KBIG-MY/fm Cited by the FCC

[calguy]

It's just a gentle reminder that the rule still exists and is easy to carry out. As for Kiwi-Breath, he's still giddy he's in LA.

"Kiwi-Breath" I love it! Knew someone that worked for him, says that there was one guy no longer there that called him "Kiwi-Boy". He's really enamored with Hollywood. If you've done or do TV, he'll give you a shot at a gig. He's totally starstruck. He wants a young good looking staff, and if you see who he's gotten rid of since his arrival in LA you can see he doesn't like anyone older or smarter than him to be on staff. Guy's got issues, that's for sure.

 

[BarryATL]

Another reason for the legal ID is that the listener hears it. The listener cannot hear the PPM burst. If I want to make a complaint to the FCC about a station, I must have the legal ID. I know in my area that five miles in either direction and hear a different station on 102.3 FM. If I need to make a complaint because I heard profanity on one of the stations, I need that legal ID.

Also, for all of the other reasons that have been mentioned in this thread.

 

[TheBigA]

If I need to make a complaint because I heard profanity on one of the stations, I need that legal ID.

The people who complain, especially the regulars, already know the call letters.

 

[davideduardo]

Another reason for the legal ID is that the listener hears it. The listener cannot hear the PPM burst. If I want to make a complaint to the FCC about a station, I must have the legal ID. I know in my area that five miles in either direction and hear a different station on 102.3 FM. If I need to make a complaint because I heard profanity on one of the stations, I need that legal ID.

Also, for all of the other reasons that have been mentioned in this thread.

The error in your assumption is in believing that listeners even understand what the legal ID is or what it means.

With stations calling themselves MY FM or Power 106 dozens of times an hour, there is a total disconnect between the calls and the station.

When LA had diary-based measurement, the use of call letters to identify listening to a station that only used the calls once an hour was essentially nil. KFI calls itself "KFI" so they get call letter mentions. KLVE does calls itself K-Love and only uses the calls once an hour as required; in the diary nobody put in "KLVE".

An FCC letter about something said on Kiss-FM would go something like this...

"This afternoon I heard a song on Kiss radio station that used profanity over and over..."

Or a letter about the same thing on KRTH might even say "Today on 101.1 FM I heard that song called Louie Louie which everyone knows has bad words in it..."

Or the person complaining about something on TV will say, "I can't believe what they said on the Bobby Moron show on Channel 705 today" where "705" is the location of a station that is not licensed to anything like 705, but which is put on that channel by a local cable operator.

Call letters don't help. They are an anachronism.

 

[calguy]

I would argue that call letters and city of license are necessary if for nothing else than to identify a station and differentiate one from another. Doesn't mean anything to the listeners. But the FCC has to at the very least give each station a name. Do we need them on the air anymore? No, probably not. But can we at least admit that it might mean something to guys like me that didn't just get into the business yesterday? Change isn't always easy for most people, and the industry has been changing at such an accelerated rate that it's hard to keep up. Radio as we know it is going to be gone soon enough, do we really need to put a rush on it's destruction?

 

[TheBigA]

But the FCC has to at the very least give each station a name.

I chuckled when I read that. Especially given how little of value the FCC actually does for radio these days. So when you say they should do something"at the very least," that's exactly what they'll do.

 

[ki6bkj]

Saw this today in Don Barrett's page. Yes, he still does a smaller version of LARP. I've re-written it so we don't get in trouble, but he got it from All Access. MY/fm was cited by the FCC for an improper on-air legal ID. Apparently they failed to provide the requisite call letters and city of license on January 23.

Could this be the result of a PD who comes from New Zealand and doesn't know the rules?

What is so hard about a legal ID?

 

[RL]

I still wonder if it was operator error just one time or purposely programmed.

 

[calguy]

I heard it aired repeatedly.

