How were clear channels assigned?

[genius]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask or not, but how exactly were the class A clear channel stations assigned? Like why are there two in Nashville or one in Shreveport, Omaha, Des Moines etc?

 

[Matt]

Then, as now, FCC Commissioners know the value of a dollar. If they ever forget, there's always a congressman willing to show them.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Back in the 1930's and the 1940's It was recognized the the masses of people living in rural America were only going to be able to hear significant programming, quality programming, if certain stations were given an open expressway, and thoroughfare during the night-time hours when AM's nightime signal can come in "on the bounce" 300, 500, 700 or a thousand miles away. People living in Nebraska might pick up Denver and Chicago. People in downstate Illinois might pick up Nashville or Oklahoma City. etc. etc.

I am not naive enough to believe that money and political influence had nothing to do with it, but if you will go back and look at the frequencies assigned to Chicago or New York City for instance, there is a very regular and logical pattern to the frequency assignments.

That was an era when the FCC was established with a bit of a Eutopian Dream of how the spectrum should be managed and it took a few years before congress started getting more "hands on" in micromanaging FCC activity. I think they tried to make sure that every state had at least ONE clear channel early on.

 

[Tom Wells]

Officially, the determination was based on population density, and what was considered at the time putting the most
USABLE signal into the MOST receivers, given day and night coverage, regional conductivity , wavelength, and whether a clear channel's usage location(s) might allow usage 3 times, 2 times, or only once in the US.

It was often expressed and explained to the public at the time as the 'Hotel Radio" which could accomodate x stations in the daytime, but could accomodate only y stations at night. Thus was born the system of protections, classes of stations, and all the jostling over the years as stations have fought to dismantle the system originally designed
to put the MOST useable signals into the MOST receivers, given etc.....

This is beneficial to stations and some local listeners, but the graveyard is everywhere now.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask or not, but how exactly were the class A clear channel stations assigned? Like why are there two in Nashville or one in Shreveport, Omaha, Des Moines etc?

The designations have changed, but the only former 1 A clears were

640 LA
650 Nashville
660 NY
670 Chi
700 Cincy
720 Chi
750 Atl
760 Detroit
770 NY
780 Chi
820 Ft Worth
830 Mpls
840 Louisville
870 New O.
880 NY
890 Chi
1020 Pbgh
1030 Bos
1040 Des Moines
1100 Cleveland
1120 St Lou
1160 SLC
1180 Rochester
1200 San Antonio
1210 Philly

1130 in Shreeveport, 1510 in Nashville, 1520 in Buffalo and OKC, 1170 in Wheeling, 1140 in Richmond and Sacto, 1130 in NYC, 1110 in Omaha and Charlotte, 1090 in Baltimore and Little Rock and Seattle, 1070 in LA, 1080 in Hartford and Dallas, 1060 in Philly, 1190 in (former 50 kw) Ft Wayne and Portland, 1010 in NYC, 1050 in NYC, 1000 in Seattle and Chicago, 850 in Denver and Boston, 810 in Sc'dy and san Francisco, 680 in Raleigh y San Fran, 710 in Seattle and NYC, and others were 1-B or lower and most were directional. The current channels were the result of NARBA around August of 1941, if I recall.

 

[FredRichards]

You should have heard/read the column that Mark Durenberger did on the National Radio Club's magazine about the clears. I think he also did several issues in Radio World on the subject, too. Excellent material.

More recently he did a series on the break-up of the clears, and also had airchecks of many of the stations which were used before the FCC in the 1970s to prove that high power, clear channel status still had some relevance in today's world.

 

[grantchester]

Fascinating stuff. I recall hearing most of those 1-a and 1-b stations over the years. I think I could even recall the calls for most of them. I'm surprised that Chicago had four 1-a's.

 

[KeithE4]

Back in the 1930's and the 1940's It was recognized the the masses of people living in rural America were only going to be able to hear significant programming, quality programming, if certain stations were given an open expressway, and thoroughfare during the night-time hours when AM's nightime signal can come in "on the bounce" 300, 500, 700 or a thousand miles away. People living in Nebraska might pick up Denver and Chicago. People in downstate Illinois might pick up Nashville or Oklahoma City. etc. etc.

I am not naive enough to believe that money and political influence had nothing to do with it, but if you will go back and look at the frequencies assigned to Chicago or New York City for instance, there is a very regular and logical pattern to the frequency assignments.

That was an era when the FCC was established with a bit of a Eutopian Dream of how the spectrum should be managed and it took a few years before congress started getting more "hands on" in micromanaging FCC activity. I think they tried to make sure that every state had at least ONE clear channel early on.

That was also an era where radio was like today's television - only the large and mid-size cities had radio stations for the most part prior to the 1950s. 50 kW stations were necessary since the nearest network affiliate might not have been audible at night.

