Legal ID question regarding suffixes

[RadioDaze]

When the AM station I worked for added another AM simulcast in another market, legal IDs were assembled as such, "WXXX Pleasantville and WYYY Mayberry". The corporate owner of the stations, a company which specializes in brokered ethnic stations across the country, also owns an FM station in "Mayberry" with the call sign "WYYY-FM", said that, because of this, we had to legally ID as "WXXX Pleasantville and WYYY-AM Mayberry" to distinguish from the separately programmed, but in the same market WYYY-FM.

My understanding of FCC rules has always been that there is no such animal as a W___-AM or a K___-AM with respect to a legal ID; suffixes are only used for FM and TV services with the same call letters as AM stations.

I read over the rules and didn't see anything to dispute this, though I did see that, with a straight simulcast as we had, you have to give the dial position, which, I believe can be included between the call sign and the city of license (as can the name of the licensee). I modified the legal IDs to say "WXXX 1410 AM Pleasantville and WYYY 910 AM Mayberry", but this didn't satisfy the corporate owner, as I returned from a week off to find new IDs that said, "1410 WXXX-AM Pleasantville and 910 WYYY-AM Mayberry". (These are actually still running even though the "Mayberry" simulcast fell through months ago).

My question is if I am missing something and this ID passes FCC legal muster, or is it in violation? I tend to lean with the latter since "WXXX" wasn't running any legal IDs whatsoever...only imaging liners that weren't legal by any definition...when I arrived there several years ago. I questioned the GM about it and she said she wasn't running them because "no one had made any" -which is how I got involved with making the IDs.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

I think it's legal for you to add the type of service it is in the ID. Other stuff isn't.

 

[jd]

My understanding of FCC rules has always been that there is no such animal as a W___-AM or a K___-AM with respect to a legal ID; suffixes are only used for FM and TV services with the same call letters as AM stations.

You're right, except that there are quite a few FM or TV stations that officially have a suffix, for whatever reason, when there is no corresponding AM station. Briefly, the call letters in a station ID must be the same as those assigned by the FCC. In the case of AM stations (for many decades referred to as "standard" broadcast stations) that means no "AM" suffix. For FM or TV a suffix may only be used if it is part of the station's official call letters; if that's the case, the appropriate suffix must be used.

Certain things can be inserted between the station call letters and their community of license, such as the frequency (or channel number), or the name of the licensee. Here's the applicable section of the rules (73.1201): www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/2010/73/1201/

 

[dave73]

Supposedly I heard in the case of stations subscribing to Arbitron, that Arbitron requires the suffix for the AM side, if there's a station in the same market with the same call letters on the FM side. In Chicago, WBBM-AM ID's a lot with WBBM-AM & WBBM-AM HD Chicago at the top of the hour. They also have WBBM-FM, which is required to be ID'd like that by the FCC. So maybe in that case, Arbitron might require it.

 

[KeithE4]

Supposedly I heard in the case of stations subscribing to Arbitron, that Arbitron requires the suffix for the AM side, if there's a station in the same market with the same call letters on the FM side. In Chicago, WBBM-AM ID's a lot with WBBM-AM & WBBM-AM HD Chicago at the top of the hour. They also have WBBM-FM, which is required to be ID'd like that by the FCC. So maybe in that case, Arbitron might require it.

They did this in the late '70s/early '80s, but I thought the FCC put a stop to it back then. Their legal ID is "WBBM Chicago," not "WBBM-AM Chicago."

There are no stations with an "-AM" suffix. Arbitron doesn't make the rules or assign call letters - the FCC does.

 

[dave73]

Supposedly I heard in the case of stations subscribing to Arbitron, that Arbitron requires the suffix for the AM side, if there's a station in the same market with the same call letters on the FM side. In Chicago, WBBM-AM ID's a lot with WBBM-AM & WBBM-AM HD Chicago at the top of the hour. They also have WBBM-FM, which is required to be ID'd like that by the FCC. So maybe in that case, Arbitron might require it.

They did this in the late '70s/early '80s, but I thought the FCC put a stop to it back then. Their legal ID is "WBBM Chicago," not "WBBM-AM Chicago."

There are no stations with an "-AM" suffix. Arbitron doesn't make the rules or assign call letters - the FCC does.

I know Arbitron doesn't assign the call letters, but when they do their ratings, they might require the -AM after the call letters so they don't give some of those ratings to the FM station with the same call letters.

 

[KeithE4]

Supposedly I heard in the case of stations subscribing to Arbitron, that Arbitron requires the suffix for the AM side, if there's a station in the same market with the same call letters on the FM side. In Chicago, WBBM-AM ID's a lot with WBBM-AM & WBBM-AM HD Chicago at the top of the hour. They also have WBBM-FM, which is required to be ID'd like that by the FCC. So maybe in that case, Arbitron might require it.

They did this in the late '70s/early '80s, but I thought the FCC put a stop to it back then. Their legal ID is "WBBM Chicago," not "WBBM-AM Chicago."

There are no stations with an "-AM" suffix. Arbitron doesn't make the rules or assign call letters - the FCC does.

I know Arbitron doesn't assign the call letters, but when they do their ratings, they might require the -AM after the call letters so they don't give some of those ratings to the FM station with the same call letters.

They can do that all they want except at the top of the hour, when they are required to ID as "WBBM Chicago."

 

[KTN Corp]

Supposedly I heard in the case of stations subscribing to Arbitron, that Arbitron requires the suffix for the AM side, if there's a station in the same market with the same call letters on the FM side.  In Chicago, WBBM-AM ID's a lot with WBBM-AM & WBBM-AM HD Chicago at the top of the hour.  They also have WBBM-FM, which is required to be ID'd like that by the FCC.  So maybe in that case, Arbitron might require it.

