"WJRR HD1, Cocoa Beach, Orlando".
Shouldn't "FM" be included, as it is in WTKS's TOH?
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Shouldn't "FM" be included, as it is in WTKS's TOH?
G
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Is this a legal ID?
- Thread starter upstate29651
- Start date
upstate29651 said:
No, because "FM" is not part of WJRR's callsign.
In the U.S., the -FM suffix is not automatically part of an FM station's callsign. It's added if necessary to distinguish between the FM station and an AM or TV station sharing the same four letters. (in WTKS's case, the -FM suffix *is* part of their callsign, to distinguish them from a WTKS on AM 1290 in Savannah, Ga.)
(and, an FM station can voluntarily choose to add -FM, or to not delete it when the AM/TV station changes calls)
ai4i said:
There are permissible insertions between the call letters and the city, though "HD1" is not one of them. So yes, this ID is technically not correct for that reason, and the ID you posted is technically the correct one.
There is essentially zero chance the FCC cares.
IDs like "WTKS AM and FM, Savannah" have been commonplace for, well, as long as I've been old enough to listen to a radio, and to my knowledge have *never* been prosecuted as violations.
That, and the regulation that requires stations using HD to identify as such is extremely vague. There are an ENORMOUS number of ways to ID your HD stream, all of them legal.
I think the "no insertions" thing is about preventing stations from misleading audiences about the station's location. This is something that was a bigger deal decades ago, obviously the Commission could care less today.
I've wondered about the ID I thought I've heard on WDBO too. I thought I heard them, as the legal ID say "WDBO AM and FM Orlando". That didn't used to be legal. You had to say "WDBO-AM and WDBO-FM, Orlando. Then again, going way, way back...the legal ID on stations who did simulcast used to be (using WDBO as an example) "WDBO with FM, Orlando". That would have been in the days of Conelrad!
To be absolutely 100% literally compliant, the legal ID would be "WDBO Orlando, WDBO-FM Orlando". "WDBO-FM" is not a permitted insertion in the AM station's ID.
But "WDBO AM & FM, Orlando" was used for decades without ever being prosecuted -- and meets the intent of the regulation. I don't see "WDBO AM and WDBO-FM Orlando" being prosecuted either.
But "WDBO AM & FM, Orlando" was used for decades without ever being prosecuted -- and meets the intent of the regulation. I don't see "WDBO AM and WDBO-FM Orlando" being prosecuted either.
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Pennanti
Guest
Pretty sure the FCC couldn't care less. As long as a station is giving their call letters and city of license and aren't trying to be deceptive about anything, they're not going to hand out fines.
Saying "WDBO AM and FM, Orlando" might not technically be legal, but come on... when you hear that ID, do you have any doubt what station you're listening to or where their city of license is? And isn't that the whole point of the legal ID regulations? To clearly identify what station you're listening to and where their city of license is.
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I'd love to see when the last time was that the FCC actually fined someone (or even warned someone!) about a legal ID violation.
Saying "WDBO AM and FM, Orlando" might not technically be legal, but come on... when you hear that ID, do you have any doubt what station you're listening to or where their city of license is? And isn't that the whole point of the legal ID regulations? To clearly identify what station you're listening to and where their city of license is.
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I'd love to see when the last time was that the FCC actually fined someone (or even warned someone!) about a legal ID violation.
V
vadar
Guest
The COL must be stated after call letters, or after "AM" or "FM".
A licensee may legally insert between call letters and COL the station frequency and licensee name as it appears on the station license if the licensee chooses to insert this option. Once again using WDBO (AM) as an example, the legal ID can be "WDBO, 580 AM, Cox Radio, Inc., Orlando." These are the only permissible insertions between call letters and COL. Otherwise the minimal legal ID content is "WDBO Orlando” with nothing else inserted between call letters and COL. Anything may be included before call letters and after COL.
jmtillery said:
They used to be the only permissible insertions, but the Commission has a way of making its rules a moving target. Recent revisions to the legal ID rule, 73.1201, have added more permissible insertions, including network affiliation. (The addition of some vaguely-phrased verbiage about identifying HD Radio signals further muddied the water.)
You can read the current wording here: http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/2012/73/1201/
The letter of the law notwithstanding, the Commission has a long history of turning a blind eye toward certain technical violations of the legal ID rule. "WXXX AM and FM Anytown" was accepted by generations of FCC field inspectors in the 1950s, 60s and 70s even though the legal calls on the AM station were just "WXXX" and the FM should properly have been separately identified as "WXXX-FM Anytown." (The FCC was not as willing to look the other way when "WXXX-FM" was actually licensed to West Anytown.)
In practice in 2012, the FCC will generally only write up a 73.1201 violation as part of a laundry list of other problems at "bad egg" stations - and usually the issue is a completely missing ID, not just a technical violation in the form of the ID. Which is to say (though I'm not a lawyer and this shouldn't be construed as official advice) that "WDBO AM and FM Orlando" is very, very unlikely to trigger FCC scrutiny.
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