I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but it has been for a number of years. 96.9, FM97 ID's itself legally, at the top of the hour no less, as "WLAN Lancaster". Shouldn't it be WLAN-FM? Isn't 3910 still legally WLAN, so doesn't 96.9 have to be WLAN-FM? Anybody else notice this or know what's going on?
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FM97 WLAN Legal I.D>
- Thread starter RockofHBG
- Start date
As far as I know the rules have not changed. They need to ID as WLAN-FM, Lancaster. I believe you can insert the frequency between the calls and city....but it would have to be the exact frequency of 96.9. So WLAN...FM 97...Lancaster wouldn't be legal either....Sorry.
Their official FCC call letters are WLAN-FM, therefore the legal ID should use WLAN-FM followed by Lancaster. The FCC also allows the licensee name or the frequency, 96.9 to be used in between the call letters and the city of license. FCC 73.1201.
While they should be using WLAN-FM, Lancaster at the top of the hour, some stations attempt to bury their true legal ID somewhere before or after the hour and then try to use some other preferred identifier at the top of the hour. That could be a trigger to receive an FCC violation notice in the mail.
WLAN according to the FCC is their 1390 AM station's call letters.
While they should be using WLAN-FM, Lancaster at the top of the hour, some stations attempt to bury their true legal ID somewhere before or after the hour and then try to use some other preferred identifier at the top of the hour. That could be a trigger to receive an FCC violation notice in the mail.
WLAN according to the FCC is their 1390 AM station's call letters.
M
mcradiofree
Guest
They need not use FM, since the legal ID is being used on the FM station, and the calls are WLAN, then using WLAN Lancaster is fine.
Give me one example of another station that uses FM in it's legal. And it is ok to run the legal between :55 and :05.
Give me one example of another station that uses FM in it's legal. And it is ok to run the legal between :55 and :05.
Today, a majority of FM stations don't share their call letters with an AM. If they don't, their call letters don't have to be designated "FM", although they still can be designated "FM" even if they don't share the call letters with an AM. Sometimes an AM's call letters have been changed and the licensee hasn't bothered to change the FM calls to lose the "FM" designation. WLAN and WLAN-FM both exist, so 96.9 has to ID as WLAN-FM Lancaster. FYI, there is no "AM" designation. AM was here first. If 1390 ever changes call letters, then WLAN-FM can change to WLAN. In my opinion 96.9 should have gotten read of the WLAN letters years ago and perhaps they might be more accepted as a regional station today.
mcradiofree said:
WRFY-FM, Reading (102.5, Y-102). As far as I can tell, there's never been another WRFY elsewhere, AM or FM, but those are the legal calls. You can hear a legal ID on www.tophour.com. Others that properly ID are WITF-FM (89.5, Harrisburg), WIOV-FM (105.1 Ephrata), and WBYN-FM (107.5, Boyertown).
Check the FCC's database on 96.9 - the calls are WLAN-FM. Others in the area that have the "-FM" suffix that don't appear to use it in the legal ID are WNNK-FM (104.1 Harrisburg) and WAVT-FM (101.9, Pottsville).
WNNK-FM is in fact licensed that way in the FCC database, therefore they should use the call letters WNNK-FM. If you look at the call letter history of WNNK-FM in the FCC database, the call letters were applied for with the -fm on 1/1/85. (Unless that is the date the database was started.) Then on 1/8/85 they applied for WNNK without the -fm. On 10/31/90 they applied again for the WNNK-FM call letters. WLAN-FM should use the -fm in their ID. It could be that around 1990, the owners of WNNK used the call letters without the -fm for another AM station somewhere else in the country for a period of time, or to throw competition off with a temporary call letter change. It is done all of the time.
WARM, in Scranton can use just that. WARM-FM in this area must use the -fm. Of course both stations used to be owned by Susquehanna. If the owners of WNNK-FM call letters allow it in writing, there could be a WNNK-TV somewhere else in the country under different ownership as well as a WNNK on an AM station somewhere under a different owner.
