there. In what we've learned about LPFMs in the last 13 years, and in light of the current financial conditions, and looking at trends in the entire broadcasting world (AM and FM, commercial and NCE) I will be surprised if out of this upcoming application cycle we end up with more than another 800 stations.
Thousands? Share with me your crystal ball. Maybe you've got access to something I don't understand, something I can't see.
R
Remington
Guest
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Thanks for the welcome Goat Cowboy Rodeo!
You are absolutely right, the FCC is under pressure to from all sorts of influences to promote the LPFM agenda. But they are the organization tasked with the job and much like upcoming TV repacking mandate, they are ill equipped to handle the problems created. While it is true that the 10,000 or so LPFM applications filed in the initial window were culled down to about 800, the FCC is making sure a lot more frequencies will be available to applicants in much larger markets. There is no real expense in putting on an LPFM, you can go to ebay and buy 500 watt fm package with antenna for less than $1000.
My biggest fear is already coming to realization with the many FM Translators going on and the complete lack of enforcement ability from the Commission's Staff. I travel frequently thru out the country and listen to 10 watt FM translators that were designed to cover just a couple of miles, with a listenable signal 30 and 40 miles away. I often hear these 250 watt fill in translators covering better than Class A FM's licensed to the same area. When new translators or LPFM's sign on and cause interference to an existing station, it is the existing station that has to spend thousands in legal and engineering fee's to get the FCC's attention. Often that's a process that takes as long as a year because the FCC is so short staffed now.
Don't get me wrong, I think FM Translators and LPFM's are needed and necessary, but I think the FCC forgets they are licenced on a secondary basis and should not interfere with a full service station. Yes, the rules provide for relief, but often that relief is a long, costly process for existing stations.
I don't know what you are suggesting that the minimum cost to establish an LPFM would be, I haven't looked at transmitter/antenna combination that I would WANT to install that comes in for $1,000 or less. Then there is the cost of least a phone-pole/power-pole if not a tower. Your thoughts on cost do not include anything for an Emergency Alert System. Or coax to run up the phone-pole or tower to the antenna.
Those of us who have some do-it-yourself experience can cut corners, but if someone called me today and said: we want to apply for an LPFM, how much cash will we need to get it granted and built. My quick answer would be $12,000 minimum.... be prepared to think all the way up to $18,000.
Even the churches who stick a computer in a closet in the choir room and put a satellite dish on the roof to broadcast syndicated content are going to be considerably above $1,000 to get it built.
How many applications were filed in 2000-2001. I thought I had a chart on that somewhere but I don't find it.
Those of us who have some do-it-yourself experience can cut corners, but if someone called me today and said: we want to apply for an LPFM, how much cash will we need to get it granted and built. My quick answer would be $12,000 minimum.... be prepared to think all the way up to $18,000.
Even the churches who stick a computer in a closet in the choir room and put a satellite dish on the roof to broadcast syndicated content are going to be considerably above $1,000 to get it built.
How many applications were filed in 2000-2001. I thought I had a chart on that somewhere but I don't find it.
Lots of LPFM info here
http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/piratejim/lpfm.html
http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/piratejim/lpfm.html
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