• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

How long can a station operate under a STA?

D

duckfan98

Guest
Just curious how long a station can operate under an STA, before the FCC steps in? There is a C1 we are second adjacent to that has been operating at 50 watts since October of 2012...due to 'catastrophic equipment failure'. They are our only limitation to upgraded from an A to a C2.
 
They are issued in 6 months increments. Pretty easy to get to a year. After that, you really have to show you are trying to get back to 'normal'.

Now, if you are where there is bad weather or they had a tower fall, etc... They can probably go longer.

If they are just 'milking' it and not trying to move forward, I'm sure you could bring that to the attention of the FCC and probably get some action, especially if they are blocking your upgrade. They view upgrades as 'in the public interest'. You have a great case, if you are going to serve many more people than their 50 watt emergency signal.

What is the real story of their problem? Do you know? Can you share?
 
I've seen an AM in my market that has been playing on an STA for about two years now. Their owners are simply too damn cheap to finish the directional back out or even buy good enough coax to go to their full power day power rating. Yet, somehow, they continue to get STAs. I wished there was a way to challenge the seemingly endless STAs for you. I wonder if you could simply call the staffers and ask them about it, as a station owner or manager and get them to get around to looking into it for you on the next round of STA renewals. One thing I've learned about them is they really don't appreciate being gamed, or being harassed by lawyers (they deal with them all the time). When "normal" broadcasters call them, they generally can be very nice and helpful.
 
I read that over. Considering this is FM, you would have a strong case after 12 months. I also agree that you should just call or email Dale at the FCC and talk to him, express your feelings calmly and I bet you get some help.

OKC is dead on about them not liking to be 'played'... However, a nice phone call from a real person will get you some help 99% of the time.
 
I'm kind of surprised that anyone here would suspect STA abuse at this point. The station says they have a problem and it's only been 7 months.

I've seen stations run on STAs for well over 2 years with no real resistance from the FCC.

Could be wrong, but I'd tend to think you won't get far, trying to upgrade your station at their expense.

They're also a multi-station operation with a reasonable amount of experience in the industry. My hunch is they know what they're doing. Hard to imagine a station of that size, being happy with 50 watts.
 
Grounded Grid said:
I've seen stations run on STAs for well over 2 years with no real resistance from the FCC.
Click to expand...

2 years is a mere blink of the eye! The AM I use to engineer was donated to a local university and they were allowed to stay on the tower site for 7 years, when the previous owner sold the site to a developer. That station has been operating on a long wire under STA coming up on 8 years now! What makes it worse is they own another AM less than 7 miles away broadcasting the NPR nonsense as the rest of their "network" of stations.
 
Look up the history of WNKE, New Boston/Portsmouth, Ohio.

This was a full "C" station operating from a tower in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from Portsmouth (Kentucky being "C" territory, Ohio not). An ice storm took down its tower, and the FAA didn't allow the tower to be built back up to the former height. In addition, the station was grandfathered short-spaced to a station in Indiana. So, if they stayed on their rebuilt, but lower tower they would not meet Class C requirements, while if they moved to a fully spaced location they would be way out of town serving a lot of cows and moonshiners.

At least 3 stations could move if the station was downgraded to a C-0. One, to the west, from suburban Indiana to downtown Cincinnati; one to the north could downgrade from a rural B-1 to an A in Columbus, while a third Class A could move to a metro area from a dying small town.

The bottom line: After one company tried to force the downgrade with the Commission, another company arranged for the downgrade with the exchange of some cash. Both the owner of what was then WPAY and that second company were from the Cincinnati area, so I suspect they were friendly competitors.

In this case, unless that C-1 would be precluded from resuming operations at that class level because of an external change (e.g.--the destruction of WPAY's tower and the subsequent FAA denial of a rebuild), then I wouldn't hope for FCC intervention.

On the other hand, if the station is in such dire straits that they can't replace their transmitter there is an opportunity for a deal to be struck. Figure out what a good new transmitter would cost for the lower class level, then go visit them with check in hand. Propose that the Class A pay for the new transmitter in exchange for an agreement whereby the other station voluntarily reduces class in order to allow the Class A to increase in class.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I was only curious as to know when the STA gets to the point that the FCC considers not renewing it. Obviously it would be a major plus for us to be able to upgrade; however I know the likelyhood of that is rather slim (in the case of them being downgraded).

Thanks!
 
I totally misread this. I thought the upgrade was based on the location of the STA, not the rebuild.

I concur that nothing is likely here... Unless they are out of money, many strike deals.
 
As far as temporary facilities are concerned, I believe it was WNYC that had been operating temporarily at night since 1943! After the clears were broken up, they were able to move to 820, taking care of the problem but for about four decades stuck it out on 830.
 
Not having the money is as good a reasone as any for the FCC.
AM here lost their night site after the origional owner defaulted on a large lease payment.
New owner filed for an STA to run somewhere around 180 watts ND at night then filed to change class to D - Daytimer at about the same power. Been over a year on that STA. They have never filed a 302-AM for the class D status maybe with the hope for a night signal with a little more power could happen in the future.
In this case an STA is the better option as they keep the protection of the "licensed" night signal.

The station just got sold again.
 
duckfan98 said:
I am not sure on the EXACT specifics.....they were a C1 operating at 60kw before the 'event'. If they moved to a C2 (50kw); we could increase our listenership by nearly 80,000 listeners. They would lose only a few hundred! Frustrating to say the least.

Here is the STA info:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101537056&formid=911&fac_num=23246
Click to expand...
That station is 60kW at 112m, which is even less than a fully licensed C2 would be (it would be 92kW @ 112m)
 
Yes. Which is another reason it is so frustrating....they are protected like a C1....yet operate at just above C2 level. Since they are protected as a full C1, it keeps us from upgrading our signal to another 80,000 listeners. :mad:
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom