"Legal" ID question...

[choicevoicepro.com]

A new client has sent sweepers and such that they want voiced - for their "legal ID" they have written:

Call letters, frequency, city of license. (WXXX 106.9 Anytown)

If I remember the call letters must be followed immediately by the city of license to be considered "legal" - is this still the case or am I wrong?

BTW: Searched the FCC website (admittedly half heartedly) this morning to try to find an answer but could not)

Thanks in advance for the response.

Tom

 

[VODood]

A new client has sent sweepers and such that they want voiced - for their "legal ID" they have written:

Call letters, frequency, city of license. (WXXX 106.9 Anytown)

If I remember the call letters must be followed immediately by the city of license to be considered "legal" - is this still the case or am I wrong?

BTW: Searched the FCC website (admittedly half heartedly) this morning to try to find an answer but could not)

Thanks in advance for the response.

Tom

I believe it's always been Calls then COL. Nothing can be in between. You can wrap whatever verbage around that combo you want but it's Calls and COL back to back.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Frequency can be in between calls and town.

(b) Content. (1) 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.

That's the rule

Source

 

[choicevoicepro.com]

Thanks for the assist folks!

 

[VODood]

Listening to WOMC/Detroit online... oopsie!

"Now from Hitsville USA, this is WOMC, WOMC-HD1, Detroit, playing the greatest hits with Dick Purtan mornings, blah blah blah..."


heard an issue right away....WOMC HD1 is in between the calls and COL.


I listened 10 min before the TOH and 10 after... this was the only thing resembling a "legal ID".


If this is ok... it's the first I've heard of it.

 

[Emmett1057]

I've heard other stations doing the HD-1 thing as well. I think it's acceptable. AM and/or FM is acceptable, so I imagine HD-1 falls into that category. I was told XXXX-FM, anytown is okay.

Emmett

 

[VODood]

I've heard other stations doing the HD-1 thing as well. I think it's acceptable. AM and/or FM is acceptable, so I imagine HD-1 falls into that category. I was told XXXX-FM, anytown is okay.

Emmett

I emailed the PD.. and he confirmed it's a new FCC thing. It's acceptable.

 

[w9wi]

Listening to WOMC/Detroit online... oopsie!

"Now from Hitsville USA, this is WOMC, WOMC-HD1, Detroit, playing the greatest hits with Dick Purtan mornings, blah blah blah..."


heard an issue right away....WOMC HD1 is in between the calls and COL.


I listened 10 min before the TOH and 10 after... this was the only thing resembling a "legal ID".


If this is ok... it's the first I've heard of it.

HD stations are now required to ID as such. (even HD1, which is simulcast with the analog)

This ID would be a lot like the old "WDMP AM&FM, Dodgeville" thing a lot of stations did back when AM/FM simulcasts were common.

I'm not convinced it meets the letter of the law (taken literally the rule would suggest it should be "WOMC Detroit, WOMC-HD1 Detroit") but certainly the FCC knows about it and I don't see any sign they think it's a problem.

 

[Chuck]

A new client has sent sweepers and such that they want voiced - for their "legal ID" they have written:

Call letters, frequency, city of license. (WXXX 106.9 Anytown)

If I remember the call letters must be followed immediately by the city of license to be considered "legal" - is this still the case or am I wrong?

BTW: Searched the FCC website (admittedly half heartedly) this morning to try to find an answer but could not)

Thanks in advance for the response.

Tom

It is acceptable to put the frequency (but nothing else) between the call letters and the COL. I don't have the text from the rules handy, but I am very sure that is so. You can list other cities too, but the COL must come first. For rim-shots, that could be something like, "Lake Highland, Dallas-Fort Worth."

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Hopefully Mr. Fybush will chime in with his legal ID expertise.

I too wonder why, when AM and FM simulcasts need to be IDed
separately (even if both have the same basic calls and the same
COL) as in...

WLS Chicago, WLS-FM Chicago

and not as...

WLS AM & FM Chicago ("AM" is not part of an AM station's calls)

...then why, as mentioned in a previous post, doesn't the HD1 of
an FM also have to be a completely separate ID, as in...

KOOL-FM Phoenix, KOOL HD1 Phoenix ("-FM" is part of KOOL-FM's
legal calls, BTW)

instead of...

KOOL-FM, KOOL HD1 Phoenix

I'll venture a guess that instead of these being two separately-
licensed stations (WLS and WLS-FM for example), this is one FM
station also broadcasting in digital (the HD1). I assume that the
separate programming on their HD2 channel is IDed there, as
"KOOL HD2 Phoenix."

Now to go into this even deeper, what about AMs and I-CRAP?

I've yet to hear anything other than "KFYI Phoenix" but know
they're I-CRAPping all over the first and second adjacents with
the hash noise, so why isn't "KFYI Phoenix, KFYI HD Phoenix"
or at least "KFYI, KFYI HD Phoenix" required for a legal ID?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

It was my understanding that HD1 channels (the FM simulcast) is not required to identify, but that separate channels (HD2, HD3) are required to identify. WQQQ HD2, Chicago.