But that day is long gone. This is 2007, not 1947. Rural America now has plenty of FM so they don't really need the WGNs and WHOs of the world. Face it - FM is "Standard Broadcasting" now and has been for over 20 years. That doesn't mean AM should die, but at least half of the current stations now on the air should either move to FM (on an HD2 channel if necessary) or go off the air. That would make the whole band listenable again, allow for a slow phase-in of digital (meaning: NOT the way they're doing it now), and maybe even allow for community radio on "graveyard" channels.

There is really little need for any AM station to run more than 10 kW to cover even the largest metro areas (NYC, LA, or Chicago). Few, if any, stations benefit financially from listeners more than 50-75 miles from their city of license, and 10 kW should cover that radius quite nicely if no directional antenna is used (those need to go except in cases of protecting Canada or Mexico, or to prevent half the signal from being sent over the ocean), even those above 1500 kHz. Think of the cost-savings in electricity alone. And how much revenue do WGN's advertisers receive from listeners in Rockford, Kalamazoo, and Milwaukee anyway? Not much, I'll guess. Those markets have their own stations for local advertisers to buy time on.

One argument I've heard about justifying 50 kW Class 1-A (the old term) stations is in case of national emergency and a need for at least a few stations to be available at that power for the purpose of broadcasting emergency messages to the nation. I'm not sure I buy it. Most listening today is on FM, today's AM radios are mostly garbage, and it would be more feasable to keep portable/emergency FM stations fed by satellite for that purpose.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Keith, much of what you say is either right-on-target, or is accepted "conventional wisdom".

One of the problems is that when it comes to regulations and channel allocation, One Size DOES NOT fit all!

Rural America now has plenty of FM so they don't really need the WGNs and WHOs of the world.

In much of Rural America, they may have the tower and the transmitter but they don't have plenty of FM. In community after community after community the FM no longer says it's call letters and city of license out loud. They have become rim-shots into some nearby metro. These home towns have no local news and service and no local advertising. For the regulators to not only ALLOW this to happen to actually FACILITATE it is some kind of molestation of Rural America.

Few, if any, stations benefit financially from listeners more than 50-75 miles from their city of license, and 10 kW should cover that radius quite nicely

Depends on your geography. Here in North Georgia the ground eats AM radio for lunch. There is a 10KW AM currently dark about 20 miles from my house. When it was operating, I could not hear it at my house. I am maybe 30 miles for 50KW WSB and getting it at my house on anything less than a car radio can be a crap-shoot.

and maybe even allow for community radio on "graveyard" channels.

I will give you a big "AMEN" on that one. Put this class of station on some kind of license renewal procedure that is something like we knew 40 and 50 years ago. Prove that you are doing something unique and local and worthwhile, or hand your license over to someone who will.

 

[KeithE4]

Keith, much of what you say is either right-on-target, or is accepted "conventional wisdom".

One of the problems is that when it comes to regulations and channel allocation, One Size DOES NOT fit all!

Rural America now has plenty of FM so they don't really need the WGNs and WHOs of the world.

In much of Rural America, they may have the tower and the transmitter but they don't have plenty of FM. In community after community after community the FM no longer says it's call letters and city of license out loud. They have become rim-shots into some nearby metro. These home towns have no local news and service and no local advertising. For the regulators to not only ALLOW this to happen to actually FACILITATE it is some kind of molestation of Rural America.

But those small towns can still hear plenty of FM stations. The fact that they target the largest city in their particular region is irrelevant. If these communities don't have stations targeting their own areas, it's because the advertising base is just not there. If a town can support it, then it has a station. Many do.

Few, if any, stations benefit financially from listeners more than 50-75 miles from their city of license, and 10 kW should cover that radius quite nicely

Depends on your geography. Here in North Georgia the ground eats AM radio for lunch. There is a 10KW AM currently dark about 20 miles from my house. When it was operating, I could not hear it at my house. I am maybe 30 miles for 50KW WSB and getting it at my house on anything less than a car radio can be a crap-shoot.

I'll take your word for it since I haven't been to Georgia in many years, although I do remember WSB not making it even to Chattanooga during the day. Maybe there is still a need for a few 50 kW stations like WSB, but maybe only those 25 or so that they used to call Class 1-A plus maybe a few more on the west coast like KNX and KNBR.

and maybe even allow for community radio on "graveyard" channels.

I will give you a big "AMEN" on that one. Put this class of station on some kind of license renewal procedure that is something like we knew 40 and 50 years ago. Prove that you are doing something unique and local and worthwhile, or hand your license over to someone who will.

I think converting a few regional (Class B) channels to Class C would be a good idea. But only those between 1250 and 1480, not on the lower end.

 

[gr8oldies]

Even when rural or distant-suburban listeners have the choice to tune in a small, locally-targeted station they often opt for the station targeting the larger city because that's the format they like. Many no longer consider themselves partisans of the small town they live in, especially if the city's a short drive and they may even work in the city. I have experience trying to get small town listeners to listen to the local station, but everywhere I would go, I'd hear the city stations.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

This entire thread is an exercise in PHILOSOPICAL concepts rather than ratings.