Then it can even get more messy if there happens to be a ship somewhere traveling the ocean that still uses a call letter similar to a radio station. I know of one call letter that was requested by station owners, only to find a ship was using it. The ship owner relinguished the use that then allowed the radio station to use it.
Regarding the placement, there is nothing that allows :55 to :05 for the ID. The rule is specific to be nearest the top of the hour in a normal programming break. That can come down to the interpretation of the FCC inspector. I know of an FM station in the Providence, RI market that was cited by the FCC for using their real legal ID about :55 before the hour, played a song and then played another ID using the Providence name at the top of the hour.The station was turned in to the FCC by a completing station.
WARM, in Scranton can use just that. WARM-FM in this area must use the -fm. Of course both stations used to be owned by Susquehanna. If the owners of WNNK-FM call letters allow it in writing, there could be a WNNK-TV somewhere else in the country under different ownership as well as a WNNK on an AM station somewhere under a different owner.
Then it can even get more messy if there happens to be a ship somewhere traveling the ocean that still uses a call letter similar to a radio station. I know of one call letter that was requested by station owners, only to find a ship was using it. The ship owner relinguished the use that then allowed the radio station to use it.
Regarding the placement, there is nothing that allows :55 to :05 for the ID. The rule is specific to be nearest the top of the hour in a normal programming break. That can come down to the interpretation of the FCC inspector. I know of an FM station in the Providence, RI market that was cited by the FCC for using their real legal ID about :55 before the hour, played a song and then played another ID using the Providence name at the top of the hour.The station was turned in to the FCC by a completing station.
vetguy said:
Yes, that was my point - Wink 104 is licensed as WNNK-FM and should use those calls in the legal ID, but they don't.
WNNK was used on 1400AM in Harrisburg from 10/1990 - 8/1993, which is why they went back to WNNK-FM. I imagine they could go back to just being WNNK at this point since no one else currently uses those calls and hasn't since since 8/1993.
WVLT 92.1 Vineland NJ does not say FM in their top of the hour legal ID even though there is a WVLT-TV is Knoxville, TN.
But there's no WVLT(AM), so 92.1 can be licensed without the -FM suffix, and it is. In this case, the TV station must use the TV suffix.DaveWilliams said:
The callsign of 92.1 in Vineland is WVLT, not WVLT-FM, so they are IDing correctly.
I do not recall ever seeing the FCC cite a station for incorrect use (or non-use) of the "-FM" suffix. In practical use, if not necessarily the letter of the law, it appears that as long as the base call and city of license are somewhere in close proximity, the FCC has bigger things to worry about.
I do not recall ever seeing the FCC cite a station for incorrect use (or non-use) of the "-FM" suffix. In practical use, if not necessarily the letter of the law, it appears that as long as the base call and city of license are somewhere in close proximity, the FCC has bigger things to worry about.
The FCC might have bigger things to worry about, but it a competing station in the market calls to "rat out" a station, the FCC is going to look into it. They might not be looking for it themselves, but they will react to a complaint.
By the way....don't argue with VetGuy. He knows his stuff.
By the way....don't argue with VetGuy. He knows his stuff.
WLAN is at 96.9 I know now.
Some while back (I believe the early 90's, wasn't it on 96.9 and 97.1? If so, why?
If I remember correctly (and this makes total sense), they s stopped broadcasting at 97.1 as it interpheres with WRVV 97.3.
How they ever got away with that I have no idea... but I seem to remember some ID as WLAN with 96.9 a a and 97.1 at some point.
Someone fil me in please? This is one of those things i actually think about from time to time.
Sad, I know.
Some while back (I believe the early 90's, wasn't it on 96.9 and 97.1? If so, why?
If I remember correctly (and this makes total sense), they s stopped broadcasting at 97.1 as it interpheres with WRVV 97.3.
How they ever got away with that I have no idea... but I seem to remember some ID as WLAN with 96.9 a a and 97.1 at some point.
Someone fil me in please? This is one of those things i actually think about from time to time.
Sad, I know.
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