 

[EddieTheRapFan]

Of course, you are thinking, this was in some poor country in some wretched town. It was actually in a city bigger than New York City, with over 200 stations licensed to the market area and where the station we were involved with had, at the time, a share of over 20% and a cume that was the highest in the Western Hemisphere. The calls were not important to us, to the government and to the listeners. But the station, Mega 98.3, was enormously important in the market.

If you're referring to the (now not-very-listened) Mainstream Rock station from Buenos Aires, you should know Argentine radio is now forced to announce their call signs, name, owner and QTH twice a day. I have no idea what's the call sign of Mega, but I suppose it's the same as their AM station, Radio 10, so maybe LRL202?

 

[davideduardo]

If you're referring to the (now not-very-listened) Mainstream Rock station from Buenos Aires, you should know Argentine radio is now forced to announce their call signs, name, owner and QTH twice a day. I have no idea what's the call sign of Mega, but I suppose it's the same as their AM station, Radio 10, so maybe LRL202?

Yes, the station was Mega 98.3, which began on April 10, 2000, as a 100% Argentine rock station and immediately became #1 in the first full IBOPE survey. Unfortunately, most of the folks I worked with there left after the majority owner, Emmis, pulled out of Argentina and ownership was sold back to Daniel Hadad. The audience left soon after.

And no, the calls are not the same as Radio 10. On one occasion, for a contract with a US supplier, we needed to know the calls. After about 48 hours, someone was able to find the person in the government who knew them. They were not the same as the AM, as each came to the company that owned them, Votionis, S.A., from different owners.

But while it lasted, it was a great station. And it was fun to program in that fascinating city. As Clarín said in a weekend supplement cover story, "A foreigner had to come to show us that we Argentines like our national rock."

 

[w9wi]

I would argue that call letters and city of license are necessary if for nothing else than to identify a station and differentiate one from another. Doesn't mean anything to the listeners. But the FCC has to at the very least give each station a name. Do we need them on the air anymore? No, probably not. But can we at least admit that it might mean something to guys like me that didn't just get into the business yesterday? Change isn't always easy for most people, and the industry has been changing at such an accelerated rate that it's hard to keep up. Radio as we know it is going to be gone soon enough, do we really need to put a rush on it's destruction?

Arguably, the identifying name of the station on 104.3 in LA is 6360. That's KBIG's "facility_id" in the FCC CDBS database.

The problem with call letters is that they change. 104.3 is KBIG today. Tomorrow they might change it to KIOF (or whatever) and KBIG might end up identifying some station in Boise or Albuquerque or Kansas City. If they do change the calls, the facility_id will remain 6360.

Over the years, the call letters WKRP-LP have identified four different low-power TV stations. The facility_id #12667, however, identifies only one station: the one currently on channel 23 in Washington.

 

[kenglish]

If a station broadcasts in analog, I think they need to make an audible announcement of their call letters and city of license. Having both makes it easier to identify the station, since call letters could be mis-heard, and so could the city (if spoken by itself). This does assist in identifying interference sources, as well as us DX'ers. ;D

It's kinda like license plates on a truck....there could be many trucks that say "FedEX" or "UPS" on the side, but each one has a distinctive number of some kind.

As far as digital-only broadcasts, as long as their call signs are being fed as part of the data stream, that's probably enough. The call signs would be there every so often, so there's redundancy provided. The rules should say that you have to provide your call letters and COL on Digital stations, aurally and/or visually only when your PSIP or other digital ID is missing.

 

[marconis gallbladder]

Guy's got issues, that's for sure.

Well, considering that KBIG had been in the crapper for years, and now they're incredibly successful, are you sure your jealousy isn't the actual issue?

 

[calguy]

Guy's got issues, that's for sure.

Well, considering that KBIG had been in the crapper for years, and now they're incredibly successful, are you sure your jealousy isn't the actual issue?

No, because the guy really does have issues. Besides, what's there to be jealous of? But I do feel bad for the people working for him.