They did this in the late '70s/early '80s, but I thought the FCC put a stop to it back then.  Their legal ID is "WBBM Chicago," not "WBBM-AM Chicago." 

There are no stations with an "-AM" suffix.  Arbitron doesn't make the rules or assign call letters - the FCC does.

I know Arbitron doesn't assign the call letters, but when they do their ratings, they might require the -AM after the call letters so they don't give some of those ratings to the FM station with the same call letters.

They can do that all they want except at the top of the hour, when they are required to ID as "WBBM Chicago."

HD Radio has rendered that moot.  Nowadays stations have to identify HD on AM or the HD subchannel on FM.  That I.D. would now be WBBM AM/HD Chicago.  FMs are such a mouthful compared to the AM counterparts: "WBBM-FM/HD# Chicago".  What's worse is a station simulcasting on AM and FM with HD on both (on their original post-war FM license and frequency to boot)!

 

[RadioDaze]

Supposedly I heard in the case of stations subscribing to Arbitron, that Arbitron requires the suffix for the AM side, if there's a station in the same market with the same call letters on the FM side. In Chicago, WBBM-AM ID's a lot with WBBM-AM & WBBM-AM HD Chicago at the top of the hour. They also have WBBM-FM, which is required to be ID'd like that by the FCC. So maybe in that case, Arbitron might require it.

They did this in the late '70s/early '80s, but I thought the FCC put a stop to it back then. Their legal ID is "WBBM Chicago," not "WBBM-AM Chicago."

There are no stations with an "-AM" suffix. Arbitron doesn't make the rules or assign call letters - the FCC does.

I know Arbitron doesn't assign the call letters, but when they do their ratings, they might require the -AM after the call letters so they don't give some of those ratings to the FM station with the same call letters.

The FCC legal ID requirement would definitely trump any Arbitron policy, but on the subject of Arbitron, "Pleasantville" is a PPM market, while "Mayberry" is still on the diary, but the audio that "WYYY" received was sent to "Mayberry" (via Barix) before the PPM encoder in the "WXXX" air chain. Doesn't help distinguish in this scenario, but in a PPM market the encoder would negate any need to differentiate between an AM and FM in the same market with the same call letters.

 

[Mac Black]

If the AM is attached to your legal call letters u have to include it. If it's not, u don't. We have a station here in Charlotte with FM attached, WBAV-FM as listed by the FCC, so they're required to id as WBAV-FM Gastonia. Their sister station is WPEG, no fm. They id as WPEG Concord. Just look at your license & see if it's on there or not, if not, don't worry about it. I'm not completely sure about the HD, I'd do it just to be safe. WPEG Concord WPEG HD1 Concord, see I said it once, then I repeated it with the HD, I can't lose. Put the frequency & whatever else u want after all that.

 

[fybush]

If the AM is attached to your legal call letters u have to include it. If it's not, u don't.

No AM station has "-AM" attached to its legal call sign. An AM station's callsign is always just the base three- or four-letter call.

 

[Bongwater]

If the AM is attached to your legal call letters u have to include it. If it's not, u don't.

No AM station has "-AM" attached to its legal call sign. An AM station's callsign is always just the base three- or four-letter call.

For several years, KYCW Seattle (now KPTK) IDed at the top of the hour as "KYCW-AM Seattle"

I too thought that was odd.

There are stations that still ID as "KXXX (add -FM if there's an AM station with the same calls), 106.9 FM, (City of License)"

As I know it, that too is not kosher. It HAS to be "KXXX (add -FM if there's an AM station with the same calls), (City of License)".....

 

[Mac Black]

I'm not 100 percent sure on AMs, I googled it & couldn't find anything. But I do personally know of a FM station that neglected to include the 'FM' in their calls & had an issue. They were one of those rare FM's that actually included the FM..the AM station went dark. So it's just the calls & city of license. They say u can include frequency between calls & city of license...the only thing u can include, but why not just keep it simple?

 

[jd]

There are stations that still ID as "KXXX (add -FM if there's an AM station with the same calls), 106.9 FM, (City of License)"
As I know it, that too is not kosher. It HAS to be "KXXX (add -FM if there's an AM station with the same calls), (City of License)".....

The frequency can be given, and one might assume that "FM" would be allowed immediately following that, since it's a "modifier" of sorts that would seem to clarify the frequency mention. Even so, it's not specifically allowed or disallowed under the rules.

For what can be allowed between the call letters and COL, here's the pertinent part of the ID rule that I cited earlier: "Official station identification shall consist of the station's call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station's location; Provided, That the name of the licensee, the station's frequency, the station's channel number, as stated on the station's license, and/or the station's network affiliation may be inserted between the call letters and station location."

I'm not 100 percent sure on AMs, I googled it & couldn't find anything. But I do personally know of a FM station that neglected to include the 'FM' in their calls & had an issue. They were one of those rare FM's that actually included the FM..the AM station went dark.

Just because the AM went dark doesn't have any effect on the FM calls until FCC action is taken pertaining to the call letters. As mentioned earlier you ID with the calls the FCC gave you and you keep those calls until they are officially changed. (And that's changed at your request, then approved by the FCC.)

 

[w9wi]

The -FM suffix is required if it appears on the station's license. Sometimes this happens even if there is no AM station with the same basic callsign. Consider, for example, 93.1 in Chicago. There is no WXRT on AM anymore, but the call letters on the 93.1 license are still WXRT-FM, and that's what the station is required to announce at ID time.

Another example is KQED-FM, 88.5 in San Francisco. There is no KQED AM, and to my knowledge there never has been one. However, there is a TV station using the KQED calls. (KQED, not KQED-TV)