It started with the question (my paraphrased version) "What was the rationale behind the assignment of location for 50,000 watt clear chanel stations?"

We have touched on the question "Does the 50,000 watt clear channel station have any place in today's world?"

Now Gr8oldies has posed the question (again I paraphrase): "Isn't it true that all those people living in small suburban communities really like the FORMAT of the big city and don't admit to being local partisans?"

Some do, Some don't.

Just for the sake of discussion, I am inviting those of you who are sure you know what makes radio work, and it is based in big city formats, to consider the following markets:

Waycross, GA. What city are they going to be partisan to rather than their own little burg?

Mt. Vernon, IL. ditto

Clarksville, AR. ditto

Pikeville, KY. ditto

Kirksville, MO. ditto

LaCrosse, WI. ditto

Missoula, MT. ditto

Now if you go to any of these towns and tell the owner of a radio station that you are a Format Expert and that you want to consult for his station and you spend six or eight weeks there, what will your social life be? You don't have family there so you find a bar or two where they play music YOU FIND ENJOYABLE so you hang out there. You get into conversation there with people. They probably like the music you like or they wouldn't hang out there. You end up creating a format of your favorite music and you can honestly tell the station owner that almost everyone you have talked to in his town likes it too. It's going to be a great format.

What if you went to the city council meeting as a reporter while you were in town and invited to mayor to go have a beer with you after the meeting. Ask him IF he listens to radio, and when he does what does he want to hear. What big city are you really attached to?

Go speak to the local PTA. Afterwards, invite the high school history teacher to have a hamburger with you. Does she listen to the radio? What do you turn it on to hear? What big city are you really attached to?

As I travel the country and listen to the radio it is obvious not very many programmers are stupid enough to do what I just suggested.

 

[redneckriviera]

This entire thread is an exercise in PHILOSOPICAL concepts rather than ratings.

It started with the question (my paraphrased version) "What was the rationale behind the assignment of location for 50,000 watt clear chanel stations?"

We have touched on the question "Does the 50,000 watt clear channel station have any place in today's world?"

Now Gr8oldies has posed the question (again I paraphrase): "Isn't it true that all those people living in small suburban communities really like the FORMAT of the big city and don't admit to being local partisans?"

Some do, Some don't.

Just for the sake of discussion, I am inviting those of you who are sure you know what makes radio work, and it is based in big city formats, to consider the following markets:

Waycross, GA. What city are they going to be partisan to rather than their own little burg?

Mt. Vernon, IL. ditto

Clarksville, AR. ditto

Pikeville, KY. ditto

Kirksville, MO. ditto

LaCrosse, WI. ditto

Missoula, MT. ditto

Now if you go to any of these towns and tell the owner of a radio station that you are a Format Expert and that you want to consult for his station and you spend six or eight weeks there, what will your social life be? You don't have family there so you find a bar or two where they play music YOU FIND ENJOYABLE so you hang out there. You get into conversation there with people. They probably like the music you like or they wouldn't hang out there. You end up creating a format of your favorite music and you can honestly tell the station owner that almost everyone you have talked to in his town likes it too. It's going to be a great format.

What if you went to the city council meeting as a reporter while you were in town and invited to mayor to go have a beer with you after the meeting. Ask him IF he listens to radio, and when he does what does he want to hear. What big city are you really attached to?

Go speak to the local PTA. Afterwards, invite the high school history teacher to have a hamburger with you. Does she listen to the radio? What do you turn it on to hear? What big city are you really attached to?

As I travel the country and listen to the radio it is obvious not very many programmers are stupid enough to do what I just suggested.

Hmmmm. Where to start?

There are still many VERY small communities--and farm/ranch/rural dwellers--throughout the U.S. who live far from cities and who, therefore, tend to fall into the "unserved" & "underserved" categories for whom the original AM Clears were intended. We have, however, reached a point in history when very few are truly "unserved" by at least one audible FM signal. And, theoretically at least (assuming a listener has the money to buy the equipment), all citizens have access to "radio" (audio) services from the net and/or satellite broadcasters.

Has conventional/terrestrial radio completely abandoned small towns? No. The majority (yes, more than half) of all AM-FM stations are licensed to, and serve, communities outside say, the Top 200 radio markets. But there has been a definite movement of stations, especially FM, to "the next largest town" ever since the FCC relaxed the rules about 20 years ago.
So, yeah, the Class C FM originally intended to serve the good folks of Atlantic, Iowa (population 7,000) first got moved halfway to Omaha (population 410,000), then got it's city of license changed to Glenwood, Iowa (Goodbye, Atlantic!) and now broadcasts from North 72nd Street in Omaha and is Omaha's #1 radio station at "Cat Country"--65 miles from good old Atlantic. Change the towns & call-letters--we all have our favorites.

But... does small town radio still work? Let me start another thread...

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

redneckriviera said:

But... does small town radio still work? Let me start another thread...

I look forward to the new thread.

Beyond "does small town radio still work?" is the question "CAN small town radio still work?"