I don't have any FCC documents to back this up, however.

 

[Emmett1057]

At least initially, the sub channels were not required to identify at all. Whether or not this has changed, I don't know.

Emmett

 

[oldiesfan6479]

...what about AMs and I-CRAP?

I've yet to hear anything other than "KFYI Phoenix" but know
they're I-CRAPping all over the first and second adjacents with
the hash noise, so why isn't "KFYI Phoenix, KFYI HD Phoenix"
or at least "KFYI, KFYI HD Phoenix" required for a legal ID?

Listening via their stream during the Route 66 oldies show on
Saturday night, KMOX also IDed the HD in their 11pm CT legal:

"KMOX, KMOX HD, Saint Louis"

 

[titoisradio]

If I remember correctly there are four parts of a legal ID, two of which are mandatory (call leters, city of license), also frequency & licensee can be listed.

 

[radiorob2.0]

It all boils down to the mood of the field inspector. We had an visit by a individual who was a hard ass. The inspector was in the studio when the jock did the ID:

99 WXXX Mt Pilot, Mayberry, Siler City

The inspector let it be known that was not a legal ID. What he wanted to hear was:

99.1 WXXX Mt Pilot, Mayberry, Siler City

So for the remaining time of his cheerful visit and the rest of the day we added the exact frequency. Then we returned to rounding down. We could have had a policy discussion with the inspector but it wasn't worth it, as I said he was a real ass.

The suffix is the key to a Legal ID especially in these days of the root call being in one city and the -FM or -TV calls being elsewhere. It's just a matter if a field inspector wants to make it an issue.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The inspector was in the studio when the jock did the ID:
99 WXXX Mt Pilot, Mayberry, Siler City
The inspector let it be known that was not a legal ID.
What he wanted to hear was:
99.1 WXXX Mt Pilot, Mayberry, Siler City
So for the remaining time of his cheerful visit and the rest of the day
we added the exact frequency.

You should have complained to his superior or to Uncle Charlie's
bureaucracy-from-hell in Washington. Your ID contained the
calls (WXXX) followed immediately by the COL (Mt. Pilot) which
is the most basic form of a legal ID. What you put before and
after that is irrelevant.

Now if you had put a truncated version of the frequency between
the calls and COL (since you can insert the freq. and/or licensee
there), Inspector Gadget may have had a gripe.

 

[radiorob2.0]

We were not fined for the ID issue. It was just an annoyance of a stressful day.

Taking this thread in a little different direction about produced ID's. WBCY Charlotte used an ID circa 1983 that took advantage of the words Be, See, and Why. The ID was somebody saying W and the rest were snippets of songs. I don't remember what they used for B, but Lady Madonna was the source of C, and I Can't Tell You Why was the Y followed by Charlotte. I have a couple of those ID's on tape somewhere.

 

[VODood]

If I remember correctly there are four parts of a legal ID, two of which are mandatory (call leters, city of license), also frequency & licensee can be listed.

Just call letters IMMEDIATELY followed by City of License. Nothing can be inbetween them.

Now with HD the FCC allows that to be mentioned.

 

[fybush]

If I remember correctly there are four parts of a legal ID, two of which are mandatory (call leters, city of license), also frequency & licensee can be listed.

Just call letters IMMEDIATELY followed by City of License. Nothing can be inbetween them.

Now with HD the FCC allows that to be mentioned.

Love ya, Chuck, but this is not correct.

There are several acceptable insertions, according to 47CFR73.1201:

The station's frequency or channel number

The name of the station's licensee

In addition, as you note, there's now a vaguely-worded line in the rules that says stations broadcasting digitally have to appropriately notify listeners that they're hearing a digital broadcast. Most stations owned by the big groups now do that with a "WXXX-HD" or "WXXX-HD1" addition to the legal ID, though the rules don't specify that exact language.

The inspector who had an issue with "99 WXXX-FM, Anytown" simply didn't understand the way the rules are written. There are inspectors like that out there, alas.

 

[VODood]

If I remember correctly there are four parts of a legal ID, two of which are mandatory (call leters, city of license), also frequency & licensee can be listed.

Just call letters IMMEDIATELY followed by City of License. Nothing can be inbetween them.

Now with HD the FCC allows that to be mentioned.

Love ya, Chuck, but this is not correct.

There are several acceptable insertions, according to 47CFR73.1201:

The station's frequency or channel number

The name of the station's licensee

In addition, as you note, there's now a vaguely-worded line in the rules that says stations broadcasting digitally have to appropriately notify listeners that they're hearing a digital broadcast. Most stations owned by the big groups now do that with a "WXXX-HD" or "WXXX-HD1" addition to the legal ID, though the rules don't specify that exact language.

The inspector who had an issue with "99 WXXX-FM, Anytown" simply didn't understand the way the rules are written. There are inspectors like that out there, alas.

I stand corrected!