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legal IDs

M

mr_mark_taylor

Guest
how common is it for stations to bury their legal IDs in the last commercial break of an hour? I know its common to bury the legal ID in a jingle/sweeper if you're not licensed to the main city in the market, but I only hear a handful of stations that will legal ID (just calls and COL) between commercials in a stopset.
 
Fairly common...although it was very common 10-15 years ago when the 'moving in' started. Stations wanting the larger metro they were close to. You might hear the small suburb town "snuck" in within the :50 break.
 
What's I hear from time to time - and find amusing - are stations that have changed formats and image names, but are still temporarily stuck with the old call letters. They generally deal with this by speed-whispering the call letters for the top of the hour ID. Example - CBS killed the Classic Hits format on KFRC (heritage San Francisco call letters) last year for MOViN, but recently brought KFRC back to another frequency. So "KFRC" is legally KIFR (formerly Free-FM), while the KFRC calls are still assigned to MOViN. At the top of the hour, the legal ID "KIFR San Francisco" is barely intelligible, but I guess it technically meets FCC requirements.
 
FCC regs require the calls to be followed by the city of license "as close to the top of the hour as feasible". (Of course, leaving a big grey area there...) What does feasible mean? The FCC does not define that. I've heard legals at :45. Is that feasible, when the average song is 4 minutes? Fortunately, or unfortunately, the FCC has bigger issues to deal with than this.
 
And, let's face it, does it really matter anyway?

The once-per-hour rule (replacing the twice- rule, remember?) is a relic. When programs came from the networks in fifteen- and thirty-minute lengths, there was a need to identify the station now and then. Today, a station is identifying itself multiple times per hour, by slogan and/or frequency if not by call letters.

Anyone who is paying attention will know what station it is, regardless of where the "legal" id is buried, right?

Just a thought.

Jay
 
searadiofreak said:
I've heard legals at :45. Is that feasible, when the average song is 4 minutes?
Click to expand...

It is if you're automated and you're hour is timed out short (or your :50 break comes really early because of lack of commercials or just short shorts)
 
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